1912

January 1

• First running of San Francisco's famed "Bay to Breakers" race (7.63 miles/12.3 km). [1]
• Sun Yat-sen forms Chinese Republic. [1]

January 2

• Death of Felix Dahn in Hamburg, Germany, age 77; professor of law, writer. [37] (January 3 [1])

January 3

• Southern Pacific Railroad offers to bring Liberty Bell to Exposition, free. [1]

January 4

• Smallest earth-moon distance this century, 356,375 km center-to-center. [1]

January 6

• New Mexico becomes 47th state. [1]

January 7

• Birth of Charles Addams cartoonist (New Yorker, Addams Family). [1]

January 9

• US marines invade Honduras. [1]

January 10

• Caillaux government in France resigns. [1]
• World's first flying boat's maiden flight, (Glenn Curtiss in New York). [1]

January 12

• -47 degrees F (-44 degrees C), Washta Iowa (state record). [1]

January 13

• -40 degrees F (-40 degrees C), Oakland Maryland (state record). [1]

January 14

• Otto Liebmann German philosopher (Kant and Epigones), dies at age 71. [1]
• Raymond Poincaré becomes premier of France. [1]

January 16

• Georg Heym writer, dies at age 24. [1]

January 18

• British explorer Robert Falcon Scott arrives at the South Pole only to find that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had preceded them by just over a month. [5] (January 17 [1])

January 29

• Hermann Bang writer, dies at age 54. [1]
• Martial law declared in textile strike in Lawrence Massachusetts. [1]

February 2

• Frederick R Law, parachutes from Statue of Liberty (stunt for Pathe). [1]

February 7

• Second Dutch 11 city skate (Coen de Koenig wins (11:40)). [1]

February 8

• First eastbound US transcontinental flight lands in Jacksonville Florida. [1]

February 10

• Joseph Lister first Baron Lister, surgeon (pioneer of antiseptic), dies. [1]

February 12

• The Republic of China adopts the Gregorian calendar. [1] [5]
• Last Ch'ing (Manchu) emperor of China, Henry P'u-i, abdicates. [1]

February 14

• First US submarines with diesel engines commissioned, Groton Connecticut. [1]
• Arizona becomes 48th state. [1]
• Birth of Oliver Wendell Harrington cartoonist. [1]

February 15

• Fram reaches latitude 78 degrees 41' S, farthest south ever by ship. [1]

February 16

• Edgar Evans British explorer (Antarctica), dies. [1]

February 17

• Aloys von Aerenthal foreign minister (Austria-Hungary), dies at age 57. [1]
• L Oates British explorer (Antarctica), dies. [1]

February 22

• J Vedrines makes first airplane flight over 100 mph-161.29 kph. [1]
• Richard Andree German geographer (Andree's Handatlas), dies at age 76. [1]

February 26

• Coal miners strike in England (settle on 03/01). [1]

February 27

• Lord Kitchener opens Khartoum-El Obeid (Nyala) railway. [1]

March 1

• Albert Berry makes first parachute jump from an airplane. [1]
• Isabella Goodwin, first US woman detective, appointed, New York City, New York. [1]

March 5

• Spanish steamer "Principe de Asturias" sinks northeast of Spain, 500 die. [1]

March 7

• Roald Amundsen announces discovery of the South Pole. [1]

March 12

• Captain Albert Berry performs first parachute jump from an airplane. [1]
• Girl Guides (Girl Scouts) founded in Savannah, by Juliette Gordon Low. [1]
• Helen Hayes Theater opens at 238 W 44th Steet New York City. [1]

March 13

• Birth of James Friell political cartoonist. [1]

March 14

• King Vittorio Emanuel III of Rome injured during assassination attempt. [1]

March 16

• Mrs William Howard Taft plants first cherry tree in Washington DC. [1]

March 17

• Camp Fire Girls organization announced by Mrs Luther Halsey Gulick. [1]

March 23

• Dixie Cup invented. [1]

March 27

• First Japanese cherry blossom trees planted in Washington DC. [1]

March 29

• Captain Robert Scott, blizzard-bound in a tent 18 km from the South Pole, makes last entry in his diary "the end cannot be far". [1]
• Robert F Scott British pole explorer (Antarctica), dies. [1]

March 30

• French protectorate in Morocco established. [1]
• Karl May German writer (Winnetou/Kara Ben Nemsi), dies at age 70. [1]

April 1

• Greek athlete Konstantinos Tsiklitiras breaks the world record in standing long jump with a 3.47-metres jump. [5]

April 2

• Sun Yet Sen forms Guomindang-Party in China. [1]
• Titanic undergoes sea trials under its own power. [1]

April 4

• The Titanic arrives at Southampton after finishing sea trials. [117.39]
• Army fires on striking mine workers at Lena-gold fields Siberia. [1]
• Chinese republic proclaimed in Tibet. [1]

April 6

• Electric starter first appeared in cars. [1]

April 8

• Steamers collide in the Nile, drowning 200. [1]

April 9

• Titanic leaves Queenstown Ireland for New York. [1]

April 10

• RMS Titanic sets sail from Southampton, England for its first (and last) voyage, with 2207 passengers and crew. [1] [117.40] [260.92]

April 11

• Cornerstone of Technion in Haifa Palestine laid. [1]

April 12

• Clara Barton organized American Red Cross, dies at age 90. [1]
• The Titanic departs Queenstown, Ireland with final passengers and mail, now 1316 passengers, 885 crew, headed for New York. [117.40]

April 13

• Royal Flying Corps forms (later RAF). [1]

April 14

• Pan American Union forms. [1]
• (11:40 PM) The Titanic, on route from Southampton to New York, strikes an iceberg 453 miles southeast of Newfoundland, 37 seconds after warning from the night watchman in the crow's nest. Six of 15 watertight compartments are breached by a 300-foot gash. [1] [117.41] [260.92]

April 15

• (00:05 AM) Captain Smith of the Titanic orders lifeboats to be uncovered, and for passengers to be assembled to abandon ship. [117.41]
• (00:15 AM) Telegraph operator aboard the Titanic sends a constant distress call "CQD" and Titanic's call letters "MGY"; then sends out "SOS". Carpathia answers the call. [117.41]
• (00:25 AM) Captain Smith of the Titanic orders women and children into lifeboats. [117.42]
• (00:45 AM) The first lifeboat from the Titanic is lowered to the sea, with 28 people, of a capacity of 65. [117.42]
• (2:27 AM) Titanic sinks at in North Atlantic. An estimated 1522 people die. [1] [260.92]
• (4:00+ AM) Carpathia rescues 712 survivors from the Titanic. 1490-1523 die. [117.43]

April 16

• Harriet Quimby becomes first woman pilot to cross the English Channel. [1]

April 17

• First unofficial gold record (Al Jolson's "Ragging The Baby To Sleep"). [1]

April 20

• Bram Stoker Irish theater manager/writer (Dracula), dies. [1]

April 24

• Justin M'Carthy politician/novelist (Miss Misanthrope), dies at age 81. [1]

April 27

• Relief laws replaces those of 1854, in Netherlands. [1]

April 29

• 108 degrees F (42 degrees C), Tuguegarao Philippines (Oceania record). [1]
• Frank Wedekind's "Tod und Teufel", premieres in Berlin. [1]

April 30

• Frantisek Kmoch composer, dies. [1]

May 1

• Beverly Hills Hotel opens. [1]

May 2

• Birth of Marten Toonder writer/cartoonist (Mr Bommel). [1]

May 4

• Italian mariners occupy Turkish Island of Rhodes. [1]

May 5

• Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda begins publishing. [1]

May 7

• Columbia University approves plans for awarding the Pulitzer Prize in several categories The award is established by Joseph Pulitzer. [1]

May 13

• Royal Flying Corps is established in England. [1] [241.9]

May 14

• August Strindberg Swedish writer (Deaddans), dies at age 63. [1]
• Frederik VIII King of Denmark (1906-12), dies at age 68. [1]

May 15

• Ty Cobb rushes a heckler at a New York Highlander game and is suspended. [1]

May

• The Ottawa branch mint strikes Canada's first $5 and $10 gold coins. [3]

May 18

• Maurits Binger establishes two Dutch movie companies. [1]

May 26

• Jan Blockx Belgian opera composer (Bride of the Sea), dies at age 61. [1]

May 29

• Fifteen young women fired by Curtis Publishing for dancing the "Turkey Trot" during their lunch break. [1]

May 30

• US Marines sent to Nicaragua. [1]
• Wilbur Wright, US aviation pioneer, dies. [1] [5]

May 31

• US marines land on Cuba. [1]

June 4

• Cone of Mount Katmai (Alaska) collapses. [1]
• Massachusetts passes first US minimum wage law. [1]

June 5

• US marines invade Cuba (3nd time). [1]

June 6

• Novarupta in Alaska begins erupting, resulting in the second largest volcanic eruption in historic time. [5]

June 7

• Saint Pius X encyclical "On the Indians of South America". [1]
• US army tests first machine gun mounted on a plane. [1]

July 4

• Detroit Tiger George Mullen no-hits Saint Louis Browns, 7-0. [1]

July 12

• First foreign feature film exhibited in US-"Queen Elizabeth"-New York City. [1]

July 15

• British National Health Insurance Act goes into effect. [1]

July 16

• Naval torpedo launched from an airplane patented by B.A. Fiske. [1]

July 20

• Philadelphia Phillies Sherry Magee steals home twice in one game. [1]

July 25

• Comoros proclaimed a French colonies. [1]

July 31

• US government prohibits movies and photos of prize fights (censorship). [1]

August 5

• Japan's first taxicab service begins in Ginza, Tokyo. [5]

August 7

• Progressive (Bull Moose) Party nominates Theodore Roosevelt for president. [1]

August 14

• 2,500 US marines invade Nicaragua; US remains until 1925. [1]

August 20

• Plant Quarantine Act goes into effect. [1]

August 21

• Mr Carter-Cotton chosen first chancellor of Univ of British Columbia. [1]

August 24

• New York City ticker tape parade for Jim Thorpe and victorious US olympians. [1]
• Territory of Alaska organized. [1]
• US passes Anti-gag law, federal employees right to petition the government. [1]

August 25

• First time an aircraft recovers from a spin. [1]

August 27

• Edgar Rice Burroughs' publishes Tarzan. [1]

September 3

• World's first cannery opens in England to supply food to the navy. [1]

September 9

• J Verdrines becomes first to fly over 100 mph (107 mph/172 kph). [1]

September 11

• Philadelphia Athletics Eddie Collins steals six bases in one game. [1]

September 22

• Eddie Collins steals six bases in a game, for second time in 11 days. [1]

September 23

• First Mack Sennett "Keystone Comedy" movie released. [1]

September 28

• "Kiche Maru" sinks off Japan, killing 1,000. [1]

October 4

• Nicaraguan General Zeledon, opponent of US occupation, is executed. [1]

October 8

• First Balkan War begins. [1]

October 9

• Millie and Christine Siamese twins, die at age 61. [1]

October 14

• Bull Moose Teddy Roosevelt shot while campaigning in Milwaukee. [1]

October 18

• Beginning of the first Balkan War. [1]
• Italo-Turkish war ends. [1]

October 19

• Tripoli (Libya) passes from Turkish to Italian control. [1]

November 3

• First pilot shot down: Bulgarian pilot while making reconnaissance flight over Adrianople. [55.8]

November 5

• Woodrow Wilson (Democrat) beats Theodore Roosevelt (Progressive) and President Taft (Republican). [1]

November 18

• Albania declares independence from Turkey. [1]

November 25

• American College of Surgeons incorporates in Springfield, Illinois. [1]

November 27

• Albanian National Flag adopted. [1]
• Spanish protectorate in Morocco established. [1]

December 3

• Gerrit Brinkman becomes first Dutch traffic officer. [1]
• Turkey, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Bulgaria sign weapons pact. [1]

December 6

• China votes for universal human rights. [1]

December 7

• Bust of Queen Nefertete found in El-Amarna, Egypt. [1]
• George Darwin theorized Moon was pulled out of Pacific Ocean, dies. [1]

December 12

• Luitpold von Bayern prince-regent of Bayern, dies at age 91. [1]
• R Friml/O Harbachs musical "Firefly" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]

December 16

• First US postage stamp picturing an airplane, 20-cent parcel post, issued. [1]
• Austria-Hungary engage in conflict with Serbia. [1]

December 20

• J Hartley Manners' "Peg O' My Heart" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]
• Paul Claudels "L'Annonce Faite à Marie" premieres in Paris. [1]

December 21

• Sweden, Denmark, and Norway issue a declaration of agreement on principles of neutrality, pledging to notify each other of any departure from these principles. [1] [7]

December 23

• First "Keystone Kops" film, titled "Hoffmeyer's Legacy". [1]
• Aswan Dam in Nile begins operation. [1]

December 24

• Irving Fisher patents archiving system with index cards. [1]

December 28

• National Council of Young Israel convenes. [1]
• The first municipally-owned streetcars take to the streets in San Francisco, California. [1] [5]

December 30

• Alfred von Kiderlen-Waechter German foreign minister, dies at age 60. [1]