What Happened in 1912 — Events, Births & Deaths

The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Empire by royal charter.

The sixth All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Prague Party Conference) opens. In the course of the conference, Vladimir Lenin and his supporters break from the rest of the party to form the Bolshevik movement.

New Mexico is admitted to the Union as the 47th U.S. state.

German geophysicist Alfred Wegener first presents his theory of continental drift.

The African National Congress is founded, under the name South African Native National Congress (SANNC).

The city of San Diego passes an ordinance restricting free speech, provoking months of civil unrest between socialist Wobblies and business leaders that become the bloodiest free speech fight in history.

Immigrant textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, go on strike when wages are reduced in response to a mandated shortening of the work week.

British polar explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.

The First International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.

The Xuantong Emperor, the last Emperor of China, abdicates.

Arizona is admitted as the 48th and the last contiguous U.S. state.

Marie-Adélaïde, the eldest of six daughters of Guillaume IV, becomes the first reigning Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.

The Piedra Movediza (Moving Stone) of Tandil falls and breaks.

Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces are the first to use airships for military purposes, employing them for reconnaissance behind Turkish lines.

The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) are founded in the United States.

First Lady Helen Taft and the Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, plant two Yoshino cherry trees on the northern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., the origin of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Sultan Abd al-Hafid signs the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French protectorate.

The ill-fated RMS Titanic begins sea trials.

RMS Titanic sets sail from Southampton, UK, on her maiden and only voyage.

The British passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic and begins to sink.

The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg. Only 712 of 2,207 passengers and crew on board survive.

Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.

Russian troops open fire on striking goldfield workers in northeast Siberia, killing at least 150.

The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brings 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic to New York City.

Italy begins the invasion and occupation of the Ottoman island of Rhodes.

The first issue of the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda is published.

The Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner of the Royal Air Force, is established in the United Kingdom.

The first Indian film, Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne, is released in Mumbai.

Massachusetts becomes the first state of the United States to set a minimum wage.

The eruption of Novarupta in Alaska begins. It is the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century.

The Regina Cyclone, Canada's deadliest tornado event, kills 28 people in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro leads an unsuccessful royalist attack against the First Portuguese Republic in Chaves.

Japan's Emperor Meiji dies and is succeeded by his son Yoshihito, who is now known as the Emperor Taishō.

A typhoon strikes China, killing at least 50,000 people.

Arthur Rose Eldred is awarded the first Eagle Scout award of the Boy Scouts of America.

Albanian rebels succeed in their revolt when the Ottoman Empire agrees to fulfill their demands

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is founded in New York City.

The Ulster Covenant is signed by some 500,000 Ulster Unionists in opposition to the Third Irish Home Rule Bill.

Corporal Frank S. Scott of the United States Army becomes the first enlisted man to die in an airplane crash.

U.S. forces defeat Nicaraguan rebels at the Battle of Coyotepe Hill.

The Helsinki Stock Exchange sees its first transaction.

The First Balkan War begins when Montenegro declares war against the Ottoman Empire.

First Balkan War: The day after the Battle of Sarantaporo, Greek troops liberate the city of Kozani.

Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declare war on the Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War.

First Balkan War: King Peter I of Serbia issues a declaration "To the Serbian People", as his country joins the war.

The Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire sign the treaty of Ouchy, by which the Italo-Turkish War is ended and the Ottomans loose Libya to Italy.

Italo-Turkish War: Italy takes possession of what is now Libya from the Ottoman Empire.

First Balkan War: The Greek navy completes the capture of the island of Lemnos for use as a forward base against the Dardanelles.

First Balkan War: The Battle of Kirk Kilisse concludes with a Bulgarian victory against the Ottoman Empire.

First Balkan War: The Battle of Kumanovo concludes with the Serbian victory against the Ottoman Empire.

First Balkan War: The Ottomans lose the cities of Thessaloniki and Skopje.

Bulgaria defeats the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Lule Burgas, the bloodiest battle of the First Balkan War, which opens her way to Constantinople.

Woodrow Wilson is elected the 28th President of the United States, defeating incumbent William Howard Taft.

First Balkan War: The Serbian Army captures Bitola, ending the five-century-long Ottoman rule of Macedonia.

Românul de la Pind, the longest-running newspaper by and about Aromanians prior to World War II, ceases its publications.

Spain declares a protectorate over the north shore of Morocco.

Albania declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire.

Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia (the Balkan League) sign an armistice with the Ottoman Empire, temporarily halting the First Balkan War. (The armistice will expire on February 3, 1913, and hostilities will resume.)

The Nefertiti Bust is discovered.

Leaders of the German Empire hold an Imperial War Council to discuss the possibility that war might break out.

First Balkan War: The Royal Hellenic Navy defeats the Ottoman Navy at the Battle of Elli.

William Van Schaick, captain of the steamship General Slocum which caught fire and killed over one thousand people, is pardoned by U.S. President William Howard Taft after 3+1⁄2 years in Sing Sing prison.

The first municipally owned streetcars take to the streets in San Francisco.