1915 CE

The Sinking of the RMS Lusitania by a German U-boat kills nearly 1,200 people, including 128 Americans, heightening tensions between Germany and the United States; The Gallipoli campaign begins as Allied forces attempt an amphibious invasion of the Ottoman Empire, ending in failure; The Armenian genocide starts with the arrest, deportation, and mass extermination of up to 1.5 million Armenians; The Gorlice–Tarnów offensive breaks Russian lines in Galicia, shifting the Eastern Front in favor of the Central Powers; The Second Battle of Ypres marks the first large-scale use of poison gas on the Western Front; Italy joins the Allies, opening the Italian Front against Austria-Hungary.

In the 1910s, the 20th century.

1915 at a glance

World population
about 1.83 billion Our World in Data
United States
Woodrow Wilson (President) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146
United Kingdom
George V (King); H. H. Asquith (Prime minister) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146
Russian Empire
Nicholas II (Emperor) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146
Republic of China (1912–1915)
Yuan Shikai (President); Xu Shichang (Premier: Secretary of State) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146
Empire of China (1915–1916)
Yuan Shikai (Emperor); Lu Zhengxiang (Premier) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146
French Third Republic
Raymond Poincaré (President); René Viviani, then Aristide Briand (President of the Council of ministers) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146
German Empire
Wilhelm II (Emperor); Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg (Chancellor) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146
$1 in 1915
$33.33 in September 2026 dollars BLS CPI-U

Who led every country in 1915 →Born in 1915? What it cost, who led, what was No. 1 →

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 12 – The United States House of Representatives rejects a proposal to give women the right to vote.source
  • January 26 – The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of the United States Congress.source
  • 1 March – Carlos Meléndez Ramírez was sworn in as President of El Salvador. Alfonso Quiñónez Molina was sworn in as vice president.El Salvadorsource
  • March 14 – Constantinople Agreement: Britain, France and the Russian Empire agree to give Constantinople (Istanbul) and the Bosphorus to Russia in case of victory (the treaty is later nullified by the Bolshevik Revolution).source
  • March 25 – 1915 Japanese general election: The Rikken Dōshikai party emerged as the largest party in the House of Representatives, winning 153 of the 381 seats. The 381 members of the House of Representatives were elected in 51 multi-member constituencies based on prefectures and cities. Voting was restricted to men aged over 25 who paid at least 10 yen a year in direct taxation.Japansource
  • April 26 – Treaty of London: Italy secretly agrees to leave the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, and join with the Entente Powers, in exchange for certain territories of Austria-Hungary on its borders.source
  • April 26 – A secret pact, the Treaty of London or London Pact (Patto di Londra), is signed between the Triple Entente (the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire) and the Kingdom of Italy. According to the pact, Italy was to leave the Triple Alliance and join the Triple Entente. Italy was to declare war against Germany and Austria-Hungary within a month in return for territorial concessions at the end of the war to fulfil Italy’s irredentist claims.Italysource
  • May 17 – The last purely Liberal government in the United Kingdom ends, when the prime minister H. H. Asquith forms an all-party coalition government, the Asquith coalition ministry, effective May 25.source
  • May 25 – China agrees to the Twenty-One Demands of the Japanese.source
  • May 25 – the Yuan government accepts four out of the five set of demands issued in the Twenty-One DemandsChinasource
  • 29 May – Teófilo Braga becomes president of Portugal.Portugalsource
  • 31 May – Free State – Fauresmith to Koffiefontein, 32 mi 71 ch.South Africasource
  • June 19 – In Iceland, at this time a dependency of Denmark, women's suffrage is granted to those over 40.source
  • 25 June- Chilean presidential election, 1915Chilesource
  • July 14 – The McMahon–Hussein Correspondence between Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca and the British official Sir Henry McMahon concerning the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire begins; in exchange for assistance against the Ottomans, the British offer bin Ali their recognition of an independent Arab kingdom, although clear terms are never agreed.source
  • 6 August - Brazilian-born Bernardino Luís Machado Guimarães becomes President of Portugal.Brazilsource
  • August 16 – WWI: The Allies promise the Kingdom of Serbia, should victory be achieved over Austria-Hungary and its allied Central Powers, the territories of Baranja, Srem and Slavonia from the Cisleithanian part of the Dual Monarchy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and eastern Dalmatia (from the river of Krka to Bar).source
  • October 19 – Mexican Revolution: The U.S. recognizes the Mexican government of Venustiano Carranza de facto (not de jure until 1917).source
  • October 27 – William Morris "Billy" Hughes becomes the 7th prime minister of Australia.source
  • December 12 – President of the Republic of China Yuan Shikai declares himself Emperor.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 8 — Imperial Japanese government issues the Twenty-One Demands to the ChineseChinasource
  • January 17 – WWI: Caucasus Campaign – Battle of Sarikamish: Russia defeats Ottoman Turkey.source
  • January 23 – Chilembwe uprising: Baptist minister John Chilembwe initiates an ultimately unsuccessful uprising against British colonial rule in Nyasaland (modern-day Malawi).source
  • January 24 – WWI: Battle of Dogger Bank – The British Grand Fleet defeats the German High Seas Fleet, sinking the armoured cruiser SMS Blücher.source
  • January 31 – WWI: Battle of Bolimów – Germany's first large-scale use of poison gas as a weapon occurs, when 18,000 artillery shells containing liquid xylyl bromide tear gas are fired on the Imperial Russian Army, on the Rawka River west of Warsaw; however, freezing temperatures prevent it being effective.source
  • February 18 – WWI: Germany regards the waters around the British Isles to be a war zone from this date, as part of its U-boat Campaign.source
  • February 25 – Armenian genocide: The Ottoman Empire transfers Armenians from its armed forces to unarmed Ottoman labour battalions.source
  • March 14 – Battle of Más a Tierra: Off the coast of Chile, the British Royal Navy forces the Imperial German Navy light cruiser SMS Dresden (last survivor of the German East Asia Squadron) to scuttle.source
  • 14 March – Battle of Más a TierraChilesource
  • March 18 – Gallipoli campaign: A Franco-British naval attack on the Dardanelles fails.source
  • April 22 – WWI: Start of Second Battle of Ypres – Germany makes its first large scale use of poison gas on the Western Front.source
  • April 24 – Armenian genocide: deportation of Armenian notables from Istanbul begins.source
  • April 24 - The deportation of Armenian notables from Constantinople, beginning the Armenian genocide.source
  • April 25 – WWI: Start of the Gallipoli Campaign by land forces (lasting until January 1916) – A landing at Anzac Cove is conducted by Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and a landing at Cape Helles by British and French troops, to begin the Allied invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire.source
  • May 1 – General Louis Botha, Prime Minister of South Africa, leads the army in the occupation of German South West Africa.source
  • May 5 – WWI: Gallipoli Campaign – Forces of the Ottoman Empire begin shelling ANZAC Cove from a new position behind their lines.source
  • May 9 – WWI – Second Battle of Artois: German and French forces fight to a standstill; German forces defeat the British at the Battle of Aubers Ridge.source
  • May 23 – WWI: Italy joins the Allies after declaring war on Austria-Hungary.source
  • June 3 – Mexican Revolution: Troops of Álvaro Obregón and Pancho Villa clash at León; Obregón loses his right arm in a grenade attack, but Villa is decisively defeated.source
  • June 23 – July 7 – The First Battle of the Isonzo between the Armies of Italy and Austria-Hungary on the Italian Front in World War I. The aim of the Italian Army, under the command of Luigi Cadorna, was to drive the Austrians away from its defensive positions along the Soča (Isonzo) and on the nearby mountains.Italysource
  • July 9 – WWI: Theodore Seitz, governor of German South West Africa, surrenders to General Louis Botha, between Otavi and Tsumeb.source
  • 9 July – German forces in German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika) capitulate and the territory is occupied by South Africa.Germanysource
  • July 22 – WWI: The "Great Retreat" is ordered on the Eastern Front; Russian forces pull back out of Poland (at this time part of the Russian Empire), taking machinery and equipment with them.source
  • WWI: South West Africa Campaign – The Union of South Africa occupies German South West Africa with assistance from Canada, the United Kingdom, the Portuguese Republic and Portuguese Angola. South Africa will occupy South West Africa until March 1990.source
  • September 8 – WWI: A Zeppelin raid destroys No. 61 Farringdon Road, London; the premises are rebuilt in 1917, and called The Zeppelin Building.source
  • September 12 – French soldiers rescue over 4,000 Armenian genocide survivors stranded on Musa Dagh, a mountain in the Hatay province of Turkey.source
  • September 25–October 14 – WWI: Battle of Loos – British forces take the French town of Loos, but with substantial casualties, and are unable to press their advantage. This is the first time the British use poison gas in World War I, and also their first large-scale use of 'New' (or Kitchener's Army) units.source
  • October 15 – WWI: Serbian Campaign – Austria-Hungary invades the Kingdom of Serbia. Bulgaria enters the war, also invading Serbia. The Serbian First Army retreats towards Greece.source
  • October 21 – The United Daughters of the Confederacy holds its first annual meeting outside the South, in San Francisco. Historian General Mildred Rutherford addresses the gathering on the "Historical Sins of Omission & Commission", of Yankee historians.source
  • October 23 – WWI: The torpedoing of armored cruiser SMS Prinz Adalbert results in only 3 men being rescued from a crew of 675, the greatest single loss of life for the Imperial German Navy in the Baltic Sea during the war.source
  • November 24 – William J. Simmons revives the American Civil War era Ku Klux Klan at Stone Mountain, Georgia.source
  • November 26 – Battle of Nogales (1915)Mexicosource
  • December 17 – Battle of Robat Karim.Iransource
  • December 26 – The Irish Republican Brotherhood Military Council decides to stage an Easter Rising in 1916.source
  • Ongoing – Japan during World War IJapansource

Exploration & Expansion

  • January - A memorial to Captain Robert Falcon Scott, in the form of a model lighthouse, is erected on an island in Roath Park Lake, commemorating the support given to Scott's expedition by the people of Cardiff.Walessource
  • 14 February – The first contingent of 500 Māori soldiers sails for Egypt aboard SS Warrimoo. Earlier policy had been against 'native peoples' fighting in a European war.New Zealandsource
  • February 20 – In San Francisco, the Panama–Pacific International Exposition is opened.source
  • February 20 – In San Francisco, California the Panama–Pacific International Exposition is opened.United Statessource
  • April 21 – On the orders of Talat Pasha, Haydar Bey organized an expedition against the Assyrians. He killed thousands of Assyrians along with Kurdish tribes.source
  • May 3 – "In Flanders Fields" is written by Canadian poet John McCrae.Canadasource
  • May 6 – Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition: SY Auroras drift – The SY Aurora breaks loose from its anchorage during a gale, beginning a 312-day ordeal.source
  • 1 August – Cape – Prieska to South West Border, 231 mi 59 ch.South Africasource
  • 1 August – Cape – Walvisbaai to Swakop River (at Swakopmund), 22 mi 42 ch.South Africasource
  • November 21 – British polar exploration ship Endurance finally breaks apart from pressure of ice around it and sinks into the Weddell Sea, stranding Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition party in the Antarctic. The wreck is discovered at a depth of 3,008 metres (9,869 ft), 107 years later in 2022.source
  • December 4–18 – The 'Peace Ship' Oscar II chartered by industrialist Henry Ford sails from Hoboken, New Jersey to Oslo on an independent and eventually unsuccessful mission to broker a peace conference.source
  • "In Flanders Fields": John McCraeCanadasource
  • New Zealand Derby – Desert GoldNew Zealandsource

Religion & Belief

  • 29 January – Ole Andres Olsen, Seventh-day Adventist minister and administrator (born 1845)Norwaysource
  • March 28 – The first Roman Catholic Liturgy is celebrated by Archbishop John Ireland at the newly consecrated Cathedral of Saint Paul in Saint Paul, Minnesota.United Statessource
  • 8 August - Establishment of the Catholic Centre Party.Portugalsource
  • 28 October – The opening of Kagi Shrine in Tainan Prefecture.Taiwansource
  • Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy Baronetcy ActIndiasource
  • Monarch – Victor Emmanuel III (1900–1946)Italysource
  • Auckland Trotting Cup – Cathedral ChimesNew Zealandsource
  • John Gwenogvryn Evans (ed.) - Poems from the Book of Taliesin, amended and translatedWalessource

Economy & Finance

Technology & Infrastructure

  • 1 January – First flight of the Walsh Brothers' Curtiss-type flying boat. The flight takes place at Bastion Point and it is the first such aircraft built and flown in the Southern Hemisphere.New Zealandsource
  • January 19 – Georges Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.source
  • January 25 – The first United States coast-to-coast long-distance telephone call is facilitated by a newly invented vacuum tube amplifier, ceremonially inaugurated by Alexander Graham Bell in New York City and his former assistant Thomas A. Watson, in San Francisco, California.source
  • January 26 – WWI: The Ottoman Army begins the Raid on the Suez Canal.source
  • 26 January – The opening of Ruisui Station in Karenkō Prefecture.Taiwansource
  • March unknown date – A tool brand, Makita founded, as predecessor name was Makita Electronics Manufacturing.Japansource
  • 10 May – La Prensa Gráfica, a Salvadoran newspaper, began publication.El Salvadorsource
  • 6 June – The BHP Newcastle Steelworks opens in Newcastle, New South Wales.Australiasource
  • July 1 – WWI: In aerial warfare, German fighter pilot Kurt Wintgens becomes the first person to shoot down another plane, using a machine gun equipped with synchronization gear.source
  • 20 August – An auto parts, electronics and other manufacturing brand, ZF Friedrichshafen was founded, as predecessor name was Zepernicker Zahnradfabrik.Germanysource
  • September 6 – The prototype military tank is first tested by the British Army.source
  • September 7 – Cartoonist John B. Gruelle is given a patent for his Raggedy Ann doll.source
  • September 11 – The Pennsylvania Railroad begins electrified commuter rail service between Paoli and Philadelphia, using overhead AC trolley wires for power. This type of system is later used in long-distance passenger trains between New York City, Washington, D.C., and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.source
  • September 30 – WWI: Serbian Army private Radoje Ljutovac becomes the first soldier in history to shoot down an enemy aircraft, with ground-to-air fire.source
  • November 23 – The Triangle Film Corporation opens its new motion picture theater in Massillon, Ohio.source
  • December 10 – The 1 millionth Ford car rolls off the assembly line at the River Rouge Plant in Detroit, Michigan.source
  • Two Class 16A 4-6-2 Pacific type four-cylinder simple expansion passenger locomotives.South Africasource
  • Construction of the Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai High School was completed.Vietnamsource

Science & Discovery

  • January 5 – Joseph E. Carberry sets an altitude record of 11,690 ft, carrying Capt. Benjamin Delahauf Foulois as a passenger, in a fixed-wing aircraft.source
  • January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction".source
  • March 19 – Pluto is photographed for the first time, but is not recognised for what it is.source
  • 12 November – William Henry Bragg and his son William Lawrence Bragg win the Nobel Prize in Physics "For their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays."United Kingdomsource
  • November 25 – Albert Einstein presents part of his theory of general relativity to the Prussian Academy of Sciences.source
  • November – The New Zealand Flying School moves to Kohimarama.New Zealandsource
  • 4 December - First submarine to be launched at Pembroke Dock, HMS J3.Walessource
  • 10 December – Father and son scientists William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg win the Nobel Prize in Physics.Australiasource
  • German palaeontologist Ernst Stromer publishes an article assigning the specimen to a new genus and species Spinosaurus aegyptiacus.Germanysource
  • Knud Knudsen, photographer (born 1832)Norwaysource
  • William Evans (Wil Ifan) - Dros y NythWalessource

Health & Medicine

  • January – While working as a cook at New York's Sloan Hospital under an assumed name, "Typhoid Mary" infects 25 people, and is placed in quarantine for life.United Statessource
  • February 21 – Nellie McClung presents a petition to the Alberta Legislature demanding women's suffrageCanadasource
  • February – While working as a cook at New York's Sloane Hospital for Women under an assumed name, "Typhoid Mary" (an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid fever) infects 25 people, and is placed in quarantine for life on March 27.source
  • March – The 1915 Palestine locust infestation breaks out in Palestine; it continues until October.source
  • August–September – John Buchan's thriller The Thirty-Nine Steps, set largely in Galloway immediately before the outbreak of war and introducing his hero Richard Hannay, is serialised in Blackwood's Magazine before being published in book form in October by William Blackwood and Sons in Edinburgh.Scotlandsource
  • October 25 – Lyda Conley, the first American Indian woman to appear before the Supreme Court of the United States as a lawyer, is admitted to practice there.source
  • November 18 – The U.S. silent film Inspiration, the first mainstream movie in which a leading actress (Audrey Munson) appears nude, is released.source
  • November 18 – Release of Inspiration, the first mainstream movie in which a leading actress (Audrey Munson) appears nude.United Statessource
  • December 23 – HMHS Britannic, which will be the largest British ship lost in WWI (though with only 30 fatalities), departs Liverpool on her maiden voyage as a hospital ship.source
  • Sir William Rice Edwards becomes surgeon-general of Bengal.Walessource

Crime & Justice

  • January 12 – A Fool There Was premières in the United States, starring Theda Bara as a femme fatale; she quickly becomes one of early cinema's most sensational stars.source
  • March 28 – The Italian rider Ezio Corlaita wins the 9th Milan–San Remo bicycle race.Italysource
  • June – Armenian genocide: 15,000 civilians from the Ottoman Armenian population of Bitlis are massacred by Ottoman Turks and Kurds.source
  • Armenian genocide: 17,000 civilians from the Ottoman Armenian population of Trebizond are massacred by Ottoman Turks.source
  • August 17 – Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched for the murder of a 13-year-old girl in Atlanta.United Statessource
  • 29 August – Einar Tufte-Johnsen, aviation officer (died 1985).Norwaysource
  • 27 October – World War I: Glasgow revolutionary socialist anti-war protester John Maclean is arrested for the first time under the Defence of the Realm Act and dismissed from his job as a teacher.Scotlandsource
  • Patrobas wins the Melbourne CupAustraliasource
  • The Golden Road: Lucy Maud MontgomeryCanadasource
  • Men's fours champions – N.H. Nash, S. Dixon, F.J. Tasker, J.A. Nash (skip) (Palmerston North Bowling Club)New Zealandsource
  • John Cowper Powys - Wood and StoneWalessource

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 1 – WWI: British Royal Navy battleship HMS Formidable is sunk off Lyme Regis, England, by an Imperial German Navy U-boat, with the loss of 547 crew.source
  • January 19 – WWI: German Zeppelins bomb the coastal towns of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn in England for the first time, killing more than 20.source
  • January 22 – Guadalajara train disasterMexicosource
  • 10 March – World War I: German submarine U-12 is hunted down by Royal Navy destroyers HMS Ariel, HMS Acheron and HMS Attack off the Firth of Forth and sunk with the loss of 19 of her crew, 10 being saved.Scotlandsource
  • March 11 – WWI: British armed merchantman HMS Bayano is sunk in the North Channel off the coast of Scotland by Imperial German Navy U-boat SM U-27. Around 200 crew are lost, a number of bodies being washed up on the Isle of Man, with only 26 saved.source
  • March 18 – British Royal Navy battleship HMS Dreadnought sinks German submarine U-29 with all hands in the Pentland Firth off the coast of Scotland by ramming her, the only time this tactic is known to have been successfully used by a battleship.source
  • 30 April – Australian submarine AE2 sunk in Sea of Marmara.Australiasource
  • 7 May – Sinking of the Lusitania: British ocean liner RMS Lusitania was sunk by Imperial German Navy U-boat U-20 about 11 mi off Old Head of Kinsale, County Cork, killing 1,198 civilians en route from New York to Liverpool, among them the Irish-born art dealer and benefactor Sir Hugh Lane and Irish composer and conductor Thomas O'Brien Butler.Irelandsource
  • 7 May - When RMS Lusitania is sunk by a German torpedo, notable survivors include David Alfred Thomas, Viscount Rhondda and tenor Gwynn Parry Jones.Walessource
  • May 22 – Quintinshill rail disaster in Scotland: The collision and fire kill 226, mostly troops, the largest number of fatalities in a rail accident in the United Kingdom.source
  • 22 May – Quintinshill rail disaster near Gretna Green in Scotland: collision and fire kill 226, mostly troops, the largest number of fatalities in a rail accident in the U.K.United Kingdomsource
  • Sinking of the RMS Lusitania: RMS Titanic's main rival, the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania, is sunk by Imperial German Navy U-boat U-20 off the south-west coast of Ireland, killing 1,199 civilians en route from New York City to Liverpool. The best-known of the celebrities on board is American sportsman Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt.source
  • June 11 – Friar Leonard Melki and hundreds of other Christians are driven out of Mardin and massacred by Ottoman troops.source
  • July 7 – An overloaded International Railway (New York–Ontario) trolleycar with 157 passengers crashes near Queenston, Ontario, resulting in 15 deaths.source
  • July 24 – Steamer SS Eastland capsizes in central Chicago, with the loss of 844 lives.source
  • July 24 – The steamer Eastland capsizes in central Chicago, with the loss of 844 lives.United Statessource
  • 23 October – Sinking of SS Marquette with 32 New Zealand deaths; mainly nurses and medical staffNew Zealandsource
  • October 28 – St. Johns School fire: Fire at St. John's School in Peabody, Massachusetts, United States, claims the lives of 21 girls between the ages of 7 and 17.source

Climate & Environment

  • January 13 – The 6.7 Mw Avezzano earthquake shakes the Province of L'Aquila in Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). Various agencies estimate the number of people killed to be 29,978–32,610.Italysource
  • March 2 – Armenian genocide: Earliest recorded deportations.source
  • May 22 – Lassen Peak, one of the Cascade Volcanoes in California, erupts, sending an ash plume 30,000 feet in the air, and devastating the nearby area with pyroclastic flows and lahars. It is the only volcano to erupt in the contiguous United States this century, until the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.source
  • May 22 – Lassen Peak, one of the Cascade Volcanoes in Northern California, erupts, sending an ash plume 30,000 feet in the air and devastating the nearby area with pyroclastic flows and lahars. It is the only volcano to erupt in the contiguous United States between 1900 and the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.United Statessource
  • June 22 – The Imperial Valley earthquakes shook southeastern Southern California, causing six deaths and financial losses of $900,000. Each shock in this doublet earthquake measured 5.5 Mw and had a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe).United Statessource
  • August 5–23 – Hurricane Two of the 1915 Atlantic hurricane season over Galveston and New Orleans leaves 275 dead.source
  • October 2 – The 6.8 Mw Pleasant Valley earthquake shook north-central Nevada with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), causing limited damage and pronounced fault scarps along the base of the Tobin Range.United Statessource
  • December 9–14 – Sankebetsu brown bear incident: was the worst bear attack in Japanese history, killing seven settlers in Rokusensawa, Sankebetsu, Tomamae, Rumoi, Hokkaidō, Japan.Japansource

Culture & Society

  • January 21 – Kiwanis is founded in Detroit, Michigan, as The Supreme Lodge Benevolent Order Brothers.source
  • 29 January - Heitor Villa-Lobos gives the first in a series of chamber concerts; one of the new works he introduces during this year is his Cello Concerto no 1.Brazilsource
  • February 8 – The controversial film The Birth of a Nation, directed by D. W. Griffith, premieres in Los Angeles. It will be the highest-grossing film for around 25 years.source
  • April 5 – Boxer Jess Willard defeats Jack Johnson with a 26th-round knockout in sweltering heat, at Havana, Cuba. Willard becomes very popular among white Americans, for "bringing back the championship to the white race".source
  • 21 April - Establishment of the Theatre CircoPortugalsource
  • May 15–21 – The Far Eastern Championship Games take place in Shanghai.Chinasource
  • June 16 – Women's Institutes are established in Britain.source
  • September 5 – The Zimmerwald Conference begins in Switzerland.source
  • The International Socialist League of South Africa is established in Johannesburg.South Africasource
  • November 10 – Enthronement of Taishō as the Emperor of Japan in the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. Originally scheduled to be held in 1914 (Taisho 3, 大正3年), it was postponed for one year in April of the same year due to the death of Empress Shōken.Japansource
  • December 8 – Jean Sibelius conducts the world première of his Symphony No. 5 in Helsinki at a 50th birthday concert for him.source
  • December 18 – United States president Woodrow Wilson marries Edith B. Galt, in Washington, D.C.source
  • German geophysicist Alfred Wegener publishes his theory of Pangea, which he calls Urkontinent.Germanysource
  • The sports club Magni Grenivík establishedIcelandsource
  • The New Zealand Open championship and National Amateur Championships are not held due to the war.New Zealandsource

Births

Deaths

  • January 1 – WWI: Battle of Broken Hill: A train ambush near Broken Hill, Australia, is carried out by two men (claiming to be in support of the Ottoman Empire) who are killed, together with four civilians.source
  • March 21 – Frederick Winslow Taylor, American engineer, economist (born 1856)source
  • April 27 – Alexander Scriabin, Russian composer (born 1872)source
  • May 27 – Armenian genocide: The Tehcir Law is promulgated by the Turkish Ottoman Empire authorizing deportation of the Ottoman Armenian population to Deir ez-Zor in the Syrian desert, leading to the deaths of anywhere between 800,000 and over 1,500,000 civilians and confiscation of their property.source
  • July 2 – Porfirio Díaz, 29th president of Mexico (born 1830)source
  • July 2 – Porfirio Díaz, 29th President of Mexico (died in France) (born 1830)Mexicosource
  • July 7 – Sinhalese militia captain Henry Pedris is executed in British Ceylon for inciting race riots, a charge later proved false; he becomes a hero of the Sri Lankan independence movement.source
  • July 16 – Ellen G. White, American prophetess, co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, most translated American author (born 1827)source
  • August 12 – Marcel Kiepach, inventor (born 1894)Croatiasource
  • August 17 – Leo Frank, Jewish-American factory superintendent who was lynched after the murder of Mary Phagan (born 1884)source
  • September 28 – Saitō Hajime, samurai of the late Edo period, captain of the third unit of the Shinsengumi (born 1844)Japansource
  • October 4 – John Rigby, grandfather of Eleanor Rigby, to whom Paul McCartney attributes a subconscious influence on naming the song with the same name (b.1843)source
  • October 12 – Edith Cavell, British nurse, war heroine (shot) (born 1865)source
  • October 12 – WWI: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad, for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium.source
  • October 23 – W. G. Grace, English cricketer (born 1848)source
  • October 30 – Sir Charles Tupper, 6th prime minister of Canada (born 1821)source
  • November 14 – Booker T. Washington, American educator (born 1856)source
  • ? – Mirza Agha Tabrizi, Iranian playwright and writer.Iransource