February 10, 1904. The Russians and the Japanese go to war after a surprise attack by the Japanese on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur. The two countries are really fighting over their mutual desire to control territory in Manchuria and Korea. Later in the year, the Japanese bomb Vladivostok and destroy the entire Russian fleet.
March, 1904. The British invade Tibet because, they say, of rumors that the Russians are about to attempt a take-over of that country. Many Tibetans are killed in the British incursion, but no Russians are found in Tibet. The British expedition reaches Llasa, and the Dalai Lama flees.
May 4, 1904. Charles Rolls and Henry Royce go into partnership to manufacture cars in England The new car is to be called the Rolls-Royce.
April 8, 1904 Britain and France sign an “Entente Cordiale” settling a number of territorial disputes between the two countries. France is given the right to “guard the peace” of Morocco, and Britain is given free rein in Egypt.
April 30, 1904. The 1904 World’s Fair, also known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, opens in St. Louis, Missouri. Several “new” treats take off in popularity at the fair: ice cream sold in cone-shaped waffle pastries, fairy floss (later known as cotton candy), a fizzy new drink invented in Texas and called Dr. Pepper, and tea with ice. The third modern Olympic games also takes place in St. Louis later in the summer.
Meet Me in St. Louis by Robert Jackson is a nonfiction book for children about the World’s Fair.
Meet Me in St. Louis is also a movie starring Judy Garland.
September 25, 1904. In spite of the war with Japan, the Great Siberian Railway linking the Ural Mountains in the west to Vladivostok in the west is finally completed.
October 27, 1904. The official opening of the New York City subway.
November 8, 1904. Teddy Roosevelt is elected president of the United States after having served out the remainder of assassinated president McKinley’s term. He says he will not seek a third term in four years.
December 10, 1904. Ivan Pavlov wins the Nobel Prize in physiology for his studies on digestion and conditioned responses in dogs.
During 1904. About 500 separate strikes take place in Russia as peasants and workers protest the lack of freedom and the horrible working conditions in Russia. Tsar Nicholas II proposes reforms in December, but warns that the strikes must stop.