Louis Bleriot achieves the first crossing of the English Channel in a heavierthan- air machine.

Aug.

The first general elections under the supervision of the United States are held in Cuba. Liberal candidate Jose Gomez is elected president and serves until 1913.

Sept.

In Russia, an Asiatic cholera epidemic claims more than seventy-one hundred lives, close to two thousand in Saint Petersburg alone.

5 Oct.

Bulgaria declares its complete independence from the Ottoman Empire.

6 Oct.

Austria annexes the former Turkish provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina (setting the stage for events that will spark the First World War six years later).

8 Oct.

Polish-born Hebrew scholar and poet Naphtali Herz Imber, whose hymn "ha- Tiqwa" (also spelled "Hatikvah") later becomes the anthem of the Zionist movement and of the state of Israel, dies.

12 Oct.

The Cape Colony and Natal meet with the former Boer states of the Transvaal and Orange Free State to...