- January 19
- First German Zeppelin L3s make bombing attack over Great Britain; four die in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. [1] [152.34]
- Neon Tube sign patented by George Claude. [1]
- January 21
- Kiwanis International founded in Detroit, Michigan, USA. [1]
- January 24
- German-British sea battle at Doggersbank and Helgoland. [1]
- January 27
- US Marines occupy Haiti. [1]
- January 28
- First US ship lost in Great War, William P Frye (carrying wheat to United Kingdom). [1]
- January 30
- German submarine attack on Le Havre. [1]
- January 31
- First (German) poison gas attack, against Russians. [1]
- February 3
- Turkish and German armies reach Suez Canal. [1]
- February 7
- First wireless message sent from a moving train to a station is received. [1]
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- Second Battle of Masurian Lakes: German armies surround a Russian army. [1]
- February 18
- Germany begins a blockade of England. [1]
- February 19
- British fleet fires on Dardanellen coast. [1]
- February 20
- (to December 4) The Panama-Pacific International Exposition opens in San Francisco. The event is held to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, and the 400th anniversary of Vasco Nunez de Balboa's discovery of the Pacific Ocean. [1] [443.17] [455.18]
- February 21
- 20th Russian Army corps surrenders. [1]
- February 22
- Germany begins "unrestricted" submarine war. [1]
- February 23
- Germany sinks US ships Carib and Evelyn and torpedoes Norwegian ship Regin. [1]
- February 26
- First (German) flame-thrower used at Malancourt, Argonnen. [1]
- March 2
- British Vice Admiral Carden begins bombing of Dardanelles forts. [1]
- Vladmir Jabotinsky forms a Jewish military force to fight in Palestine. [1]
- March 6
- Greek King Constantine I fires premier Venizelos. [1]
- March 10
- British expedition Army in Belgium captures Neuve Chapelle. [1]
- March 14
- German cruiser Dresden blows itself up near coast of Chile. [1]
- March 15
- Netherlands merchant ship Tubantia is torpedoed and sinks in North Sea. [1]
- March 16
- British battle cruisers Inflexible and Irresistible hit mines in Dardanelle. [1]
- March 17
- Haiti National Assembly makes Vilbrun Guillaume Sam president of the country. [1144.243]
- March 18
- Failed British attack in Dardanelles. [1]
- French battleship Bouvet explodes, 640 killed. [1]
- Turkey's Canakkale (Trojan) Sea Victory against allied powers (USA, Australia, England, Italy). [1]
- March 19
- Pluto (planet) is photographed for first time (although unknown at the time). [1] [5]
- March 25
- First US submarine disaster; a US F-4 sank off Hawaii, killing 21. [1]
- German submarine torpedoes Netherlands merchant ship Medea. [1]
- April 5
- French begin Woëvre offensive. [1]
- First British newspaper comic strip: "Adventures of Teddy Tail - Diary of the Mouse in Your House", by Charles Folkard in Daily Mail. The strip runs for over 40 years. [55.42]
- April 14
- Dutch merchant navy ship Katwijk sunk by German torpedo. [1]
- April 22
- First military use of poison gas (chlorine, by Germany). [1]
- Second Battle of Ypres begins. [1]
- April 24
- German army fires chloroform gas in Ieper. [1]
- Massacre of Armenians by Turks (Armenian Martyrs Day). [1]
- April 25
- 78,000 ANZAC troops land at Gallipoli. [1]
- April 26
- Italy secretly signes Pact of London with Britain, France and Russia. [1]
- May 1
- British munition ship Lusitania leaves New York, for Liverpool, with large shipment of high explosives. [1] [916.89]
- German submarine sinks US ship Gulflight. [1]
- May 4
- Italy drops out of Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary and Germany. [1]
- May 5
- German U-20 submarine sinks Earl of Lathom. [1]
- May 6
- Allies attack Cape Helles, Hellespont. [1]
- German U-20 sinks Centurion south-east of Ireland. [1]
- May 7
- Cunard Line's RMS Lusitania passenger liner is sunk by German submarine southwest of Cobh, Ireland, in the Atlantic Ocean; 1198 lives lost including 128 Americans. One crewmember survives, who also survived the Empress of Ireland and Titanic. [1] [118.9] [260.96] [916.89] [1053.52] [1311.9]
- May 9
- Germany and France fight the Battle of Artois. [1]
- May 10
- Zeppelin drops hundred of bombs on Southend-on-Sea. [1]
- May 12
- Croatians plunder Armenia, killing 250. [1]
- Franklin K Mathiews presents the idea of "Book Week". [1]
- May 17
- Last liberal British Government of Herbert Asquith falls. [1]
- May 20
- Bataafsche Petroleum begins oil extraction of Maracaibo. [1]
- May 22
- Local train collides with troop train killing 226 (Gretna Scotland). [1]
- May 23
- Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary and Germany. [1]
- May 24
- Thomas Edison invents telescribe to record telephone conversations. [1]
- May 25
- Second Battle of Ypres ends with 105,000 casualties. [1]
- May 26
- H H Asquith forms a coalition government in England. [1]
- May 31
- An LZ-38 Zeppelin makes first zeppelin air raid on London, England. [1]
- June 24
- 800 die as excursion steamer Eastland capsizes in Chicago, Illinois, USA. [1]
- July 1
- Australia begins Commonwealth Lighthouse Service. [1]
- Australian Survey Corps becomes part of the Military Forces. [1]
- July 9
- Germany surrenders South West Africa to Union of South Africa. [1]
- July 24
- Excursion ship Eastland capsizes in Lake Michigan, 852 die. [1]
- July 27
- Haiti Chief of the Arrondisement of Port-au-Prince Charles Oscar is taken from a Consulate by angry mob, and torn apart in the streets, in revenge for killing 300 political prisoners, earlier in the day. [1144.244]
- July 28
- Haiti President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam is taken from French Embassy and killed by a mob. [1144.244]
- US Marines on US heavy cruiser Washington land in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to restore order. (They stay until 1924.) [1] [966.156] [1144.244]
- August 12
- Haitian National Assembly elects Sudre Dartiguenave as President of Haiti. [966.157]
- August 17
- Mob lynches Jewish businessman Leo Frank in Cobb County, Georgia, USA after death sentence for murder of 13-year-old girl commuted to life. [1]
- Hurricane kills 275 in Galveston, Texas with $50 million damage. [1] [245.4]
- September 11
- The Pennsylvania Railroad begins electrified commuter rail service between Paoli and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, using overhead AC trolley wires for power. [5]
- September 16
- US takes control of customs and finances of Haiti for ten years. [1]
- September 21
- Stones at Stonehenge, England, are sold at auction for 6,600 pounds sterling. [1]
- September 22
- Southern Methodist University (Dallas, Texas) holds its first class. [1]
- September 29
- A hurricane claims 275 human deaths in the Mississippi Delta. [1]
- October 12
- English nurse Edith Cavell is executed by firing squad by Germans in Belgium. [1]
- October 21
- The first transatlantic radiotelephone message is transmitted from Arlington, Virginia to Paris, France. [1] [457]
- October 23
- 25,000 women march in New York City, demanding right to vote. [1]
- October 25
- Attorney James L. Curtis is named US Ambassador to Liberia. [1]
- November 9
- Italian liner Ancona sinks by German torpedoes, killing 272. [1]
- November 12
- Britain annexes Gilbert and Ellice Islands. [1]
- December 4
- The Ku Klux Klan receives charter from Fulton County, Georgia, USA. [1]
- The Panama-Pacific International Exposition, held in San Francisco, California, closes. 19 million visitors attended the event. [1] [443.17] [455.18]
- December 10
- 10,000,000th Ford Model T car is assembled. [1]
- December 12
- First all-metal aircraft (Junkers J.1) test flown at Dessau, Germany. [1]
- Aristide Briand forms French war government. [1]
- Russian troops overrun Hamadan, Persia. [1]
- December 16
- Albert Einstein publishes his "General Theory of Relativity". [1]
- December 20
- Russian troops overrun Qom, Persia. [1]
- December 30
- In Cromarty Harbour, the Scottish-British cruiser Natal explodes: 405 die. [1]
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