Two imperial heads of state were overthrown this year for their despotic behaviour. In Constantinople there were celebrations in April after the tyrannical Sultan Abdul Hamid II was forced to abdicate.
The Sultan had suspended Parliament in 1878 but the revolution in 1908 by the nationalist Young Turks had pressurised him into restoring it. And it was this Parliament that voted unanimously to depose him.
The statement announcing his replacement by his brother, Mehmet V, accused him of committing massacres, breaking the law and squandering the wealth of the Ottoman Empire.
The Sultan was arrested in his exotic palace and Mehmet took the throne, promising ‘liberty, equality and justice’ for all his subjects.
The Persian Shah, Mohammad Ali Mirza, was also deposed after he accepted the principle of constitution but then annulled the new law providing for elections and postponed the constitution indefinitely. The Shah was finally toppled after a turbulent two years on the throne by a revolution of the Nationalist Party.
He was succeeded by his 12-year old son, Ahmed Mirza, following four days of fighting in Tehran.
April 30 – Queen Juliana of the Netherlands.
December 17 – King Leopold II of Belgium.
Japan’s most senior statesman, Prince Ito, was assassinated on October 26 by a Korean nationalist.
Ito had recently retired as Governor-General of Korea, where he had made many enemies for his harsh suppression of anyone who opposed Japanese rule. He was shot dead in Manchuria at the age of 68.
The former Prime Minister of Japan had a leading role in the framing of his country’s constitution and in building Japan into a world power. He had studied in Europe and saw the necessity for political change in Japan in order for it to join the ranks of modern civilised countries.
During the war with Russia, he had been at the head of the body of elder statesmen who acted in an advisory capacity to the Emperor. At the close of the war, and after Japan took charge in Korea, Marquis Ito, as he was then, was raised to the rank of Prince by the Emperor and sent to Korea as Governor-General.
Alcohol was becoming increasingly hard to find in the US as the prohibition movement continued its anti-drinking campaign. Whilst some states outlawed all alcoholic sales, others let local towns decide. In New York state, for example, 315 towns had banned saloons by the beginning of the year. And in Ohio, saloons were closed in 57 of the state’s 66 counties.