Modern Era
Entente Cordiale (1904): Britain and France End Old Rivalries
Britain and France resolved their main colonial disputes and began a diplomatic partnership that grew into the Triple Entente with Russia.
Region
Europe
Modern Era
Herero and Nama Genocide (1904-1908) in German South West Africa
German forces crushed the uprisings, killing an estimated majority of the Herero and about half of the Nama; Germany formally recognised the killings as genocide in 2021.
Modern Era
Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905): Japan Defeats a European Power
Japanese victory; Russia ceded southern Sakhalin and its Manchurian leases and recognised Japanese dominance in Korea in the Treaty of Portsmouth.
Modern Era
Russian Revolution of 1905: Bloody Sunday to October Manifesto
The tsar granted a constitution-like manifesto and an elected Duma, but kept most of his power and crushed the revolt by 1907.
Modern Era
Maji Maji Rebellion (1905-1907) in German East Africa
The rising was crushed by German forces using scorched-earth tactics; an estimated 75,000 to 300,000 Africans died, most from famine.
Modern Era
Treaty of Portsmouth (1905): Ending the Russo-Japanese War
Russia ceded southern Sakhalin and its Manchurian leases to Japan and recognised Japanese dominance in Korea, but paid no indemnity.
Modern Era
Battle of Tsushima (1905): Togo Destroys the Russian Baltic Fleet
Decisive Japanese victory; almost the entire Russian fleet was sunk, captured or interned, and Russia soon agreed to peace talks.
Modern Era
Einstein's Miracle Year (1905): Special Relativity and E=mc2
Einstein's four papers of 1905 introduced light quanta, proved the reality of atoms, founded special relativity and showed that mass and energy are equivalent.
Modern Era
Messina Earthquake and Tsunami (1908): Europe's Deadliest Quake
Messina and Reggio Calabria were largely destroyed; tens of thousands died, and Italy adopted its first national earthquake building rules in 1909.
Modern Era
Blériot Crosses the Channel (1909): First Flight to England
Blériot made the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft, winning the Daily Mail's £1,000 prize.
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.
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.