References are numbered in [brackets], which are listed here. A number after the dot gives the page in the source.

Last updated: 2008 April 30.

1915 January 1 DW Griffith shows "Clansman" at a sneak preview. [1] Jews of Laibach Austria expelled. [1] January 2 Karl Goldmark Austria-Hungarian composer (Queen of Saba), dies at 84. [1] January 3 James E Flecker British diplomat/novelist (Hassan), dies at 30. [1] January 4 First elected Jewish Governor, Moses Alexander, takes office in Idaho. [1] Trans-Caucausus Russian defeat Turkish troops. [1] January 9 Exposition (now Civic) Auditorium dedicated, San Francisco. [1] January 12 House of Representatives rejects proposal to give women the right to vote. [1] January 13 Earthquake in Avezzano Italy kills 30,000. [1] W Churchill presents plan for assault on Dardanelles. [1] January 15 Guillaume Couture composer, dies at 63. [1] Japan claims economic control of China. [1] Sydney, Kern and Smith's musical "Love o' Mike" premieres in New York City, New York. [1] January 16 US Congress authorizes $1 and $50 Panamá-Pacific International Expo gold coin. [1] January 17 Antoni van Leeuwenhoek's Hospital in Amsterdam opens. [1] Russia occupies Bukovina and Western Ukraine. [1] January 18 Train crashes at Colima-Guadalajara Mexico, about 600 die. [1] January 19 First German Zeppelin attack over Great Britain, four die. [1] Neon Tube sign patented by George Claude. [1] January 21 Kiwanis International founded in Detroit. [1] January 24 German-British sea battle at Doggersbank and Helgoland. [1] January 25 Giordano, Sardou and Moreau's opera "Madame Sans Gêne" premieres in New York City, New York. [1] Transcontinental telephone service inaugurated (New York to San Francisco). [1] January 26 Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado established. [1] January 27 US Marines occupy Haiti. [1] January 28 First US ship lost in WWI, William P Frye (carrying wheat to United Kingdom). [1] US Coast Guard created from Life Saving and Revenue Cutter services. [1] US President Wilson refuses to prohibit immigration of illiterates. [1] January 30 German submarine attack on Le Havre. [1] No 10 batsman F W Hyett scores century on debut, Victoria vs Tasmania. [1] January 31 First (German) poison gas attack, against Russians. [1] February 3 Turkish and German army reach Suez Canal. [1] February 4 Experiments to find cause of pellagra begin at Mississippi Penitentiary. [1] February 7 First wireless message sent from a moving train to a station received. [1] Second Battle of Masurian Lakes German armies surrounded a Russian army. [1] Wladyslaw Gorski composer, dies at 68. [1] February 10 Albert J-BJ Thijs Belgian Colonial pioneer (Congo), dies at 65. [1] February 12 Charles Emile Waldteufel composer, dies at 77. [1] Cornerstone laid for Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. [1] February 16 Emil Waldteufel [Charles Levy], French composer (Estudiantina), dies. [1] Frank Home Run Baker, 28, announces retirement following a contract dispute with Connie Mack; He sits out 1915 season. [1] February 17 Edward Stone, first US combatant to die in WWI, is mortally wounded. [1] February 18 Germany begins a blockade of England. [1] February 19 British fleet fire on Dardanellen coast. [1] Gopal Krishna Gokhale India's social reformer/politician, dies. [1] February 20 Panamá-Pacific International Exposition opens in San Francisco. [1] 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] Nevada enforces convenient divorce law. [1] Robert Smalls Reconstruction congressman, dies at 75 in South Carolina. [1] February 25 George Mimot physician (Nobel Prize-1934), dies. [1] February 26 Malancourt, Argonnen - first (German) flame-thrower. [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 3 National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NASA forerunner) created. [1] March 6 Greek King Constantine I fires premier Venizelos. [1] March 8 First US navy minelayer, Baltimore, commissioned. [1] March 10 British expedition Army in Belgium captures Neuve Chapelle. [1] March 13 Sergei J Witte Dutch count/premier of Russia, dies at 65. [1] March 14 German cruiser Dresden blows itself up near coast of Chile. [1] March 15 Netherlands merchant ship Tubantia torpedoed and sinks in North Sea. [1] March 16 British battle cruisers Inflexible and Irresistible hit mines in Dardanelle. [1] Federal Trade Commission organizes. [1] March 17 Walter Crane English painter/cartoonist/illustrator, dies at 69. [1] 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) during First World War. [1] March 19 Pluto photographed for first time (although unknown at the time). [1] March 22 Birth of Forest Sagendorf cartoonist. [1] March 23 Zion Mule Corp forms. [1] March 25 First submarine disaster; a US F-4 sank off Hawaii, killing 21. [1] German U boat torpedoes Netherlands merchant ship Medea. [1] April 1 Johann Joseph Abert composer, dies at 82. [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 Oakland Athletics Herb Pennock is within one out of pitching first Opening Day no-hitter. [1] Dutch merchant navy ship Katwijk sunk by Germany torpedo. [1] James Hutton Brew "Pioneer of West African Journalism", dies. [1] April 15 Manuel de Falla's ballet "El Amor Brujo", premieres in Madrid. [1] April 17 Johannes P Kelly [Kellij] Dutch actor/operetta writer, dies at 60. [1] April 22 First military use of poison gas (chlorine, by Germany) in WWI. [1] Second Battle of Ypres begins. [1] April 23 ACA becomes National Advisory Council on Aeronautics (NACA). [1] Rupert Chawner Brooke English poet (Lithuania), dies at 27. [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] Nicola d' Arienzo composer, dies at 72. [1] April 26 Italy secretly signes Pact of London with Britain, France and Russia. [1] April 27 Alexander N Skriabin Russian pianist/composer (Prometheus), dies at 43. [1] May 1 British Lusitania leaves New York, for Liverpool. [1] German submarine sinks US ship Gulflight. [1] May 2 Old Fordham Road in the Bronx renamed Landing Road. [1] May 4 Italy drops Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungaryb and Germany. [1] May 5 German U-20 sinks Earl of Lathom. [1] May 6 Allies attack Cape Helles, Hellespont. [1] German U-20 sinks Centurion SE of Ireland. [1] May 7 Alfred G Vanderbilt US millionaire, dies aboard Lusitania. [1] Alfred Scott Witherbee Jr US Lusitania officer, dies. [1] Charles Frohman dies aboard Lusitania. [1] Lusitania sunk by German submarine; 1198 lives lost. [1] May 8 Henry McNeal Turner 1 US black army chaplain, dies at 82. [1] May 9 German and French fight the Battle of Artois. [1] May 10 Albert Weisgerber German painter/graphic artist, dies in battle. [1] 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 Chicago Cubs George "Zip" Zabel relieves with two outs in first and winds up with 4-3 19-inning win over Brooklyn in longest relief job ever. [1] Last liberal British Government of Asquith falls. [1] National Baptist Convention chartered. [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 during WWI. [1] May 24 Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary. [1] 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 28 John B Gruelle patents Raggedy Ann doll. [1] May 31 An LZ-38 Zeppelin makes an air raid on London. [1] June 1 First Zeppelin air raid over England. [1] June 8 William Jennings Bryan quits as Secretary of State. [1] June 15 US government mints first $50 gold pieces, for Panama Pacific Expo. [1] June 24 800 die as excursion steamer Eastland capsizes in Chicago. [1] June 27 100 degrees F (38 degrees C), Fort Yukon, Alaska (state record). [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 28 10,000 blacks march on 5th Ave (New York City) protesting lynchings. [1] US forces invade Haiti, stays until 1924. [1] July 29 US marines land in Haiti, stay until 1924. [1] August 12 "Of Human Bondage," by William Somerset Maugham, published. [1] August 17 Mob lynches Jewish businessman Leo Frank in Cobb County, Georgia after death sentence for murder of 13-year-old girl commuted to life. [1] August 20 Paul Ehrlich scientist, dies in Hamburg at 61. [1] August 25 Hurricane kills 275 in Galveston, Texas with $50 million damage. [1] September 11 The Pennsylvania Railroad began electrified commuter rail service between Paoli and Philadelphia. [5] September 16 US takes control of customs and finances of Haiti for 10 years. [1] September 21 Anthony Comstock anti-vice crusader, dies at 71 in New York City. [1] Stones at Stonehenge, England, sold at auction for £6,600. [1] September 22 Southern Methodist University (Dallas Texas) holds its first class. [1] September 29 A hurricane claims 275 in the Mississippi Delta. [1] Philadelphia Phillies clinch their first pennant. [1] October 12 English nurse Edith Cavell executed by Germans in Belgium (WW II). [1] Theodore Roosevelt criticizes US citzens with dual nationalities. [1] October 21 First transatlantic radiotelephone message, Arlington, Va to Paris. [1] October 23 25,000 women march in New York City, demanding right to vote. [1] October 25 Atty James L Curtis named minister of Liberia. [1] November 2 First US election by proportional representation, Ashtabula, Ohio. [1] November 9 Italian liner Ancona sinks by German torpedoes, killing 272. [1] November 12 Britain annexes Gilbert and Ellice Islands. [1] November 14 Booker T Washington educator/organizer, dies at 59 in Tuskegee Alabama. [1] November 19 Joe Hill Labor leader, executed for murder. [1] December 2 Jan Malat composer, dies at 72. [1] December 4 F F Fletcher is first admiral to receive Congressional Medal of Honor. [1] Gustav Hollaender composer, dies at 60. [1] Ku Klux Klan receives charter from Fulton County GA. [1] Panamá-Pacific International Exposition closes in San Francisco California (Opened February 20 1915). [1] December 8 Jean Sibelius' 5th Symphony in E, premieres. [1] December 10 10,000,000th model T Ford assembled. [1] President Woodrow Wilson marries Edith Galt. [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 18 President Wilson, widowed the year before, marries Edith Bolling Galt. [1] Èdouard Vaillant French socialist politician/communard, dies at 75. [1] December 19 Alois Alzheimer German neurologist (first described Alzheimer's Disease), dies at 51. [1] December 20 Russian troops overrun Qom, Persia. [1] December 21 25.83 cm (10.17") of rainfall, Glenora Oregon (state record). [1] December 23 J Kern/S Greene's musical "Very Good Eddie" premieres in New York City, New York. [1] Roland Leighton dies at 20. [1] December 28 Gerrit Jan van Heek Dutch textile manufacturer/politician, dies at 78. [1] San Francisco City Hall dedicated by Mayor James Rolph. [1] December 29 Charles Beach Hawley composer, dies at 57. [1] December 30 Cromarty Harbour, Scottish-British cruiser Natal explodes: 405 die. [1]