Music recorded in 1907
In 1907, amidst the simultaneous advances of imperial competition and social modernization, international rules to mitigate conflict and technology and culture that transformed everyday life were developed side by side. In the field of international politics, the Second Hague Peace Conference (June 15–October 18, 1907) was held with the participation of 44 nations, resulting in the establishment of a series of treaties governing the rules of land and naval warfare, the right to capture, and arbitration systems. The Nobel Peace Prize that year was awarded to peace activist Ernesto Teodoro Moneta (1833–1918) and international law scholar Louis Renault (1843–1918), visualizing the trend toward positioning international law as a "technology for reducing war." Furthermore, the Anglo-Russian Convention (August 31, 1907) eased the conflict between Britain and Russia by sorting out Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet, demonstrating the reality that the delineation of spheres of influence and ideas for order coexisted.
Domestic politics and ruling structures were also undergoing reorganization. In the Russian Empire, the Duma (second state) was dissolved under the rule of Nicholas II (1868–1918) on June 3, 1907, a coup known as the "June 3rd Coup," which also led to the revision of electoral laws. On the Korean Peninsula, Emperor Gojong (1852–1919) of the Korean Empire was forced to abdicate in July 1907, and the Third Japan-Korea Treaty of 1907 (July 24, 1907) placed domestic affairs under the leadership of a Resident-General, strengthening the country's status as a protectorate. Meanwhile, symbolizing the expansion of voting rights, 19 women were elected to the Finnish parliament in the elections held on March 15–16, 1907, marking a milestone in world history for women's political participation. Within the British Empire, New Zealand became a Dominion (Dominion of New Zealand, 26 September 1907), redefining the framework of self-government.
In the United States, the Panic of 1907 shook financial markets, and credit anxiety centered on trust companies spread to bank runs. During the crisis, banker John Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913) was prominent as a central figure in coordinating the bailout, and this experience would later serve as an impetus for financial system reform. That same year, Oklahoma became the 46th state of the United States (November 16, 1907) by proclamation of President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), and the expansion of new markets created by territorial consolidation and population migration continued.
Science, technology, and culture further embodied this sense of the future. Albert Einstein (1879–1955) clarified his idea of the equivalence of accelerated motion and gravity in his 1907 review of the theory of relativity, laying the foundation for the development of the general theory of relativity. In aviation, Paul Cornu (1881–1944) achieved a brief liftoff (November 13, 1907) that was widely acclaimed as the first example of free rotorcraft flight, and aviation technology branched out from fixed-wing aircraft to include rotary-wing aircraft. Exploration began with the British Antarctic Nimrod Expedition (1907–1909), led by Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874–1922), which set sail (August 1907), bringing the polar regions back into the spotlight as a stage for science and the national imagination.
On the art side, Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) created Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (June–July 1907), shaking up assumptions about pictorial space. In music, Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) completed his Symphony No. 3 (Op. 52), which premiered in Helsinki on September 25, 1907. In the field of precision measurement, Albert Abraham Michelson (1852–1931) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1907, and measurement itself was celebrated as a modern power. The year 1907 marked the process by which international law, national governance, finance, science, and the arts interacted to shape the standards of the next era.
