- January 14
- Henry Ford introduces the assembly line, for Model T Ford automobiles. [1]
- January 26
- 600 Dutch textile workers go on strike. [1]
- Vatican puts Belgian Nobel Prize winner Maeterlinck's works in their index. [1]
- February 1
- Tanganyika Railway opens. [1]
- February 8
- General Zamon becomes President of Haiti. [1]
- February 13
- American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers-ASCAP forms in New York City, New York. [1]
- February 21
- White Wolf troops attack Zhanjiang China. [1]
- March 1
- Dutch Minister of war H Colijn named director of British Petroleum. [1]
- March 7
- Prince Wilhelm von Wied becomes King of Albania. [1]
- March 9
- US Senator Albert Fall (Teapot Dome) demands "Cubanisation of Mexico". [1]
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- March 10
- Suffragettes in London damage painter Rokeby's Venus of Velasquez. [1]
- March 14
- Serbia and Turkey sign peace treaty. [1]
- March 16
- Gaston Calmette, editor (Le Figaro), killed by Madame Caillaux at age 55. [1]
- March 18
- White Wolf gang beats government army in Jingdezhen, China. [1]
- March 22
- World's first airline, Saint Petersburg Tampa Airboat Line, begins. [1]
- March 27
- First successful blood transfusion (in Brussels, Belgium). [1]
- April 8
- US and Colombia sign a treaty concerning the Panamá Canal Zone. [1]
- April 9
- First full-color feature film shown, in London, England: The World, The Flesh and the Devil. [1] [55.66]
- Tampico incident - US ship crew arrested in México. [1]
- April 11
- George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion play premieres. [1]
- April 14
- Stacy G Carkhuff patents non-skid tire pattern. [1]
- April 20
- 33 killed by soldiers during mine strike in Ludlow, Colorado, USA. [1]
- April 21
- US marines occupy Vera Cruz, México (they stay six months). [1]
- April 22
- México ends diplomatic relations with US. [1]
- April 28
- 181 die in coal mine collapse at Eccles, West Virginia, USA. [1]
- W H Carrier patents air conditioner. [1]
- May 1
- China's first president Yuan Shikai wins dictatorial qualification. [1]
- May 6
- British House of Lords rejects women's suffrage. [1]
- May 9
- US President Woodrow Wilson signs a proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. [404.82] [411.64]
- May 25
- British House of Commons passes Irish Home Rule. [1]
- May 29
- A Norwegian freighter rams Canadian Pacific's liner RMS Empress of Ireland in Saint Lawrence River, Canada, in heavy fog; 1024 die as the ship sinks quickly. [1] [260.94]
- May 30
- Cunard ocean liner RMS Aquitania, largest at 45,647 tons, sails on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to New York City. [5] [67.21]
- June 6
- First air flight out of the sight of land (Scotland to Norway). [1]
- June 19
- A radiotelegraphic link is established between Germany and the United States - German Emperor Wilhelm II and U.S. President Woodrow Wilson exchange telegrams to mark the event. [5]
- June 27
- US signs treaty of commerce with Ethiopia. [1]
- June 28
- Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie are shot to death by Bosnian Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip during an official visit to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. [1] [129]
- June 30
- Mahatma Gandhi's first arrest, campaigning for Indian rights in South Africa. [1]
- July 14
- First patent for liquid-fueled rocket design granted, to Dr Robert Hutchins Goddard. [1]
- July 23
- Austria-Hungary issues an ultimatum to Serbia demanding the person who killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand. [1] [5]
- July 28
- Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. [1] [129]
- The Foxtrot is first danced at New Amsterdam Roof Garden (New York City, by Harry Fox). [1]
- July 29
- Austro-Hungarian forces begin to shell the Serbian capital, Belgrade. Russia, Serbia's ally, orders a troop mobilization against Austria-Hungary. [129]
- July 30
- Jean Jaurés, leading socialist, is assassinated in Paris, France. [1]
- July 31
- The New York Stock Exchange closes its doors due to the war in Europe. (It stays closed for the next four months.) [421.68] [516.32] (July 30 [227])
- August 1
- Germany declares war on Russia. [1]
- France, allied with Russia, begins to mobilize for war. [129]
- Winston Churchill mobilizes the British Royal Navy for war. [289.177]
- August 3
- Germany invades Belgium and declares war on France; France declares war on Germany. [1] [129]
- Cargo steamer S.S. Cristobal is first vessel to complete ocean-to-ocean transit of Panama Canal. [670.70] [821.77] [1119.113] (August 4 [684.68])
- August 4
- Germany declares war on Belgium; Britain declares war on Germany. [1] [918.46]
- August 5
- First electric traffic light is installed, at Euclid Ave. and East 105th Street, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. [1] [5]
- US, Nicaragua sign treaty granting canal rights to US. [1]
- August 6
- Austria-Hungary declares war against Russia. [1]
- Serbia declares war against Germany. [1]
- August 8
- Sweden and Norway make a common declaration of neutrality. [7]
- August 11
- Jews are expelled from Mitchenick, Poland. [1]
- August 15
- The Panama Canal officially opens, linking the Pacific and Atlantic oceans between North and South America. The SS Arcon is first ship to officially transit the canal, taking 9 hours 40 minutes. [1] [129] [152.14] [670.70] [729.38] [821.77] [1119.113]
- August 18
- President Woodrow Wilson issues Proclamation of Neutrality. [1]
- August 20
- German forces occupy Brussels, Belgium. [1]
- Pope Pius X dies. [1]
- August 23
- Japan declares war on Germany. [1]
- August 26
- Germans defeat Russians in Battle of Tannenberg. [1]
- September 1
- Saint Petersburg, Russia changes name to Petrograd. [1]
- September 3
- Cardinal Giacome della Chiesa becomes Pope Benedict XV. [1]
- Prince Wilhelm of Albania resigns and leaves the country. [982.1105]
- September 6
- Battle of the Marne; Germans prevented from occupying Paris. [1]
- September 15
- Battle of Aisne begins between Germans and French. [1]
- September 18
- Battle of Aisne ends with Germans beating French. [1]
- September 28
- German forces move into Antwerp, Belgium. [1]
- October 7
- Japanese land at Ponape, Caroline Islands, occupying the islands abandoned by the Germans. [1255.736]
- October 10
- German forces rout Belgians in Antwerp, Belgium. [1]
- October 30
- Italians occupy island of Saseno. [612.31]
- November 5
- Great Britain annexes Cyprus. [1]
- November 16
- Banks of the US Federal Reserve System open for business, in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, Saint Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, and San Francisco. The New York branch receives $100 million from member banks. [1] [453.66] [560.54] [1040.480]
- November 20
- US State Department starts requiring photographs for passports. [1]
- November 22
- British and Indian troops occupy Basra (Iraq). [1215.808]
- December 2
- Austria army occupies Belgrade, Serbia. [1]
- December 3
- Netherlands army shoots up geïnterneerde Belgian soldiers: 8 killed. [1]
- December 6
- German troops overrun Lódz. [1]
- December 8
- British and German fleets battle at Falkland Island. [1]
- December 10
- French government returns to Paris. [1]
- December 12
- The New York Stock Exchange re-opens (was closed four months). The Dow Jones Industrial Average drops from 71.42 to 54, a drop of 24 percent. [227]
- December 15
- Battle of Lódz ends; Russians retreat toward Moscow. [1]
- British fleet forfeits chance to destroy German fleet in North Sea. [1]
- Swedish troops overrun Belgrade in Austria-Hungary. [1]
- December 16
- French offensive in Artois (Pétain). [1]
- December 17
- Austrian troops beat Russians in Limanova, Poland. [1]
- Great Britain declares Egypt a protectorate. [1]
- Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv by Turkish authorities. [1]
- December 21
- First feature-length silent film comedy, Tillie's Punctured Romance is released (starring Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand and Charles Chaplin). [1]
- December 24
- German plane drops bombs on Dover, England. [1]
- December 25
- Germans and Allies across the trenches cease firing and participate in an informal Christmas Truce. [1] [129]
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