5000 Years of History. Wisdom. Heritage. Vision.
Important events and dates – Imperialism and World War I 1841 – 1898 1841 England defeats China in the First Opium War. 1853 Perry visits Japan. 1854 Perry returns to Japan and signs a treaty opening two ports to American ships. 1856 The Second Opium War; English and French win special rights in China. 1857 The Sepoy Revolt is put down and England consolidates her rule in India, considered an event of Imperialism. 1865 With the end of the Civil War, the United States begins to industrialize rapidly. 1866 Completion of the transatlantic telegraph cable. 1867 Japan is reformed by the emperor and begins to industrialize. 1869 The Suez Canal in Egypt and the transcontinental railway in America are completed, opening new markets to industry. 1871 Prussia unifies Germany, becoming the German Empire. 1875 England buys a controlling interest in the Suez Canal. 1876 Bell invents the telephone. 1877 Russia conquers several Turkish provinces. 1878 The Congress of Berlin keeps peace in Europe by giving the powers parts of Turkey. 1882 Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy form the Triple Alliance, pledging to aid each other in case of war; Leopold of Belgium acquires the Congo; Egypt becomes a British protectorate. 1883 France takes Annam from China and combines it with other colonies to form Indochina. 1884 The Berlin conference recognizes the Congo and sets up standards for African colonies. 1894 Japan seizes Korea from China; France and Russia form the Dual Alliance. 1895 The Boers repel the Jameson raid in the Transvaal. 1896 The kaiser congratulates Kroger of the Transvaal on the defeat of Jameson; great indignation in England. 1898-1901 The Boer War. 1898 British and French forces meet at Fashoda in Africa; war between Spain and the U.S.; the U.S. conquers Puerto Rico, the Philippines and annexes Hawaii. Important events and dates – Imperialism and World War I 1841 – 1898 1899 The Boxer Revolt in China is suppressed by the western powers. 1904 War between Russia and Japan; Japan wins and retains Korea; the U.S. helps Panama gain independence from Colombia and begins construction of the Panama Canal. 1905 The kaiser delivers a speech in Morocco, causing a crisis with France. 1907 England joins France and Russia in the Triple Entente. 1908 The Young Turks revolt, restore the Turkish constitution and begin to modernize Turkey. 1911 A German gunboat arrives in Morocco, causing a severe crisis; France cedes parts of the Congo to Germany; Sun Yat-Sen establishes the Republic of China. 1912 Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece attack Turkey in the first Balkan War. 1913 Serbia, Greece, Rumania and Turkey attack Bulgaria in the Second Balkan War. 1914 Serbian terrorists assassinate Ferdinand of Austria; Austria attacks Serbia and World War I begins. German armies sweep into France but are forced back at the Marne; trench warfare begins. 1915 Heavy losses on the western front; Italy attacks Austria; America is aroused when a German submarine sinks the Lusitania. 1916 Germans attack but fail to capture Verdun; the Allies attack along the Somme and gain 7 miles; the cost of the two engagements is over 11/2 _million lives; German and British fleets fight the battle of Jutland. 1917 Germany begins unrestricted submarine warfare: the tsar is overthrown; the U. S. enters the war; heavy losses lead to widespread mutinies in the French army; the Bolsheviks take power in Russia and sign an armistice. 1918 Bolshevik Russia makes peace with Germany; the kaiser is overthrown; Germany and the Allies sign an armistice, ending World War I. 1919 The treaty of Versailles; the League of Nations. 1920 The US. Senate refuses to ratify the Versailles treaty or join the League of Nations.
AS THE year 1899 drew to a close, Europeans and Americans began to wonder when, exactly, the nineteenth century would end and the twentieth century begin. Most people thought that this would take place at midnight of December 31, 1899,…
ALREADY HEMMED in on two sides by France and Russia, the Germans were dismayed to see Great Britain join their rivals. They feared that they would be surrounded by unfriendly powers and they decided to test the Entente Cordiale. They…
JUNE 28, 1914, was the Feast of Saint Vitus, an important holiday in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. The city was decorated with flags displaying the two-headed eagle of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and a blazing sun shone down on the…
Germany’s generals had for some time expected that they would have to fight both France and Russia, and Count Alfred von Schlieffen had devised a battle plan that took this into consideration. The Schlieffen Plan was a good one and…
FEW AMERICANS noticed the advertisement that appeared in the New York newspapers on May 1, 1915. Signed by the Imperial German Embassy in Washington, it reminded Americans that Germany was at war with Britain. It warned that British ships in…
IN THE closing weeks of the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire came apart. Its subject peoples proclaimed their independence, through “national councils” set up in Paris and London. On November 12, 1918, the last of the Hapsburg emperors, Charles I, abdicated…
DURING THE war, three great empires — the Russian, the Austro-Hungarian and the German –had vanished forever. Then, by the Treaty of Sévres, a fourth empire, the Ottoman, was quietly put to death. Turkey was confined to Asia Minor and…