Current World Events

The following presents a brief survey of current events within 6-8 months of start of game. These events were all widely reported, so your character is likely to have heard about them.

August 22, 1910
Japan officially annexed Korea, renaming it Cho-sen. This bold move-enabled by Japan's decisive win in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905-is considered further evidence of Japan's growing power and its plans to establish "spheres of influence" in the Far East.

October 5, 1910
A revolt broke out against the Portuguese monarchy, led by the Army and Navy. Precipitated by the assassination of a prominent Republican leader, the revolt forced King Manuel II to flee to England. The leaders of the revolt declared a Republic and named important author Teofilo Braga Interim President.

November 1910
The Mexican Revolution began. Francisco Madero, a liberal, had called for elections against president Porfirio Diaz. Diaz had him imprisoned shortly before the elections, but Madero jumped bail and escaped to the US. On November 20, 1910 Madero issued the "Plan of San Luis Potosi," which labeled the elections fraudulent, declared Madero president, and called for widespread revolution. The revolution is still in progress in April 1911.

November 20, 1910
Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, author of Anna Karenina and War and Peace, died.

March 1911
The eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica was published. It included articles from many of the foremost scholars of the day, including Edmund Gosse, Algernon Charles Swinburne, John Muir, Prince Peter Kropotkin, and William Michael Rossetti. The advertisement for the encyclopedia read, "A complete and modern exposition of thought, learning and achievement, a vivid representation of the world's activities, so arranged and classified as to afford a maximum of accessibility, and embodying everything that can possibly interest or concern a civilized people...a cross section of the trunk of the tree of knowledge."

January 4, 1911
Police in London raided a house in which two members of a gang believed to have murdered 3 police officers in December were hiding. The raid developed into a pitched battle and siege that involved 1500 police officers at its largest point (mostly employed in restraining the crowd of 2-3,000 people that had gathered to watch). Home Secretary Winston Churchill directed the operation for several hours. The standoff ended when the house caught fire and all inside burned to death.

January 18, 1911
Pilot Eugene Ely successfully landed an airplane on a small landing platform on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania, anchored in San Francisco Bay. The aircraft, a specially-adapted Curtiss biplane, was stopped by a series of ropes. The event was observed by thousands of spectators.

January 21, 1911
The US Republican party split further with the formation of the National Progressive Republican League. Robert La Follette became the leader of the league.

January 26, 1911
Richard Strauss premiered his new opera, "Der Rosenkavalier" in Dresden, Germany.

February 21, 1911
The United States concluded a new treaty with Japan, further limiting immigration of Japanese laborers (as begun in the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907).

March 25, 1911
A massive fire in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in Lowell, Massachusetts killed 146 young female factory workers. The fire has brought poor factory working conditions into the general consciousness and caused a public outcry. Many are calling for improved working conditions, inspections, and greater regulation-a trend that can be traced back to the early 1900s and the work of progressive "muckraker" journalists like Upton Sinclair.


World Leaders in 1911

Great Britain

King George V

1910-1936

United States

President William Howard Taft

1909-1913

France

President of the Republic Armand Fallières

1906-1913

Belgium

King Albert I

1909-1934

The Netherlands

Queen Wilhelmina

1898-1948

Spain

King Alfonso XIII

1885-1931

Portugal

President Teofilo Braga

1910-1926

Germany

Kaiser Wilhelm II

1888-1918

Austria-Hungary

Emperor Franz Joseph

1848-1916

Italy

King Victor Emmanuel III

1900-1946

Russia

Czar Nicholas II Romanov

1894-1917

China

Emperor Puyi (child emperor)

1908-1912

Japan

Emperor Meiji

1867-1912

Morocco

Sultan Moulay Abdelhafid

Took the throne in 1908


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