January 2
January 2
Russian fleet surrenders at Port Arthur
During the Russo‑Japanese War, Port Arthur, the Russian naval base in China, falls to Japanese naval forces under Admiral Heihachiro Togo. It was the first in a series of defeats…
A Year In History: 1905
This Year in History:
1905
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
January 22
January 22
Bloody Sunday Massacre in Russia
Well on its way to losing a war against Japan in the Far East, czarist Russia is wracked with internal discontent that finally explodes into violence in St. Petersburg in…
January 25
January 25
World’s largest diamond found
On January 25, 1905, at the Premier Mine in Pretoria, South Africa, a 3,106‑carat diamond is discovered during a routine inspection by the mine’s superintendent. Weighing 1.33 pounds, and christened…
February 13
February 13
Teddy Roosevelt discusses America’s race problem
On February 13, 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt delivers a speech to the New York City Republican Club. Roosevelt had just won reelection, and in this speech, he discussed the country’s…
March 17
March 17
Franklin Roosevelt marries Eleanor Roosevelt
Future president Franklin Delano Roosevelt weds his fifth cousin once removed, Eleanor Roosevelt, in New York on March 17, 1905. Eleanor, born Anna Eleanor Roosevelt in New York in 1884,…
March 27
March 27
Fingerprint evidence is used to solve a British murder case
The neighbors of Thomas and Ann Farrow, shopkeepers in South London, discover their badly bludgeoned bodies in their home. Thomas was already dead, but Ann was still breathing. She died…
March 31
March 31
The First Moroccan Crisis
On March 31, 1905, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany arrives in Tangiers to declare his support for the sultan of Morocco, provoking the anger of France and Britain in what will…
May 4
May 4
The U.S. officially begins construction on the Panama Canal
A ceremony on May 4, 1905 marks the official beginning of the second attempt to build the Panama Canal. This second attempt to bridge the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans will…
May 27
May 27
The Battle of Tsushima Strait
During the Russo‑Japanese War, the Russian Baltic Fleet is nearly destroyed at the Battle of Tsushima Strait. The decisive defeat, in which only 10 of 45 Russian warships escaped to…
June 19
June 19
First nickelodeon opens
On June 19, 1905, some 450 people attend the opening day of the world’s first nickelodeon, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and developed by the showman Harry Davis. The storefront theater…
July 11
July 11
Members of the Niagara Movement meet for the first time
Niagara Movement members begin meeting on the Canadian side of the Niagara Falls. This all‑African American group of scholars, lawyers and businessmen came together for three days to create what…
October 28
October 28
George Bernard Shaw’s “Mrs. Warren’s Profession” is performed in New York
On October 28, George Bernard Shaw’s play Mrs. Warren’s Profession, which dealt frankly with prostitution, is performed at the Garrick Theater in New York. The play, Shaw’s second, had been…
