Directory

1916 CE

The Battle of the Somme begins as British and French forces attack German lines in northern France, causing over one million casualties; The Battle of Verdun between France and Germany leaves nearly 700,000 dead or wounded, symbolizing the Western Front stalemate; The Brusilov Offensive gives Russia major gains against Austria-Hungary but with heavy losses; The Battle of Jutland in the North Sea, the war’s largest naval battle, ends without a clear victor but secures British naval dominance; The Arab Revolt is launched against Ottoman rule with British support and T. E. Lawrence; The Easter Rising in Dublin sees Irish republicans stage a doomed revolt against British rule.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 12 – The Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, part of the British Empire, is established in modern-day Tuvalu and Kiribati.source
  • March 10 – The McMahon–Hussein Correspondence concludes with an understanding that the United Kingdom would recognise Arab independence in return for Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, launching the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire.source
  • March 22 – The temporary Emperor of China, Yuan Shikai, abdicates the throne, and the Republic of China is restored once again.source
  • May 16 – Britain and France conclude the secret Sykes–Picot Agreement, which is to divide Arab areas of the Ottoman Empire, following the conclusion of WWI and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, into French and British spheres of influence.source
  • June 15 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America.source
  • August 16 – The Migratory Bird Treaty between Canada and the United States is signed.source
  • August 17 (August 4 O.S.) – WWI: The Treaty of Bucharest is signed secretly between Romania and the Entente Powers, stipulating the conditions under which Romania agrees to join the war on their side, particularly territorial promises in Austria-Hungary.source
  • August 21 – WWI: Peru declares neutrality.source
  • August 25 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs legislation creating the National Park Service.source
  • August 29 – The United States passes the Philippine Autonomy Act.source
  • October 12 – Hipólito Yrigoyen is elected President of Argentina.source
  • November 1 – Pavel Milyukov delivers his "stupidity or treason" speech in the Russian State Duma, precipitating the downfall of the Boris Stürmer government.source
  • November 5 – The Kingdom of Poland (1916–18) is proclaimed by a joint act of the emperors of Germany and Austria.source
  • November 7 – Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first woman elected to the United States House of Representatives.source
  • November 7 – 1916 United States presidential election: Democratic President Woodrow Wilson narrowly defeats Republican Charles Evans Hughes, when California is called a week after Election Day.source
  • November 13 – Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes is expelled from the Labor Party over his support for conscription.source
  • December 30 – Humberto Gómez and his mercenaries seize Arauca in Colombia and declare the Republic of Arauca. He proceeds to pillage the region before fleeing to Venezuela.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 9 – WWI: Gallipoli Campaign – The last British troops are evacuated from Gallipoli, as the Ottoman Empire prevails over a joint British and French operation to capture Constantinople.source
  • January 13 – WWI: Battle of Wadi – Ottoman Empire forces defeat the British, during the Mesopotamian campaign in modern-day Iraq.source
  • February 21 – WWI: The Battle of Verdun begins in France.source
  • March 8–9 – Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa leads about 500 Mexican raiders in an attack against Columbus, New Mexico, killing 12 U.S. soldiers. A garrison of the U.S. 13th Cavalry Regiment fights back and drives them away.source
  • March 15 – United States President Woodrow Wilson sends 12,000 United States troops over the U.S.–Mexico border to pursue Pancho Villa; the 13th Cavalry regiment enters Mexican territory.source
  • March 16 – Mexican Revolution: The U.S. 7th and 10th Cavalry regiments under John J. Pershing cross the border, to join the hunt for Villa.source
  • April 11 – WWI: The Egyptian Expeditionary Force begins the occupation of the Sinai Peninsula.source
  • April 24–30 – The Easter Rising occurs in Ireland. Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood proclaim an Irish Republic, and the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army occupy the General Post Office and other buildings in Dublin, before surrendering to the British Army. A total of 485 Irish Volunteers, British soldiers and Irish civilians were killed as well as 2,200 wounded and 16 rebel leaders would be executed.source
  • April 29 – WWI: Mesopotamian campaign – The Siege of Kut ends with the surrender of British Indian Army forces to the Ottoman Empire at Kut-al-Amara on the Tigris in Basra Vilayet.source
  • May 3–12 - 15 Irish rebel leaders who took part in the Easter Rising in Dublin in April are executed. Among them were Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, Thomas Clarke and William Pearse, brother of Patrick Pearse who had served as a captain rather than a leader.source
  • May 31–June 1 – WWI: Battle of Jutland, between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet in the North Sea, the war's only large-scale clash of battleships. The result is tactically inconclusive, but British dominance of the North Sea is maintainedsource
  • June 10 – The Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire, to create a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo to Aden, is formally declared by Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca.source
  • July 1–November 18 – WWI: Battle of the Somme, opening with explosion of the British Y Sap and Lochnagar mines and the Battle of Albert: More than one million soldiers die, with 57,470 British Empire casualties on the first day, 19,240 of them killed, the British Army's bloodiest day. The immediate result is tactically inconclusive.source
  • August 3 - Roger Casement is executed by hanging in Pentonville Gaol, London for his role in the Easter Rising in Dublin.source
  • August 3–5 – WWI: Sinai and Palestine Campaign – Battle of Romani: British Imperial troops secure victory over a joint Ottoman-German force.source
  • September 4 – WWI: East African Campaign – Dar es Salaam surrenders to British Empire forces, securing them control of the Central Line of railway through German East Africa.source
  • September 15–22 – WWI: Battle of Flers–Courcelette, France – The battle is significant for the first use of the tank in warfare; also for the debut of the Canadian and New Zealand Divisions in the Battle of the Somme.source
  • October 7 – The Georgia Tech vs. Cumberland College American football game ends in a score of 222–0.source
  • October 27 – Battle of Segale: Negus Mikael of Wollo, marching on the Ethiopian capital in support of his son Emperor Iyasu V, is defeated by Fitawrari Habte Giyorgis, securing the throne for Empress Zewditu.source
  • November 5 – Everett massacre: An armed confrontation in Everett, Washington, between local authorities and members of the Industrial Workers of the World results in seven deaths.source
  • November 18 – WWI – Battle of the Somme: In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle, which started on July 1.source
  • November 23 – WWI: Eastern Front – Bucharest, the capital of Romania, is occupied by troops of the Central Powers.source
  • December 18 – WWI: The Battle of Verdun ends in France with German troops defeated.source
  • December 23 – WWI: The Desert Column captures the Ottoman garrison during the Battle of Magdhaba.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • April 24–May 10 – Voyage of the James Caird: An open boat journey from Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands to South Georgia in the southern Atlantic Ocean (800 nmi km mi) is undertaken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and five companions, to obtain rescue for the main body of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, following the loss of its ship Endurance.source
  • August 30 – The crew of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition's is rescued from Elephant Island.source

Religion & Belief

  • November 5 – Honan Chapel, Cork, Ireland, a product of the Irish Arts and Crafts movement (1894–1925), is dedicated.source

Economy & Finance

  • September 29 – John D. Rockefeller becomes the first person to reach a nominal personal fortune of US$1 billionsource
  • Ishikawajima Automobile Manufacturing, predecessor of Isuzu, a truck brand in Japan, is founded.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • Korea Tungsten is founded in Daegu, predecessor of leading steel producer in Asia, POSCO (Pohang Steel Company).source
  • June 24 – Mary Pickford becomes the first movie star to sign a million-dollar contract, making her one of the highest-paid people in the world.source
  • July 15 – In Seattle, William Boeing incorporates Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing).source
  • September 6 – The first true self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, is founded in Memphis, Tennessee, by Clarence Saunders, opening 5 days later.source
  • November 1 – The first 40-hour work week officially begins, in the Endicott-Johnson factories of Western New York.source
  • November 7 – Radio station 2XG, located in the Highbridge section of New York City, makes the first audio broadcast of presidential election returns.source
  • December 22 – The British Sopwith Camel aircraft makes its maiden flight. It is designed to counter the German Fokker aircraft.source
  • The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers is founded in the United States as the Society of Motion Picture Engineers.source
  • Bray Studios begins the Farmer Al Falfa series, the first of the Terrytoons.source
  • Rodeo's first side-delivery bucking chute is designed and made by the Bascom brothers (Raymond, Mel, and Earl) and their father, John W. Bascom, at Welling, Alberta, Canada.source

Science & Discovery

  • The toggle light switch is invented, by William J. Newton and Morris Goldberg.source
  • Gustav Holst composes The Planets, Opus 32.source
  • Ferdinand de Saussure's Cours de linguistique générale is collected posthumously and published.source
  • Louis Enricht claims he has a substitute for gasoline.source

Health & Medicine

  • January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that has been stored and cooled.source
  • October 16 – Margaret Sanger opens the first U.S. birth control clinic, a forerunner of Planned Parenthood.source
  • Oxycodone, a narcotic painkiller closely related to codeine, is first synthesized in Germany.source

Crime & Justice

  • February 9 (6.00 p.m.) – Tristan Tzara "founds" the art movement Dadaism (according to Hans Arp).source
  • February 11 – Emma Goldman is arrested for lecturing on birth control in the United States.source
  • September 13 – Mary, a circus elephant, is hanged in the town of Erwin, Tennessee for killing her handler, Walter "Red" Eldridge.source
  • October 21 – Friedrich Adler shoots Count Karl von Stürgkh, Minister-President of Austria.source
  • December 30 – (December 17 Old Style) – The mystic Grigori Rasputin is murdered in Saint Petersburg.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • March 24 – French ferry is torpedoed by in the English Channel, with at least 50 killed (including the composer Enrique Granados), resulting on May 4 in the Sussex Pledge by Germany to the United States.source
  • April 22 – The Chinese troop transport capsizes off the Chinese coast; at least 1,000 are killed.source
  • June 5 – WWI: sinks, having hit a mine off the Orkney Islands, Scotland, with Lord Kitchener aboard.source
  • July 1–12 – Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916: At least one shark attacks 5 swimmers along 80 mi km of New Jersey coastline, resulting in 4 deaths and the survival of one youth, who requires limb amputation. This event is the inspiration for author Peter Benchley, over half a century later, to write Jaws.source
  • July 29 – Matheson Fire: In Ontario, Canada, a lightning strike ignites a forest fire that destroys the towns of Cochrane and Matheson, killing 233.source
  • July 30 – German agents cause the Black Tom explosion in Jersey City, New Jersey, an act of sabotage destroying an ammunition depot and killing at least 7 people.source
  • September 2 – WWI: British pilot Leefe Robinson becomes the first to shoot down a German airship over Britain.source
  • September 11 – A mechanical failure causes the central span of the Quebec Bridge, a cantilever-type structure, to crash into the Saint Lawrence River for the second time, killing 13 workers.source
  • October 20 – Black Friday (1916): A violent and deadly storm hits Lake Erie in the United States.source
  • November 21 – WWI: Hospital ship HMHS Britannic, designed as the third for White Star Line, sinks in the Kea Channel of the Aegean Sea after hitting a mine; 30 lives are lost. At 48,158 gross register tons, she is the largest ship lost during the war.source
  • December 31 – The Hampton Terrace Hotel in North Augusta, South Carolina, one of the largest and most luxurious hotels in the United States at the time, burns to the ground.source

Climate & Environment

  • August 9 – Lassen Volcanic National Park is established in California.source
  • December 12 – "White Friday": In the Dolomites, 100 avalanches bury at least 2,000 Austrian and Italian soldiers.source

Culture & Society

  • February 11 – The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra presents its first concert in the United States.source
  • February 11 – The Romanian Association football club Sportul Studențesc is founded in Bucharest.source
  • July 16 – Max Reger's Hebbel Requiem is first performed in a memorial concert for the composer, conducted by Philipp Wolfrum.source
  • August 15 – Club Atlas is founded as an association football club in Guadalajara, Mexico, by English-educated players.source
  • August – Robert Baden-Powell publishes The Wolf Cub's Handbook in the U.K., establishing the basis of the junior section of the Scouting movement, the Wolf Cubs (modern-day Cub Scouts).source
  • October 14 – Perm State University is founded in Russia.source
  • October 28 – 1916 Pioneer Exhibition Game: game of Australian rules football contested at Queen's Club, West Kensington, London, by two teams of elite footballers selected from men serving in the First AIF at the time.source
  • December 16 – Robert Baden-Powell gives the first public display of the new Wolf Cub section of Scouting at Caxton Hall, Westminster.source
  • December 30 – Karl von Habsburg and his wife Zita of Bourbon-Parma are crowned emperor and empress of Austria-Hungary.source
  • Ernst Rüdin publishes his initial results on the genetics of schizophrenia.source
  • The 1916 Summer Olympics are cancelled in Berlin, Germany.source

Births

  • February 23 – Retta Scott, first woman to receive screen credit as an animator at the Walt Disney Animation Studios (d. 1990)source
  • February 26 – Jackie Gleason, American comedian, actor and musician (d. 1987)source
  • April 30 – Claude Elwood Shannon, American information theorist (d. 2001)source
  • May 4 – Jane Jacobs, née Butzner, American-born urban activist (d. 2006)source
  • May 5 – Zail Singh, Indian politician and 7th President of India (d. 1994)source
  • May 11 – Camilo José Cela, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)source
  • June 8 – Francis Crick, English molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2004)source
  • June 9 – Robert McNamara, 8th United States Secretary of Defense (d. 2009)source
  • June 15 – Herbert A. Simon, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2001)source
  • July 21 – Sergeant Stubby, World War I American hero war dog (d. 1926)source
  • September 23 – Haider Raza, 2nd Chief of Staff of the Pakistan Air Force (d. 1998)source
  • October 4 – Vitaly Ginzburg, Russian physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 2009)source
  • November 4 – Walter Cronkite, American television journalist (d. 2009)source
  • December 15 – Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-born physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2004)source

Deaths

  • February 18 – Hans Schmidt, German Roman Catholic priest (executed) (b. 1881)source
  • March 19 – John J. Davis, American politician, U.S. Representatives from West Virginia (b. 1835)source
  • March 20 – Ota Benga, Congolese pygmy brought to America as part of an exhibition at the Bronx zoo (b. 1883)source
  • April 21 – John Surratt, suspected of involvement in the Abraham Lincoln assassination, son of Mary Surratt (b. 1844)source
  • April 28 – Edward Felix Baxter, English recipient of the Victorian Cross (b. 1885)source
  • May 12 – James Connolly, Irish socialist and political activist (executed) (b. 1868)source
  • May 21 – Artúr Görgei, Hungarian military general and politician (b. 1818)source
  • July 15 – Élie Metchnikoff, Russian microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1845)source
  • August 31 – John St. John, American temperance leader and Governor of Kansas (b. 1833)source
  • October 31 – Charles Taze Russell, Protestant evangelist, forerunner of Jehovah's Witnesses (b. 1852)source
  • November 15 – Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1846)source
  • November 23 – Lanoe Hawker VC, British World War I fighter ace, killed in action by Manfred von Richthofen (b. 1890)source
  • December 1 – Charles de Foucauld, French Roman Catholic religious professed, priest and blessed (b. 1858)source
  • December 11 – Valentín Díaz, Filipino patriot, during the Philippine Revolution (b. 1845)source