The world in 1914
In 1914, the timeline shows 235 states, empires and colonies and 73 peoples across 12 regions. The most significant include Ethiopian Empire (Solomonic dynasty), Ottoman Empire, Portuguese Empire, Kingdom of Kongo, United States, United Kingdom, Haiti and Russian Empire.
See 1914 on the interactive chart
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What was happening around 1914
- Wounded Knee Massacre, North America. US 7th Cavalry troops trying to disarm Spotted Elk's band of Lakota at Wounded Knee Creek on 29 December kill between 250 and 300 Lakota and wound 51, of whom 47 are women and children. Twenty-five soldiers are also killed.
- Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Oceania. A Committee of Safety of foreign-born and Hawaiian-born residents, protected by US Marines, deposes Queen Liliuokalani. Its leaders sought annexation, which the United States carried out in 1898.
- Women's suffrage in New Zealand, Oceania. New Zealand becomes the first self-governing country to give all adult women the vote, after petitions led by Kate Sheppard.
- Rinderpest sweeps southern Africa, Central and Southern Africa. Rinderpest, spreading south from the Horn of Africa, crosses the Zambezi in 1896 and kills more than 5.2 million cattle south of the river. Famine follows across the region, killing an estimated two-thirds of the Maasai of Tanzania.
- Battle of Adwa, North and West Africa. Emperor Menelik II's army defeats an Italian invasion force, and Italy is forced to recognise Ethiopia's sovereignty in the Treaty of Addis Ababa.
- Philippine Revolution, Southeast Asia. The Katipunan, a secret society, rises against Spain after it is discovered in August. In December the Spanish execute Jose Rizal, the writer whose works had inspired the revolution.
- Spanish-American War, Mesoamerica and Caribbean. After the USS Maine sinks in Havana Harbor, the United States fights Spain and acquires Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines and a protectorate over Cuba, ending almost four centuries of Spanish presence in the Americas and Asia.
- Second Boer War begins, Central and Southern Africa. War between Britain and the Boer republics brings scorched-earth tactics and concentration camps, where 26,000 Boer civilians and about 20,000 interned Black Africans die of starvation and disease.
- Boxer Rebellion, East Asia. An uprising in North China against foreign influence lasts from 1899 to 1901. Boxers besiege Beijing's Legation Quarter for 55 days until an Eight-Nation Alliance relieves it; the 1901 Boxer Protocol imposes a 450 million tael indemnity.
- Federation of Australia, Oceania. The six Australian colonies unite as the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901.
- Wright brothers' first flight, North America. Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first controlled, sustained flight of an engine-powered, heavier-than-air aircraft near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on 17 December.
- Herero and Nama genocide, Central and Southern Africa. German forces under Lothar von Trotha crush the Herero and Nama risings, driving survivors into the Omaheke desert and into concentration camps.
- Russo-Japanese War, East Asia. Russia and Japan fight over rival ambitions in Manchuria and Korea, with land battles on the Liaodong Peninsula and near Mukden and naval battles in the Yellow Sea and Sea of Japan. The Treaty of Portsmouth ends the war in September 1905.
- Maji Maji rebellion, Central and Southern Africa. Peoples of southern German East Africa rise against forced cotton growing. By 1907, 75,000 to 300,000 people have died, mostly in a famine caused largely by German scorched-earth tactics.
- Oil struck at Masjed Soleyman, Middle East. William Knox D'Arcy's drillers find oil in southwest Iran, the first big strike in the Middle East. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company, later BP, is founded in 1909.
- Tunguska explosion, Central and North Asia. An air burst, most likely from a meteor, flattens several million trees over more than 2,150 square kilometres of taiga near the Podkamennaya Tunguska river.
- Mexican Revolution, Mesoamerica and Caribbean. A revolt against Porfirio Díaz turns into a decade of civil war that kills about a million people and produces the Constitution of 1917.
- Xinhai Revolution, East Asia. An army mutiny at Wuchang spreads across the provinces, and the last Qing emperor Puyi abdicates in February 1912.
- First World War begins, Europe. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28 June sets off a war that causes 15 to 22 million deaths and ends with the collapse of four empires.
- Panama Canal opens, Mesoamerica and Caribbean. The canal, built by the United States after it took over the project in 1904, opens on 15 August 1914, giving ships a short route between the Atlantic and Pacific.
- Armenian genocide, Middle East. The Ottoman government deports and massacres its Armenian population. Between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians die.
- Arab Revolt and Sykes-Picot, Middle East. Sharif Hussein of Mecca rises against the Ottomans, while Britain and France secretly agree to divide the Arab provinces between them.
- Russian Revolution, Europe. The tsar abdicates in March, and in November the Bolsheviks under Lenin seize power in Petrograd.
- 1918 influenza pandemic, North America. The earliest probable cases are documented in Kansas in March, though the pandemic's origin is undetermined. An estimated 500 million people are infected worldwide, and estimates of deaths range from 17 to 50 million, possibly 100 million.
- Treaty of Versailles, Europe. Signed on 28 June, the treaty ends the state of war between Germany and most of the Allied Powers. Germany, barred from the negotiations, must disarm, make territorial concessions and pay reparations.
- Jallianwala Bagh massacre, South Asia. Troops of the British Indian Army under Brigadier-General Dyer fire on an unarmed crowd at Amritsar, killing an estimated 379 to 1,500 or more. Anger at the massacre fed the non-cooperation movement.
- Korean Provisional Government founded in Shanghai, East Asia. A government-in-exile formed in the Shanghai French Concession on 11 April 1919 after the March First Movement. It later settled in Chongqing and came to an end after Japan's surrender in 1945.
- Treaty of Lausanne, Middle East. The Allies make peace with Turkey and recognise it as the Ottoman successor state. A convention signed at Lausanne exchanges about 1.2 million Greek Orthodox Christians and up to 400,000 Muslims.
- Wall Street Crash, North America. Prices on the New York Stock Exchange collapse in October 1929, with record trading on Black Thursday. The crash marks what would cascade into the worldwide Great Depression, though scholars disagree about its role.
- Gandhi's Salt March, South Asia. Gandhi walks 387 km from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi in Gujarat to make salt in defiance of the British salt monopoly, starting the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement.
- Kazakh famine, Central and North Asia. Collectivization and the seizure of herds cause a famine in which an estimated 1.3 to 2.3 million people die between 1930 and 1933, most of them Kazakhs. Between 38 and 42 percent of all Kazakhs perished.
- Mukden Incident, East Asia. Japanese military personnel set off a small explosion beside the South Manchuria Railway on 18 September and blame Chinese dissidents as a pretext for invading Manchuria. Five months later Japan establishes the puppet state of Manchukuo.
- Holodomor, Europe. A man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine kills millions in 1932 and 1933; recent estimates run from 3.5 to 5 million. Ukraine and 33 other UN members call it genocide, while scholars dispute whether it was intended or aimed at Ukrainians.
- Hitler becomes chancellor, Europe. President Hindenburg appoints Adolf Hitler chancellor of Germany on 30 January after backroom negotiations. On 23 March Hitler calls on the Reichstag to vote for the Enabling Act.
- Long March, East Asia. About 100,000 Communist troops retreat from the Jiangxi Soviet and other bases ahead of the Kuomintang, travelling about 10,000 kilometres to a new headquarters at Yan'an. About 8,000 survive to reach it in October 1935.
- Spanish Civil War begins, Europe. Nationalist rebels, aided by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, fight Republicans loyal to the Second Spanish Republic, who are supported by the Soviet Union. The Nationalists win in early 1939 and rule Spain until Franco's death in 1975.
- War with Japan and the Nanjing massacre, East Asia. Fighting at the Marco Polo Bridge in July grows into full-scale war. Japanese troops take Nanjing in December and massacre civilians and prisoners; most estimates put the dead at 100,000 to over 200,000.
- Second World War begins, Europe. Germany invades Poland on 1 September. The war in Europe kills tens of millions, including six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, before Germany surrenders in May 1945.
Central and Southern Africa
- Kingdom of Kongo
- Central African forest foragers
- San hunter-gatherers
- Kingdom of Buganda
- Portuguese Mozambique
- Portuguese Angola
- Sultanate of Zanzibar
- British Kenya
- French Madagascar
- Belgian Congo
- Union of South Africa
- French Equatorial Africa
- German East Africa
- German South West Africa
- East African hunter-gatherers
- Kikuyu people
- Kingdom of Nkore (Ankole)
- Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe
- Kingdom of Rwanda
- Maasai pastoralists
- Ovambo kingdoms
- Lozi Kingdom (Barotseland)
- Kingdom of Burundi
- Spanish Guinea
- British Mauritius
- Tooro Kingdom
- Basutoland
- Bechuanaland Protectorate
- Nyasaland
- Crown Colony of the Seychelles
- Uganda Protectorate
- British Swaziland
- Company Rhodesia
North and West Africa
- Ethiopian Empire (Solomonic dynasty)
- French Algeria
- Muhammad Ali dynasty (Khedivate)
- French West Africa
- British Nigeria
- Medjay, Blemmyes and Beja nomads
- Cushitic-speaking peoples
- Sahelian cereal farmers
- West African yam and oil palm farmers
- Amazigh (Berber) tribes
- Coptic Christians
- Saharan camel nomads (Sanhaja and Tuareg)
- Chadic-speaking farmers
- Arab tribes of Sudan
- Kingdom of Bamum
- Portuguese Cape Verde
- Oromo Gadaa confederations
- Sultanate of Darfur
- French Senegal
- Sultanate of Aussa
- Liberia
- Majeerteen Sultanate
- Sierra Leone Colony
- Gambia Colony and Protectorate
- Kingdom of Jimma
- British Gold Coast
- Portuguese Guinea
- French Somaliland
- Spanish Sahara
- British Somaliland
- French protectorate of Tunisia
- Italian Somaliland
- French Chad
- Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
- Italian Eritrea
- Sultanate of Hobyo
- French protectorate in Morocco
- Spanish protectorate in Morocco
- British occupation of Egypt
- Italian Libya
- German Kamerun (north)
- German Togoland
- German Kamerun (south)
- Dervish State
- Northern Nigeria Protectorate
- Sultanate of Egypt
Europe
- Ottoman Empire
- Portuguese Empire
- United Kingdom
- Russian Empire
- German Empire
- Kingdom of Bohemia
- Kingdom of Sweden
- Kingdom of Prussia
- Kingdom of the Netherlands
- Kingdom of Spain (1814 to 1931)
- Kingdom of Greece
- Romania (United Principalities and Kingdom)
- Kingdom of Italy
- French Third Republic
- Austria-Hungary
- Sami people
- Basques
- San Marino
- Andorra
- Bavaria (Wittelsbach)
- Monaco
- Montenegro (Prince-Bishopric to Kingdom)
- British Gibraltar
- Liechtenstein
- Switzerland
- Kingdom of Denmark
- Luxembourg
- Belgium
- British Malta
- Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
- Kingdom of Norway
- Albania
- Grand Duchy of Finland
- Principality and Kingdom of Serbia
- Congress Poland
- British Cyprus
- Principality and Tsardom of Bulgaria
- First Portuguese Republic
Middle East
- Ottoman Empire
- Zaydi Imamate of Yemen
- Ottoman Syria and Palestine
- Ottoman Iraq
- Qajar dynasty
- Russian Caucasus
- Arab Bedouin tribes
- Kurdish tribes and emirates
- Sharifate of Mecca
- Mahra Sultanate
- Ottoman Hejaz and Yemen
- Sheikhdom of Kuwait
- Bahrain under the Al Khalifa
- Trucial States
- British Aden
- Sultanate of Muscat and Oman
- Sheikhdom of Qatar
- Emirate of Jabal Shammar
- Emirate and Sultanate of Nejd
- Emirate of Asir
South Asia
- British Raj
- Kingdom of Mysore
- Kingdom of Nepal
- Hyderabad State
- Munda-speaking peoples
- Tibeto-Burman hill peoples
- Vedda people
- Kingdom of Mewar
- Pashtun tribes
- Kingdom of Manipur
- Kingdom of Marwar
- Twipra Kingdom
- Portuguese Goa
- Koch dynasty and Cooch Behar
- Kingdom of Sikkim
- French India
- Bhopal State
- Baroda State
- Jaipur State
- Travancore
- Gwalior State
- Bahawalpur State
- British Ceylon
- British Assam
- Kingdom of Bhutan
- Rana regime
- Emirate of Afghanistan
- Jammu and Kashmir princely state
- Maldives under British protection
Central and North Asia
- Russian Siberia
- Russian Turkestan
- Yukaghir peoples
- Chukchi, Koryak and Itelmen peoples
- Evenki and Even reindeer herders
- Khanty, Mansi and Samoyedic peoples
- Buryats
- Sakha (Yakuts)
- Khanate of Khiva
- Russian Far East and Yakutia
- Kumul Khanate
- Emirate of Bukhara
- Russian Kazakh Steppe
- Xinjiang under the Republic of China
- Bogd Khanate of Mongolia
East Asia
- Empire of Japan
- Ganden Phodrang (Dalai Lama government)
- Republic of China (mainland)
- Formosan Austronesian peoples
- Qiang peoples
- Ainu
- Portuguese Macau
- Han settlers of the Northeast
- British Hong Kong
- Japanese Taiwan
- Kwantung Leased Territory
- Japanese Korea
- Beiyang government
Southeast Asia
- Dutch East Indies
- Sultanate of Sulu
- Rattanakosin Kingdom (Siam)
- Nguyen dynasty
- British Burma
- British Malaya
- French Indochina
- American Philippines
- Philippine Negrito foragers
- Orang Asli (Semang and Senoi)
- Dayak peoples of Borneo
- Shan States
- Ternate and Tidore sultanates
- Portuguese Timor
- Surakarta and Yogyakarta
- Straits Settlements
- Raj of Sarawak
- British protectorate of Brunei
- French Cambodia
- British North Borneo
- French Laos
North America
- United States
- Pacific Northwest peoples
- Pueblo peoples (Hopi, Zuni, Rio Grande)
- Iroquois Confederacy (Haudenosaunee)
- Navajo (Diné)
- Inuit peoples
- Lakota (Teton Sioux)
- Dominion of Canada
- Unangan (Aleut) peoples
- Dene (Northern Athabaskan) peoples
- Chumash
- California peoples (Ohlone, Miwok, Pomo, Tongva)
- Cree peoples
- Numic peoples (Shoshone, Paiute, Ute)
- Apache peoples
- Wichita peoples (Quivira)
- O'odham peoples
- Blackfoot Confederacy
- Danish Greenland
- Dominion of Newfoundland
Mesoamerica and Caribbean
- Haiti
- British West Indies
- Colony of Jamaica
- Mexico
- Island Caribs (Kalinago)
- Zapotec, Mixtec and Mixe peoples
- Maya peoples (colonial and modern)
- Yaqui, Mayo and Raramuri peoples
- Dutch Caribbean
- French Antilles
- Danish West Indies
- Honduras
- Nicaragua
- Costa Rica
- Guatemala
- El Salvador
- Dominican Republic
- Puerto Rico (US territory)
- Panama
- British Honduras
- Panama Canal Zone
- Republic of Cuba
South America
- Tupi-Guarani peoples
- Mapuche
- Peru
- Colombia
- Argentina
- Brazil
- Fuegian canoe peoples (Yaghan, Kawésqar)
- Jê peoples
- Patagonian peoples (Tehuelche, Selk'nam)
- Arawakan peoples of the Amazon
- Carib peoples of the Guianas
- Guaraní
- Quechua and Aymara peoples
- French Guiana
- Dutch Suriname
- Paraguay
- Chile
- Bolivia
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
- Ecuador
- Falkland Islands
- British Guiana
Oceania
- Aboriginal Australian peoples
- Māori iwi
- Commonwealth of Australia
- Papuan farmers and foragers
- New Zealand
- German New Guinea
- Tasmanian Aboriginal peoples
- Torres Strait Islanders
- Island Melanesian societies
- Eastern Micronesian islanders
- French Polynesia
- Kingdom of Tonga
- French New Caledonia
- Kīngitanga (Māori King Movement)
- Chilean Rapa Nui
- Dutch New Guinea
- Guam (US territory)
- American Samoa
- Colony of Fiji
- Gilbert and Ellice Islands
- British Solomon Islands Protectorate
- New Hebrides Condominium
- British New Guinea and Territory of Papua
- Territory of Hawaii
- Nauru under Australian administration
- Western Samoa (New Zealand)
- Territory of New Guinea
- South Seas Mandate
- German Samoa
Questions
What countries existed in 1914?
The timeline shows 235 states, empires and colonies alive in 1914. Among the most significant: Ethiopian Empire (Solomonic dynasty), Ottoman Empire, Portuguese Empire, Kingdom of Kongo, United States, United Kingdom, Haiti and Russian Empire. The full list by region is on this page.
What was happening in the world in 1914?
Within 25 years of 1914, the timeline records Wounded Knee Massacre (1890), Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom (1893), Women's suffrage in New Zealand (1893), Rinderpest sweeps southern Africa (1896), Battle of Adwa (1896) and Philippine Revolution (1896).
Which empires existed in 1914?
Ethiopian Empire (Solomonic dynasty), Ottoman Empire, Portuguese Empire, Russian Empire, Empire of Japan, German Empire, Ottoman Syria and Palestine, Ottoman Iraq, Russian Caucasus and Austria-Hungary.
Where do these dates come from?
Each row's dates were checked against the sources listed on that row's own page, mostly English Wikipedia articles, which cite the underlying scholarship. Dates that are uncertain are marked c.