What Happened in 1895 — Events, Births & Deaths

Dreyfus affair: French army officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island.

The National Trust is founded in the United Kingdom.

Fountains Valley, Pretoria, the oldest nature reserve in Africa, is proclaimed by President Paul Kruger.

William G. Morgan creates a game called Mintonette, which soon comes to be referred to as volleyball.

Revolution breaks out in Baire, a town near Santiago de Cuba, beginning the Cuban War of Independence; the war ends along with the Spanish–American War in 1898.

The trial in the libel case brought by Oscar Wilde begins, eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality.

In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. the Supreme Court of the United States declares unapportioned income tax to be unconstitutional.

The 1895 Ljubljana earthquake, both the most and last destructive earthquake in the area, occurs.

The Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan is signed. This marks the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtian province, Taiwan and the Penghu to Japan.

Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail single-handedly around the world, sets sail from Boston, Massachusetts aboard the sloop Spray.

In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention, the Popov lightning detector—a primitive radio receiver. In some parts of the former Soviet Union the anniversary of this day is celebrated as Radio Day.

Playwright, poet and novelist Oscar Wilde is convicted of "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons" and sentenced to serve two years in prison.

Paris–Bordeaux–Paris, sometimes called the first automobile race in history or the "first motor race", takes place.

Émile Levassor wins the world's first real automobile race. Levassor completed the 732-mile course, from Paris to Bordeaux and back, in just under 49 hours, at a then-impressive speed of about fifteen miles per hour (24 km/h).

The Kiel Canal, crossing the base of the Jutland peninsula and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, is officially opened.

The inaugural run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue from Washington, D.C., to New York City, the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives.

The United States Court of Private Land Claims rules James Reavis's claim to Barony of Arizona is "wholly fictitious and fraudulent."

Japanese invasion of Taiwan: Battle of Baguashan: The Empire of Japan decisively defeats a smaller Formosan army at Changhua, crippling the short-lived Republic of Formosa and leading to its surrender two months later.

German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his navigable balloon.

John Brallier becomes the first openly paid professional American football player, when he was paid US$10 by David Berry, to play for the Latrobe Athletic Association in a 12–0 win over the Jeanette Athletic Association.

Friedrich Nietzsche finished writing The Antichrist, with the 7 propositions Law Against Christianity, marked by him as a Day of Salvation, Day and Year 1 of a new calendar.

Horace Rawlins wins the first U.S. Open Men's Golf Championship.

Korean Empress Myeongseong is assassinated by Japanese infiltrators.

The capitulation of Tainan completes the Japanese conquest of Taiwan.

In Paris, an express train derails after overrunning the buffer stop, crossing almost 30 metres (100 ft) of concourse before crashing through a wall and falling 10 metres (33 ft) to the road below.

The strongest earthquake in the Midwestern United States since 1812 strikes near Charleston, Missouri, causing damage and killing at least two.

George B. Selden is granted the first U.S. patent for an automobile.

At the Swedish–Norwegian Club in Paris, Alfred Nobel signs his last will and testament, setting aside his estate to establish the Nobel Prize after he dies.

The first American automobile race takes place over the 54 miles from Chicago's Jackson Park to Evanston, Illinois. Frank Duryea wins in approximately 10 hours.

New Haven Symphony Orchestra of Connecticut performs its first concert.

The Lumière brothers perform for their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines.

Wilhelm Röntgen publishes a paper detailing his discovery of a new type of radiation, which later will be known as x-rays.