1905

Events in 1905 57

• 1824 – 1905 George MacDonald (1824-1905) Died 18 September 1905, aged 80 Scottish author George MacDonald wrote fantasy novels and fairy tales, including Phantastes and The Princess and the Goblin, that helped shape the modern fantasy genre. He was a major influence on later writers such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. He also worked as a minister and lecturer before turning to writing full time.
• 1828 – 1905 Jules Verne (1828-1905) Died 24 March 1905, aged 77 French author Jules Verne pioneered the science fiction genre with novels including Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Around the World in Eighty Days. His works anticipated technologies such as submarines and space travel decades before they existed. He remains one of the most translated authors in history.
• 1830 – 1905 Louise Michel (1830-1905) Died 9 January 1905, aged 74 French anarchist and teacher Louise Michel was a leading figure in the Paris Commune of 1871, for which she was deported to New Caledonia. After returning to France she remained a prominent anarchist agitator and writer for the rest of her life. She is remembered as one of the most significant figures of French anarchism.
• 1838 – 1905 John Hay (1838-1905) Died 1 July 1905, aged 66 American statesman John Hay served as private secretary to Abraham Lincoln before becoming US Secretary of State under Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt. He negotiated the Open Door Policy toward China and the treaty securing US rights to build the Panama Canal. He was also an accomplished author and biographer of Lincoln.
• 1838 – 1905 Sir Henry Irving (1838-1905) Died 13 October 1905, aged 67 English actor Henry Irving was the leading Shakespearean performer of the Victorian stage and manager of London's Lyceum Theatre. In 1895 he became the first actor ever to be knighted, a recognition of the growing respectability of his profession. He collapsed and died shortly after a performance in Bradford.
• 1840 – 1905 Ernst Abbe (1840-1905) Died 14 January 1905, aged 64 German physicist Ernst Abbe developed the theory of optical resolution that transformed microscope design and co-founded the Carl Zeiss optical company. His formula for the diffraction limit of microscopes remains fundamental to optics. He also pioneered progressive labor policies at Zeiss, including profit-sharing and the eight-hour workday.
• 1899 – 1905 The First Period of Russification The February Manifesto An attempt by the Russian Empire to limit Finnish autonomy and integrate the country into Russia.
• 1904 – 1905 Russo-Japanese War First modern defeat of a European power by an Asian one Japan's victory over Tsarist Russia in 1904–05 — culminating in the naval triumph at Tsushima — was the first time in the modern era that an Asian nation defeated a European great power. It confirmed Japan's status as a major military force and reshaped the balance of power in East Asia.
• 1905 – 1970 Abraham Zapruder (1905-1970) Died 30 August 1970, aged 65 Abraham Zapruder, the Dallas dressmaker who filmed the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on his home movie camera, died in Dallas, Texas. His footage became one of the most scrutinized pieces of film in history.
• 1905 – 1957 Christian Dior (1905-1957) Died 24 October 1957, aged 52 French fashion designer whose "New Look" collection of 1947 redefined post-war women's fashion and reestablished Paris as the center of the fashion world. His fashion house remains one of the most influential in the industry.
• 1905 – 1965 Clara Bow (1905-1965) Died 27 September 1965, aged 60 Clara Bow was an American actress who became the leading sex symbol of the silent film era, epitomizing the 1920s "It Girl" persona. She appeared in over 40 silent films before retiring from acting in the 1930s. She died of a heart attack in Los Angeles on 27 September 1965.
• 1905 – 1961 Dag Hammarskjold (1905-1961) Died 18 September 1961, aged 56 Swedish diplomat and second Secretary-General of the United Nations, credited with expanding the organization's role in international crises. He died when his plane crashed in Northern Rhodesia while traveling to negotiate a ceasefire in the Congo Crisis.
• 1905 – 1942 Daniil Kharms (1905-1942) Died 2 February 1942, aged 36 Daniil Kharms was a Russian avant-garde poet and writer of absurdist prose, and a founder of the OBERIU group. He was arrested by the NKVD in 1941 and died in a prison psychiatric ward during the Siege of Leningrad. His work was largely unpublished in the Soviet Union until the late 1980s.
• 1905 Dissolution of the Union Sweden-Norway Split The peaceful separation of Norway from the Swedish crown after nearly a century of personal union.
• 1905 – 1915 Einstein — special and general relativity E=mc², space-time, and gravity as curved geometry Einstein's special relativity (1905) introduced E=mc² — showing mass and energy are equivalent — and demonstrated that time and length change at high velocities. His general relativity (1915) recast gravity as the curvature of space-time caused by mass. The theories predicted black holes, gravitational waves, the expansion of the universe, and GPS satellite timing corrections. They are the most tested theories in physics.
• 1905 – 1935 Queen Astrid of Belgium (1905-1935) Died 29 August 1935, aged 29 The Swedish-born queen consort of Leopold III was killed in a car crash near Küssnacht, Switzerland, while the King was driving. Her death caused deep mourning in Belgium.
• 1905 – 1958 Robert Donat (1905-1958) Died 9 June 1958, aged 53 The English actor won the Academy Award for Best Actor for "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" and starred in Alfred Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps." Chronic asthma limited his career and contributed to his early death.
• 1905 – present Rolex Luxury Watchmaking Though founded in London, it moved to Geneva in 1919 and became the symbol of Swiss precision.
• 1905 Special relativity Einstein publishes Einstein's 1905 paper introduced E=mc², showing mass and energy are equivalent and revolutionising our understanding of space and time.
• 1905 The General Strike Parliamentary Reform A massive protest that forced the Tsar to grant Finland a modern parliament and universal suffrage.
• 1905 Australian Open 1905 — first edition Men: Rodney Heath First Australasian Championships held in Melbourne. Rodney Heath won the inaugural men's singles. Women did not compete until 1922. The tournament became a Grand Slam in 1924.
• 1905 – 1961 Anna May Wong (1905-1961) American actress, the first Chinese American film star, who fought against Hollywood's stereotypes of Asians.
• 1905 – 1968 Kay Francis (1905-1968) American actress, a glamorous star of pre-Code melodramas and comedies.
• 1905 – 1978 Karl Wallenda (1905-1978) Died 22 March 1978, aged 73 Wallenda was the founder of the high-wire circus troupe The Flying Wallendas. He fell to his death while attempting to walk a cable strung between two hotel towers in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• 1905 Bloody Sunday massacre in St. Petersburg Troops fire on peaceful petitioners, igniting the 1905 Revolution Imperial Guard troops opened fire on an unarmed crowd marching to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II at the Winter Palace, killing hundreds. The massacre destroyed remaining faith in the tsar among ordinary Russians and triggered a wave of strikes and uprisings across the empire. It is widely regarded as the spark that ignited the Revolution of 1905.
• 1905 Rotary Club founded in Chicago Paul Harris launches the first service club Attorney Paul Harris founded the Rotary Club in Chicago as a professional networking organization built around a rotating meeting location among members' offices. It grew into the first of the modern civic service club movement, emphasizing fellowship and community service. Rotary International later expanded to chapters across the world.
• 1905 – 1968 Franchot Tone (1905-1968) American actor from the Group Theatre, known for Mutiny on the Bounty.
• 1905 – 1997 Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) Died 2 September 1997, aged 92 Viktor Frankl was an Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor who developed logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy centered on finding meaning in life. His memoir Man's Search for Meaning, based on his experience in concentration camps, sold millions of copies worldwide. He died in Vienna.
• 1905 First Moroccan Crisis begins Kaiser Wilhelm II's Tangier visit provokes a European standoff Kaiser Wilhelm II landed at Tangier and declared support for Moroccan independence, challenging French colonial influence in Morocco. The confrontation pushed France and Germany to the brink of war and strengthened the emerging Anglo-French entente. It was resolved the following year at the Algeciras Conference.
• 1905 – 1994 Joseph Cotten (1905-1994) American actor from Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre, star of Citizen Kane, Shadow of a Doubt and The Third Man.
• 1905 Las Vegas founded Railroad land auction creates a new Nevada town The San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad auctioned off lots in the Nevada desert, founding the townsite of Las Vegas as a railroad stop and water source. The settlement grew slowly for decades before later becoming a center for gambling and entertainment. The auction date is traditionally marked as the city's founding.
• 1905 – 1982 Henry Fonda (1905-1982) Died 12 August 1982, aged 77 American film actor known for The Grapes of Wrath and 12 Angry Men. He died of heart disease months after winning his only competitive Oscar for On Golden Pond.
• 1905 Battle of Tsushima Japan annihilates Russia's Baltic Fleet The Imperial Japanese Navy under Admiral Togo Heihachiro destroyed the Russian Baltic Fleet in the Tsushima Strait after its seven-month voyage from Europe. Nearly the entire Russian fleet was sunk or captured, while Japan lost only a handful of torpedo boats. The victory confirmed Japan's rise as a modern naval power and forced Russia to seek peace.
• 1905 – 1980 Jean-Paul Sartre French philosopher and writer Sartre was a leading existentialist thinker who explored freedom, responsibility, and human existence.
• 1905 – 1980 Jean-Paul Sartre Philosopher, Playwright, and Voice of Existentialism Jean-Paul Sartre was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, and political activist who became the foremost public exponent of existentialism in the twentieth century. Through works such as Being and Nothingness, Nausea, and No Exit, he explored themes of freedom, bad faith, and radical responsibility for one's own existence. A lifelong partner of Simone de Beauvoir and a prominent left-wing intellectual, he shaped postwar European thought, engaged directly in the political struggles of his era, and in 1964 became the only person ever to decline the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• 1905 Industrial Workers of the World founded Radical labor union formed in Chicago Delegates from dozens of labor organizations met in Chicago to found the Industrial Workers of the World, a union aiming to organize all workers into one union regardless of trade or skill. Known as the Wobblies, the union promoted industrial unionism and radical labor tactics. It became a significant force in American labor conflicts over the following decades.
• 1905 Mutiny aboard the battleship Potemkin Crew revolt over rotten meat spreads to Odessa Sailors on the Russian battleship Potemkin mutinied after being served maggot-infested meat, killing several officers and taking control of the ship. The mutineers sailed to Odessa, where their arrival coincided with a bloody crackdown on striking workers. The episode became a lasting symbol of revolutionary defiance, later dramatized in Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 film.
• 1905 Niagara Movement founded Black civil rights leaders organize against segregation W. E. B. Du Bois and a group of African American intellectuals met near Niagara Falls to found the Niagara Movement, demanding full civil rights and an end to racial discrimination. The organization rejected the accommodationist approach associated with Booker T. Washington. Its members later helped found the NAACP in 1909.
• 1905 – 1994 Elias Canetti (1905-1994) Died 14 August 1994, aged 89 Elias Canetti, the Bulgarian-born writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981 for works including Crowds and Power, died in Zurich. He wrote in German and spent much of his life in exile in Britain and Switzerland.
• 1905 – 1993 Myrna Loy (1905-1993) Died 14 December 1993, aged 88 Myrna Loy was an American actress best remembered for playing Nora Charles opposite William Powell in the "Thin Man" film series. She was one of the most popular stars of Hollywood's golden age, though she never received a competitive Academy Award. She died in New York City.
• 1905 Sun Yat-sen founds the Tongmenghui Revolutionary alliance formed in Tokyo to overthrow the Qing Sun Yat-sen united several Chinese revolutionary groups in Tokyo to form the Tongmenghui, dedicated to overthrowing the Qing dynasty and establishing a republic. The organization became the forerunner of the Kuomintang and provided the organizational base for the 1911 Revolution. Its founding is regarded as a foundational moment in modern Chinese nationalism.
• 1905 – 1983 Arthur Koestler (1905-1983) Died 3 March 1983, aged 77 Arthur Koestler was a Hungarian-British writer best known for his novel Darkness at Noon, an indictment of Stalinist totalitarianism. He died by joint suicide with his wife Cynthia after years of declining health. His work spanned journalism, science writing, and political fiction.
• 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth ends the Russo-Japanese War Roosevelt-mediated peace signed in New Hampshire Russia and Japan signed a peace treaty in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, ending the Russo-Japanese War, with US President Theodore Roosevelt mediating the negotiations. Japan gained recognition of its dominance in Korea and territory in southern Sakhalin, while Russia avoided further losses. Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role the following year.
• 1905 – 1977 Eddie Anderson (1905-1977) American comedian and actor, famous as Rochester on The Jack Benny Program.
• 1905 – 1990 Greta Garbo (1905-1990) Died 15 April 1990, aged 84 Greta Garbo was a Swedish-American actress celebrated for silent and early sound films including "Grand Hotel" and "Ninotchka." She retired from acting in 1941 and lived reclusively for the rest of her life. She died in New York City on 15 April 1990.
• 1905 Wright brothers fly the first practical airplane Wright Flyer III completes sustained, controlled flight Orville and Wilbur Wright flew their Wright Flyer III near Dayton, Ohio, achieving a flight that remained airborne for 39 minutes and covered more than 24 miles under full pilot control. The aircraft is considered the first truly practical airplane, capable of banking, turning, and circling reliably. It built directly on their pioneering 1903 flights at Kitty Hawk.
• 1905 – 1911 The Partition of Bengal Divide and rule, stated plainly Lord Curzon splits Bengal into a Muslim-majority east and a Hindu-majority west, arguing administrative efficiency for a province of seventy-eight million. Indians read it as an attempt to break the most politically active population in the empire, and the Swadeshi movement — boycott of British goods, promotion of Indian ones — is the response. It is the moment Indian nationalism becomes a mass movement rather than a petitioning society. The partition is reversed in 1911. The line drawn returns in 1947.
• 1905 Nicholas II issues the October Manifesto Tsar concedes civil liberties and an elected legislature Facing mounting unrest, Tsar Nicholas II issued the October Manifesto, promising civil liberties, a broadened franchise, and an elected legislature, the State Duma. The concession split the opposition and temporarily calmed the revolutionary wave, though it left the tsar's autocratic powers largely intact. It marked Russia's first step toward constitutional government.
• 1905 – 1990 Joel McCrea (1905-1990) American actor, a leading man of comedies and westerns, from Sullivan's Travels to Ride the High Country.
• 1905 Sinn Féin founded in Dublin Arthur Griffith launches an Irish nationalist movement Arthur Griffith founded Sinn Féin in Dublin, advocating Irish self-government through passive resistance and a dual-monarchy model rather than armed rebellion. The party remained a minor political force until it was transformed after the 1916 Easter Rising. It later became the dominant political vehicle for Irish republicanism.
• 1905 – 1911 The Persian Constitutional Revolution The first constitution in the Middle East Merchants, clerics and intellectuals take sanctuary in the British legation and in mosques until the Shah concedes an elected assembly. The Majlis meets in 1906 and a constitution is signed in December. The next Shah bombards the parliament building with Russian-officered artillery in 1908 and revolutionaries retake Tehran in 1909 and depose him. Britain and Russia, who had already carved Persia into spheres of influence in 1907, help finish the experiment off. It is the first constitutional revolution in Asia west of Japan and the direct ancestor of Iranian constitutional politics ever since.
• 1905 – 1906 The Schlieffen Plan A memorandum that outlived its author Alfred von Schlieffen, retiring as Chief of the German General Staff, leaves a memorandum on how Germany might win a war on two fronts: hold in the east, swing an overwhelmingly heavy right wing through Belgium, envelop Paris, then turn round. It assumes a fixed timetable, a violated neutrality and a France that obliges. Historians still argue over how far the 1914 deployment really followed it, but the habit of thinking of war as a schedule that must start on time is a large part of why 1914 could not be stopped.
• 1905 – 1986 Otto Preminger (1905-1986) Died 23 April 1986, aged 80 Austrian-born film director and producer known for challenging Hollywood censorship with films such as The Moon Is Blue and Anatomy of a Murder. His work helped weaken the Motion Picture Production Code's grip on American cinema. He died in New York City.
• 1905 France enacts separation of church and state Law of 1905 ends state funding of religion The French National Assembly passed a law formally separating church and state, ending government financing of religious institutions and guaranteeing freedom of religious practice. The law abrogated Napoleon's 1801 Concordat and provoked strong opposition from the Catholic Church. It remains a cornerstone of French secularism, or laicite, to this day.
• 1905 – 1994 Gilbert Roland (1905-1994) Mexican-born actor with a film career of six decades, from Camille to Cheyenne Autumn.
• 1905 – 2002 Simo Häyhä The White Death A sniper during the Winter War credited with over 500 kills; a symbol of the "Sisu" spirit.
• 1905 – 1976 Howard Hughes (1905-1976) Died 5 April 1976, aged 70 Howard Hughes, the American business magnate, aviator and filmmaker, died aboard an aircraft en route to a Houston hospital. In his final years he lived as a reclusive invalid, moving between hotel penthouses and avoiding public contact. He had built a fortune spanning aviation, film production and real estate.