Possession of the Mariana Islands was formally transferred from Spain to Germany, which purchased the archipelago (with the exception of Guam) from Spain for 837,500 German gold marks. The islands became part of German New Guinea.[1]
The Republic of Negros was declared on the Philippine island of Negros by a committee in Bacolod with approval by the U.S. Military Governor of the Philippines, General Elwell S. Otis, to be ruled jointly by a U.S. military governor appointed by General Otis, and a Philippine civil governor elected by registered voters in the Republic.[3] The short-lived republic would exist until its annexation by the U.S. as a province of the islands.[4]
Percy Pilcher, 32, British aviation pioneer and glider pilot, died of injuries sustained in a glider accident on September 30.[7]
October 3, 1899 (Tuesday)
The boundary dispute between Venezuela and British Guiana was resolved by a binding award from the International Tribunal of Arbitration of five neutral jurists agreed upon by the United Kingdom and the United Venezuelan States.[8]
With the Second Boer War and invasion of the British Cape Colony and the Colony of Natal in South Africa, the British Governor of Swaziland (now the Kingdom of Eswatini) issued an order for "all white inhabitants" and British subjects to evacuate, with the exception of men eligible for military service. British citizens, along with some South African civilians, were escorted to the Swaziland border with the Portuguese colony of Mozambique.[10]
French opera singer Charles Dalmorès (Henri Alphonse Brin) made his operatic debut, appearing in the title role of the Richard Wagner opera Siegfried at the Théâtre des Arts in Rouen. Specializing in French language roles, he would be celebrated in Europe and in the United States on both the state and as a recording artist until his retirement in 1918.
Born:Ivor McIntyre, English-born Royal Australian Air Force pilot and the first person (along with Stanley Goble) to circumnavigate Australia by air; in Kent (killed in plane crash, 1928)
The South African Republic telegraphed a three-day ultimatum to the United Kingdom, demanding an arbitration of issues and a pullback of troops from the borders between the Republic and the adjoining Cape Colony, Natal and Bechuanaland by October 11.[16]
The French Sudan was divided into two smaller administrative units, Middle Niger (which later became the nations of Niger and Gambia) and Upper Senegal (which became the nations of Senegal and Mali).
October 11, 1899 (Wednesday)
In South Africa, the Second Boer War between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State began as the Boers invaded the British colony of Natal. The war would last for more than two and one half years until the surrender of both republics on May 31, 1902, and their subsequent annexation as British colonies.[17]
October 12, 1899 (Thursday)
Norway's flag before and after the removal of the unionsmerket
Symbolic of the gradual separation of Norway from its union with Sweden, the "union mark" (unionsmerket) was removed from a Norwegian flag for the first time since the Sweden and Norway had a set of common flags, starting with the flag used by merchant ships. King Oscar II, in his capacity as King of Norway, had vetoed the first two attempts by Norway's parliament, the Storting, but under the union's constitution, the removal from the merchant flag became effective upon its passage by the Storting for the third time. The union mark would be taken off of the Norwegian navy flag on June 9, 1905, and off of all flags in Sweden and Norway by November 1, 1905.
The Battle of Kraaipan began in South Africa as the Boers attacked the city in Britain's Cape Colony. On the first day of the attack by General Koos de la Rey, the British armoured trainMosquito was derailed, and the British surrendered the following day.[18]
42-year-old French Army officer and explorer Ferdinand de Béhagle was put to death by Sudanese warlord Rabih az-Zubayr, prompting a French expedition against Rabih.
Edward Orton Sr., 70, American geologist and educator who served as the first president of Ohio State University from its opening on September 17, 1873, as the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College[23]
Ludwig Zottmayr, 71, German bass-baritone singer known for appearing in the premiere of Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde on June 10, 1865.
Boer troops commanded by Johannes Kock captured the railway station in Elandslaagte and cut the telegraph line between the British Army headquarters at Ladysmith and its station at Dundee.
17-year-old Robert H. Goddard received his inspiration to develop the first rocket capable of reaching outer space, after viewing his yard from high in a tree and imagining "how wonderful it would be to make some device which had even the possibility of ascending to Mars, and how it would look on a small scale, if sent up from the meadow at my feet."[25]
In the first major clash of the Second Boer War, the Battle of Talana Hill, the British Army drove the Boers from a hilltop position, but with heavy casualties, including their commanding general Sir Penn Symons, who would die on October 23.
October 21, 1899 (Saturday)
Charge of the 5th Lancers at the Battle of Elandslaagte
The Battle of Elandslaagte was fought in Natal, as the British Army recaptured the railway station from the Boers, then proceeded toward the fortress of Ladysmith. South African General Jan Kock was fatally wounded in the battle and would die 10 days later.[27]
Indirect fire was used for the first time in battle.[33] British gunners in the Second Boer War fired a cannon on a high trajectory toward the Boer Army, with the objective of having the shell come down on the enemy.
The foundering of the British steamer Zurich off the coast of Norway killed 16 of the 17 crew aboard, with only the captain surviving.[27]
The Battle of Kouno ended after two days in Chad, as French Army Captain Émile Gentil led a force of 344 troops against a much larger force of Sudanese Arabs, led by the warlord Rabih az-Zubayr. Gentil routed the Sudanese.[36]
The Battle of Ladysmith began as British troops at the Ladysmith fort attempted to make a preemptive strike against a larger force of South African Republic and Orange Free State troops who were gradually surrounding the fort. After sustaining 400 casualties and having 800 men captured, the British retreated back to the fort where a 118-day siege would begin on November 2.
↑ "Founders of the Katipunan". Philippine Center for Masonic Studies. Independent Grand Lodge F & AM of the Philippine Islands. Retrieved 18 December 2024.; other sources state that it is uncertain what happeneed to Arellano after his 1896 arrest.
↑ Plazas Olarte, Guillermo (1985). La guerra civil de los Mil Días: Estudio militar[The civil war of the Thousand Days: Military study] (in Spanish). Academia Boyacense de Historia. p.47.
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