What Happened in 1913 — Events, Births & Deaths

An Atlantic coast storm sets the lowest confirmed barometric pressure reading (955.0 mb (28.20 inHg)) for a non-tropical system in the continental United States.

First Balkan War: Greece completes its capture of the eastern Aegean island of Chios, as the last Ottoman forces on the island surrender.

First Balkan War: The Battle of Lemnos begins; Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it did not venture for the rest of the war.

Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan writes his first letter to G. H. Hardy at Cambridge, stating without proof various formulae involving integrals, infinite series, and continued fractions, beginning a long correspondence between the two as well as widespread recognition of Ramanujan's results.

First Balkan War: A Greek flotilla defeats the Ottoman Navy in the Naval Battle of Lemnos, securing the islands of the Northern Aegean Sea for Greece.

Grand Central Terminal opens in New York City.

The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.

Greek military aviators Michael Moutoussis and Aristeidis Moraitinis perform the first naval air mission in history, with a Farman MF.7 hydroplane.

Claudio Monteverdi's last opera L'incoronazione di Poppea was performed theatrically for the first time in more than 250 years.

A group of meteors is visible across much of the eastern seaboard of the Americas, leading astronomers to conclude the source had been a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth.

The 13th Dalai Lama proclaims Tibetan independence following a period of domination by Manchu Qing dynasty and initiates a period of almost four decades of independence.

The Armory Show opens in New York City, displaying works of artists who subsequently become some of the most influential painters of the early 20th century.

Pedro Lascuráin becomes President of Mexico for 45 minutes; this is the shortest term to date of any person as president of any country.

King O'Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra.

Ioannina is incorporated into the Greek state after the Balkan Wars.

Thousands of women march in the Woman Suffrage Procession in Washington, D.C.

First Balkan War: The Greek army engages the Turks at Bizani, resulting in victory two days later.

The United States Department of Labor is formed.

The future capital of Australia is officially named Canberra.

King George I of Greece is assassinated in the recently liberated city of Thessaloniki.

Sung Chiao-jen, a founder of the Chinese Nationalist Party, is wounded in an assassination attempt and dies 2 days later.

A tornado outbreak kills more than 240 people in the central United States, while an ongoing flood in the Ohio River watershed was killing 650 people.

First Balkan War: Bulgarian forces capture Adrianople.

The Vienna Concert Society rioted during a performance of modernist music by Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Alexander von Zemlinsky, and Anton von Webern, causing a premature end to the concert due to violence; this concert became known as the Skandalkonzert.

The Woolworth Building, a skyscraper in New York City, is opened.

Raja Harishchandra, the first full-length Indian feature film, is released, marking the beginning of the Indian film industry.

Governor of New York William Sulzer approves the charter for the Rockefeller Foundation, which begins operations with a $100 million donation from John D. Rockefeller.

Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring receives its premiere performance in Paris, France, provoking a near-riot.

The Treaty of London is signed, ending the First Balkan War between the Balkan allies and the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans cede all their European territories west of a straight line between Enos and Media and Albania becomes an independent nation.

The Greek–Serbian Treaty of Alliance is signed, paving the way for the Second Balkan War.

Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of King George V's horse at The Derby. She is trampled, never regains consciousness, and dies four days later.

Natives Land Act, 1913 in South Africa implemented.

Second Balkan War: The Greeks defeat the Bulgarians in the Battle of Doiran.

Greece and Serbia annul their alliance with Bulgaria.

American Civil War veterans begin arriving at the Great Reunion of 1913.

The Bulgarian army launches attacks against Serbian positions, triggering the Second Balkan War.

Confederate veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913 reenact Pickett's Charge; upon reaching the high-water mark of the Confederacy they are met by the outstretched hands of friendship from Union survivors.

Serbian forces begin their siege of the Bulgarian city of Vidin; the siege is later called off when the war ends.

The Second Revolution breaks out against the Beiyang government, as Li Liejun proclaims Jiangxi independent from the Republic of China.

The 1913 Romanian Army cholera outbreak during the Second Balkan War starts.

Second Balkan War: Delegates from Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece sign the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the war.

First production in the UK of stainless steel by Harry Brearley.

Tōhoku Imperial University of Japan (modern day Tohoku University) becomes the first university in Japan to admit female students.

Completion of the Royal Navy battlecruiser HMS Queen Mary.

Queen Wilhelmina opens the Peace Palace in The Hague.

The United Mine Workers of America launch a strike which eventually escalated into the Colorado Coalfield War.

Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving vehicle assembly line.

The steamship SS Volturno catches fire in the mid-Atlantic.

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson triggers the explosion of the Gamboa Dike, completing major construction on the Panama Canal.

A rail workers' strike in Chile escalates into a general strike, organized by the Regional Workers' Federation of Chile.

Dedication of the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile highway across United States.

The Indianapolis Streetcar Strike and subsequent riot begins.

The siege of Adrianople begins during the First Balkan War.

King Otto of Bavaria is deposed by his cousin, Prince Regent Ludwig, who assumes the title Ludwig III.

Haruna, the fourth and last Kongō-class ship, launches, eventually becoming one of the Japanese workhorses during World War I and World War II.

The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve System.

The Italian Hall disaster in Calumet, Michigan results in the deaths of 73 striking workers families at a Christmas party participants (including 59 children) when someone falsely yells "fire".

Disfellowshipped Adventist lay preacher Felix Manalo begins the new religious movement known as the Iglesia ni Cristo with the baptism of its first members.

Cecil B. DeMille starts filming Hollywood's first feature film, The Squaw Man.