Modern Era
Haber-Bosch Process (1909): Making Fertiliser and Bread from Air
Ammonia could be synthesised from atmospheric nitrogen and hydrogen on an industrial scale, making cheap nitrogen fertiliser and explosives possible.
Era · c. 1800 – 1945
Modern Era
Industry, science and global conflict: the century and a half that built the modern world.
Modern Era
Japanese Annexation of Korea (1910): End of the Korean Empire
Korea became a Japanese colony governed by a Government-General until Japan's defeat in 1945.
Modern Era
Mexican Revolution (1910-1920): Madero, Villa and Zapata
Porfirio Díaz was overthrown, the old federal army was destroyed, the Constitution of 1917 was adopted and power passed to the Sonoran revolutionary leaders by 1920.
Modern Era
Italo-Turkish War (1911-1912): Italy's Conquest of Libya
Italian victory; the Ottoman Empire withdrew from Libya under the Treaty of Ouchy, and Italy kept the Dodecanese islands it had occupied.
Modern Era
Delhi Durbar (1911): George V's Imperial Assembly in India
George V received homage as Emperor of India, the capital was moved from Calcutta to Delhi and the partition of Bengal was reversed.
Modern Era
Xinhai Revolution (1911): The Fall of China's Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty abdicated on 12 February 1912 and the Republic of China replaced more than two millennia of imperial rule.
Modern Era
Rutherford's Atomic Nucleus (1911): The Gold Foil Experiment
Rutherford concluded that an atom's positive charge and almost all of its mass are concentrated in a tiny central nucleus, replacing the 'plum pudding' model.
Modern Era
Sinking of the Titanic (1912): The Night the Unsinkable Sank
The Titanic sank in under three hours; more than 1,500 people died, leading to new international rules on lifeboats, radio watches and ice patrols.
Modern Era
Balkan Wars (1912-1913): Prelude to the First World War
The Ottomans lost nearly all their European lands; Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and Romania gained territory, Albania became independent and Bulgaria lost much of its gains.
Modern Era
Continental Drift (1912): Alfred Wegener's Moving Continents
Wegener's theory of continental drift was widely rejected for decades, then vindicated in the 1960s as part of plate tectonics.
Modern Era
Ford's Moving Assembly Line (1913): Mass Production Begins
Moving assembly cut the time to build a Model T chassis from about 12.5 hours to about 1.5 hours, and mass production spread across the world.
Modern Era
Empress of Ireland Sinking (1914): Canada's Worst Sea Disaster
The Empress of Ireland sank after being struck by the collier Storstad; 1,012 of the 1,477 people on board died.