Notable events, 1913
January 1: The Chinese Exclusion Act expires in a calculated political move to divide organized labor.
January 12: Bolshevik activist Josef Dzhugashvili publishes for the first time under the nom de guerre Stalin , meaning “steely.”
January 30: The Extraordinary Ninth Congress of the Second International meets in Basel to discuss growing tensions between the great powers and the series of crises that warned of a coming war. The parties resolve to oppose any imperialist wars.
February 9: A massive meteor precession is seen across most of North America. It is notable in that it appears to have no apparent source.
February 17: President Taft signs the National Defense Act of 1913 into law. The act would double the size of the standing army to 200,000 men, and quadruple the size of the National Guard to 450,000 men by 1916. Other provisions included federalization of the National Guard units, a reserve officer training program, and an enlisted reserve.
February 27: USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) is laid down at Newport News on an accelerated timetable.
March 4: William Howard Taft is sworn into his second term as President of the United States. The 62nd United States Congress opens its session with James R. Mann elected First Secretary.
March 12: Emiliano Zapata’s Liberation Army of the South forms a coalition with the Constitutionalist Army of Venustiano Carranza. Though wary of American involvement in the form of advisors and cavalry, the resources it brings is welcome against Huerta’s regime floating on a German line of credit.
March 22: After assassinating political opponent Prime Minister Song Jiaoren, President Yuan Shikai begins plotting a repression of the KMT and the National Assembly, and establishing an autocracy over the Republic of China.
April 7: Ford Motor Company introduces the moving assembly line in automobile construction, reducing chassis assembly time from 12 hours to just under 3.
April 18: Mexican autocrat Victoriano Huerta conducts a purge of suspected collaborators with rebel forces.
May 1: The largest May Day parades yet in the United States take a more galvanized tone, with much of the focus turning to anti-militarism.
May 10: The Rite of Spring, a ballet with music by Igor Stravinsky, debuts in Paris
May 19: R. J. Reynolds introduces the Turkish-style Pharoah, the first prepackaged cigarette brand.
May 22: Under intense political pressure, the US Supreme Court refuses to grant certiorari to a case challenging the constitutionality of state laws prohibiting “yellow dog contracts” that prohibit workers from unionizing. Progressive leaders hope that avoiding an extension on Adair v. United States , 208 U.S. 161 (1908) will take the fire out of the socialist labor movement.
May 30: Chicago city police mutiny over orders to protect strikebreakers in the Chicago railway strike. Expecting a brutal slugging match, many units fail to deploy, and a few brave souls cross the barricade. The remaining loyal cadres fail to break the picket lines, leading to an explosion of rioting in the streets. The breakdown of public order ends with the mobilization of the National Guard and the personal intervention of the Illinois State Governor. Twenty five rail workers are killed in the unrest, many by the National Guard.
June 3: After a meeting in London, the Ottoman Empire and the coalition of Balkan states opposing it come to a peace treaty, where the Ottoman Empire recognizes the independence of Albania, but leaves the Balkan states to decide the borders between itself outside of Ottoman-occupied Thrace. Serbia and Greece divide the region amongst themselves, leaving Macedonia in Serbian hands. Bulgarian resentment over the deal sows the seeds for the Second Balkan War.
June 15: Police in Indianapolis raid the Iron Workers Union in response to the Los Angeles Times bombing in 1910. Charges are leveled against 54 workers. Ultimately, 38 of them would be convicted and sentenced.
June 19: The Naval Act of 1913 is ratified. The US Congress authorizes the construction of sixteen battleships, six battlecruisers, twenty cruisers and seventy destroyers to be completed by 1919.
June 30: Bulgaria launches an invasion of Serbia and Greece, attempting to conquer Serbian-occupied Macedonia. The counterattack is quickly repulsed, and only grows more dire when Romania intervenes over disputes in Southern Dobruja.
July 18: The Socialist Labor Party strikes a major blow by succeeding in organizing mine workers in West Virginia coal country across racial lines. Black “scabs” brought in to force a resolution to the the general strike join white coal miners at the picket line.
July 19: The Aviation Section is established as part of the Signal Corps of the US Army. Under the terms of the National Defense Act, the reorganization allows expansion in men and planes while solving the organizational issues that hampered the previous Aeronautical Division.
July 20: After a series of defeats against the Greek, Serbian and Romanian armies, the Ottoman Empire launches an invasion of eastern Bulgaria in an effort to reclaim pre-war borders.
August 3: The California Farm Strike starts following the abuse of agricultural workers in Wheatland. The Agricultural Workers’ Organization demands the release of arrested workers from Ralph Durst’s hop farm, and the removal of the local sheriff. Following pressure from the governor to restore order, the demands are met within the week.
August 10: A peace treaty to end the Second Balkan War is signed in Bucharest. After Romanian armies nearly marched on Sofia, the Bulgarian government resigned and Tsar Ferdinand I agreed to a peace treaty. Bulgaria agreed to cede Thessaloniki and its surrounding areas to Greece, South Dobruja to Romania, and much of central Macedonia to Serbia. Bulgaria had failed to achieve any of its war goals and had its population reduced by 3.5 million.
August 12: The Jewish Labor Bund of America is founded in New York City as part of the Socialist Labor Party.
September 9: The first commercial plant for the production of fertilizer using the Haber process opens in Oppau.
September 14: Mohandas Gandhi, a young Indian lawyer in South Africa, is arrested while leading a march of Indian miners in protest of a tax on all former indentured servants.
September 17: The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith is founded in Chicago.
September 29: The Treaty of Constantinople, concerning the border between Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire is signed. Bulgaria recognizes the gains made by the Ottoman Empire during the war, most notably the city of Edirne, and agrees to reestablish ties. Most of the cessions are reversed when Bulgaria joins the Central Powers.
October 3: The Revenue Act of 1913 raises federal income tax rates while lowering basic tariff rates to levels set by the Treaty of Toronto.
October 31: Streetcar employees in Indianapolis win significant compromise on wages and time off, avoiding a walkout. The city government cooperates over fears of widespread police mutiny, a major crack in the edifice of state.
November 2: With an influx of recent Chinese immigrants leaving the turmoil of the Xinhai Revolution, the Socialist Labor Party of California establishes a Chinese language section.
November 27: The Chilean battleship Almirante Latorre is launched at the Fore River Shipyard, Massachusetts.
December 4: Royal Navy attaches begin consulting with the US Navy’s Board of Construction on battlecruiser design.
December 21: American writer Ambrose Bierce begins a serialized account of his experiences in the Mexican Revolution, travelling with Pancho Villa.
December 25: Christmas is celebrated throughout the United States and much of Western Europe..
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