The SS Olympic, the pride of the British White Star Line, arrives in New York City on its maiden voyage. The 892-foot vessel, which can accommodate twenty-five hundred passengers, is the largest ocean liner yet constructed and is the first to have a swimming pool.

22 Aug.

Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece the Mona Lisa is stolen from the Louvre in Paris. It is recovered four months later in Florence, Italy.

Sept.

One hundred thousand people are killed when the Yangtze River overflows its banks.

9 Sept.

Italy declares war on the Ottoman Empire.

14 Sept.

Russian prime minister Petr Arkadevich Stolypin is wounded by Mordkha Bogrov, a revolutionary assassin, while attending the opera; he dies four days later from his injuries. The assassination was witnessed by Czar Nicholas II and two of his daughters. Stolypin had acquired many enemies as a result of his repressive policies. On 19 September the czar appointed Vladimir...