1914
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1 January 1914 00:05 Five minutes after the expiration of the Bern Convention, when Parsifal was the exclusive property of the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, the work is produced at the Liceu, Barcelona. Two productions go on in Prague today, one in Czech beginning at 16:00 and one in German beginning at 17:00.
Great Britain joins Northern and Southern Nigeria to form one colonial entity, the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria.
The world’s first regularly scheduled fixed-wing air service goes into operation in St. Petersburg, Florida. The St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line makes carries its first passenger when Antony Jannus flew former mayor Abram C. Pheil (he won a lottery) to Tampa.
3 January 1914 Nadia Boulanger’s (26) collaborator, Raoul Pugno, dies of bronchitis. She will never be the same composer and her output begins to tail off.
4 January 1914 Edgard Varèse (30) makes his first appearance conducting a major symphony orchestra when he directs a performance of the Czech Philharmonic Society in Prague. The critics are very positive.
Parsifal by Richard Wagner (†30) is produced at the Paris Opéra for the first time. It is the last of Wagner’s important works to be produced in Paris. See 1 January 1914.
5 January 1914 Le Figaro and its editor Gaston Calmette, begin running a series of articles charging French Finance Minister Joseph Caillaux of financial misdeeds.
The Ford Motor Company becomes the first capitalist entity in history to pay its workers five dollars for an eight-hour day.
9 January 1914 Incidental music to (Grand Duke Konstantin) Romanov’s play The King of the Jews by Alyeksandr Glazunov (48) is performed for the first time, in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.
10 January 1914 Trials conclude in Strasbourg in the Zabern affair. The two officers largely responsible for the insults directed at Alsatians and the abuse of power are acquitted.
A man and his son are shot and killed by masked intruders at their butcher shop in Salt Lake City, but not before one of the intruders is shot. On the same night, labor leader Joe Hill (Joel Hägglund) seeks medical treatment for a gunshot wound. He will be arrested for the murders, even though there is no other evidence to link him to the crime. He claims he was shot in a domestic dispute over a married woman, who he will not dishonor by naming.
Mexican rebels under Pancho Villa destroy a federal force at Ojinaga. The survivors flee across the border to Presidio, Texas. Federal control over Chihuahua is ended.
14 January 1914 Ion I. Constantin Bratianu becomes Prime Minister of Romania, replacing Titu Liviu Maiorescu.
Three new works are heard at a concert of the Société Indépendante in Salle Erard, Paris. They are Three Japanese Lyrics for solo voice and piano by Igor Stravinsky (31) to words translated by Brandta, Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé for solo voice and chamber ensemble by Maurice Ravel (38), and Erik Satie’s (47) piano work Chapitres tournés en tous sens.
Incidental music to Rivollet’s play Jérusalem by Jules Massenet (†1) is performed for the first time, in Monaco.
21 January 1914 Edward Elgar’s (56) Carissima, for small orchestra, is performed for the first time, in Hayes, Middlesex, at a recording session of the Gramophone Company. It is Elgar’s first encounter with recording. See 15 February 1914.
22 January 1914 President Ismail Kemal resigns as the head of one Albanian government. He hands power over to an International Control Commission which now controls most of the country.
Lydische nacht for solo voice and orchestra by Alphons Diepenbrock (51) to words of Verhagen, is performed for the first time, in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.
24 January 1914 Canossa, an opera by Gian Francesco Malipiero (31) to words of Benco, is performed for the first time, in Teatro Costanzi, Rome.
Madeleine, a lyric opera by Victor Herbert (54) to words of Stewart after Decourcelle and Thibaut, is performed for the first time, at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York.
29 January 1914 Three of the Six Songs op.8 for solo voice and orchestra by Arnold Schoenberg (39), are performed for the first time, in Prague.
30 January 1914 Endlich allein, an operetta by Franz Lehár (43) to words of Willner and Bodanzky, is performed for the first time, in Theater an der Wien, Vienna.
2 February 1914 A rail line of 2,250 km between Lake Tanganyika and Dar-es-Salaam in German East Africa is opened.
3 February 1914 Willis Carrier of Buffalo, New York receives a US patent for his air conditioning system.
4 February 1914 In Berlin, Jean Sibelius (48) hears Gustav Mahler’s (†2) Symphony no.5 and the Kammersymphonie of Arnold Schoenberg (39). He reports: “This is a legitimate and valid way of looking at things, I suppose. But it is certainly painful to listen to. A result achieved by excessive cerebration. People whistled and shouted.”
5 February 1914 Piano Sonata no.2 op.14 by Sergey Prokofiev (22) is performed for the first time, in Moscow. Also premiered are Prokofiev’s Ballade for cello and piano op.15 and three of the Ten Piano Pieces op.14.
6 February 1914 At the suggestion of Victor Herbert (55), nine men, composers, authors, and publishers, meet at the Lambs Club in New York to discuss the loose copyright laws in the United States. After two hours, they move to Lüchow’s Restaurant for dinner and more conversation. See 13 February 1914.
7 February 1914 Camille Saint-Saëns (78), Felipe Pedrell (72), Engelbert Humperdinck (59), Edward Elgar (56), and Claude Debussy(51) are awarded honorary membership in the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome.
8 February 1914 Bernardino Luis Machado Guimarães replaces Afonso Augusto da Costa as Prime Minister of Portugal.
In Constantinople, the Ottoman Empire agrees to the Armenian Reform Agreement forced upon them by the European powers. Europeans will oversee and inspect the implementation of reforms.
Irish Rhapsody no.4 “The fisherman of Lough Neagh and what he saw” by Charles Villiers Stanford (61) is performed for the first time, in Amsterdam.
Vorspiel zu einem Drama for orchestra by Franz Schreker (35) is performed for the first time, in Vienna.
9 February 1914 In his Berlin Diary, Jean Sibelius (48) writes, “Heard Duparc’s (66) songs, Korngold’s Trio and Schoenberg’s (39) Second Quartet op.10. It gave me a lot to think about. He interests me very much.”
11 February 1914 Ivan Longinovich Goremykin replaces Vladimir Nikolaevich Kokovtsev as Prime Minister of Russia.
12 February 1914 Esad Pasha Toptani, leader of the second Albanian government, resigns thus uniting the country under the International Control Commission.
13 February 1914 The Great Powers inform Greece that the Aegean Islands will become Greek territory following their evacuation of Northern Epirus. It has been awarded to Albania.
At a meeting in the Hotel Claridge in New York, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers is formally organized by over 100 attenders. Victor Herbert (55) is named president.
14 February 1914 Vanity of Vanities, a choral symphony by Granville Bantock (45), is performed for the first time, in Liverpool.
15 February 1914 Carissima for small orchestra by Edward Elgar (56) is given it’s first public performance, in the Royal Albert Hall, London. See 21 January 1914.
17 February 1914 Hjalmar Hammarskjöld replaces Karl Albert Staaf as Prime Minister of Sweden.
British suffragettes break windows in the London office of the Home Secretary and set fire to the house of the Lawn Tennis Club.
Sergey Koussevitzky conducts the Russian premiere of The Rite of Spring in Moscow. Although the performance is not good, and many people walk out, the applause is strong and genuine at the end.
19 February 1914 Aubade to Alwin Schroeder for cello and piano op.77 by Arthur Foote (60) is performed for the first time, in Boston.
20 February 1914 Lili Boulanger (20) and her mother depart Paris for the Villa Medici in Rome.
21 February 1914 Incidental music to Aristophanes’ play The Achamians by Hubert Parry (66) is performed for the first time, in Oxford.
Polonaise américaine and Impromptu, two piano works by John Alden Carpenter (37), are performed, possibly for the first time.
23 February 1914 Afternoon. A memorial bust of Jules Massenet (†1) is unveiled before the Monte Carlo Opéra by Prince Albert who makes a speech in honor of his friend.
Evening. Cléopâtre, a drame passionel by Jules Massenet (†1) to words of Payen (pseud. of Liénard), is performed for the first time, at the Opéra de Monte Carlo.
24 February 1914 Artur Sergeyevich Lurye (22) participates with Benedict Livshits and Georgy Yakulov in publishing the manifesto of St. Petersburg Futurists: We and the West: answer to Marinetti.
26 February 1914 RMS Britannic is launched in Belfast.
28 February 1914 Greek residents of Northern Epirus, angered at being placed in Albania, declare an independent republic.
Max Reger (40) suffers a nervous breakdown after a concert in Hagen. He cancels all performing engagements and goes to a sanitorium in Meran.
The first of the Trois poèmes juifs for orchestra by Ernest Bloch (33) is performed for the first time, in Geneva, conducted by the composer. See 23 March 1917.
3 March 1914 A letter appears The Times of London protesting the decision of the government to grant home rule to Ireland. It is signed by 20 prominent Englishmen, including Edward Elgar (56).
4 March 1914 Jón Magnússon becomes Prime Minister of Iceland.
5 March 1914 Henry Cowell (16) makes his official debut as composer and pianist, at a meeting of the San Francisco Musical Club in the Hotel St. Francis. Adventures in Harmony for piano is performed for the first time. His mother manages to convince two music reviewers to attend. They are generally encouraging.
7 March 1914 William I, Prince of Wied, replaces President Ismail Qemal to become Prince of Albania.
9 March 1914 Lili Boulanger (20) and her mother arrive in Rome for her Prix de Rome stay, in the middle of a taxi strike.
10 March 1914 Suffragist Mary Richardson takes a cleaver to Velazquez’ Venus in the National Gallery, London. She strikes it seven times before she is restrained.
Hymn to Dionysus op.31/2 for female chorus and orchestra by Gustav Holst (39), to words of Euripedes (tr. Murray), is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London, the composer conducting.
11 March 1914 23 suits by survivors against the owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company are settled for about $75 per victim.
Having no assets of value, the charter of the New York Electric Music Company is declared void.
12 March 1914 Lili Boulanger (20) moves to the Villa Medici in Rome. Her departure has been delayed by months because of illness.
Two works for orchestra by Ferruccio Busoni (47) are performed for the first time, in the Beethovensaal, Berlin conducted by the composer: Nocturne symphonique op.43 and Red Indian Fantasy op.44.
14 March 1914 Serbia and the Ottoman Empire sign a peace treaty at Constantinople.
Piano Quartet no.2 op.133 by Charles Villiers Stanford (61) is performed for the first time, in Bechstein Hall, London.
15 March 1914 Movements 2-4 of Études antiques op.46 for orchestra by Charles Koechlin (46) are performed for the first time, in Théâtre du Chatelet, Paris.
16 March 1914 Henriette Caillaux, the wife of French Finance Minister Joseph Caillaux, murders Gaston Calmette, editor of Le Figaro, in his office, for publishing Caillaux’s private letters. Her cause becomes an affaire celébre as she unfolds her tales of corruption, mismanagement, and scandal in high places. She will be pushed off the front pages only by a declaration of war in August.
Dance poem for orchestra by Frank Bridge (35) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London, the composer conducting.
17 March 1914 Due to the events of yesterday, French Finance Minister Joseph Caillaux resigns.
18 March 1914 The Fourth Set of Choral Hymns from the Rig-Veda op.26, for male chorus, brass, strings, and percussion by Gustav Holst (39) to his own translation, is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
19 March 1914 Kaiser Wilhelm II issues the Regulation about use of weapons by the military and its participation in suppression of domestic unrest, in response to the Zabern affair. The military may not intervene in civil unrest unless specifically requested by civilian powers.
20 March 1914 57 British officers stationed near Dublin announce they will resign their commissions if forced to move against unionists in Ulster should Home Rule be approved. It is known as the Curragh Incident for the camp where the men are stationed. The government considers it a misunderstanding and the incident is smoothed over, but it emboldens unionists.
The first complete performance of the Four Orchestral Sketches by Arnold Bax (30) takes place in Queen’s Hall, London. See 23 September 1913.
21 March 1914 Antonio Salandra replaces Giovanni Giolitti as Prime Minister of Italy.
Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé by Claude Debussy (51), for voice and piano, is performed for the first time, in Paris.
At a gathering of the Finley Club, a literary society connected to the City College of New York, George Gershwin (15) appears in public as pianist and composer for the first time, performing a tango of his own composition.
23 March 1914 The first of six letters written by Charles Villiers Stanford (61) is published in The Times of London. He outlines his opposition to Irish home rule and his support of the Unionist cause.
Now sun arises in the East for chorus and piano by Carl Nielsen (48), to words of Brandt, is performed for the first time, in the Aarhus Domkirke.
The Phantasy Quintet, for five stringed instruments by Ralph Vaughan Williams (41), is performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, London.
Suite for piano op.8 by Darius Milhaud (21) is performed for the first time, in Brussels.
After a siege of eleven days, Mexican rebels under Emiliano Zapata capture Cuautla from federales.
25 March 1914 The Seventy Thousand, for male chorus by Leos Janácek (59) to words of Bezruc, is performed for the first time, in Prague.
27 March 1914 Voting take place for the Swedish Riksdag. The center-right General Electoral Union wins the most votes, somewhat increasing their total.
Dr. Albert Hustin carries out the first non-direct blood transfusion, at Hôpital Saint-Jean in Brussels.
The Symphony no.2 “A London Symphony” by Ralph Vaughan Williams (41) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London. Also on the program is the premiere of Three Songs with Orchestra by Arnold Bax (30), to words of Fiona Macleod, anonymous, and the composer.
28 March 1914 Croquis et agaceries d’un gros bonhomme en bois for piano by Erik Satie (47) is performed for the first time, in Salle Pleyel, Paris.
29 March 1914 El pelele for piano by Enrique Granados (46) is performed for the first time, in Terrassa, Spain by the composer.
Notte di maggio op.20 for voice and orchestra by Alfredo Casella (30) to words of Carducci is performed for the first time, in Paris directed by the composer.
30 March 1914 Two Poems op.9 for voice and piano by Sergey Prokofiev (22) to words of Balmont and Apukhtin are performed for the first time, in St. Petersburg.
Two works for soprano and strings by Jean Sibelius (48) are performed for the first time, in Turku: Arioso, to words of Runeberg, and Sunrise, to words of Hedberg. See 18 September 1913.
31 March 1914 Greek forces complete their withdrawal from southern Albania.
The Newfoundland sealer SS Southern Cross is sighted off Cape Pine. Neither the ship nor the 173 men aboard will ever be heard from again.
1 April 1914 The United States sets up a civil administration in the Panama Canal Zone.
2 April 1914 After resisting for five days, federal Mexican troops in Torreón flee before a rebel army under Pancho Villa.
3 April 1914 Margaret Sanger’s monthly publication The Woman Rebel is banned by the United States Post Office. It includes information about contraception.
The Lake at Evening op.5/1, a piano work by Charles T. Griffes (29), is performed for the first time, in Carnegie Chamber Music Hall, New York. See 19 December 1916 and 4 June 1920.
4 April 1914 Enrique Granados (46) performs his piano suite Goyescas in a very successful all-Granados concert at the Salle Pleyel, Paris. His Serenade for two violins and piano is performed for the first time, Granados at the keyboard. For this performance he is awarded the Medal of the Legion of Honor.
Two works for orchestra by Daniel Chennevière (Dane Rudhyar) (22) are performed for the first time, in New York: Poèmes ironiques and Vision végétale.
5 April 1914 After a concert performance of Le Sacre du Printemps in Paris conducted by Pierre Monteux, Igor Stravinsky (31) is mobbed by admiring well-wishers. See 29 May 1913.
Mexican rebels under Pancho Villa defeat federales at San Pedro de las Colonias in Coahuila.
7 April 1914 The Canadian Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific, is completed in a ceremony near Fort Fraser, British Columbia.
9 April 1914 Nine armed sailors from a US battleship come ashore in Tampico and are detained. The local commander orders their release 30 minutes later and apologizes to the US admiral. However, this will be used as a pretext for an American invasion in two weeks.
11 April 1914 Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw opens at His Majesty’s Theatre, London.
12 April 1914 At home in Finland, Jean Sibelius (48) receives an invitation from Horatio Parker (50) to conduct The Oceanides and other works in the United States for $1,200. On the same day, he learns that the University of Helsinki will confer an honorary doctorate on him.
13 April 1914 Accompanied by his wife and daughter, Victor Herbert (55) arrives in England aboard the Mauretania from New York. They go straight to London, which he has not seen since his childhood.
15 April 1914 Oil is discovered at Mene Grande in the basin of Lake Maracaibo.
16 April 1914 Shigenobu Okuma replaces Count Gombei Yamamoto as Prime Minister of Japan.
17 April 1914 Russia extends a protectorate over Tannu Tuva.
20 April 1914 State militia and company detectives attack a tent encampment set up in Ludlow, Colorado by striking miners and their families. 20 people, mostly women and children, are killed. The militia attack first with machine guns and then pour kerosene on the tents and set them alight. Miners had dug foxholes under the tents to shield their families from flying bullets. Most victims are found huddled under the charred ruins of the tents. No one will ever be punished for the killings, although dozens of miners are arrested.
21 April 1914 Luigi Russolo (28) gives his first concert of “noise music” in Teatro del Verme, Milan before an overflow crowd. A number of the audience, there for this specific purpose, attempt to disrupt the performance with boos, whistles, and “anti-noise” of all kinds, as well as launching produce towards the stage. In the middle of one piece, five musicians move from the stage to the audience and physically attack the demonstrators while their colleagues play on. One of the vanguard remembers, “It was a display of an amazing harmonic arrangement of bloody faces and dissonances, an infernal melee.” Eleven people are hospitalized. See 20 May 1914.
In an attempt to assist the overthrow of Mexican President Huerta, United States President Woodrow Wilson orders the seizure of Veracruz to forestall the off-loading of munitions from a German merchant ship (in reality American arms). 200 Mexicans die in the exercise which has the opposite effect of its intention. Huerta, in fighting the Americans, becomes the defender of Mexico from foreign invasion. The American embargo on arms to Huerta, however, will eventually succeed in his downfall. Mexico breaks relations with the United States.
22 April 1914 While visiting Buckingham Palace, Victor Herbert (55) is stricken with appendicitis. He is taken to hospital.
Two works for chorus and piano by Carl Nielsen (48), to words of Grundtvig, are performed for the first time, in the Matthæuskirken, Copenhagen: Why do you wail, complaining and Though Countless Flowers.
23 April 1914 Anton von Webern (30) signs a contract to renew his old position of conductor at the Stettin (Szczecin) Theatre, to commence 20 August. He will never take up the post, owing to the intervention of war.
25 April 1914 Representatives of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile offer to mediate the US-Mexico dispute. President Wilson readily agrees.
At a London hospital, the appendix of Victor Herbert (55) is removed.
27 April 1914 John Alden Carpenter’s (38) orchestration of his song cycle Gitanjali to words of Tagore, is performed for the first time, in Orchestra Hall, Chicago.
28 April 1914 Over 180 people are killed in a coal mine explosion at Eccles, West Virginia.
30 April 1914 Give Unto the Lord op.74 for chorus, organ, and orchestra by Edward Elgar (56) to words from the Bible, is performed for the first time, in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. It was composed for the Festival of the Sons of the Clergy.
1 May 1914 Having placed most of Parliament in jail, Chinese President Yüan Shih-k’ai (Yuan Shikai) convenes 66 appointed delegates who produce a constitutional compact replacing the constitution and granting the president unlimited powers.
5 May 1914 Alban Berg (29) witnesses a performance of Büchner’s play Wozzeck at the Residenz Theatre, Vienna. He decides immediately that he will compose an opera on this play. “What affects me so, is not only the fate of this poor man, who is exploited and tormented by the whole world, but also the incredible density of mood in each scene.” (Floros, 160)
6 May 1914 The British House of Lords defeats a motion to extend suffrage to women.
The Homecoming for male chorus by Gustav Holst (39) to words of Hardy, is performed for the first time, in the Winter Gardens Theatre, Morecambe, Lancashire.
8 May 1914 An earthquake strikes Giarre, Catania, Italy killing 120 people.
WW Hodkinson forms Paramount Pictures, a film financing and distributing company.
9 May 1914 The Symphony no.3 by Josef Matthias Hauer (31) is performed for the first time, in Wiener-Neustadt.
10 May 1914 Engelbert Humperdinck’s (59) Spieloper Die Marketenderin, to words of Misch, is performed for the first time, at the Stadttheater, Cologne.
A second round of voting in the French general election results in a large majority of seats going to leftists and center-leftists.
11 May 1914 Sergey Prokofiev (23) plays his Second Piano Concerto at his graduation exercises from St. Petersburg Conservatory. He is afforded this honor for winning the Rubenstein Prize in piano. See 5 September 1913.
14 May 1914 Richard Strauss’ (49) ballet Josephs-Legende op.63, to a story by Kessler and Hofmannsthal, is performed for the first time, by the Ballets Russes at the Paris Opéra, the composer conducting.
Aghadoe for alto and orchestra by George Whitefield Chadwick (59) to words of Todhunter, is performed for the first time, in Jordan Hall, Boston conducted by the composer.
15 May 1914 In Paris, Erik Satie (47) composes the Choral inappétissant (Unappetizing Chorale) from Sports et divertissements, “on an empty stomach.” He directs that it is to be performed “hypocritically.”
North of Boston by Robert Frost is published in London.
17 May 1914 A protocol is signed on Corfu wherein Albania recognizes the autonomy of the Greeks in Northern Epirus.
19 May 1914 The eighth and last volume of mélodies by Jules Massenet (†1) are published by Heugel.
20 May 1914 Luigi Russolo (29) puts on a second concert of “noise music”, in the Teatro Politeama in Genoa. Although some protests are heard, they are quieted by other audience members. See 21 April 1914.
Meeting in Niagara Falls, Ontario, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile attempt to mediate disputes between Mexico and the United States.
Mexican rebels under Pancho Villa defeat a federal force at Paredón, Coahuila.
21 May 1914 Heinrich Beck replaces Max, Baron Hausen as Prime Minister of Saxony.
Swedish immigrant Eric Wickman begins a service transporting miners from their homes in Hibbing, Minnesota to the mines. His business will grow into Greyhound Lines, Inc.
23 May 1914 The Japanese freighter Komagata Maru arrives at Victoria, British Columbia, carrying 376 Punjabis, mostly Sikhs, who are intent on immigrating. Canadian authorities refuse them entry and they will sit in the harbor for two months until forced to return to Calcutta.
25 May 1914 Hymn to the Holy Spirit for male chorus and organ by Alphons Diepenbrock (51) to words of Hrabanus Maurus, is performed for the first time, in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.
26 May 1914 The Nightingale, an opera by Igor Stravinsky (31) to words of Mitusov and the composer after Andersen, is performed for the first time, at the Paris Opéra. Critics generally like the music but are mixed about the work as a whole.
Première suite symphonique op.12 by Darius Milhaud (21) is performed for the first time, in Paris.
27 May 1914 Jean Sibelius (48) arrives in New York to attend the Norfolk Music Festival in Connecticut.
28 May 1914 The Masque of St. Louis, an historical pageant by Frederick S. Converse (43) to words of MacKaye, is performed for the first time, in Forest Park, St. Louis to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the city.
29 May 1914 02:00 The Canadian liner Empress of Ireland out of Quebec is struck by the Norwegian collier Storstad in dense fog in the St. Lawrence River near Rimouski, Quebec. The liner goes down in 14 minutes taking 1,012 people with her.
30 May 1914 Carl Nielsen (48) leaves his post of conductor of the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen.
RMS Aquitania departs Liverpool on its maiden voyage to New York.
3 June 1914 Serenata in Vano for clarinet, bassoon, horn, cello, and double bass by Carl Nielsen (48) is performed for the first time, in Nykøbing Falster.
Deux mélodies hébraïque for voice and piano by Maurice Ravel (39) are performed for the first time, at the Salle Malakoff, Paris, the composer at the piano. Also premiered is the Sonata for flute and piano op.52 by Charles Koechlin (46).
4 June 1914 Oceanides, a tone poem by Jean Sibelius (48), is performed for the first time, in Norfolk, Connecticut, the composer conducting. It is a great success.
9 June 1914 Alexandre Félix Joseph Ribot replaces Pierre Paul Henri Gaston Doumergue as Prime Minister of France.
Trio for clarinet, cello and piano by John Ireland (34) is performed for the first time, in Steinway Hall, London, the composer at the keyboard.
10 June 1914 Two songs for voice and piano by Enrique Granados (46) are performed for the first time in a semi-private performance at the Granados Academy, Barcelona: Elegia eterna to words of Mestres, and Tonadillas en estilo antiguo for voice and piano. See 27 June 1914.
11 June 1914 Adolf Friedrich VI replaces Adolf Friedrich V as Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
12 June 1914 As part of a general ethnic cleansing, Ottoman troops surround and attack the village of Phocaea (Foça), northwest of Smyrna (Izmir), killing the inhabitants.
Andante and Scherzo op.1 for clarinet, horn, and piano by Paul Hindemith (18) is performed for the first time, in Frankfurt-am-Main.
13 June 1914 Greece annexes Chios and Mytilene.
René Viviani replaces Alexandre Félix Joseph Ribot as Prime Minister of France.
14 June 1914 Richard Strauss (50) receives the order of Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor.
Jean Sibelius (48) visits Niagara Falls.
15 June 1914 Representatives of Great Britain and Germany initial an agreement in London. A German monopoly over the Baghdad Railway is recognized in Turkey. The Railway will stop at Basra. Britain will have control south of Basra. The Shatt-al-Arab is an open body of water.
Dubliners, a collection of short stories by James Joyce, is published in London.
Jean Sibelius (48) boards a steamboat to view Niagara Falls.
17 June 1914 Jean Sibelius (48) is awarded an honorary DMus by Yale University.
18 June 1914 The first movement of the Violin Sonata no.1 by Arnold Bax (30) is performed for the first time, in Steinway Hall, London. See 21 April 1983.
Jean Sibelius (48) boards the President Grant in New York to return to Finland.
19 June 1914 Troops following Francisco “Pancho” Villa defeat federal Mexican forces at Zacatecas.
An explosion in a coal mine at Hillcrest, Alberta kills 189 people.
20 June 1914 After five seasons of operation, the Boston Opera Company files for bankruptcy.
22 June 1914 Sergey Prokofiev (23) arrives in London.
23 June 1914 Mexican rebels under Pancho Villa defeat federal troops at Zacatecas, killing thousands in the process, many after surrendering.
24 June 1914 Crown Prince Aleksandar of Serbia is named prince-regent for his father, Petar I, due to Petar’s poor health.
The enlarged Kiel Canal opens to traffic. As part of the festivities, the British dreadnought HMS King George V visits and Kaiser Wilhelm inspects her.
25 June 1914 Bernhard III replaces Georg II as Duke of Saxe-Meiningen.
102 hectares of Salem, Massachusetts are destroyed by fire.
Victor Herbert (55), his wife and daughter arrive in New York from England aboard the Imperator.
26 June 1914 Dr. Joseph Goldberger publishes in Public Health Reports his theory, based on human experimentation, that pellagra is caused by improper diet. The medical profession fails to take him seriously.
27 June 1914 Tonadillas en estilo antiguo for voice and piano by Enrique Granados (46) is performed publicly for the first time, in Barcelona.
28 June 1914 11:00 In Sarajevo to celebrate the Serb holiday, St. Vitus’ Day, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, and his wife Duchess Sophie of Hohenberg, are shot to death by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb. Earlier in the day, some of Princip’s confederates toss a bomb at the Archduke’s car. It bounces off the back and rolls under the following car, wounding two officers and about 20 onlookers.
German physicist Werner Kolhörster sends an instrument balloon 9,000 meters aloft and confirms the theory of Victor Hess that the atmosphere is full of cosmic rays.
Edward Elgar’s (57) song for voice and orchestra Chariots of the Lord, to words of Brownlie, is performed for the first time, in the Royal Albert Hall, London.
Denmark, ye corn-golden daughter for chorus by Carl Nielsen (49), to words of LC Nielsen, is performed for the first time, in Ridehuset, Horsens.
29 June 1914 Moslems and Croats riot in Sarajevo attacking Serb homes, businesses, and institutions. One person is killed, 50 injured. Anti-Serb riots occur throughout Bosnia.
30 June 1914 Anti-Serb riots begin in Vienna.
1 July 1914 Norfolk Island is made a territory of Australia.
Lili Boulanger (20) leaves the Villa Medici without permission to visit a friend in Nice.
2 July 1914 The bodies of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Duchess Sophie arrive in Vienna.
The Niagara Falls conference begun on 20 May ends without significant result.
3 July 1914 In London, Walter Nuvel introduces Sergey Prokofiev (23) to Sergey Diaghilev.
Ernest MacMillan (20) begins lessons with Thérèse Chaigneau in Paris.
4 July 1914 The mortal remains of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie are laid to rest in the crypt of Artstetten Castle.
Three anarchists are killed in New York when the bomb they are making explodes prematurely.
5 July 1914 At a meeting with his political and military leaders at Potsdam, Kaiser Wilhelm decides to give complete support to Austria-Hungary.
6 July 1914 Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany proclaims his complete support for Austria in its dispute with Serbia and sails off in his yacht for a vacation in Norway.
7 July 1914 After a week of fighting, Mexican government troops break and run before rebels at Orendáin, west of Guadalajara.
8 July 1914 The House of Lords votes to exclude Ulster from the Third Home Rule Bill, already passed by the Commons.
When government troops attempt to abandon Guadalajara, their escape is blocked by rebels at El Castillo, who kill and capture thousands of them.
10 July 1914 In the midst of war fears, Jean Sibelius (48) arrives back in Finland from the United States.
13 July 1914 An Austrian emissary in Sarajevo reports to his government that he finds no evidence that the Serbian government was involved in the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
14 July 1914 After initial resistance, the Hungarian government agrees to send an ultimatum to Serbia and attack if necessary.
In London, Sergey Diaghilev introduces Sergey Prokofiev (23) to his main conductor, Pierre Monteux. Prokofiev plays his First Piano Concerto and some other works for them and is favorably received.
After recent serious defeats on the battlefield, Mexican President Huerta resigns, leaving the job of negotiating with the soon-to-be victorious revolutionaries to his Chief Justice Francisco Sebastián Carbajal y Gual. Huerta goes into exile in Europe.
Robert Goddard of Worcester, Massachusetts receives a US patent for a liquid fuel rocket.
17 July 1914 In his last trip outside of France, Claude Debussy (51) conducts a concert of his own works in London.
18 July 1914 Having organized a successful campaign to overturn laws adverse to Indians in South Africa, Mohandas K. Gandhi sails from Cape Town, South Africa to Great Britain, never to return.
The US Congress creates the Aeronautical Division of the Signal Corps.
Labor leader Joe Hill is convicted of murder by a Salt Lake City court and sentenced to death.
20 July 1914 Sergey Prokofiev (23) departs London for St. Petersburg with some vague commitments to perform his work from Sergey Diaghilev and Pierre Monteux.
Henriette Caillaux (wife of the French Finance Minister) goes on trial in Paris for the murder of Gaston Calmette (editor of Le Figaro), which she accomplished last 16 March.
Over a year after he first heard Pierrot Lunaire, Alban Berg (29) writes to Arnold Schoenberg (39), “I only know that on the two occasions when I heard Pierrot I was conscious of the deepest impression ever made on me by a work of art, and that the enigmatic power of these pieces has left indelible traces on my mind.” (Jarman, 106)
21 July 1914 American astronomer Seth Barnes Nicholson discovers Sinope, the ninth moon of Jupiter to be observed from Earth, from the Lick Observatory near San Jose, California.
22 July 1914 The 1914 season of the Bayreuth Festspielhaus opens with a new production of Der Fliegende Holländer conducted by Siegfried Wagner. Only eight of the planned 20 performances happen.
23 July 1914 18:00 Austrian ambassador Baron Vladimir von Giesl presents his government’s ultimatum to the Serbian foreign ministry in Belgrade. With ten demands it is so worded as to be unacceptable to any government, including allowing Austrian agents to roam freely in Serbia to stifle anti-Austrian propaganda. Serbia is given 48 hours.
24 July 1914 Sergey Prokofiev (23) arrives home in St. Petersburg having traveled from London through Berlin.
25 July 1914 Serbia accepts the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum with the exception of giving up any sovereignty. Serbia asks Greece for support under treaty obligations. Greece agrees.
18:30 After breaking relations with Serbia, Ambassador Giesl boards a train in Belgrade and returns to Vienna.
The Serbian government orders mobilization and moves to Nis.
Emperor Franz Josef II orders the mobilization of Austria-Hungary’s armed forces.
Today sees the last performance of the Ballets Russes season in London. They will shortly dutifully return their rented music of Igor Stravinsky’s (32) The Nightingale to the Russische Musikverlag in Berlin.
26 July 1914 Austria-Hungary rejects the Serbian reply.
Montenegro orders mobilization.
First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill orders the Royal Navy to war station and then publicizes this fact, to have “a sobering effect” on Germany and Austria-Hungary.
On a visit to Bayreuth, Ernest MacMillan (20) first experiences Wagner (†31) with a performance of Das Rheingold.
27 July 1914 The Komagata Maru arrives in Calcutta carrying 376 Indian emigrants who were denied entry into Canada. British authorities see them as dangerous and seditions and attempt to arrest about 20 of them. Gunfire ensues and 19 of the Indians are killed.
Leos Janácek (60), in Valasska Bystrice, is determined not to return home and “let his holidays be ruined.” Nevertheless, when he hears a rumor that civilians will not be allowed to use trains, he returns immediately to Brünn (Brno).
The French government orders General Louis Lyautey, proconsul of Morocco, to send all his troops home. He will retain some, but sends 40,000 to France.
28 July 1914 12:00 Emperor Franz Josef II signs a declaration of war on Serbia.
The Russian Council of Ministers orders a partial mobilization on the Austrian border.
Italy orders all its vessels to home ports.
A jury in Paris rules that the murder of Gaston Calmette (editor of Le Figaro) by Henriette Caillaux (wife of the French Finance Minister) was a crime of passion and she is therefore not guilty.
29 July 1914 As the German navy begins to mobilize, Chancellor Theobald von Betthman Hollweg makes an offer to British Foreign Minister Sir Edward Grey. If Britain remains neutral, Germany promises not to annex any of mainland France.
Austro-Hungarian artillery begins shelling across the Danube into Belgrade, the Serbian capital.
The Cape Cod Canal opens.
Gabriel Fauré (69) writes to his wife from Ems, Germany that the political situation is “very grave” and he has decided to return home.
Bulgaria declares neutrality in the war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia.
30 July 1914 Even though he wishes belligerence against Austria-Hungary only, in support of his Serbian allies, Tsar Nikolay II of Russia orders full mobilization against Austria and Germany.
31 July 1914 Midnight. Germany delivers an ultimatum to Russia to demobilize within twelve hours.
Germany sends another ultimatum to France, requiring to know within 18 hours whether France will remain neutral in the event of war between Germany and Russia.
The government of the Ottoman Empire orders a mobilization to take effect 3 August.
The French cabinet authorizes general mobilization.
A general financial panic sets in with the declaration of war by Austria-Hungary on Serbia. Financial houses around the world close their doors.
Sir Edward Grey responds to the German offer of 29 July with disdain, but he continues to seek German help in mediating the dispute between Austria and Serbia.
In a Paris cafe, the French socialist leader Jean Jaurès is shot to death by a royalist, apparently upset at M. Jaurès’ less than enthusiastic view of the impending war.
The government of Belgium orders general mobilization, effective at midnight.
The Paris Opéra closes due to the impending conflict. It will not open again for 18 months.
1 August 1914 As a result of the murder of Jean Jaurès, Erik Satie (48) leaves the Radical Party and joins the Socialist Party of France.
All German investments in London are sequestered by the Bank of England, including £50,000 belonging to Richard Strauss (50).
Belgium, Denmark, and Norway declare neutrality in the impending war.
Italy informs Germany that the Triple Alliance applies only to a defensive war.
Noon. The German ultimatum expires.
Denmark and Norway declare neutrality in the European war.
16:00 The French government orders general mobilization, effective at midnight.
17:00 Kaiser Wilhelm II orders general mobilization.
17:00 German forces enter Luxembourg to secure vital rail heads, against the Kaiser’s orders.
19:00 Germany declares war on Russia.
The 1914 season of the Bayreuth Festspielhaus closes early with a production of Parsifal. At the performance, Ernest MacMillan (20) overhears the conductor Karl Muck tell someone that Germany has declared war on Russia.
2 August 1914 German forces complete their occupation of Luxembourg.
By this date, all the male inhabitants of the Villa Medici (all Prix de Rome winners) have been mobilized into the French army. The only female inhabitant, Lili Boulanger (20), left a month ago. Except for servants, the villa is empty.
All theatres, movie houses and music halls in France are closed.
Germany and the Ottoman Empire secretly agree to a military alliance.
By 19:00 The German minister in Brussels hands over a note which demands that Belgium “remain neutral” and not oppose German advances into Belgian territory to face a “French threat.” Germany promises to pay for any damages incurred during the intrusion.
21:00 King Albert of Belgium meets with his Council of State. They agree to oppose any German incursion.
3 August 1914 07:00 A Foreign Ministry courier delivers a note to the German minister in Brussels. Belgium unexpectedly tells Germany that it is “firmly resolved to repel by all means in its power every attack upon its rights.”
German forces capture Kalish, Chenstokhov and Bendzin in Russian Poland.
Italy declares neutrality in the European war.
15:00 The British Parliament convenes and hears a speech by Foreign Minister Sir Edward Grey advocating armed support for Belgium. The members rise and cheer.
18:30 Germany declares war on France.
Gabriel Fauré (69) writes to his wife from Geneva that “I have just spent three appalling days with my blasted luggage.” Traveling home from Ems he found the French border closed so he has taken a circuitous route through Switzerland. Trains in all three countries are being used for mobilization.
Sir Edward Grey remarks to a friend, “The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”
A visitor to Bayreuth, Ernest MacMillan (20), asks the US consul in Nuremberg, Charles Winans, what he should do in the current political situation. (the British consul has already left the country) Winans tells him to return to Bayreuth to see what happens.
Chile declares neutrality in the European war.
4 August 1914 Early morning. Germany declares war on Belgium.
08:02 German forces cross into Belgium along a 24 km front at Gemmerich, heading for Liège. They reach the Meuse at Visé by nightfall.
Noon. King Albert asks for military support from the guarantors of Belgian neutrality.
Great Britain delivers an ultimatum to Germany to halt the invasion of Belgium by midnight.
15:00 The Reichstag listens to a speech by Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg in which he states that German troops are already in Luxembourg and may be in Belgium. He adds that this act is illegal, but will be made right by Germany when their military objectives are achieved. The members approve a war credit of 5,000,000,000 marks and then dissolve for four months.
Italy declares that since Austria’s attack on Serbia was an act of aggression, it is absolved from treaty obligations under the Triple Alliance.
A German mob, angered at Britain’s ultimatum, stones all the windows of the British embassy in Berlin.
Two German warships bombard Philippeville (Skikda) and Bone (Annaba), Algeria.
Belgium declares war on Germany.
Switzerland declares neutrality in the European war.
Two days after signing a secret alliance with Germany, the Ottoman Empire declares neutrality.
President Woodrow Wilson proclaims United States neutrality in the European conflict.
President Hermes da Fonseca of Brazil declares his country’s “rigorous neutrality” in the European war.
23:00 Their ultimatum to Germany unanswered, Great Britain declares itself at war with Germany.
Brazil makes its first declaration of neutrality in the European war.
5 August 1914 German forces commence their attack on Liège, Belgium, sending waves of troops into Belgian machine gun fire. They are repulsed.
Noon. Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia.
Montenegro declares war on Austria-Hungary.
The Netherlands makes its first declaration of neutrality in the European war.
Karol Szymanowski (31) writes from his home near Yelizavetgrad, Russia (Kirovgrad, Ukraine) that he has just arrived there following a harrowing journey from London. He meant to travel through Vienna, but fearing he would not be able to leave Austria, went through Berlin and Warsaw instead. Over the next three years, he will live the most creative period of this life.
The first traffic lights are erected, in Cleveland.
Nicaragua and the United States sign the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. The US takes over economic control of Nicaragua and gains military and territorial concessions.
Argentina and Cuba declare neutrality in the European war.
6 August 1914 China declares neutrality in the European war.
Serbia declares war on Germany.
French forces enter Belgium along the Meuse.
Their position increasingly untenable, Belgian defenders of Liége are ordered to retreat to Louvain.
The German Zeppelin LZ drops 13 bombs on Liège, killing nine civilians, thus inaugurating a twentieth century tradition.
German troops enter France, capturing Longwy.
The cruiser HMS Amphion strikes a German mine and goes down near Harwich. About 150 of her crew and 18 German prisoners are lost.
French troops invade German Togoland from Dahomey, taking Little Popo (Anecho).
French forces from Brazzaville enter Kamerun and take two German posts inside the border in the northeast of the colony.
7 August 1914 05:00 French forces attack into Alsace, capturing the town of Altkirch, 25 km west of the Rhine.
Portugal informs Great Britain that it intends to honor its treaty obligations.
German troops complete the occupation of the city of Liège.
Still stuck in Geneva, Gabriel Fauré (69) writes to his wife that “here, as in almost the whole of Switzerland, public morale is excellent and very much on our side.”
Spain declares neutrality in the European war.
8 August 1914 French troops enter Mulhouse without opposition.
The first of twelve Liège forts, Ft. Barchon, falls to the Germans.
The Defence of the Realm Act is approved by the British Parliament. It gives the government wide powers to do whatever is necessary to ensure a successful outcome in the war.
Sweden and Venezuela declare neutrality in the European war.
The Antarctic expedition of Ernest Shackleton departs Plymouth.
Mohandas K. Gandhi arrives in London from South Africa.
9 August 1914 The first two corps of the British Expeditionary Force land in France at Le Havre. They are the first British combat troops on French soil in 99 years.
Germans counterattack the French at Mulhouse.
Austria-Hungary declares war on Montenegro.
Montenegro declares war on Germany.
Manuel de Falla (37) writes to his close friend, the lawyer Leopoldo Matos, in Madrid. He has to leave Paris because of the war and needs to find work back home, “something that will enable me and my family to live.”
10 August 1914 The Russian Army invades the Austrian province of Galicia and begins to push the Austrians back to the Carpathians.
The German battle cruiser Goeben and light cruiser Breslau enter the Dardanelles under Ottoman protection. The two ships will be turned over to Turkey.
France declares war on Austria-Hungary.
German forces push the French out of Mulhouse.
Amy Beach (46) writes from Munich that despite all the excitement, she is completely safe.
11 August 1914 The second of twelve Liège forts, Ft. Evegnée, falls to the Germans.
Anton von Webern (30) writes to Arnold Schoenberg (39): “An unshakable faith in the German spirit, which indeed has created, almost exclusively the culture of mankind, is awakened in me.”
12 August 1914 Russia invades East Prussia, capturing the town of Marggrabowa.
The Austro-Hungarian army crosses the Sava and Drina rivers into Serbia. They capture Sabac and nearby villages, savaging the local population.
Belgian forces repel German cavalry attacks at Haelen.
The United Kingdom declares war on Austria-Hungary.
18:30 Giant German guns begin bombarding the Liége forts.
British troops from the Gold Coast land at Lomé in German Togoland without opposition. Elsewhere in Togoland, British troops exchange fire with Germans, the first shots fired by the British in the war.
13 August 1914 Three more Liège forts fall to the Germans: Fts. Pontisse, Embourg, and Chaudfontaine.
The Austro-Hungarian steamship Baron Gautsch, carrying both troops and civilians, strikes a mine off Rovigno (Rovinj, Croatia) and sinks. 177 people, including women and children, are lost. 159 are saved by other Austro-Hungarian ships.
At Teoloyucan, near Mexico City, representatives of the Mexican government sign an agreement with Alvaro Obregón. The remnants of the Huerta government and army are dissolved.
Colombia declares neutrality in the European war.
14 August 1914 Russia declares its aim that Poland be “united under the sceptre of the Russian Emperor...free in faith, language and self-government.”
France begins a major offensive in Alsace and in Lorraine towards Sarrebourg and Morhange.
Two more Liège forts fall to the Germans: Fts. Liers and Fléron.
Austrians repel a Serbian counterattack at Sabac and capture Loznica.
Julián Carillo (39) ends his one-year term as director of the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Mexico City.
15 August 1914 Japan declares for the allies and demands the handing over of the German base at Tsingtao (Qingdao).
Two more Liège forts fall to the Germans: Fts. Boncelles and Lantin.
German and native troops capture Taveta, British East Africa (Kenya).
The Colony of Angola is created by Portugal.
The Panama Canal opens to traffic.
The US government bans loans from American firms to belligerent nations.
Sospiri op.70 for strings, harps, and organ by Edward Elgar (57) is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London.
16 August 1914 With Austrian support, Józef Pilsudski establishes a Supreme National Committee in Kraków to unite all Polish political parties. He recruits Special Legions to fight the Russians.
Serbians counterattack along a 50 km front at a bend in the Drina-Sava River, driving the invading Austro-Hungarians back in the Battle of the Jadar.
After an heroic and furious defense of two weeks, the last three Liège forts, Fts. Loncin, Hollogne, and Flémalle, capitulate to the invading Germans.
French warships sink the Austro-Hungarian light cruiser SMS Zenta off Antivari (Bar), Montenegro. 179 men are lost but some of the crew make it to shore where they are captured.
Percy Grainger (32) makes his last important appearance in London when he conducts his Shepherd’s Hey at Queen’s Hall.
17 August 1914 200,000 Russian troops begin an offensive into East Prussia. Germans and Russians join battle a few miles east of Stalluponen, just inside the German border.
Edward Elgar (57) is sworn in as a member of the Hampstead Special Constabulary.
18 August 1914 King Albert orders a general withdrawal from the Gette to Antwerp and moves his headquarters from Louvain to Malines.
French forces capture Château Salins near Morhange.
In a day of attacks and counterattacks, the Austrians are stopped by Serbian forces at Sabac.
1,080 businesses owned by Armenians are destroyed by Turks in Diyarbekir.
The army of Alvaro Obregón makes a triumphal entry into Mexico City.
19 August 1914 Belgian troops are defeated by the Germans at Aerschot and they begin a retreat to Antwerp. Germans inflict reprisals for sabotage on the town, burning houses and killing 150 civilians.
German forces enter Louvain.
Austrian troops kill 150 civilians at Leznica, Serbia.
20 August 1914 After successes and failures on both sides, the series of engagements over the last four days around Gumbinnen (Gusev), 110 km east of Königsberg (Kaliningrad) result in, on the whole, a Russian victory. But the Russians do not press their advantage.
The Battle of the Jadar concludes with Austrian troops fleeing under Serbian bombardment. The invading Austrians are ordered to retreat across the Sava.
In Lorraine, the invading French are cut to pieces by the Germans at Morhange Sarrebourg and are forced to retreat.
The German First Army enters Brussels, marching through the streets. A governor-general is installed.
Upon completing the draft of Act I of Die Frau ohne Schatten, Richard Strauss (50) writes on the manuscript: “Completed 20 August 1914, on the day of the victory of Saarburg. Hail to our excellent and courageous troops, hail to our German fatherland!”
Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, Pope Pius X, dies in Rome.
On the day that Anton von Webern (30) is to begin duties in Stettin, the theatre is closed due to the war.
Venustiano Carranza de la Garza takes charge as nominal President of Mexico.
21 August 1914 German forces surge south in strength across the Sambre between Namur and Charleroi, 50 km south of Brussels.
22 August 1914 Owing to the condition of Russians reporting for military duty, Tsar Nikolay II orders prohibition for the duration of the war. Since vodka is a state monopoly, he has eliminated one-third of the government’s income.
The furious battle in the Ardennes ends with masses of Frenchmen fleeing south in great disorder. With 27,000 dead, it is the costliest day in French military history.
Belgian defenders flee from Namur.
German troops occupy Lunéville, Lorraine.
Austria-Hungary declares war on Belgium.
A day after sacking Tamines, Belgium, German soldiers march 400 residents of the town into the main square. There they shoot or bayonet them to death.
French, British, and native forces attack the Germans on the Chra River, just north of Nuatja, Togoland. The attack fails but during the night the Germans retire.
Riders to the Sea: Symphonic Prologue for orchestra by Henry F. Gilbert (45) is performed for the first time, in Peterborough, New Hampshire, conducted by the composer. This is a revision of a prologue written for Synge’s play. See 13 December 1904.
23 August 1914 Citing the Anglo-Japanese treaty, Japan (against the wishes of Great Britain) declares war on Germany.
China cancels Germany’s lease of Tsingtao (Qingdao).
Austro-Hungarian and Russian forces meet head on at Krasnik, southwest of Lublin. In a four-day battle the Austrians push the Russians back.
In attacks between Orlau (Orlowa) and Frankenau (Fraknowo), south of Königsberg (Kaliningrad), Russians force Germans to retreat. A Russian attack at Neidenburg (Nidzica), southwest of Tannenburg (Stebark) is repulsed.
German forces counterattack in Lorraine, but are stopped by a French counterattack. Since 20 August, over 40,000 French soldiers have been killed.
German troops attack the British defenders of Mons, 50 km southwest of Brussels. After vigorous resistance, the British are forced to withdraw.
612 residents of Dinant, Belgium (including infants) are shot to death in the town square by German occupiers, who then sack and burn the town.
After a two-day battle, the Germans throw the French back at Charleroi and take Namur.
After Germans begin shooting the residents of Visé, Belgium, the entire population of the town (c.4000), escapes to the Dutch border, some eight km away.
French Prime Minister René Viviani forms a government of national unity.
24 August 1914 Serbian troops retake Sabac as the Austrians evacuate the country.
25 August 1914 Austrian forces capture Krasnik, Poland and begin an advance towards Lublin.
A Belgian sortie forces the Germans back into Louvain. German troops begin to burn the city of Louvain, including its library, founded in 1426 and containing 200,000 irreplaceable volumes. It will take six days of burning, sacking, and murdering to raze the city.
Germans enter Sedan and Mulhouse.
British invade Kamerun at three points, toward Mara, from Yola making for Garoua and from Ikom toward Nsanakang.
26 August 1914 Germans counterattack against the Russians at Tannenberg (Stebark).
Major Hans Von Döring, acting German governor of Togoland, surrenders unconditionally.
Austro-Hungarian and Russian forces meet at Komarow, 100 km southeast of Lublin. They fight for six days, without strategic advantage gained by either side. Simultaneously, Russian forces attack Austro-Hungarians at the Grila Lipa River. By 30 August the Russians will have driven them back west of Lemberg (Lviv).
Seven hours of artillery duel ends as Germans attack the British at Le Cateau. Though seriously outnumbered, the British hold their ground.
After two days of fighting before Mora, Kamerun the British retreat back into Nigeria with heavy losses.
27 August 1914 British and Japanese ships begin a blockade of Tsingtao (Qingdao) Bay.
German forces smash through the Russian lines at Soldau (Dzialdowo) 120 km northwest of Warsaw.
British ships sink three German light cruisers and a destroyer in the Helgoland Bight, costing 744 lives.
28 August 1914 After cutting off the Russian line of retreat, the Germans commence their major blow at Tannenberg (Stebark) 150 km northwest of Warsaw.
In three days of fighting, the French stave off furious German assaults south of Sedan.
The German light cruiser SMS Cöln is destroyed by British surface fire in the Heligoland Bight. Only one of her 486-man crew is saved. The light cruiser SMS Ariadne capsizes with the loss of about 200 of her crew. 59 are rescued by other German ships.
Ministers of the United States, Mexico, and Sweden visit Louvain and witness the death and devastation. The news will be sent around the world.
29 August 1914 Russian forces continue desperate attempts to break the German encirclement at Tannenberg (Stebark).
French forces counterattack at Guise to cover the British retreat from Le Cateau and Landrecies. It works. The Germans temporarily withdraw.
30 August 1914 Troops from New Zealand take possession of the German colony in Samoa.
The Battle of Tannenberg (Stebark, Poland) ends, 150 km northwest of Warsaw. In five days of fighting, the Russian Second Army is virtually annihilated with unknown thousands killed. The Russian commander, General Alyeksandr Vasilyevich Samsanov, kills himself.
A Russian attack at the Gnila Lipa River forces the Austrians into retreat.
German atrocities in Louvain cease, perhaps owing to worldwide condemnation.
German troops capture Amiens, 115 km north of Paris.
A German Zeppelin drops bombs on Paris. Two people are killed.
British troops capture Nsanakang, Kamerun but a German counterattack nearly annihilates them.
Percy Grainger (32) writes to Frederick Delius (52) in France, urging him and his wife to come to England for safety.
31 August 1914 British attack the Germans in Garoua, Kamerun but are repulsed with heavy losses.
Germans retake Neidenburg, East Prussia.
German forces capture Givet and Montmédy and cross the River Oise, 150 km northeast of Paris.
1 September 1914 Austro-Hungarian forces finally repulse the Russian attack at Komarow, 100 km southeast of Lublin.
British forces, covering their retreat, punish advancing Germans in the forests of Compiègne.
The last known passenger pigeon dies at the Cincinnati Zoo.
2 September 1914 Japanese troops land on the Shantung (Shandong) Peninsula, 250 km northeast of Tsingtao (Qingdao).
Russian troops surround Lemberg (Lviv) and stop the Austrians at Lublin.
On the 44th anniversary of the debacle at Sedan, the French government officially evacuates Paris and moves to Bordeaux.
3 September 1914 Russian forces capture Lemberg (Lviv) from Austria.
The British Expeditionary Force retreats across the Marne and sets up defensive positions. German advance units reach the river opposite them by nightfall.
Giacomo Giambattista, marchese della Chiesa becomes Pope Benedict XV.
Deprived of all great power support, Prince Wilhelm of Wied, their choice to become Prince of Albania, leaves the country. He will never return.
In his house in Baron, near Nanteuil-le-Haudoin, French composer Albéric Magnard opens fire on two German lancers who are about to enter. He is eventually subdued and shot to death. His house, containing priceless art works and manuscripts, is destroyed.
In London, Russia, the United Kingdom, and France agree not to conclude a separate peace with the central powers.
Unable to take a planned holiday at the Croatian resort of Crikvenica, due to the war, Leos Janácek (60) arrives at his usual spa of Luhacovice, Moravia.
4 September 1914 The Germans attack the Russians at the Masurian Lakes (Jezioro Mamry, Jezioro Sniardwy), southeast of Königsberg (Kaliningrad).
German troops occupy Reims, 110 km northeast of Paris.
German forces begin a furious assault on the defenders of Nancy.
Germans reach Claye, only 16 km from Paris.
The First Battle of the Marne begins as French and German troops blunder into each other north of Meaux.
In an agreement signed in London, Great Britain, France, and Russia pledge that they will never conclude a separate peace.
Fleeing Paris before the Germans, Claude Debussy (52) and his family receive a safe conduct pass to go to Angers. They will stay about a month.
5 September 1914 In the first double dissolution Australian general election, the Labor Party wins back power, capturing a majority in both houses.
Albanian rebels enter the capital Durrës but the country falls into anarchy.
Frederick (52) and Jelka Delius, hearing the German artillery on the Marne, decide to leave their home at Grez-sur-Loing and jump on a cattle truck with about 50 other people. He writes to Norman O’Neill, having “buried the silver and about 1,000 bottles of our best wine, we took all the valuable paintings down—took them off their chassis & rolled them up to take with us.” (Lee-Browne, 341)
The British cruiser HMS Pathfinder is sunk off the Isle of May by the German U-21 with the loss of about 250 of its crew. It is the first ship to be sunk by a motorized torpedo.
6 September 1914 03:00 After traveling in a cattle truck 75 km in 16 hours, 50-60 refugees, including Frederick (52) and Jelka Delius, arrives in Orléans. With the halting of the German advance, they decide to return home.
Once again, Austro-Hungarian forces attack into Serbia.
Russian troops attack the Austro-Hungarians in strength at Ivangorod.
French forces launch a counterattack against advancing Germans along the Marne River.
7 September 1914 French troops take Maubeuge and 40,000 prisoners.
8 September 1914 HMS Oceanic (formerly the liner RMS Oceanic) runs aground in calm seas off the Isle of Foula in the Shetland Islands. All the crew are saved but the ship will be a total loss.
The French move 6,000 men 60 km from Gagny, near Paris, to the front, by use of 600 taxicabs.
British forces attack across the Petit Morin River forcing the Germans to abandon Montmirail.
Alban Berg (29) sends the first and third of his Three Orchestral Pieces op.6 to Arnold Schoenberg (39) in hopes of dedicating them to him.
Percy Grainger (32) and his mother arrive in Boston from Liverpool aboard the Laconia.
9 September 1914 German forces begin their main attack against the Russians at the Masurian Lakes. They manage to cut off the Russian retreat.
British and French forces attack north across the Marne through a gap in the German line at Chateau-Thierry and Marigny. German armies fall back behind the Aisne on a line from Noyon to Verdun.
British troops take Lüderitz in German South West Africa.
German forces attack Abercorn, Northern Rhodesia (Mbala, Zambia) at the extreme southern end of Lake Tanganyika. They are repulsed and retreat to the Lumi River.
10 September 1914 In fierce fighting at the Masurian Lakes, Russian troops manage to hold the Germans long enough for the main body of their army to escape.
Russian troops rout the Austrians at Rava Russka, 50 km northwest of Lemberg (Lviv).
The First Battle of the Marne ends. The British and French have stopped the German advance and repulsed them as far as the Aisne River. Both sides begin digging trenches.
11 September 1914 Australians capture New Pomerania (New Britain) in the Bismarck Archipelago from Germany.
Austro-Hungarians retreat from the Russians almost as far west as Krakow.
French troops advance as far as Compiègne and Châlons-sur-Marne.
British troops from Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) attack the Germans on the Lumi River and scatter them.
12 September 1914 Russian forces take Grodek, Galicia as the Austrians retreat beyond the San River.
British and French troops force their way across the Aisne west of Rheims.
13 September 1914 Australian troops land to take possession of Kaiser Wilhelm Land (Papua New Guinea) from the Germans.
British and French forces cross the Aisne but are blocked from splitting the German army in two.
The first ship passes through the newly completed Panama Canal.
German forces in France set up defensive positions (trenches) along the Aisne River.
The name of the Russian capital of St. Petersburg is officially changed to Petrograd, owing to the Germanic nature of the original.
14 September 1914 Forces opposed to Mexican President Venustiano Carranza capture Mazatlán in Sinaloa.
15 September 1914 Australian forces take possession of the Solomon Islands from Germany.
The First Battle of the Masurian Lakes ends with Russian forces setting up defensive positions across the River Niemen.
At the suggestion of Charles Seeger, Henry Cowell (17) begins taking music classes at the University of California, Berkeley while studying “free composition” with Seeger.
Julian Carlton, a servant of Frank Lloyd Wright, sets fire to his house Taliesin, in Spring Green, Wisconsin, while Wright’s lover, Mamah Borthwick, and eight others are inside. As the victims attempt to escape the flames, Carlton kills them with an axe. Borthwick, her two children, and four others are killed while two men manage to escape. Carlton is caught but will starve to death in prison. Wright is not home at the time.
16 September 1914 The British Expeditionary force begins building trenches.
17 September 1914 Andrew Fisher replaces Joseph Cook as Prime Minister of Australia.
The Belgian army falls back to Antwerp.
French troops advance six km between Soissons and Compiègne.
18 September 1914 Japanese troops land without opposition at Lao-shan (Laoshan) Bay, 50 km east of Tsingtao (Qingdao).
An allied counterattack called the First Battle of the Aisne is halted at Soissons-Bailly.
King George V grants royal assent to the Government of Ireland Act. Intended to provide home rule for Ireland, it will never be put into practice.
After three years in Europe, Amy Beach (47) arrives in New York from Liverpool aboard SS Cretic. She took the last train out of Germany, offered by the government at their expense.
19 September 1914 Camille Saint-Saëns (78) publishes the first of a series of articles entitled “Germanophile”, wherein he attacks German art and music and suggests a ban on the music of Wagner.
A small South African force lands at Lüderitzbucht, South West Africa (Namibia).
20 September 1914 The German battle cruiser Königsberg sails into Zanzibar harbor and destroys two British warships, HMS Pegasus and HMS Helmut.
German forces attack along a 20 km front towards Saint-Mihiel. The French stop them at Fort Troyon.
Four of the songs for voice and piano op.137 by Max Reger (41) are performed for the first time, in Hildburghausen: Bitte um einem seligen Tod, Uns ist geboren ein Kindelein, Grablied and Lass dich nur nichts nicht daurn. The composer performs at the piano.
21 September 1914 Kaiser Wilhelm Land (German New Guinea) capitulates to Australian troops.
French troops retake Noyon.
French forces establish a beachhead near the mouth of the Muni River, Kamerun.
Rhodesian troops occupy Schuckmannsburg in German South West Africa (Nambia) without opposition.
The Debutante, a musical comedy by Victor Herbert (55) to words of HB Smith and RB Smith, is performed for the first time, at the New Nixon Theatre in Atlantic City, New Jersey. See 7 December 1914.
22 September 1914 The German ship Emden shells facilities of the Burmah Oil Company at Madras, destroying 50,000 tons of oil.
A German submarine sinks three British cruisers off Holland costing 1,400 lives.
British planes bomb zeppelin hangars at Cologne and Düsseldorf.
Ezra Pound meets TS Eliot for the first time, in Pound’s Kensington apartment.
23 September 1914 1,300 British troops land at Lao-shan (Laoshan) to support the Japanese.
The first elements of the Canadian Expeditionary Force sail from Halifax.
Nadia (27) and Lili (21) Boulanger write to several prominent musicians asking them to become honorary committee members of their Comité Franco-Américain du Conservatoire National de Musique et de Déclamation. This is an organization funded by the American architect Whitney Warren to give aid and support to French soldiers. All of those contacted (including Gabriel Fauré (69) and Gustave Charpentier (54)), except Camille Saint-Saëns (78), give their enthusiastic support.
24 September 1914 South African forces take Raman’s Drift, South West Africa.
25 September 1914 German forces recapture Noyon.
The King’s Highway for voice, chorus and orchestra by Charles Villiers Stanford (61) to words of Newbolt is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London. Stanford has donated all proceeds from the song to the Prince of Wales’ National Relief Fund.
Voting takes place for the Swedish Riksdag for the second time in six months. The Social Democrats increase their total, almost equaling the largest party, the center-right General Electoral Union.
Mexico declares neutrality in the European war.
26 September 1914 German artillery begin an attack on Antwerp.
A South African invasion force is surrounded and attacked by Germans at Sanfontein, South West Africa (Namibia). After a day-long battle, the South Africans are forced to surrender. After the battle, thirsty men from both sides mingle and drink from the same nearby wells as if nothing has happened.
27 September 1914 Japanese forces attack the outer defenses of Tsingtao (Qingdao).
Russian forces invade Hungary.
The German garrison at Douala, Kamerun, surrenders to British and French forces offshore.
On German orders, the Turks close the Dardanelles.
Frédéric Masson of the French Academy publishes an article urging his countrymen to banish Wagner (†31) from the country “by violence if need be.”
28 September 1914 Japanese troops breach the outer defenses of the German outpost of Tsingtao (Qingdao).
German forces counterattack against the Russians along the Vistula River on a wide front between Krakow and Czestachowa.
Germans capture Malines, halfway between Brussels and Antwerp.
Home Rule for Ireland is granted royal assent but is suspended for the duration of the war.
30 September 1914 British and French troops from Douala attack the Germans at Tiko, driving them off.
Publishers Breitkopf and Härtel announce the dissolution of the International Music Society because of the war.
Turkish authorities issue weapons to the Moslem residents of Keghi, Erzurum province, for future use against Armenians.
1 October 1914 France ceases to consider Czechs and Slovaks as enemy aliens.
Russians beat back the Germans in the Augustow Forest, East Prussia.
German troops occupy the perimeter forts of Antwerp.
Nazaret Chavush, leader of the Armenian community in Zeitun (Süleymanli), is killed on orders of the Turkish governor.
A constitutional convention opens in Mexico City. Followers of Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa refuse to attend.
The Only Girl, a “musical farcical comedy” by Victor Herbert (55) to words of Blossom after Fulda, is performed for the first time, in the New Nixon Theatre in Atlantic City, New Jersey. See 2 November 1914.
3 October 1914 Japan takes Jaluit Atoll in the Marshall Islands from Germany.
An earthquake centered in Burdur, in Anatolia, kills about 4,000 people.
4 October 1914 German and Austro-Hungarian forces begin a combined offensive towards Warsaw.
Germans capture Lens and begin bombarding Lille.
Violinist Franz Milcke attempts to play through Charles Ives’ (39) Violin Sonata no.1, accompanied by the composer, at the Ives home in West Redding, Connecticut. He fails.
5 October 1914 Esad Pasha Toptani declares himself president of an Albanian republic, in Durrës.
6 October 1914 King Albert evacuates the Belgian government from Antwerp to Ostend. 250,000 residents of Antwerp begin to flee towards France and the Netherlands.
In the face of furious fire, French colonial troops force the Germans away from the remains of the Yapoma railway bridge over the Dibamba River, thus sparing Douala from attack.
7 October 1914 Japan takes the Micronesian islands of Yap and Ponape from Germany.
German artillery begins to shell Antwerp.
8 October 1914 Japanese troops occupy the German island of Koror in Palau.
9 October 1914 An Austrian offensive takes Jaroslaw on the San River in Galicia, but then stops.
German forces take Antwerp.
The second of the Three Pieces for Organ by Frank Bridge (35) is performed for the first time, in Twrgwyn Chapel.
10 October 1914 Germans defeat Russians at Grojec, south of Warsaw.
Remaining Belgian troops in Antwerp surrender as the Germans complete the occupation of the city.
About 60 Armenian leaders in Zeitun (Süleymanli) attend a meeting called by the Turkish government. They are all immediately arrested.
Follow the Colours, in the version for male chorus, by Edwar Elgar (57) to words of Stretton, is performed for the first time, at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Also premiered is Elgar’s song A Soldier’s Song: Roll Call to words of Begbie.
Margot, a comedia lírica by Joaquín Turina (31) to words of Martínez Sierra, is performed for the first time, in Madrid.
King Carol I of Romania dies in Sinaia, succeeded by his nephew, Ferdinand I.
In Berlin, Ferruccio Busoni (48) writes in his diary, “Today Antwerp ‘fell’...What do they actually intend to do with Belgium? Hand it back a little damaged.”
11 October 1914 German troops capture Sochaczew and advance to within 50 km of Warsaw.
The Russian cruiser Pallada is sunk by a German submarine in the Gulf of Finland with the loss of all 597 aboard.
12 October 1914 Japan takes the Micronesian island of Truk (Chuuk) from Germany.
The trial of Gavrilo Princip and his fellow conspirators begins in Sarajevo.
Allied troops evacuate Ostend and Zeebrugge.
13 October 1914 German forces capture Ghent and Lille as the British occupy Ypres.
The Belgian government relocates in Le Havre.
An article entitled “An Appeal to the Civilized World” is published in the Paris Le temps. Later called the Manifesto of 93, it is a statement from the elite of German art and science (including Engelbert Humperdinck (60)) denying all charges of barbarism by the allies against Germany and refuting the allied cause for the war.
A (presumably anarchist) bomb goes off in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. Only minor damage occurs.
14 October 1914 Japanese troops occupy the German island of Saipan in the Northern Marianas.
German forces capture Bruges.
A torpedo from a German submarine sinks the Japanese minelayer Takachiho at Tsingtao (Qingdao). 271 of her crew go down. Only three survive.
British troops occupy Yabassi on the Nsake River, Kamerun.
15 October 1914 The Germans begin an offensive near Jozefow and Warsaw to drive the Russians across the Vistula.
German forces capture Ostend and Zeebrugge on the North Sea.
The cruiser HMS Hawke is torpedoed by a German submarine off Aberdeen. Only 70 of the 524-man crew are rescued.
The Clayton Act is enacted by the US Congress. It grants workers the right to strike and picket.
16 October 1914 The first 8,574 men of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force sails from Wellington for France.
The British Expeditionary Force begins to halt the German advance at Ypres, 115 km west of Brussels.
17 October 1914 The first 20,226 men of the Australian Expeditionary Force sail from Albany for France.
Turkish paramilitaries begin widespread murders and rapes of Armenians and looting their property in Erzurum Province.
Jean Sibelius (48) withdraws from a project to turn Juhani Aho’s novel Juha into an opera. It is the closest he will ever come to writing an opera.
18 October 1914 After four days of battle, the German offensive in Poland is halted by the Russians and they begin retreating.
20 October 1914 Russian forces begin driving the Germans back from Warsaw.
German submarine U-17 stops the British ship Glitra 23 km off the coast of Norway. They allow the crew to be lowered into lifeboats, then open the sea cocks sending her to the bottom. This is the first sinking of a merchant ship by a submarine.
German forces begin an offensive on the Flanders front from the La Bassée Canal to the sea, concentrating on Ypres. The Allies attack between Ypres and Givenchy.
21 October 1914 Japanese troops occupy the German island of Rota in the Northern Marianas.
22 October 1914 Germans counterattack and cross the Yser near Tervaete.
23 October 1914 Russian forces advance all along the front, capturing Jaroslaw.
The trial of Gavrilo Princip and his fellow conspirators concludes in Sarajevo.
24 October 1914 Over the last three days, French troops have withstood several German attacks north of Ypres. Today begins continuous (24-hour) fighting on the Ypres salient.
25 October 1914 Belgian troops open the locks at Nieuport, flooding the lowlands as far as Dixmude in an attempt to halt the German advance.
26 October 1914 German forces complete a six-day retreat over 100 km in Poland. They have suffered 40,000 casualties.
Over the last three days, Belgian and French African troops have held Dixmude against 15 German assaults and rising water.
French troops occupy Edea, Kamerun, forcing the Germans to retreat to Yaounde.
27 October 1914 With the approval of the allies, Greek forces take possession of Northern Epirus.
During target practice off the northeast coast of Ireland, the British dreadnought Audacious hits a mine. It will blow up and sink.
28 October 1914 In the harbor of Penang, Malaya, the German ship Emden fires on and sinks the Russian cruiser Zemtchug and the French destroyer Mousquet.
Russian forces capture Lodz and Radon.
Verdicts and sentences are handed down in a Sarajevo court in the killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. Nine defendants are acquitted, 16 are found guilty. Of the 16, five are sentenced to death, one is sentenced to life in prison and ten others, being less than 20 years old (including the gunman Gavrilo Princip), receive prison terms of 20 years or less. Two of those sentenced to death will have their sentences commuted to 20 years by Emperor Franz Joseph.
29 October 1914 Gunboats Goeben and Breslau, with German crews but under the Turkish flag, shell Odessa, sinking the Russian gunboat Donetz. They also attack Sevastopol and Feodosiya, acts of war that will help bring Turkey into the world conflict.
30 October 1914 The flood waters unleashed in Belgium on 25 October finally force the Germans to withdraw.
31 October 1914 Noon. German forces capture Gheluvelt and break the British line but they are forced back by a British counterattack.
Alois Hába (21) receives a certificate after taking the state examination in violin.
1 November 1914 German troops at Ypres capture the ridges of Messines and Wytschaete.
19:00 British and German ships engage off Coronel, Chile. Two British ships, HMS Monmouth and HMS Good Hope are sunk at the cost of 1,654 lives.
2 November 1914 Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
The Only Girl, a “musical farcical comedy” by Victor Herbert (55) to words of Blossom after Fulda, is performed for the first time in New York, at the 39th Street Theatre. It is one of Herbert’s greatest triumphs, with 240 performances over the next ten months. See 1 October 1914.
3 November 1914 British and Indian troops are disembarked at Tanga, on the mainland opposite Zanzibar.
Great Britain extends a protectorate over Kuwait.
Barcarolle op.6/1 for piano by Charles T. Griffes (30) is performed for the first time, in Colonial Hall, Lowell, Massachusetts.
23-year-old Mary Phelps Jacob of Massachusetts receives a US patent for a backless brassiere.
Voting takes place in the United States for the Congress. The ruling Democratic Party loses over 60 seats in the House of Representatives but maintains a majority. Democrats increase their majority in the Senate. For the first time, all Senators are elected by popular vote.
Georg Trakl dies of a cocaine overdose at the age of 27 in Kraków.
4 November 1914 The German crusier SMS Yorck strikes two German mines off Wilhelmshaven and goes down with hundreds of her crew.
As British and Indian troops attempt to move on Tanga, German East Africa (Tanzania) they are fired upon by German and colonial defenders and a general engagement ensues, enlivened by the appearance of swarms of bees, apparently angered by bullets riddling their hives. The British are repulsed amidst much confusion.
British and Indian troops cross the border from British East Africa (Kenya) into German East Africa (Tanzania) near Longido. A German and colonial force half their size attack and send them into retreat.
The German cruiser SMS Karlsruhe is destroyed by an internal explosion as she headed for Barbados. 140 of the 373-man crew are able to make it to attending German ships.
5 November 1914 Great Britain declares war on the Ottoman Empire and annexes Cyprus.
Great Britain declares the entire North Sea as a controlled military area.
British subjects in Germany begin to be sent to the Ruhleben race course near Berlin for internment. British women were repatriated in October.
Incidental music to Masefield’s play Philip the King by Gustav Holst (40) is performed for the first time, in Covent Garden, London.
6 November 1914 Australian forces occupy the German island of Nauru.
Japanese troops breach the final German defenses at Tsingtao (Qingdao).
France declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
Russian forces make advances towards Koprukeui, east of Erzurum. Meanwhile, Russian ships mine the entrance to the Bosporus and bombard Zonguldak, Turkey.
Austria-Hungary launches a major offensive across the Drina into Serbia.
The Constitutional Convention in Aguascalientes names Eulalio Gutiérrez as President of Mexico.
Four of the songs for voice and piano op.137 by Max Reger (41) are performed for the first time, in Meiningen: Dein Wille, Herr, geschehel, Am Abend, Klage vor Gottes Leiden and O Jesu Christ, wir warten dein. The composer performs at the piano.
The Camp is Hushed...Reposez vous, vous chevaliers! for male chorus by Arthur Foote (61) to words of Aldrich, is performed for the first time, in Boston.
7 November 1914 The German outpost at Kiaowchow (Jiaozhou) surrenders to the Japanese.
8 November 1914 Manuel de Falla (37) returns triumphantly from seven years in Paris to take up residence in Madrid.
Alban Berg (29) records, “Today I saw a long column of wounded soldiers—horrible. And soon afterwards a company of soldiers shouting and singing on their way to the front. These are memories that won’t be wiped out in a hurry. I sometimes feel here as if I were living outside this world.”
9 November 1914 HMAS Sydney forces the raider SMS Emden aground at the Cocos Islands. The Germans lose 111 men, although some crew members escape.
Austrians cross the Sava east of Belgrade but are stopped by Serbian forces.
10 November 1914 German forces launch another offensive on the Ypres front at Dixmude.
President Gutiérrez of Mexico names Venustiano Carranza as a rebel for refusing to relinquish the presidency and back his regime and sends Pancho Villa to remove Carranza from Mexico.
11 November 1914 German forces counterattack against Russians along the Vistula, crashing through the defenders north of Lodz.
In a blinding rainstorm, German troops break through the British lines east of Ypres but the hole is plugged by the last possible reserves. This marks the end of a month of fighting (The First Battle of Ypres) during which both the German advance and an Allied counterattack are halted around the city of Ypres, Belgium.
12 November 1914 The Ottoman Empire declares war on Great Britain, France, and Russia. Turkish defenders defeat the Russians at Koprukeui, east of Erzerum.
South African troops attack and defeat Boer rebels at Mushroom Valley, 100 km northeast of Bloemfontein.
From Death to Life, a symphonic poem by Hubert Parry (66), is performed for the first time, in Brighton.
13 November 1914 The United States declares the Panama Canal Zone neutral in the European war.
A strike by the Western Federation of Miners in Butte, Montana is crushed by the state militia.
14 November 1914 British and Indian troops begin to fight their way up the Shatt-al-Arab against Turkish opposition.
The Sheikh-ul-Islam, leader of Sunni Muslims, announces in Constantinople a jihad against all Christians except the Germans and Austro-Hungarians.
After a convention of Mexican revolutionary leaders breaks down, two of them, Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa join to force a third, Venustiano Carranza out of Mexico City. The two victors set up their own government in the capital. Carranza retires to Veracruz to plan his revenge.
15 November 1914 The Théâtre des Capucines becomes the first Parisian theatre to open since all were closed on 2 August. Most theatres will open by the end of the year.
Wenceslao Braz Pereira Gomes replaces Hermes Rodrigo da Fonseca as President of Brazil.
16 November 1914 British troops occupy Buea, the former captial of Kamerun, 50 km west of Douala.
17 November 1914 The Finnish press publishes Tsar Nikolay’s program for the russification of Finland.
German forces withdraw from Longido, German East Africa, allowing the British to invest the town.
18 November 1914 The French government returns to Paris from Bordeaux.
Five songs for voice and piano by Amy Cheney Beach (47) are performed for the first time, in Boston: Ein altes Gebet op.72/1, Grossmütterchen, and Der Totenkranz op.73 to words of Zacharias, Separation to words of Stoddard, and The Lotus Isles to words of Tennyson op.76.
19 November 1914 Five Bolshevik Duma members are arrested and sent to Turkestan for urging citizens to fight their government rather than the Germans.
Turkish authorities begin executing Armenian soldiers in the Turkish army. This is done publicly in an attempt to terrorize the Armenian population.
21 November 1914 British and colonial forces enter Basra.
22 November 1914 Russians defeat Austrians near Krakow.
Jean Cocteau is found physically unfit for the French army.
The Yugoslav Committee is founded without fanfare in Florence by Ante Trumbic, a Croatian deputy in the Austro-Hungarian Parliament. Its aim is to unite the South Slavs into one state.
23 November 1914 British forces officially take possession of Basra.
The Portuguese Parliament authorizes the government to declare war on Germany if necessary.
After an occupation of seven months, the last US troops depart Veracruz.
25 November 1914 In furious fighting in sub-zero temperatures, the Germans escape encirclement by the Russians east of Lodz.
A Polish National Committee is formed in Warsaw by Roman Dmowski. It is anti-German, anti-Semitic, and pro-Russian.
26 November 1914 HMS Bulwark is destroyed by an internal explosion while anchored near Sheerness, England. Only twelve of her crew of 750 survive.
Venustiano Carranza establishes his version of the Mexican government in Veracruz.
28 November 1914 An explosion in a coal mine at New Yubari, Hokkaido, Japan kills 422 people.
Austrian forces retreat to the east of Krakow and south of the Vistula.
The New York Stock Exchange reopens for bond trading. It has been closed since the beginning of the European war.
30 November 1914 Germans and Russians engage at Lowicz-Sanniki.
Soleá for voice and guitar by Manuel de Falla (37) is performed for the first time, in Teatro Lara, Madrid, as part of Martínez Sierra’s play La pasión.
1 December 1914 Austro-Hungarian forces attack advancing Russians at Limanowa, 50 km southeast of Krakow.
Austro-Hungarian troops occupy Belgrade.
3 December 1914 Serbian forces launch an unexpected counterattack against Austria.
Irving Gifford Fine is born at 404 Meridian St. in East Boston, Massachusetts, the first of three children born to George Fine, a lawyer, and Charlotte Friedman.
String Quartet in e minor by Ethel Smyth (56) is performed for the first time, in Aeolian Hall, London.
4 December 1914 Percy Grainger (32) appears for the first time in New York, playing the piano part in his Shepherd’s Hey with the New York Symphony in Aeolian Hall.
6 December 1914 After a month-long battle, the German army marches into Lodz, 120 km southwest of Warsaw. The Russians retreat 50 km to a line along the Rawka and Bzura Rivers.
Russian troops counterattack the Austro-Hungarians west towards Limanowa.
Austro-Hungarian troops break in headlong flight to the Kolubara River. The Serbians take 40,000 prisoners.
The Opéra-Comique in Paris, closed since 3 August, reopens.
7 December 1914 The Serbian government issues the Nis Declaration, stating that its war aim is the unification of the south Slavs into one state.
Vitor Hugo de Azevedo Coutinho replaces Bernardino Luis Machado Guimarães as Prime Minister of Portugal.
South African forces defeat Boer rebels. The Boer leader, Christiaan Frederik Beyers, drowns while fleeing across the Vaal River.
Carillon for reciter and orchestra by Edward Elgar (57) to words of Cammaerts, is performed for the first time, in Queen’s Hall, London, conducted by the composer. The work is written in memory of all the bell towers of Flanders destroyed in the current conflict. It is welcomed with great enthusiasm.
7 December 1914 The Debutante, a musical comedy by Victor Herbert (55) to words of HB Smith and RB Smith, is performed for the first time in New York, at the Knickerbocker Theatre. See 21 September 1914. It will receive only 48 performances.
8 December 1914 Newly arrived Austro-Hungarian forces attack the Russians north towards Limanowa.
A German squadron loses four of its five cruisers to a British force off the Falkland Is. SMS Scharnhorst capsizes and sinks with all 860 of its crew, including Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee. SMS Gniesenau goes down with 598 men. SMS Nürnberg goes down with 327 men lost. SMS Leipzig is sunk with 268 men. Of the four crews of 2,400 men, only 200 Germans will survive.
9 December 1914 After six days of fighting, British and Indian troops capture Qurna, north of Basra, from the Turks.
Serbian forces recapture Lazarevac and Uzice.
The version for male chorus of Preserve your soil, each Danish man! by Carl Nielsen (49), to words of Holm, is performed for the first time, in Copenhagen.
10 December 1914 In elections to the New Zealand Parliament, the Reform Party government of Prime Minister William Massey retains power.
11 December 1914 A Piano Concerto by Willem Pijper (21) is performed for the first time, in Utrecht, the composer at the keyboard. This is a concert to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Utrecht Music School, where Pijper is a student, and constitutes Pijper’s public debut. It is very successful.
13 December 1914 The British submarine B-11 sails through five rows of mines in the Dardanelles and sinks the Turkish battleship Messudieh in Sari Sigla Bay. The ship escapes submerged.
15 December 1914 The Mitsubishi Hojyo coal mine on Kyushu Island explodes, killing 687 people. It is the worst mining disaster in Japan.
The Russian army falls back before the Germans to a defensive line along the Bzura-Ravka River west of Warsaw. The Russians also begin a retreat to defensive positions along the Nida and Dunajec Rivers east of Krakow.
Serbian troops reoccupy Belgrade.
16 December 1914 Italian troops occupy Vlorë, Albania.
The Ottoman Empire renounces the Armenian Reform Agreement of 8 February 1914 which guaranteed rights of Armenians through the European powers.
Prelude and Fugue op.81 for piano by Amy Cheney Beach (47) is performed for the first time, in Boston.
17 December 1914 Great Britain proclaims a protectorate over Egypt.
German ships shell Scarborough, Hartlepool, and Whitby, causing 86 deaths and 424 injuries.
Tomás G. Masaryk, professor of philosophy at Charles University, Prague, deputy in the Austro-Hungarian Parliament, leaves Austria-Hungary to work for the independence of Czechs and Slovaks.
On orders from US Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, US Marines land in Haiti and remove the country’s gold reserve from the US/French controlled bank. It is brought to New York.
Ottoman authorities order the forcible expulsion of all Jews from Jaffa (Yafo).
18 December 1914 Ah, the Christmas Snow from Bethlehem, for soprano and male chorus by Carl Nielsen (49) to words of Jørgensen, is performed for the first time, in Vor Frue Kirke, Copenhagen.
19 December 1914 Hussein Kamil replaces his nephew Abbas II as Sultan of Egypt thus inaugurating the Sultanate of Egypt under British protection.
Mohandas K. Gandhi departs Britain for India.
20 December 1914 French forces launch an offensive in Champagne.
21 December 1914 British General William Birdwood arrives in Cairo to take command of the first contingent of Australian and New Zealand troops to arrive in the European theatre.
23 December 1914 Turkish forces begin an offensive against the Russians towards Kars.
24 December 1914 Opposing forces along the Western Front begin an unofficial Christmas truce, talking and singing to each other and even fraternizing in No Man’s Land.
25 December 1914 British and Indian troops capture Jassin, German East Africa (Tanzania).
In Rochester, Minnesota, Edward Calvin Kendall becomes the first person to crystallize Thyroxine, the hormone which controls metabolism in cells and tissues.
27 December 1914 Vincent d’Indy (63) becomes an honorary member of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome.
31 December 1914 Russian forces complete their withdrawal to defensive positions along the Nida and Dunajec Rivers east of Krakow.
©2004-2016 Paul Scharfenberger
17 May 2016
Last Updated (Tuesday, 17 May 2016 04:43)