Year retrospective · 1900s

1908

1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar, the 1908th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 908th year of the 2nd millennium, the 8th year of the 20th…

Recorded events

10

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Notable births

0

Notable deaths

16

Decade

1900s

Timeline

Defining events of 1908

  1. 1908 The Territorial Force (renamed Territorial Army in 1920) is formed as a volunteer reserve component of the British Army.

    British Army volunteer component (1908–1921)

    The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation was created by the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907, which consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry into a unified auxiliary, commanded by the War Office and administered by local county territorial associations. The Territorial Force was designed to reinforce the regular army in expeditionary operations abroad, but because of political opposition it was assigned to home defence.

  2. 1908 SMS Blücher, the last armored cruiser to be built by the Imperial German Navy, is launched.

    Armored cruiser of the German Imperial Navy

    SMS Blücher was the last armored cruiser built for the German Kaiserliche Marine beginning in 1907. She was designed in response to the latest British armored cruisers, but the British had already begun work on the Invincible-class battlecruisers, which marked a significant increase in firepower over earlier armored cruisers. 5 cm (12 in) guns of the British ships.

  3. 1908 Hauser Dam, a steel dam on the Missouri River in Montana, fails, sending a surge of water 25 to 30 feet (7.6 to 9.1 m) high downstream.

    Dam in Montana, U.S.

    Hauser Dam is a hydroelectric straight gravity dam on the Missouri River about 14 miles (23 km) northeast of Helena, Montana, in the United States. The original dam, built between 1905 and 1907, failed in 1908 and caused severe flooding and damage downstream. A second dam was built on the site in 1908 and opened in 1911 and comprises the present structure.

  4. 1908 Natural Bridges National Monument is established in Utah.

    National monument in San Juan County, Utah, US

    S. National Monument located about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of the Four Corners boundary of southeast Utah, in the western United States, at the junction of White Canyon and Armstrong Canyon, part of the Colorado River drainage. It features the thirteenth largest natural bridge in the world, carved from the white Permian sandstone of the Cedar Mesa Formation that gives White Canyon its name.

  5. 1908 Opening day of competition in the New South Wales Rugby League.

    Rugby league competition operator in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory

    The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission.

  6. 1908 The Qing dynasty promulgates the Qinding Xianfa Dagang, the first constitutional document in the history of China, transforming the Qing empire into a constitutional monarchy.

    Manchu-led dynasty of China (1644–1912)

    The Qing dynasty, officially the Great Qing, also known as the Qing Empire or Qing China, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia which existed from 1636/1644 to 1912. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China. At its height of power, the empire stretched from the Sea of Japan in the east to the Pamir Mountains in the west, and from the Mongolian Plateau in the north to the South China Sea in the south.

  7. 1908 Wilbur Wright makes the Wright Brothers' first public flight, at a racecourse at Le Mans, France.
  8. 1908 Puyi becomes Emperor of China at the age of two.
  9. 1908 The 7.1 Mw  Messina earthquake shakes Southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between about 80,000.
  10. 1908 Lisbon Regicide: King Carlos I of Portugal and Infante Luis Filipe are shot dead in Lisbon.

Farewells

Died in 1908

Henry Campbell-Bannerman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1908
Pat Garrett American lawman (1850–1908)
John Hope British aristocrat and statesman (1860–1908)
Charles Kingston Australian politician (1850–1908)
Henry Campbell-Bannerman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1908
Pat Garrett American lawman (1850–1908)
John Hope British aristocrat and statesman (1860–1908)
Charles Kingston Australian politician (1850–1908)
Henry Campbell-Bannerman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1908
Pat Garrett American lawman (1850–1908)
John Hope British aristocrat and statesman (1860–1908)
Charles Kingston Australian politician (1850–1908)

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