One of the greatest, and certainly the most famous, of disasters at sea occurred the night of April 14, 1912, when the passenger liner Titanic sank, taking with her about 2/3 of those aboard.
1912 saw a Presidential election campaign unlike anything Americans had known before or since. It was America's only true three-way race, with the added drama of a grudge match between two men who had recently been friends and allies.
Following Scott's acclaimed Discovery Expedition, he and Ernest Shackleton plan competing expeditions to the South Pole, along with a surprise appearance by Roald Amundsen.
The early twentieth century saw the exploration of the remotest land on Earth: Antarctica.
William Howard Taft and Wilfrid Laurier negotiate a US-Canada free trade agreement, but it blows up when the Canadians get the idea that it is a step toward US annexation. The Standard Oil Company is broken up, US Senator "Fighting Bob" La Follette moves to challenge Taft for the 1912 Republican nomination, and "Alexander's Ragtime Band" takes the US and Europe by storm.
Explorers came to the far north first, in search of a route to the Far East, and later in search of the North Pole itself. The question of who got there first is surprisingly complicated.
After years of unrest, an accidental revolution breaks out on October 10, 1911, that will end the Empire and establish a Republic. Japan annexes Korea.
Self-propelled vehicles that can carry passengers on roads are not exactly new; people have been experimenting with them since the late 18th century. But in the early years of the twentieth century, the automobile finally becomes a practical mode of transportation.
The year 1910 saw a fierce debate in the UK, including two general elections, over the role of the House of Lords in a modern, democratic state. The British King Edward VII passed away in the middle of the crisis, moving some Tories to blame his death on the Prime Minister.
Mexico began the century under the rule of the now elderly Porfirio Diaz. But Diaz was not able to keep up with changing times, and the fall of his rule is the opening chapter of the Mexican Revolution.