Dashed left edge = started before January 1912 ·
Dashed right edge = ongoing beyond January 1912
Events in January 1912 9
1912Australian Open 1912Men: James Cecil Parke
1912 – 1988Kim Philby (1912-1988)Died 11 May 1988, aged 76Kim Philby was a British intelligence officer who spied for the Soviet Union for decades as part of the Cambridge Five spy ring. He defected to the Soviet Union in 1963 after his cover was compromised. He died in Moscow, where he had lived in exile.
1912Republic of China proclaimedSun Yat-sen ends 2,000 years of imperial ruleOn 1 January 1912, Sun Yat-sen was inaugurated as the first president of the Republic of China, ending 2,133 years of imperial rule. The last Qing emperor, six-year-old Puyi, abdicated on 12 February 1912. The republic was almost immediately undermined by warlordism and the struggle between the Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), eventually leading to civil war.
1912New Mexico admitted as a U.S. stateBecomes the 47th state of the UnionNew Mexico is admitted to the United States as the 47th state on 6 January 1912, after more than 60 years as a U.S. territory. Its admission, along with Arizona's weeks later, completes the contiguous 48 states outside of Alaska and Hawaii.
1912 – 1992Jose Ferrer (1912-1992)Died 26 January 1992, aged 80Jose Ferrer was a Puerto Rican-American actor and director who won an Academy Award for his role in "Cyrano de Bergerac," becoming the first Hispanic actor to win an Oscar. He had a long career on Broadway and in Hollywood spanning five decades. He also directed several stage and film productions.
1912Lawrence textile strikeBread and Roses strike over wage cutsImmigrant mill workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, strike after employers cut wages in response to a new law shortening the work week. The strike, later known as the Bread and Roses strike, draws national attention to labor conditions and ends in March with wage increases for textile workers across New England.
1912Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South PoleArrives five weeks after AmundsenRobert Falcon Scott and four companions of the Terra Nova Expedition reach the South Pole on 17 January, only to find that Roald Amundsen's Norwegian party had beaten them by five weeks. Demoralized, the group begins the 800-mile return march to their base camp. All five men die before reaching safety.
1912International Opium Convention signedFirst global drug-control treatyRepresentatives of thirteen nations sign the International Opium Convention at The Hague on 23 January 1912, agreeing to suppress the manufacture, sale, and use of opium, morphine, and cocaine. It becomes the basis for subsequent international drug-control treaties.
1912 – 1956Jackson PollockAbstract Expressionism · USAJackson Pollock (January 28, 1912 – August 11, 1956) was an American painter and pioneer of Abstract Expressionism whose drip technique revolutionised painting. He died in a car crash at 44, defining the archetype of the tortured American artist.