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1913

Note

1913

Events

January

Main article: January 1913

January – Joseph Stalin travels to Vienna to research his Marxism and the National Question. This means that, during this month, Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky and Tito are all living in the city, as also are Freud and Jung.
January 3 – First Balkan War: Greece completes its capture of the eastern Aegean island of Chios, as the last Ottoman forces on the island surrender.
January 13 – Edward Carson founds the (first) Ulster Volunteer Force, by unifying several existing loyalist militias to resist home rule for Ireland.
January 18 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not venture for the rest of the war.
January 23 – 1913 Ottoman coup d'état: Enver Pasha comes to power.

February

Main article: February 1913

February 1 – New York City's Grand Central Terminal, having been rebuilt, reopens as the world's largest railroad station.
February 3 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect income taxes on all sources of income, not just some.
February 9 – Mexican Revolution: "La Decena Trágica", the rebellion of some military chiefs against the President Francisco I. Madero, begins.
February 13 – Thubten Gyatso, the 13th Dalai Lama, declares the independence of Tibet from Qing dynasty China.
February 18 – Mexican Revolution: President Francisco I. Madero and Vice President José María Pino Suárez are forced to resign. Pedro Lascuráin serves as president for less than an hour, before General Victoriano Huerta, leader of the coup, takes office.
February 22 – Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and José María Pino Suárez are assassinated.
February 23 – Joseph Stalin is arrested by the Russian secret police, the Okhrana, in Petrograd, and exiled to Siberia.

March

Main article: March 1913

March
- The House of Romanov celebrates the 300th anniversary of its succession to the throne, amidst an outpouring of monarchist sentiment in Russia.
- Following the assassination of his rival Song Jiaoren, Yuan Shikai uses military force to dissolve China's parliament, and rules as a dictator.
c. March 1 – British steamship Calvados disappears in the Sea of Marmara, with 200 on board.
March 3 – The Woman Suffrage Procession takes place in Washington, D.C. led by Inez Milholland on horseback.
March 4 – The U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Department of Labor are established, by splitting the duties of the 10-year-old Department of Commerce and Labor. The Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Fisheries and U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey form part of the Department of Commerce.
March 4–6 – First Balkan War: Battle of Bizani – Forces of the Kingdom of Greece capture the forts of Bizani (covering the approaches to Ioannina) from the Ottoman Empire.
March 7 – Alum Chine explosion: British freighter Alum Chine, carrying 343 tons of dynamite, explodes in the harbour of Baltimore, Maryland.
March 13 – Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa returns to Mexico from his self-imposed exile in the United States.
March 17 – The Military Aviation Academy (Escuela de Aviación Militar) is founded in Uruguay, to become the Military Air Force (Fuerza Aérea Militar) on 4 December 1952 (the Uruguayan Air Force (FAU) will grow from this foundation).
March 18 – King George I of Greece is assassinated after 50 years on the throne; he is succeeded by his son Constantine I.
March 20
- Sung Chiao-jen, a founder of the Chinese nationalist party (Kuomintang), is wounded in an assassination attempt, and dies two days later.
- The city of Canberra, the center of the Australian Capital Territory, becomes the official capital of the Commonwealth of Australia.
March 23 – Supporters of Phan Xích Long begin a revolt against colonial rule in French Indochina.
March 25 – The Great Dayton Flood, after four days of rain in the Miami Valley, kills over 360 and destroys 20,000 homes (chiefly in Dayton, Ohio).
March 26
- Mexican Revolution: Venustiano Carranza announces his Plan of Guadalupe, and begins his rebellion against Victoriano Huerta's government, as head of the Constitutionals.
- Balkan Wars: The Siege of Adrianople ends, when Bulgarian forces take Adrianople from the Ottomans.

April

Main article: April 1913

April – Bernhard Kellermann's novel Der Tunnel is published.
April 5 – The United States Soccer Federation is formed.
April 8 – The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed, dictating the direct election of senators.
April 21 – Cunard ocean liner , built by John Brown & Company, is launched on the River Clyde.
April 24 – The Woolworth Building opens in New York City. Designed by Cass Gilbert, it is the tallest building in the world on this date, and for more than a decade after.

May

Main article: May 1913

May 3 – Raja Harishchandra, the first full-length Indian feature film, is released, marking the beginning of the Indian film industry.
May 9–July 11 – A major industrial strike occurs in the Black Country of England, involving 25,000 workers, and threatening preparations for World War I in naval and steel industries. The workers demand 23 shillings minimum wage.
May 14 – New York Governor William Sulzer approves the charter for the Rockefeller Foundation, which begins operations with a $100,000,000 donation from John D. Rockefeller.
May 24–25 – Adolf Hitler moves from Vienna to Munich.
May 24 – Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia marries Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover in Berlin, ending the decades-long rift between the Houses of Hohenzollern and Hanover and marking the last great gathering of European sovereigns.
May 26 (May 13 O.S.) – Igor Sikorsky becomes the first person to pilot a 4-engine fixed-wing aircraft.
May 29 – The ballet The Rite of Spring (music by Igor Stravinsky, conducted by Pierre Monteux, choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky and design by Nicholas Roerich) is premiered by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris; its modernist style provokes one of the most famous classical music riots in history. The audience includes Gabriele D'Annunzio, Coco Chanel, Marcel Duchamp, Harry Graf Kessler and Maurice Ravel.
May 30 – First Balkan War: The Treaty of London is signed, ending the war. Greece is granted those parts of southern Epirus which it does not already control, and the independence of Albania is recognised.

June

Main article: June 1913

June 1 – The Greek–Serbian Treaty of Alliance is signed, paving the way for the Second Balkan War.
June 4 – Emily Davison, a British suffragette, runs out in front of the King's horse, Anmer, at The Derby. She is trampled and dies four days later in hospital, never having regained consciousness.
June 8 – The Deutsches Stadion in Berlin is dedicated with the release of 10,000 pigeons, in front of an audience of 60,000 people. It had been constructed in anticipation of the 1916 Summer Olympics (later to be cancelled as the result of World War I).
June 11
- Women's suffrage is enacted in Norway.
- Battle of Bud Bagsak: Armed with guns and heavy artillery, U.S. and Philippine troops under General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing fight a four-day battle against 500 Moro rebels, who are armed mostly with kampilan swords. The rebels are killed in a final desperate charge on June 15.
June 18 – The Arab Congress of 1913 opens, during which Arab nationalists meet to discuss desired reforms under the Ottoman Empire.
June 19 – The Parliament of South Africa passes the Natives Land Act, limiting land ownership for blacks to black territories.
June 13 – The predecessor of the Aldi store chain opens in Essen, Germany.
June 24 – Joseph Cook becomes the 6th Prime Minister of Australia.
June 29 – The Second Balkan War begins with Bulgaria attacking Serbia and Greece.

July

Main article: July 1913

July 10
- Romania declares war on Bulgaria.
- Death Valley, California hits 134 °F (~56.7 °C), the all-time highest temperature recorded on Earth (although its validity has been challenged, and in 2020 a temperature of 54.4 °C was recorded at the same location, which would make it the world's highest verified air temperature, subject to confirmation).
July 13 – The 1913 Romanian Army cholera outbreak during the Second Balkan War starts.
July 27 – The town of San Javier, Uruguay, is founded by Russian settlers.

August

Main article: August 1913

August 2 – The first known ascent of Mount Olympus in Greece is made by Swiss mountaineers Daniel Baud-Bovy and Frédéric Boissonnas guided by Christos Kakkalos.
August 4 – Republic of China: The city of Chongqing (Chungking) declares independence; Republican forces crush the rebellion in a couple of weeks.
August 10 – Second Balkan War: The Treaty of Bucharest is signed, ending the war. Macedonia is divided, and Northern Epirus is assigned to Albania.
August 13 – Harry Brearley invents stainless steel in Sheffield.
August 20 – After his airplane fails at an altitude of 900 ft, aviator Adolphe Pégoud becomes the first person to bail out from an airplane and land safely.
August 23 – The Little Mermaid statue is finished in Copenhagen, Denmark.
August 26 – Dublin Lock-out in Ireland: Members of James Larkin's Irish Transport and General Workers' Union employed by the Dublin United Tramways Company begin strike action in defiance of the dismissal of trade union members by its chairman.
August 31 – Dublin Lock-out: "Bloody Sunday": The dispute escalates when the Dublin Metropolitan Police kill one demonstrator and injure 400, in dispersing a demonstration.

September

Main article: September 1913 (month)

September 7–8 – The Fourth Congress of the International Psychoanalytical Association (the last occasion on which Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud will meet) takes place in Munich.
September 9
- In Germany, BASF starts the world's first plant for the production of fertilizer based on the Haber-Bosch process, feeding in modern times about a third of the world's population.
- Imperial Russian Army pilot Pyotr Nesterov becomes the first person to loop an airplane, flying a Nieuport IV monoplane over Syretzk Aerodrome near Kiev, in the Russian Empire.
- Helgoland Island air disaster: The first fatalities aboard a German airship occur, when the Imperial German Navy Zeppelin dirigible LZ 14 (naval designation L 1) is forced down into the North Sea off Heligoland during a thunderstorm, killing 16 of the 22 men on board.
September 10 – Jean Sibelius's tone poem Luonnotar is premiered in Gloucester Cathedral, England, with soprano Aino Ackté.
September 17 – In Chicago, the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith is founded, with Sigmund Livingston as its first president.
September 23 – French aviator Roland Garros crosses the Mediterranean in an airplane flying from Fréjus, France to Bizerte, Tunisia.
September 29 – Second Balkan War: The Treaty of Constantinople is signed in Istanbul, between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Bulgaria.

October

Main article: October 1913

Nearly-completed Ford Model Ts at the Highland Park Plant

October 1 – Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa's troops take Torreón after a 3-day battle, when government troops retreat.
October 7–December 1 – The Ford Motor Company adopts a moving assembly line for chassis production of the Model T at its Highland Park Plant in Highland Park, Michigan (Detroit), reducing assembly time from 12½ hours to 2 hours 40 minutes, a landmark in mass production. Between 1912 and 1914 the retail price of a Model T drops by US$150.
October 9 – Canadian-owned ocean liner , carrying passengers (mostly immigrants) and a chemical cargo from Rotterdam to New York City, catches fire in a North Atlantic gale; 136 die, but 521 are saved by ships summoned by SOS messages to the scene.
October 10
- U.S. President Woodrow Wilson triggers the explosion of the Gamboa Dike, ending construction on the Panama Canal.
- Yuan Shikai is elected President of the Republic of China.
October 11 – The Philadelphia Athletics win the deciding game of the 1913 World Series, over baseball's New York Giants, winning 3–1 to take the series in five games.
October 13 – The Armenians of the Ottoman Empire celebrate the 1500th anniversary of the invention of the Armenian alphabet and the 400th anniversary of the first printed Armenian book.
October 14 – Senghenydd colliery disaster: An explosion at the Universal Colliery, Senghenydd in South Wales kills 439 miners, the worst mining accident in the United Kingdom.
October 16 – The British Royal Navy's is launched at Portsmouth Dockyard as the first oil-fired battleship.

Monument to the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig

October 18 – The Monument to the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig, Germany is finished.
October 19 – The DLRG (German Life-Saving Society) is founded.
October 26 – Victoriano Huerta elected president of Mexico.
October 28–December 2 – Zabern Affair: Acts of aggression by the Prussian garrison at Zabern, Alsace-Lorraine provoke political debate across the German Empire.
October 31 – The Lincoln Highway, the first automobile road across the United States, is dedicated.

November

Main article: November 1913

November 5 – King Otto of Bavaria is deposed by his cousin, Prince Regent Ludwig, who assumes the title Ludwig III.
November 6 – Mohandas Gandhi is arrested, while leading a march of Indian miners in South Africa.
November 7–11 – The Great Lakes Storm of 1913 in North America claims 19 ships, and more than 250 lives.

December

Main article: December 1913

December 1
- Crete, having obtained self rule from Turkey after the First Balkan War, is annexed by Greece.
- Buenos Aires Underground, the first in South America, opens.
December 12 – Vincenzo Peruggia tries to sell the Mona Lisa in Florence, and is arrested.
December 19 – The Raker Act is signed by President Woodrow Wilson, allowing the City of San Francisco to dam Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park.
December 23 – The Federal Reserve System is created as the central banking system of the United States, by Woodrow Wilson's signature of the Federal Reserve Act.
December 24 – Italian Hall disaster: seventy-three people – mostly striking mine workers and their families – are crushed to death in a stampede in Calumet, Michigan.
December 30 – Italy returns the Mona Lisa to France.

Date unknown

Between the two Balkan Wars, a group of Bulgarian teachers and priests including teacher Gligor Zisov are deported by the newly established Greek authorities to Bulgaria but killed by Greek soldiers.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is established in Bengal Province (modern-day Bangladesh).
America Cultural Center is inaugurated in Salta, Argentina.
French physicist Georges Sagnac shows that light propagates at a speed independent of the speed of its source.
Camel cigarettes are introduced by R. J. Reynolds in the United States (the first packaged cigarettes).
The State Security Investigations Service, the Middle East's first internal security service, is established in Egypt.
Prada is established as a leather goods dealer in Milan, by Mario Prada and his brother.
Astra, a predecessor of the AstraZeneca global healthcare and pharmaceutical brand, is founded in Södertälje, Sweden.
The value of world trade reaches roughly $38 billion.

Births

January–February

January 1 – Shek Kin, Hong Kong actor (d. 2009)
January 2 – Anna Lee, English-American actress (d. 2004)
January 4
- Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoan head of state (d. 2007)
- Fred Degazon, President of Dominica (d. 2008)
January 6
- Edward Gierek, Polish politician (d. 2001)
- Loretta Young, American actress (d. 2000)
January 9
- Eric Berry, British actor (d. 1993)
- Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States (d. 1994)
January 10
- Gustáv Husák, Slovak politician (d. 1991)
- Mehmet Shehu, 23rd Prime Minister of Albania (d. 1981)
January 11 – Karl Stegger, Danish actor (d. 1980)
January 15
- Eugène Brands, Dutch painter (d. 2002)
- Lloyd Bridges, American actor (d. 1998)
- Alexander Marinesko, Soviet naval officer (d. 1963)
January 22
- Henry Bauchau, Belgian novelist, poet and psychoanalyst (d. 2012)
- William Conway, Irish cardinal (d. 1977)
- Carl F. H. Henry, American theologian and publisher (d. 2003)
January 23 – Jean-Michel Atlan, French painter (d. 1960)
January 25
- Huang Hua, Foreign Minister of China (d. 2010)
- Witold Lutosławski, Polish composer (d. 1994)
January 29 – Victor Mature, American actor (d. 1999)
February 2 – Poul Reichhardt, Danish actor (d. 1985)
February 4 – Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist (d. 2005)
February 6 – Mary Leakey, British anthropologist (d. 1996)
February 8 – Betty Field, American actress (d. 1973)
February 10
- Douglas Slocombe, British cinematographer (d. 2016)
- Bill White, Australian rugby union player (d. 1969)
February 14 – Jimmy Hoffa, American labor leader (disappeared 1975)
February 18 – Artur Axmann, German Nazi national leader of the Hitler Youth (d. 1996)
February 19 – Frank Tashlin, American animation director (d. 1972)
February 23 – P. C. Sorcar, Indian stage magician (d. 1971)
February 25
- Jim Backus, American actor (d. 1989)
- Gert Fröbe, German actor (d. 1988)
February 27
- Paul Ricœur, French philosopher (d. 2005)
- Kazimierz Sabbat, leader of Polish government-in-exile (d. 1989)
- Irwin Shaw, American writer (d. 1984)

March–April

March 2 – Godfried Bomans, Dutch writer (d. 1971)
March 4 – John Garfield, American actor (d. 1952)
March 13
- William J. Casey, American Central Intelligence Agency director (d. 1987)
- Sergey Mikhalkov, Russian writer, lyricist (d. 2009)
March 15 – Rosita Contreras, Argentine actress (d. 1962)
March 18
- René Clément, French film director (d. 1996)
- Reinhard Hardegen, German U-boat commander (d. 2018)
- Werner Mölders, German fighter pilot (d. 1941)
March 19 – Smoky Dawson, Australian singer (d. 2008)
March 26
- Paul Erdős, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1996)
- Jacqueline de Romilly, French philologist (d. 2010)
March 29 – R. S. Thomas, Welsh poet (d. 2000)
March 30
- Richard Helms, American Central Intelligence Agency director (d. 2002)
- Frankie Laine, American singer (d. 2007)
- Ċensu Tabone, Maltese politician (d. 2012)
March 31 – Etta Baker, American musician (d. 2006)
April 3 – Per Borten, Premier of Norway (d. 2005)
April 4
- Frances Langford, American singer, actress (d. 2005)
- Muddy Waters, African-American musician (d. 1983)
April 7 – Louise Currie, American actress (d. 2013)
April 8
- Sourou-Migan Apithy, Beninese political figure, 2nd President of Dahomey (d. 1989)
- Carlton Skinner, Governor of Guam (d. 2004)
April 9 – Aleksanteri Saarvala, Finnish artistic gymnast (d. 1989)
April 10 – Stefan Heym, German writer (d. 2001)
April 11 – Oleg Cassini, American fashion designer (d. 2006)
April 11 – Winifred Drinkwater, Scottish aviator, first woman to hold a commercial pilot's license (d. 1996)
April 14 – Jean Fournet, French conductor (d. 2008)
April 16 – Les Tremayne, British-born American actor (d. 2003)
April 18 – Jack Pope, American judge, attorney, and author (d. 2017)
April 19
- Lloyd Cardwell, American football player and coach (d. 1997)
- Karl Rawer, German physicist (d. 2018)
April 21 – Richard Beeching, chairman of British Rail (d. 1985)
April 27 – Philip Hauge Abelson, American physicist, writer, and editor (d. 2004)
April 29 – Eugene Vielle, British Royal Air Force officer (d. 2015)

May–June

May 1
- Roy Matsumoto, American army officer (d. 2014)
- Louis Nye, American comedian, actor (d. 2005)
- Walter Susskind, Czech conductor (d. 1980)
May 4 – Hisaya Morishige, Japanese actor (d. 2009)
May 5 – Fred J. Doocy, American politician, banker (d. 2017)
May 6 – Stewart Granger, Anglo-American actor (d. 1993)
May 8
- Bob Clampett, American director (Looney Tunes) (d. 1984)
- Saima Harmaja, Finnish poet (d. 1937)
- Sid James, South African-born British actor, comedian (d. 1976)
- Charles Scorsese, American actor, father of Martin Scorsese (d. 1993)
May 11 – Robert Jungk, Austrian journalist (d. 1994)
May 13 – William Tolbert, President of Liberia (d. 1980)
May 16 – Woody Herman, American musician, band leader (d. 1987)
May 19 – Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, Indian politician, 6th President of India (d. 1996)
May 20
- Teodoro Fernández, Peruvian soccer player (d. 1996)
- William Hewlett, American businessman (d. 2001)
May 22 – Benedict Garmisa, American politician (d. 1985)
May 24 – Haldor Topsøe, Danish engineer (d. 2013)
May 26
- Peter Cushing, English actor (d. 1994)
- Pierre Daninos, French writer, humorist (d. 2005)
- Josef Manger, German weightlifter (d. 1991)
May 29 – Jopie Roosenburg-Goudriaan, Dutch painter (d. 1996){{Cite web |access-date=10 June 2024
May 29 – Tony Zale, American boxer (d. 1997)
May 31 – Peter Frankenfeld, German comedian, radio and television personality (d. 1979)
June 2 – Elsie Tu, English-born Hong Kong social activist (d. 2015)
June 3 – Yitzhak Berman, Israeli politician (d. 2013)
June 10 – Benjamin Shapira, German-born Israeli biochemist, recipient of the Israel Prize (d. 1993)
June 11
- Vince Lombardi, American football coach (d. 1970)
- Risë Stevens, American mezzo-soprano (d. 2013)
June 13
- Ralph Edwards, American game show host (d. 2005)
- Yitzhak Pundak, Polish-born Israeli military officer, diplomat (d. 2017)
- Oswald Teichmüller, German mathematician (d. 1943)
June 18
- Robert Mondavi, American winemaker (d. 2008)
- Sammy Cahn, American songwriter (d. 1993)
- Sylvia Field Porter, American economist, journalist (d. 1991)
June 21
- Luis Taruc, Filipino political figure, insurgent (d. 2005)
- Madihe Pannaseeha Thero, Sri Lankan Buddhist monk (d. 2003)
- Kid Azteca, Mexican boxer (d. 2002)
June 22 – Álvaro Alsogaray, Argentine politician and businessman (d. 2005)
June 23
- Jacques Rabemananjara, Malagasy politician, playwright and poet (d. 2005)
- William P. Rogers, American diplomat (d. 2001)
June 24 – Gustaaf Deloor, Belgian road racing cyclist (d. 2002)
June 26
- Aimé Césaire, French Martinican poet, politician (d. 2008)
- Konrāds Kalējs, Latvian soldier (d. 2001)
- Anissa Rawda Najjar, Lebanese feminist, women's rights activist (d. 2016)
- Maurice Wilkes, British computer scientist (d. 2010)
June 28
- Franz Antel, Austrian filmmaker (d. 2007)
- Maldwyn James, Welsh international rugby union player (d. 2003)
June 30
- Henry Leask, British Army officer (d. 2004)
- Alfonso López Michelsen, 24th President of Colombia (d. 2007)