1913 | Political Events
Political Events
France's Premier Poincaré takes office as president January 19, beginning a 7-year term that will see his country go through a terrible war. Former German Army chief of staff Alfred, graf von Schlieffen, has died at Berlin January 4 at age 79, saying, "The struggle is inevitable. Keep my right flank strong." The Germans will use a modification of the Schlieffen Plan next year to invade Belgium and France.
British Army officer Hugh Trenchard, 40, receives a transfer to the Royal Flying Corps established last year by royal warrant and serves as second in command of the Central Flying School (see 1915; Sopwith Camel, 1914).
Former British field marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount, Baron Wolseley of Cairo and of Wolesley, dies at Mentone, France, March 26 at age 79; former British secretary for Ireland George Wyndham at Paris June 8 at age 49; former French minister of justice Emile Olivier at Saint-Gervais-les-Bains August 20 at age 88; German Social Democratic Party cofounder August Bebel at Passugg, Switzerland, August 13 at age 73.
Constantinople agrees January 22 to give up Adrianople (Edirne). A peace conference at London has broken down January 6 over Turkish refusal to yield Adrianople, the Aegaean islands, and Crete; Allied coalition troops take Adrianople after a 155-day siege, and Scutari falls to Montenegrin forces after a 6-month siege, but the 31-year-old Young Turk general Enver engineers a coup d'état January 23, ousting the aged grand vizier Mehmed Kamil and restoring his party to power with Gen. Mahmud Sevket, now 54, as grand vizier. War resumes February 3 with Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia.
An assassin kills Greece's George I at Salonika March 18 at age 67 after a reign of nearly 50 years. The former Danish prince is succeeded as king of the Hellenes by his 44-year-old son, who will reign until his abdication in 1917 as Constantine I (see 1920).
The Treaty of London May 30 resolves the Balkan War, but the new grand vizier Mahmud Sevket is assassinated at Constantinople June 11 after only 6 months in office and a 32-day Second Balkan War begins June 29 when a Bulgarian commander orders an attack on Serbo-Greek positions. Bucharest and Constantinople declare war, Ottoman forces under the command of Gen. Enver recapture Adrianople (Edirne) from the Bulgars July 22, Bulgaria is quickly defeated, and the Treaty of Bucharest August 10 ends hostilities. Bulgaria and Turkey settle their frontier dispute September 21 (the Turks keep Adrianople), the former grand vizier Mehmed Kamil dies at Nicosia, Cyprus, November 14 at age 81, but the Balkans continue to fester (see 1914).
Mexico City is seized February 9 by a nephew of former president Porfirio Díaz, and President Madero flees. Military leader Victoriano Huerta, 58, proclaims himself president February 18 and imposes a represssive dictatorship. Madero is imprisoned and shot dead February 22 at age 39 while allegedly trying to escape. Washington refuses to recognize Huerta's regime, and civil war breaks out; insurgent general Francisco "Pancho" Villa (originally Doroteo Arango), 36, takes Ciudad Juarez November 15, vowing to conquer the country (see 1914).
The Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides for direct election of U.S. senators; ratified April 8, it marks the beginning of the end of the "Millionaire's Club" that has dominated the Senate, whose members heretofore have been selected by state legislators who could all too easily be bribed.
The last Chinese troops march out of Lhasa in January, destined for internment in India pending repatriation (see 1912; 1949). China's Nationalist Party (Guomindang, or Kuomintang [KMT]) wins 269 of the 596 seats in the National Assembly in February elections. Party founder Song Jiaoren (Sung Chiao-jen), 30, is credited with having brought the Guomindang to power, he favors a constitution that would vest executive authority in a cabinet answerable to the parliament rather than to the president, but he is shot at Shanghai March 20 as he is boarding a train for the capital and dies 2 days later. Dissidents accuse Provisional President Yuan Shikai of having instigated the murder and undermined the assembly (see 1912). The assembly is unable to block Yuan's efforts to obtain a $125 million "reorganization loan" from a consortium of foreign banks, which is granted in April. Yuan promptly dismisses three Nationalist military governors; Sun Yat-sen, Liang Qichao, and other progressives who once supported Yuan try to unseat him during the summer. Yuan puts down the rebellion, coerces Parliament into electing him formally to the presidency, obtains foreign recognition, and is inaugurated October 10, ending all hope of making China a parliamentary democracy. Sun Yat-sen flees the country, and when the assembly promulgates a constitution that contains the late Song Jiaoren's ideas, Yüan revokes the credentials of Guomindang members, accusing them of involvement in the revolt, but the resistance organized by Liang Qichao does prevent Yuan from overturning the republic and having himself declared emperor (see 1914).
Japan's final Tokugawa shōgun dies at his native Tokyo January 22 at age 75, having lived to see his country become a world power, albeit not a democratic one: Yoshinobu Tokugawa was in power briefly from 1866 to January 1868. Japan has riots against the oligarchic methods of Prime Minister Taro Katsura, who has headed the government for a third time since December but resigns in February. The elder statesmen (genro) who control the oligarchical government refuse to let the head of the dominant political party become prime minister, so Katsura is succeeded by Admiral Gonnohyoe Yamamoto, 60 (see 1914); diplomat Count Tadasu Hayashi dies at Tokyo July 10 at age 63; Katsura dies at Tokyo October 10 at age 65.
Former Egyptian minister of justice Sa'd Zaghlul wins election to the Legislative Assembly and becomes vice president of the unicameral parliament, whose powers are limited (see 1912). By next year he will have regained the respect of nationalists (see 1914).
Ethiopia's Menelek II dies at Addis Ababa December 12 at age 69 after a 24-year reign in which he has repelled an Italian invasion, expanded his territory, created ministries, built the new capital of Adis Ababa in the highlands of Shewa, constructed a railroad between the capital and Djibouti on the Gulf of Aden, initiated modern education, and built telegraph and telephone systems. Incapacitated by paralyzing strokes for at least 6 years, he is succeeded by his grandson Lij Iyasu under the regency of Ras Tesemma, who has ruled during much of Menelek's illness (see 1930).