Year retrospective · 1900s

1904

1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar, the 1904th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 904th year of the 2nd millennium, the 4th year of the 20th…

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1900s

Defining moment · 1904

Two Ms  ~7.1 earthquakes, among the largest in Europe, strike Bulgaria, killing over 200 people and causing destruction.

The 1904 Kresna earthquakes occurred on the same day of April 4 in the Kresna region of Bulgaria. 2 on the surface wave magnitude scale, and were assigned the respective Modified Mercalli intensity scale ratings of X (Extreme) and XI (Extreme). More than 200 people were killed in the two earthquakes.

See april 4 in detail

Timeline

Defining events of 1904

1904 Two Ms  ~7.1 earthquakes, among the largest in Europe, strike Bulgaria, killing over 200 people and causing destruction.

Earthquakes in Bulgaria

The 1904 Kresna earthquakes occurred on the same day of April 4 in the Kresna region of Bulgaria. 2 on the surface wave magnitude scale, and were assigned the respective Modified Mercalli intensity scale ratings of X (Extreme) and XI (Extreme). More than 200 people were killed in the two earthquakes.
1904 The French Third Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland sign the Entente cordiale.

Government of France from 1870 to 1940

The French Third Republic was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940, after the Fall of France during World War II led to the formation of the Vichy government. The French Third Republic was a parliamentary republic.
1904 Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of the Yellow Sea between the Russian and Japanese battleship fleets takes place.

1904–1905 conflict in East Asia

The Russo-Japanese War was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the Liaodong Peninsula and near Mukden in Southern Manchuria, with naval battles taking place in the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan.
1904 The automobile tire chain is patented.

Devices fitted to the tires of vehicles to improve traction on snow and ice

Snow chains, or tire chains, are devices fitted to the tires of vehicles to provide increased traction when driving through snow and ice.
1904 Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Liaoyang begins.

1904–1905 conflict in East Asia

The Russo-Japanese War was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the Liaodong Peninsula and near Mukden in Southern Manchuria, with naval battles taking place in the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan.
1904 The Jovian moon Himalia is discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine at California's Lick Observatory.

Natural satellites of the planet Jupiter

There are 115 known moons of the planet Jupiter as of 9 April 2026. This number does not include a number of meter-sized moonlets thought to be shed from the inner moons, nor hundreds of possible kilometer-sized outer irregular moons that were only briefly captured by telescopes. All together, Jupiter's moons form a satellite system, colloquially referred to as the Jovian system.
1904 Theodore Roosevelt articulated his "Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the U.S. would intervene in the Western Hemisphere should Latin American governments prove incapable or unstable.
1904 Comparative fuel trials begin between warships HMS Spiteful and HMS Peterel: Spiteful was the first warship powered solely by fuel oil, and the trials led to the obsolescence of coal in ships of the Royal Navy.
1904 The United Kingdom sells a meteorological station on the South Orkney Islands to Argentina; the islands are subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908.
1904 The Great Baltimore Fire begins in Baltimore, Maryland; it destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.