Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

August 1914

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The following events occurred in August 1914:

Contents

August 1, 1914 (Saturday)

  • The German Empire declared war on the Russian Empire, following Russia's full military mobilization in support of Serbia. The declaration of war was also required for Germany to begin mobilization.
  • Italy declared itself neutral at the start of the war despite being part of the Triple Alliance, citing it was a defensive nature and Austria-Hungary's aggression did not obligate the country to take part.
  • Germany accepted an offer from Great Britain to guarantee France's neutrality. However, Germany's plan to invade Luxembourg and Belgium forced France to mobilize.
  • A secret treaty between the Ottoman Empire and Germany secured Ottoman neutrality.
  • The New York Stock Exchange closed due to war in Europe, where nearly all stock exchanges were already closed.
  • Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau – Commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, Admiral Sir Archibald Berkeley Milne, assembled his force at Malta, and on the following day received instructions to shadow the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben. With the German ship already sighted, Milne ordered two British battleships to form a blockade at Gibraltar should the German ships try to escape into the Atlantic Ocean.
  • Swiss National Park (Parc Naziunal Svizzer) was established in the Engadin region of Switzerland.
  • Marcus Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association in Jamaica.
  • Eleven players from the Russian Empire, who participated in the interrupted Mannheim 1914 chess tournament, were interned in Rastatt, Germany when war began. Four of the players were freed and allowed to return home via Switzerland in September, while two more were released in subsequent years.
  • The first issue of the weekly The Illustrated War News was published.
  • The Charlie Chaplin comedy The Property Man became the first film to have a continuity error, in which case Charlie Chaplin's character was seen losing a hat while carrying a trunk through a door on one side, only to have it reappear on the other side.
  • Born: Hughie Edwards, Australian Royal Air Force pilot during World War Two, recipient of the Victoria Cross, 23rd Governor of Western Australia, in Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia (d. 1982); Edd Cartier, American illustrator, did interiors for pulp magazines including Astounding Science Fiction, Doc Savage Magazine and Unknown, in North Bergen, New Jersey (d. 2008); Mervin King, American law enforcer, captain of the Los Angeles Police Department during the SLA shootout in 1974, in San Francisco (d. 2008)
  • Died: Gid Gardner, American baseball player, played for eight different teams in three different leagues from 1879 to 1888 (b. 1859)

    • August 2, 1914 (Sunday)

  • The Imperial Germany Army for World War One was organized into nine armies, with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th mobilized for the Western Front, the 8th for the Eastern Front, and a North Army to defend Germany's northern coast. Germany also mobilized four independent cavalry corps including the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th for the Western Front and a 1st Calvary Division to service the 8th Army on the Eastern front. Germany also set up defending reserve and fortress units for Strassburg, Metz, Thorn, Königsberg, Posen, and Graudenz. The Imperial Army was abolished on 6 March 1919, and the provisional Reichswehr was created.
  • German troops occupied Luxembourg in accordance with its Schlieffen Plan.
  • At 7:00 pm (local time) Germany issued a 12-hour ultimatum to neutral Belgium to allow German passage into France.
  • The first military action on the Western Front occurred as a skirmish at Joncherey in northeastern France near the border. A small German cavalry illegally crossing the border (no formal declaration of war had yet been made) clashed with local French militia, resulting in at least two fatalities including Jules-André Peugeot, the first French military casualty of World War One.
  • The first German soldiers appeared in Kalisz, Poland, considered to be the oldest city in the country.
  • The Seven Lancers of Belina – A seven-man reconnaissance team for Austria-Hungary infiltrated Russian-held Poland to gather intelligence. All seven later became cavalry for the Polish army following World War One.
  • Dutch cyclist Cor Blekemolen won the 1914 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Ordrup, Denmark, near Copenhagen.
  • The association football club SD Balmaseda FC was formed in Balmaseda, Spain.
  • The World's Fair in Lyon remained open despite the outbreak of World War One, although the German and Austrian pavilions were closed.
  • Born: Beatrice Straight, American film and theater actress, Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress in Network, in Old Westbury, New York (d. 2001); Félix Leclerc, Canadian singer-songwriter and advocate for Quebec nationalism, in La Tuque, Quebec (d. 1988); Fay Crocker, Uruguayan-American professional golfer, winner of 11 LPGA tournaments, in Montevideo (d. 1983)

    • August 3, 1914 (Monday)

  • At 7:00 am (local time), King Albert of Belgium refused the German request to violate his country's neutrality, resulting in Germany declaring war on Belgium and on France.
  • British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey encouraged the House of Commons to support going to war with Germany should Germany invade Belgium. Later that evening, he made the famous observation to a friend while looking out a window in the Foreign Office as gas lamps in London streets were being lit at dusk: "The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."
  • The German main force under command of Major Hermann Preusker arrived in Kalisz, Poland. By late evening, gun battles erupted in the city, with Preusker blaming local civilians for shooting at his troops. Twenty-one civilians and six German soldiers were killed.
  • The Polish military unit First Cadre Company was established in Cracow, Poland.
  • Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty ordered the confiscation of two Ottoman battleships under construction at Armstrong Whitworth in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The ships were later commissioned for service to the Royal Navy as the HMS Agincourt and HMS Erin.
  • The German light cruiser SMS Emden captured the Russian steamer Ryazan and sent it to Tsingtao, China where it was converted into the auxiliary cruiser Cormoran.
  • The Imperial German Navy leased the cargo-passenger ship Answald for conversion into Germany's first seaplane carrier, SMS Answald, designated Flugzeugmutterschiff I (Airplane Mothership I).
  • English language teacher Henry Hadley was shot in an altercation with a Prussian officer on a train at Gelsenkirchen in Germany, dying two days later shortly after the declaration of war.
  • Born: Gordon Bryant, Australian politician, cabinet minister of Aboriginal Affairs from 1972 to 1973, laid much of the groundwork for the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976, in Lismore, Victoria, Australia (d. 1991); Joseph M. Breitenbeck, American clergy, 8th Bishop of Grand Rapids, Michigan from 1969 to 1989, in Detroit (d. 2005); Elizabeth Millicent Chilver, British journalist and academic, principal of Bedford College, University of London from 1964 to 1971, and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford from 1971 to 1979 (d. 2014)
  • Died: Louis Couturat, French mathematician, philosopher, and linguist, known for the creation of the constructed language Ido (b. 1868); William Barstow Strong, American rail baron, president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway from 1881 to 1889 (b. 1837)

    • August 4, 1914 (Tuesday)

  • Much of the general populace in Germany celebrated in what became known as the Spirit of 1914 after all political parties in the Reichstag voted unanimously to support Germany's entry into war.
  • German armies under command of generals Alexander von Kluck and Karl von Bülow invaded Belgium at 8:02 am (local time) after the 12-hour ultimatum expired.
  • Great Britain declared war on Germany at 11:00 p.m. for violating Belgian neutrality.
  • The United States declared neutrality at the outbreak of World War One.
  • With Great Britain formally at war, former British colonies and sovereign nations Australia, Canada, and New Zealand entered World War One.
  • The Canadian government passed the War Measures Act, which suspended some civil rights in Canada during a crisis.
  • Violence escalated in Kalisz, Poland as occupying German forces started shelling the city and massacring civilians as part of a pogrom to crack on perceived rebellion. More than 10,000 civilians fled the city the following day.
  • Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau – Imperial German Navy cruisers Goeben and Breslau under command of Rear-Admiral Wilhelm Souchon bombarded the ports of Bône and Philippeville in French Algeria despite orders from Germany to head straight for Constantinople. The two British battlecruisers, Indomitable and Indefatigable, made contact with the German warships and tried to shadow them, but the swifter German boats outran them.
  • Admiral Sir John Jellicoe was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the newly designated Grand Fleet, based at Scapa Flow.
  • The Royal Naval Air Service took inventory of its air fleet, which had only 26 out of 52 seaplanes that were serviceable for flight, with 46 more on order.
  • The German ferry SMS Deutschland was commissioned as a mine layer for the Imperial German Navy for the Baltic Sea.
  • The British government took control of all the nation's railways as a wartime measure.
  • Mahatma Gandhi learned that war had been declared just as he reached London. Soon after, he began organizing the Indian Volunteer Corps to provide non-military support for the British Empire.
  • The Order of the White Feather was established by Admiral Charles Cooper Penrose-Fitzgerald, RN (retd), in Folkestone, aiming to persuade women to offer white feathers to men not in uniform to shame them into enlisting.
  • The Egyptian association football club El Ittihad Alexandria was formed in Alexandria. The club now has the third largest fan base in Egyptian football league.
  • Born: Bernard Newman, Canadian politician, member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1959 to 1987 for the riding of Windsor—Walkerville, in Windsor, Ontario (d. 1995); Edward N. Hall, American ballistics engineer, developed key missile technology from World War Two to 2000, in New York City (d. 2006)
  • Died: Hubertine Auclert, feminist and campaigner for women's suffrage (b. 1848); Jules Lemaître, French literary critic and dramatist, critic for Journal des Débats and Revue des Deux Mondes (b. 1853)

    • August 5, 1914 (Wednesday)

  • The Kingdom of Montenegro declared war on Austria-Hungary.
  • Battle of Liège – German forces assaulted the city of Liège in east Belgium at 2:30 a.m., instigating the first major battle of World War One.
  • The Bryan–Chamorro Treaty was signed between Nicaragua and the United States. The treaty guaranteed the Central American government's stability with U.S. military support, while ensuring the country did not compete against the Panama Canal with construction of its own water route.
  • The first shots by the Allies in World War One were from the guns of Point Nepean fort at Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia. The fort's guns fired across the bow of the Norddeutscher Lloyd steamer SS Pfalz as it was attempting to leave the Port of Melbourne in ignorance of the declaration of war (the German ship was detained).
  • SS Königin Luise, taken over two days earlier by the Imperial German Navy as a minelayer, laid mines 40 miles (64 km) off the east coast of England. She was intercepted and sunk by the British Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Amphion, the first German naval loss of the war.
  • A rail accident in Joplin, Missouri killed 39 people and injured 25 more.
  • The German liner SS Prinz Eitel Friedrich was commissioned as an auxiliary cruiser for the Imperial German Navy while stationed in China.
  • The British First Army Home Force was formed at Bedford, England as a domestic defense force until 1916 when it reformed as the Northern Army.
  • Captain Robert Bartlett of the shipwrecked Karluk completed the first leg of his voyage to rescue the remaining survivors on Wrangel Island in the Bering Sea. He rendezvoused at Port Hope, Alaska to provide new clothing and wages owed to his Intuit guide and companion who traveled with him from Wrangel Island to Siberia in an attempt to get back to civilization and arrange a rescue boat.
  • The first electric traffic light was installed on the corner of East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio.
  • Born: George Clifton Edwards, Jr., American federal judge, served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1963 to 1995, in Dallas (d. 1995); Parley Baer, American actor, known of character television roles including The Andy Griffith Show and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, in Salt Lake City (d. 2002)
  • Born: Stjepan Šulek, Croatian composer, known for conducting the Chamber Orchestra for Zagreb Radiotelevision, in Zagreb, Austria-Hungary (d. 1986); David Brian, American actor, best known for the Golden Globe nominated lead role in Intruder in the Dust, in New York City (d. 1993)

    • August 6, 1914 (Thursday)

  • Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia. Serbia declared war on Germany.
  • Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau – Italy refused to provide haven for the German ships under command of Rear-Admiral Wilhelm Souchon in any of their ports. Despite having insufficient coal to guarantee the ships would reach Constantinople, Souchon ordered his ships to make a run for the Turkish port, hoping the naval action would "force the Ottoman Empire, even against their will, to spread the war to the Black Sea against their ancient enemy, Russia."
  • The first engagement between ships of the British Royal Navy and the Imperial German Navy began when HMS Bristol pursued the SMS Karlsruhe (which escaped) in the West Indies.
  • The Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Amphion struck the same mines laid by the Königin Luise it had sunk the day before with the loss of 150 British sailors, the first British casualties of the war, and 18 German crew members from the German minelayer.
  • Battle of Liège – The first air attack on a major European city occurred when a German zeppelin dropped bombs on Liége, killing nine civilians.
  • The first airship lost in combat was the Imperial German Army Zeppelin Z VI. Badly damaged by artillery and infantry gunfire on her first combat mission while bombing Liège, Belgium, at low altitude, she limped back into Germany and was wrecked in a crash-landing in a forest near Bonn.
  • Ellen Axson Wilson, First Lady of the United States, passed away from Bright's disease (chronic nephritis). It was said she relayed a last message to the White House physician allowing husband and U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to remarry. Her last words supposedly were "Take good care of my husband." She was buried in Rome, Georgia among her family. Woodrow remarried over a year later to Edith Bolling Galt.
  • Born: Gordon Freeth, Australian politician, Member of Parliament for Forrest and cabinet minister from 1949 to 1969, in Angaston, South Australia, Australia (d. 1994); Otello Bignami, Italian violin maker, crafted violins for various clients including David Oistrakh (d. 1989)

    • August 7, 1914 (Friday)

  • The British Expeditionary Force arrived in France.
  • Battle of Mulhouse – France launched its first attack of the war in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to recover the province of Alsace from Germany, beginning the Battle of the Frontiers.
  • The British Royal Navy dissolved the 9th Battle Squadron due to the age of the battleships.
  • Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau – Unable to match the speed of the German ships or equal their firepower, British cruisers under command of Rear Admiral Ernest Troubridge called off pursuit in the Adriatic Sea.
  • Relief forces from Germany relieved soldiers under Major Hermann Preusker in Kalisz, Poland but high tensions and panic caused more than 100 civilian deaths. German soldiers began a pogrom of burning private buildings, starting with City Hall. The following day, some 800 civilians were rounded up and 80 were executed.
  • British colonial troops of the Gold Coast Regiment entered the German West African colony of Togoland and encountered a German-led police force at a factory in Nuatja, near Lomé, where the police opened fire on the patrol. Alhaji Grunshi returned fire, becoming the first soldier in British service to fire a shot in the war.
  • The Australian passenger ship HMAS Grantala was acquired by the Royal Australian Navy as a hospital ship.
  • The Currency and Bank Notes Act in Great Britain gave wartime powers of banknote issue to the Treasury; the first notes, with the signature of Treasury Secretary John Bradbury, were issued.
  • Giard, founded in 1871, was re-incorporated as a town in Clayton County, Iowa and operated until 1925.
  • Born: Ted Moore, South African-British cinematographer, best known for his work on the James Bond films in the 1960s and early 1970s, in Western Cape, South Africa (d. 1987); Nat Fein, American news photographer, photographer for The New York Times who received the Pulitzer for his shot of Babe Ruth at the end of his life, known as "The Babe Bows Out", in New York City (d. 2000)
  • Died: Bransby Cooper, Indian-Australian cricketer, first Indian-born player to play Test cricket (b. 1844); Charles Davis Lucas, Irish Royal Navy officer, recipient of the Victoria Cross (b. 1834); Daeida Wilcox Beveridge, American business and community leader, co-founder of Hollywood and credited for naming the community (b. 1861)

    • August 8, 1914 (Saturday)

  • Battle of Mulhouse – French forces entered Mulhouse on the Alsace region and held the city for two days before Germany counter-attacked.
  • Great Britain passed the first Defence of the Realm Act.
  • Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau – Admiral Sir Archibald Berkeley Milne received conflicting reports from Great Britain about engagement in the Mediterranean. He opted to have his ships guard the Adriatic Sea, giving the German warships valuable time to refuel in the Greek Islands.
  • British and French soldiers officially prepared to take Lomé, the capital of the German colony of Togoland in West Africa, only to learn Germany allowed the colony government to give up the city in order to prevent it from being hit by a naval bombardment. The British officially occupied the city the following day.
  • German colonial forces executed Cameroonian resistance leaders Martin-Paul Samba and Rudolf Duala Manga Bell for high treason.
  • Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition set sail on the Endurance from England in an attempt to cross Antarctica.
  • The 13th International Lawn Tennis Challenge, now known at the Davis Cup, wrapped with the final played between Great Britain and Australasia at the Longwood Cricket Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. Australasia was victorious over Britain, with a final score of 3–2.
  • The Fidalgo Madureira Atlético Clube was formed in Rio de Janeiro. Business owners would change the name to Madureira Atlético Clube in 1933. In 1971, the club merged with two others and became known by its present name Madureira Esporte Clube.
  • The German socialist newspaper Die Einigkeit and its counterpart Der Pionier were banned by authorities.
  • Born: Hazel Walker, American amateur basketball player, inductee to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, in Ashdown, Arkansas (d. 1990); William Thornton Mustard, Canadian physician and surgeon, first to perform experimental open-heart surgery on an animal patient, in Clinton, Ontario (d. 1987)
  • Died: John Schuyler Crosby, American military officer and politician, 5th Governor of Montana Territory (b. 1839)

    • August 9, 1914 (Sunday)

  • The Kingdom of Montenegro declared war on Austria-Hungary.
  • Mexican Revolution – Leaders of the Constitutional Army met with Mexican president Francisco Carvajal and negotiated a safe passage of all federal troops and senior government leader out of Mexico City in exchange for unconditional surrender. Caravjal agreed to the terms and ordered the federal army to evacuate from Mexico City the following day.
  • British Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Birmingham rammed and sank German submarine U-15 off Fair Isle, the first U-boat lost in action.
  • Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau – The British received definitive orders to pursue German warships SMS Goeben and Breslau as they attempted to race across the Aegean Sea to the Dardanelles, which would provide safe passage to Constantinople.
  • Conducting a reconnaissance mission, the French dirigible (airship) Fleurus became the first Allied aircraft to fly over Germany during World War One.
  • Born: Gordon Cullen, influential English architect and urban designer, author of Townscape which influenced the architectural movement, in Calverley, Leeds, England (d. 1994); Ferenc Fricsay, Hungarian-Austrian conductor, best known for his interpretations of Mozart and Beethoven, in Budapest (d. 1963)
  • Born: Tove Jansson, Finnish children's author and illustrator, best known for her Moomin book series for children, in Helsinki (d. 2001); Joe Mercer, British association football manager, manager for Manchester City from 1965 to 1971, in Ellesmere Port, England (d. 1990)
  • Died: Roque Sáenz Peña, Argentine politician, 17th President of Argentina (b. 1851)

    • August 10, 1914 (Monday)

  • Battle of Mulhouse – Soldiers from the German 7th Army recaptured Mulhouse, forcing French troops to retreat to nearby Belfort.
  • The Ottoman Empire opened the Dardanelles to allow German cruisers SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau passage to Constantinople, despite being required under international law, as a neutral party, to block military shipping.
  • All suffragette prisoners in Great Britain were released unconditionally.
  • The adventure-drama The Call of the North opened at the box office, starring Robert Edeson and directed by Oscar Apfel and Cecil B. DeMille. Based on the play by George Broadhurst, that film was remade in 1921.
  • Born: Ken Annakin, British film director, known for adventure films including Swiss Family Robinson and Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines in Beverley, England (d. 2009); Witold Małcużyński, Polish pianist, best known for his piano interpretations of Chopin, in Koziczyn, Poland (d. 1977); Lee Tai-young, Korean lawyer, first woman to practice law and sit as judge in Korea, in Unsan County, Korea (d. 1998)
  • Born: Jeff Corey, American actor and acting teacher, instructor famous film actors including James Coburn, James Dean, Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson, Leonard Nimoy, Rob Reiner, Barbra Streisand and Robin Williams, in New York City (d. 2002)

    • August 11, 1914 (Tuesday)

  • Mexican Revolution – Mexican revolutionary leader Álvaro Obregón signed one of the documents related to the Treaties of Teoloyucan, legendarily on the mudguard of a car, which would dissolve the current Mexican regime and allow leaders of the Constitutional Army to set up a new government.
  • The British packet ship HMS Empress was acquired and commissioned by the Royal Navy as a seaplane carrier.
  • Born: Hugh Martin, American composer, best known for his scores of Meet Me In St. Louis including "The Boy Next Door," "The Trolley Song," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 2011); John J. Wild, British-American physician, one of the first group to use ultrasound for body imaging, including detecting cancers, in Kent, England (d. 2009)
  • Born: Bevo Howard, American aerobatic pilot and businessman, became the first pilot to fly an outside loop in a light plane in 1938, in Bath, South Carolina (d. 1971, killed in an air crash); Rudy Pilous, Canadian hockey player and coach, coached the Chicago Black Hawks from 1960 to 1961 when they won the Stanley Cup, in Winnipeg (d. 1994)
  • Died: Emil Fischer, German operatic bass, best known for his bombastic style for the Wagner operas (b. 1838); Thomas M. Logan, American military officer, general for the Confederate Army during the American Civil War (b. 1840)

    • August 12, 1914 (Wednesday)

  • Great Britain and France declared war on Austria-Hungary.
  • Mexican Revolution – Mexican president Francisco Carvajal formally left Mexico City for Veracruz, allowing the Constitutional Army to enter the city.
  • Battle of Haelen – Belgian troops under command of Lieutenant-General Léon de Witte de Haelen repulsed a German cavalry under command of Georg von der Marwitz in what was the second phase of the Battle of the Frontiers, though the battle did little to delay the German invasion of Belgium.
  • Karl von Müller, commander of the German light cruiser SMS Emden, met with German Imperial Navy Admiral Maximilian von Spee at Pagan, one of the Mariana Islands in the north Pacific Ocean to discuss naval strategy. Spee learned Japan was siding with the Allies and that the Japanese fleet had been ordered to track the German squadron down. The two naval officers agreed to have the Edem to stay behind in the eastern Pacific as an independent raider while the bulk of the German Pacific squadron led the Japanese fleet away towards South America.
  • The city of General Alvear, Mendoza, Argentina was incorporated (named after General Carlos María de Alvear).
  • Lieutenant Robin R. Skene and mechanic R. Barlow crashed their Blériot monoplane on the way to Dover, becoming the first members of the Royal Flying Corps to die on active duty.
  • Born: Ruth Lowe, Canadian pianist and songwriter, composed the song "I'll Never Smile Again" (d. 1981); William Glenn, American cardiac surgeon, co-created an early version of the artificial heart, in Asheville, North Carolina (d. 2003)
  • Died: John Philip Holland, Irish engineer, developed the first Royal Navy submarine (b. 1840); Albert S. Bickmore, American naturalist, one of the founders of the American Museum of Natural History (b. 1839)

    • August 13, 1914 (Thursday)

  • Mexican Revolution – The Treaties of Teoloyucan were officially signed in Mexico City. Interim president Francisco S. Carvajal officially resigned from office to make way for the inauguration of Venustiano Carranza.
  • Twelve Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 observation aircraft from No. 2 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, flying from Dover, became the first British aircraft to arrive in France for the war.
  • Kamerun Campaign – Captain Ernst von Raben, commander of the German colonial garrison in Mora, Kamerun (now Cameroon, relocated the fort from the plain to a mountain outpost and increased in troop strength from 125 to 200 troops to defend against Allied invasion into German-held African colony.
  • Born: Luis Mariano, Spanish opera singer, popular tenor best known for cinematic adaptations to The Barber of Seville and The Singer from Mexico, in Irun, Spain (d. 1970)
  • Died: Gregor McGregor, Australian politician and trade union leader, Senator for South Australia from 1901 to 1914, first major Australian politician who was legally blind (b. 1848)

    • August 14, 1914 (Friday)

  • Battle of Lorraine – The third phase of the Battle of the Frontiers began when the French First Army advanced on German forces near Sarrebourg, Lorraine.
  • Rebel forces tried to capture Durrës, the capital of Albania, but were driven back by defending Romanian volunteer forces.
  • Austrian steamer SS Baron Gautsch struck a mine and sank in the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Croatia, killed at least 150 passengers.
  • The German light cruiser SMS Emden left the rest of the Imperial German Navy Pacific squadron and set course to cruise the major shipping lanes between Singapore, Colombo and Aden.
  • The Portimonense S.C. was formed in Portimão, Portugal as an association football club, but since expanded to include basketball in its rosters.
  • The 12 de Octubre Football Club was formed in Itauguá, Paraguay. Near its centennial, the association football club was promoted to the Paraguayan Primera División.
  • The song "They Didn't Believe Me" — composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Herbert Reynolds — was added to the musical The Girl from Utah when it debuted at the Knickerbocker Theatre on Broadway and became a musical standard for most of the first half of the 20th century.
  • The Broadway comedic play Twin Beds debuted at the Fulton Theatre and ran for 411 performances.
  • Born: Francis Lawrence Jobin, Canadian politician, 18th Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, in Winnipeg (d. 1995); Alija Sirotanović, Bosnian miner, recipient of the Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour, pictured on the 20,000 Yugoslav dinar banknote, in Orahovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (d. 1990)

    • August 15, 1914 (Saturday)

  • The Panama Canal was inaugurated with the passage of the SS Ancon.
  • Australia recruited an offering of 20,000 troops for the First Australian Imperial Force to fight in World War One.
  • Battle of Lorraine – German artillery and dug-in infantry bombarded French forces undisturbed and inflicted major casualties.
  • Battle of Cer – Serbian troops clashed with the invading Austro-Hungarian army on Cer Mountain in western Serbia, marking the first Allied victory of World War One.
  • Battle of Agbeluvhoe – Over 2,000 soldiers with the British Royal West African Frontier Force clashed with 1,500 German soldiers on their way to capture Chra, the last remaining defensive city in Togoland, resulting in a British victory.
  • Mexican Revolution – Venustiano Carranza's troops under general Álvaro Obregón entered Mexico City.
  • A dismissed servant killed seven people at American architect Frank Lloyd Wright's studio and home, Taliesin in Wisconsin (including his mistress, Mamah Borthwick), and set it on fire.
  • The Australian Voluntary Hospital was formed, with volunteer Australian expats providing medical services to the Western Front throughout World War One.
  • American explorer and mountaineer Dora Keen led a four-person expedition to explore the glaciers in Prince William Sound, Alaska and became one of the first to explore the Harvard Glacier.
  • Victoria defeated South Australia to win the third edition of the Australian National Football Carnival in Sydney, going virtually undefeated through the entire football championship.
  • The 8th New Zealand rugby tour of Australia wrapped with New Zealand winning the series with three victories.
  • Born: Paul Rand, American graphic designer, best known for designing logos for IBM, UPS, Enron, Morningstar, Inc., Westinghouse, American Broadcasting Company and Steve Jobs' NeXT, in New York City (d. 1996); Basil Eugster, British military officer, Commander-in-Chief, Land Forces for Great Britain from 1972 to 1974 (d. 1984)
  • Born: Herman Branson, American physicist and chemist, lead researcher in protein structures (d. 1995); Lajos Baróti, Hungarian association football player and manager, coached the national team between 1957 and 1966 and 1975 to 1978 and winning 11 major championship titles, in Szeged, Hungary (d. 2005)
  • Died: Adolfo Carranza, Argentine public servant, established the National Historical Museum in Buenos Aires (b. 1857)

    • August 16, 1914 (Sunday)

  • Battle of Liège – The German captured the last of the military forts in the Belgium city. The siege lasted 11 days as opposed to the two days the Germans planned for, delaying their advance just enough for British and French forces to organize.
  • Battle of Cer – Serbian forces pushed the Austro-Hungarians off the slopes of Cer Mountain in western Serbia.
  • The Austrian-Hungarian battle cruiser SMS Zenta was sunk by Allied ships at the Battle of Antivari in the Adriatic Sea with the loss of 173 sailors.
  • German warships SMS Goeben and Breslau were transferred to the Ottoman Navy, with Goeben becoming its flagship, Yavuz Sultan Selim and Breslau becoming Midilli.
  • Second Lieutenant Evelyn Perry of the Royal Air Force died in a plane crash during a flying mission over France, becoming one of the first major British officers to die in World War One.
  • Irish Member of Parliament John Redmond addressed over 2,000 Irish Volunteers in Maryborough, Ireland, saying "for the first time in the history ... it was safe to-day for England to withdraw her armed troops from our country and that the sons of Ireland themselves ... [would] defend her shores against any foreign foe.
  • Born: Jack O'Brian, American entertainment journalist, noted for his television column in New York Journal American, in Buffalo, New York (d. 2000); John Marlow Thompson, Royal Air Force officer and a flying ace of World War Two, in Keynsham, England (d. 1994)

    • August 17, 1914 (Monday)

  • Battle of Stallupönen – The Russian First Army under General Paul von Rennenkampf invaded East Prussia. The German First Corps under command of General Hermann von François went against orders and committed a frontal assault on Russian forces near Stallupönen even though their forces were vastly outnumbered. The bold assault forced the Russians to retreat, with over 7,000 casualties, including nearly 5,000 prisoners. The Germans sustained around 1,300 casualties and continued to pursue the retreating army until Russian artillery forced them back.
  • Battle of Lorraine – After delayed by German long-range artillery fire the day before, the French First Army reinforced the advancing line and took Sarrebourg.
  • The Imperial Japanese Navy's first aviation ship, Wakamiya, was recommissioned as a seaplane carrier.
  • The first feature film produced in New Zealand, Hinemoa debuted at the Lyric Theatre in Auckland. Directed by George Tarr and featuring Māori actors, the film tells the Māori legend of lovers Hinemoa and Tutanekai.
  • Born: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., American lawyer and politician, son of Franklin D. Roosevelt (d. 1988); Gabrielle Weidner, Belgian-Dutch resistance fighter during World War Two, responsible for the rescue of over 800 Dutch Jews and 100 Allied airmen, recipient of the Dutch Cross of Resistance, in Brussels (d. 1945); Hank Soar, American football player, played running back and defensive back for the New York Giants from 1937 to 1946, in Alton, Rhode Island (d. 2001)
  • Died: James Grierson, British army officer, chief British military commander in the Anglo-Egyptian, the Boxer Rebellion and the Second Boer War (b. 1859)

    • August 18, 1914 (Tuesday)

  • Battle of Mulhouse – The newly formed Army of Alsace under command of General Paul Pau mounted a second invasion into the Alsace region. The army captured key bridges on the Rhine as well as thousands of German soldiers and 24 pieces of artillery.
  • The Ersatz Corps for the German 6th Army was established.
  • Born: Arthur Tange, Australian public servant, Secretary of the Department of Defence (Australia) from 1970 to 1979 where he instituted many reforms (d. 2001); Alvin M. Johnston, American test pilot, tested air prototypes for Bell Aircraft and Boeing, in Admire, Kansas (d. 1998); Bernard Lippmann, American physicist, co-developer of the Lippmann–Schwinger equation for particle collisions, in New York City (d. 1988)
  • Died: Anna Yesipova, Russian pianist, most famous pupil and performer of Polish composer Theodor Leschetizky (b. 1851)

    • August 19, 1914 (Wednesday)

  • The Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria signed an alliance.
  • U.S. President Woodrow Wilson addressed U.S. Congress and called for strict neutrality during World War One: "Such divisions amongst us would be fatal to our peace of mind and might seriously stand in the way of the proper performance of our duty as the one great nation at peace, the one people holding itself ready to play a part of impartial mediation and speak the counsels of peace and accommodation, not as a partisan, but as a friend."
  • The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force left Sydney with 1,500 men on the newly commissioned HMAS Berrima to capture German New Guinea.
  • The Southwestern Front of the Imperial Russian Army was established.
  • Kamerun Campaign – Captain Ernst von Raben, commander of the German colonial garrison in Mora, surprised a British column of 50 men from Maiduguri, Nigeria with a crack force of 30 troops, driving them away from the fort.
  • Born: Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury, French politician, Prime Minister of France during the Fourth Republic, in Luisant, France (d. 1993); Gypsy Boots, American fitness pioneer, first major promoter of yoga and health food as practices for a healthy lifestyle, author of the memoir The Gypsy in Me, in San Francisco (d. 2004)
  • Died: Alphonse Six, Belgium association football player, played for the Belgium national team from 1910 to 1914 (killed in combat) (b. 1890)

    • August 20, 1914 (Thursday)

  • German forces occupied Brussels. The Siege of Namur began the same day.
  • Mexican Revolution – Venustiano Carranza and his supporters entered Mexico City to set up a new Mexican government, backed by Álvaro Obregón. An estimated 150,000 city residents lined the streets to view the Carranza procession as it headed to the Presidential Palace.
  • Pope Pius X died at 1:20 a.m. with his last words reported to be "Together in one: all things in Christ," referencing the motto he used in his 1903 encyclical shortly after he was elevated to Pontificate of the Roman Catholic Church. His body was immediately lain in state at St. Peter's Basilica.
  • Battle of Lorraine – The battles of Sarrebourg and Morhange began when German forces counter-attacked, forcing several separate battles against the French armies. French forces retreated in disorder but Germany was slow to pursue, allowing France to regroup.
  • Battle of Gumbinnen – Trying to capitalize on his successful attack on the Russians three days earlier, General Hermann von François persuaded his commanding officer Maximilian von Prittwitz to launch a major offensive against the Russian First Army. Despite initial successful advances with infantry, German forces were forced back by Russian artillery. The Russian army counterattacked and captured 6,000 German soldiers. Faced with already 14,000 in casualties, Prittwitz panicked and ordered a general retreat, leaving East Prussia in the hands of the Russians.
  • Kamerun Campaign – Captain R. W. Fox, commander of British colonial forces in Maiduguri, Nigeria, was ordered to send forces to occupy Sava, three kilometres from Mora, Kamerun.
  • Forty British and American labourers were killed after a concrete building for a new custom house suddenly collapsed in Ceiba, Honduras.
  • The religious congregation Society of Saint Paul was founded in Alba, Piedmont, Italy by Friar Giacomo Alberione. It was officially approved by the Holy See in 1949.
  • Born: Yann Goulet, French sculptor, Breton nationalist and war-time collaborationist with Nazi Germany, in Saint-Nazaire, France (d. 1999); Colin MacInnes, English novelist, author of the London Trilogy which included City of Spades, Absolute Beginners, and Mr Love & Justice, in London (d. 1976)
  • Died: Franz Xavier Wernz, German Jesuit priest, 25th Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1842)

    • August 21, 1914 (Friday)

  • The fourth phase of the Battle of the Frontiers began with the French army clashing with German forces at the Battle of the Ardennes on the border of Luxembourg and the Battle of Charleroi on the Sambre river in Belgium.
  • Rebel forces captured the port city of Vlorë, Albania without resistance.
  • Two Imperial Germany Army Zeppelins on their first combat missions became the second and third airships lost in combat after being damaged by French infantry and artillery fire during low-altitude missions in the Vosges mountains. Z VII limped back into Germany to crash near St. Quirin in Lothringen, while Z VIII crash-landed in a forest near Badonvillers, France, where French cavalry drove off her crew and looted her. The loss of three airships on their first combat missions in August soured the German Army on the further combat use of airships.
  • Reconnaissance cyclist Private John Parr (perhaps aged 15) was the first British soldier to be killed on the Western Front, at Obourg in Belgium.
  • The 11th Division and 10th Division were formed as part of Kitchener's Army and would play major roles in the Gallipoli Campaign the following year.
  • Captain Robert Bartlett of the sunken Karluk met Burt McConnell, secretary for expedition leader Vilhjalmur Stefansson, at Point Barrow, Alaska, who gave details of Stefansson's movements after leaving the ship the previous September when it was trapped in ice. McConnell reported in April that Stefansson had headed north with two companions, searching for new lands. McConnell later left Point Barrow for Nome aboard the American fishing schooner King and Winge while Bartlett's rescue ship, the Bear, finally sailed for Wrangel Island.
  • Twenty-one-year-old golfer Walter Hagen won the U.S. Open by a single stroke over Chick Evans in what would be the first of two U.S. Open titles.
  • A total solar eclipse occurred that was visible in northern Europe and most of Asia. It was also the first of four total solar eclipses that would be seen from Sweden during the next 40 years.
  • Died: Charles J. Hite, American film producer, president and CEO of Thanhouser Film Corporation in New York City (killed in an auto accident) (b. 1876)

    • August 22, 1914 (Saturday)

  • Austria-Hungary declared war on Belgium.
  • Polish military leader Józef Piłsudski declared the establishment of Polish Legions to serve Austria-Hungary against the Russian Empire, with Piłsudski taking command of the 1st Brigade.
  • Battle of Rossignol –French division commander Léon Amédée François Raffenel and brigade commander Charles Rondony were killed while leading the 3rd Colonial Infantry Division against Germany's 11th and 12th Divisions at the village of Rossignol in Belgium. The French division was destroyed as a fighting force, with more than 10,000 colonial infantrymen killed, wounded or taken prisoner in the battle. The Germans sustained just under 4,000 casualties.
  • Battle of Lorraine – The right flank of the French First Army was attacked and driven back from where it began its offensive on August 14 was still able to remain in contact with the Second Army.
  • The British Expeditionary Force reached Mons. Just after 6:30 a.m. British cavalryman Captain Charles Beck Hornby was reputed to be the first British soldier to kill a German soldier using his sword, while Drummer Edward Thomas of the 4th Dragoon Guards was reputed to have fired the British Army's first shot of the war near the Belgian village of Casteau, the first time a British soldier fired a shot in combat on mainland Europe since the Battle of Waterloo 99 years earlier.
  • While commanding the French 24th Infantry Division at the battle of Robelmont (near Meix-devant-Virton, Belgium), French general Achille Pierre Deffontaines was shot in the head and grievously wounded, among the other 27,000 fellow soldiers that fell in battle that day. He died at military hospital in Reims four days later, the youngest French general to die in the war.
  • The Germany army ended the destruction of Kalisz in Poland with 95 per cent of the city's buildings burned or demolished, and only 5,000 of the 65,000 residents left in the city (most had fled when the pogrom started on August 2).
  • Battle of Chra – Combined British and French forces defeated German soldiers and paramilitary police at Chra, a village on the River Chra in Togoland, West Africa. The Allied forces sustained 75 casualties while the German defenders lost 13, but most of the army deserted by the time the battle was over.
  • The body of the late Pope Pius X lay in state in St. Peter's Basilica for mourners before entombed the same day.
  • An Avro 504 of the Royal Flying Corps's No. 5 Squadron on patrol over Belgium was shot down by German rifle fire, the first British aircraft ever to be destroyed in action.
  • An early attempt to get a Lewis gun into action in air-to-air combat failed when a Royal Flying Corps Farman armed with one scrambled to intercept a German Albatros and took 30 minutes to climb to 1,000 feet (305 meters) because of the gun's weight. On landing, the pilot was ordered to remove the Lewis gun and carry a rifle on future missions.
  • The 38th season of Victorian Football Association in Australia ended the North Melbourne Football Club defeating Footscray by 35 points in the premier final. It was the club's fourth VFA premiership, and marked the beginning of a period of unprecedented dominance for North Melbourne, which included three consecutive premierships, and a 58-match winning streak which lasted from 1914 to 1919.
  • The first issue of the British war magazine The War Illustrated was published. It was discontinued in 1919 but restarted again in 1939 at the start of World War Two.
  • Born: Jack Dunphy, American novelist and playwright, best known for his long-term relationship with Truman Capote, author of Dear Genius: A Memoir of My Life with Truman Capote, in Atlantic City, New Jersey (d. 1992); Walter R. Kramer, Swiss-American badminton player, winner of the U.S. Championships men's single title for 1937 and 1938, in Buchs, St. Gallen, Switzerland (d. 1995); Augie Donatelli, American baseball umpire, umpire for the National League from 1950 to 1973, in Heilwood, Pennsylvania (d. 1990)
  • Died: James Dickson Innes, British landscape painter, member of the Camden Town Group (b. 1887)

    • August 23, 1914 (Sunday)

  • Japan declared war on Germany.
  • Battle of Tannenberg – Fighting began between German and Russian forces. Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn blended fiction with actual events in the battle for his 1970 novel August 1914, in what became the first book in The Red Wheel cycle.
  • Battle of Kraśnik – The Austro-Hungarian First Army clashed with the Russian Fourth Army at the province of Galicia (now the Ukraine) bordered both the Russian Austria-Hungarian empires, as part of larger campaign known at the Battle of Galicia.
  • Battle of Mons – In its first major action, the British Expeditionary Force held the German forces but then began a month-long fighting Great Retreat to the Marne River, closing the fifth and final phase of the Battle of the Frontiers.
  • Both the Battle of the Ardennes and the Battle of Charleroi ended in French defeat.
  • Maurice Dease became the first British officer of World War One to die in combat. Dease was commanding a machine gun unit defending the main bridge to Nimy, Belgium and when it came under attack by German forces. Eyewitnesses reported Dease continued to command fire from the machine guns despite being shot three times until all the men under his command were killed and he had succumbed to his wounds. He was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously, the first to be awarded in World War One.
  • The Republic of China canceled the German lease of Kiaochow Bay (Kiautschou).
  • A New Zealand expeditionary force occupied the German colony of German Samoa, following an unopposed invasion.
  • Born: Jack Hemi, New Zealand rugby player of Māori descent, played in the Auckland Rugby League from 1936 to 1945 (d. 1996)
  • Died: Prince Friedrich of Saxe-Meiningen, German noble and military officer, killed during fighting at Tarcienne, Belgium during the German invasion (b. 1861)

    • August 24, 1914 (Monday)

  • French Chief of Staff General Joseph Joffre ordered all French forces to withdraw from Verdun with orders to destroy rail stations along the way and inflict as many German casualties as possible for a counter-attack, in what became known as the Great Retreat.
  • Battle of Lorraine – The French First and Second Army repelled the German offensive and were eventually able to regain all the ground lost by September.
  • Siege of Antwerp – The Belgian army made a first sortie from Antwerp to the defensive line east of the city in an attempt to distract German reserve troops observing the city and to cut German communications through Leuven and Brussels. However, the military maneuver was halted two days later when Allied forces withdrew, forcing the Belgian troops to return to the city.
  • Action of Elouges – The British Expeditionary Force withdrew from Mons, Belgium with the German Army in pursuit. British cavalry charged German guns to give British forces time to retreat, losing an entire regiment in the process.
  • Siege of Maubeuge – German forces laid siege to Maubeuge in France then left behind a corps to bombard the fortress.
  • The first fully mechanized unit of the Canadian Army — Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade — was established in Ottawa under command of Brigadier-General Raymond Brutinel. The unit would later play a significant part in halting the major German offensive of March 1918.
  • Winnie, a female black bear that supposedly inspired author A. A. Milne to create the character Winnie-the-Pooh, was born at the London Zoo.
  • Born: Anders Aalborg, Canadian politician, served in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1948 to 1971 as a member of the Social Credit Party, served as Provincial Treasurer and other cabinet positions, in Oxville, Alberta (d. 2000); George Turbeville, American baseball player, pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics from 1935 to 1937, in Turbeville, South Carolina (d. 1983); Ford E. Stinson, American politician, member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1940 to 1944 and 1952 to 1972, in Benton, Louisiana (d. 1989)
  • Died: Darius Miller, president of Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad from 1910 to 1914 (b. 1859); Normand MacLaurin, Australian academic, vice-chancellor of the University of Sydney (b. 1835); Johannes Weiss, German theologian, influential interpreter of the Gospels from an eschatological perspective (b. 1863)

    • August 25, 1914 (Tuesday)

  • Japan declared war on Austria-Hungary.
  • German troops ravaged the city of Leuven, Belgium at the height of violence against civilians in what historians referred to as The Rape of Belgium. The entire population of 10,000 people were expelled from the city, along with 248 civilian deaths. More civilian deaths were reported in eastern and central Belgium including Aarschot (156 dead), Andenne (211 dead), Tamines (383 dead), and Dinant (674 dead).
  • German artillery bombardments on forts forced most defending Belgium troops to retreat from Namur, Belgium, allowing German forces to take the city.
  • Battle of Kraśnik – After days of cavalry and infantry attacks on both sides, Austria-Hungary was able to route Russia and inflict some 20,000 casualties including 6,000 prisoners, while sustain 15,000 casualties.
  • British and French forces conquered the Germany colony Togoland in West Africa.
  • Kamerun Campaign – German and British forces clashed for the first time in the Battle of Tepe, a German border station on the Benue River in Kamerun (now Cameroon). The Germans abandoned the station during the British assault.
  • Mexican Revolution – Mexican revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata agreed to lay down arms and recognize the new Mexican government on condition it accepted the agrarian reforms laid out in the Plan of Ayala.
  • Flying a Morane-Saulnier Type G monoplane, Imperial Russian Army pilot Pyotr Nesterov became the first pilot to down an enemy aircraft in aerial combat. After firing unsuccessfully with a pistol at an Austro-Hungarian Albatros B.II crewed by Franz Malina (pilot) and Baron Friederich von Rosenthal (observer), Nesterov rammed the Albatros. Both aircraft crashed, killing all three men.
  • The library of the Catholic University of Leuven was set on fire by German troops during the Rape of Belgium, resulting in the destruction of over 300,000 medieval books and manuscripts.
  • Efforts to rescue the remaining survivors of the Karluk on Wrangel Island in the Bering Sea were delayed when Bear, the rescue ship, was stopped by ice 20 miles (32 km) from the island. After failing to force a way through, the ship returned to Nome for more coal.
  • Died: Powell Clayton, American politician U.S. Senator of Arkansas from 1868 till 1871 (b. 1833); William McLean, New Zealand politician, Member of Parliament for Wellington from 1892 to 1893 (b. 1845); Félix Debax, French Olympic fencer and military officer, competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics, killed while fighting German forces at Saint-Maurice-sous-les-Côtes, France (b. 1864)

    • August 26, 1914 (Wednesday)

  • Battle of Tannenberg – The main battle began between the Russian Second Army under command of General Alexander Samsonov and the German 8th Army under command of Colonel General Paul von Hindenburg and Major General Erich Ludendorff.
  • Siege of Antwerp – A German Zeppelin airship bombed the city, killing 10 civilians.
  • Battle of Río de Oro – British Royal Navy protected cruiser HMS Highflyer forced the SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, sailing as an auxiliary cruiser, to scuttle off the Spanish Saharan territory of Río de Oro.
  • Battle of Mulhouse – Despite successes in taking German territory, the French Army of Alsace was recalled, disbanded and merged with other defending armies closer to Paris as the Western Front began to form.
  • Battle of Lorraine – The battle officially ended in a French victory, but with a loss of 65,000 casualties. German casualties remained unknown although analysis of German army records in 2009 suggested the German 6th and 7th Armies sustained over 36,000 casualties.
  • Battle of Le Cateau – British and French Allies retreated from Le Cateau under withering German artillery fire to Saint Quentin, sustaining over 7,800 casualties, including 2,600 taken prisoner and 38 artillery guns abandoned. The battle began the start of the Great Retreat.
  • Battle of Le Grand Fayt – The 2nd Connaught Rangers covered the retreat of the British 5th Infantry Brigade as part of the Great Retreat in France, despite the loss of nearly 300 men.
  • Battle of Galicia – The Battle of Komarów began when Austrian-Hungarian forces under command of Field Marshal Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf attempted to break through the Russian line in the Ukraine, but stiff resistance forced them back.
  • A pair of Russian battle cruisers shelled German cruiser SMS Magdeburg after she ran aground on an island in the Gulf of Finland, killing 15 crewmen.
  • Kamerun Campaign – British forces occupied Sava within the border of the German colony Kamerun.
  • Rutland Boughton's fairy opera The Immortal Hour was first performed in Glastonbury Assembly Rooms at the inaugural Glastonbury Festival co-founded by the English socialist composer.
  • Born: Julio Cortázar, Flemish-Argentine writer, one of the founding writers of the Latin American Boom, in Ixelles, Belgium (d. 1984); Atilio García, Argentine-Uruguayan association football player, became the second-highest all-time goal-scorer in Uruguayan football during his time with the Club Nacional de Football from 1938 to 1951, in Junín, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina (d. 1973)

    • August 27, 1914 (Thursday)

  • Battle of Tannenberg – The Russian Second Army maintained a steady advance on the German line, but lack of surveillance and communication prevented General Alexander Samsonov from becoming fully aware that his flanks were breaking down.
  • Battle of Étreux – The 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers of the British Expeditionary Force halted a German advance for 14 hours while allowing the rest of the force to retreat. By nightfall, the Munsters were surrounded and forced to surrender but succeeded in allowing the British Army to escape.
  • Siege of Antwerp – The Belgian army lost its offensive capacity and ordered its troops to Péronne in France to bolster defenses.
  • Battle of Tsingtao – The Japanese Imperial Navy and British Royal Navy set up a blockade at the German colonial port of Tsingtao, China.
  • The Royal Naval Air Service's famed Eastchurch Squadron arrived in France for World War One service, commanded by Wing Commander Charles Samson.
  • Kamerun Campaign – Captain R. W. Fox, commander of British colonial forces in Nigeria, led a force to assault the German garrison dug in on a mountain near Mora, Kamerun but were pushed back, in part due to heavy fog the following day.
  • Ramón Báez succeeded José Bordas Valdez as President of the Dominican Republic.
  • Charlie Chaplin directed his 10th film with The Masquerader which he co-starred with Roscoe Arbuckle.
  • Died: Eugen Böhm von Bawerk, Austrian economist, contributed to the development of the Austrian School of Economics (b. 1851); William Lewis, 1st Baron Merthyr, Welsh coal baron, founder of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Association (b. 1837)

    • August 28, 1914 (Friday)

  • Battle of Heligoland Bight – The first naval battle between Great Britain and Germany took place in the North Sea off the German coast. The British fleet under the command of Admiral David Beatty defeated the German fleet under Admiral Franz von Hipper, with Germany losing light cruisers SMS Mainz, Köln and Ariadne as well as a destroyer along with 1,200 casualties, including Rear Admiral Leberecht Maass who was commanding the Köln. The British lost no ships and only a few dozen casualties.
  • Battle of Tannenberg – Lack of food and ammunition forced the Russian Second Army to begin withdrawing.
  • The Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry left Ottawa for Montreal to board the SS Megantic for Europe, the first Canadian military regiment mobilized for World War One.
  • The funeral mass for Pope Pius X was held in the Sistine Chapel at Vatican City with nearly 50 cardinals in attendance. The conclave to choose a new pope began the next day.
  • Born: Glenn Osser, American conductor and arranger, worked with many renowned American singers including Patti Page, Doris Day, and Johnny Mathis, in Munising, Michigan (d. 2014)
  • Died: Anatoly Lyadov, Russian composer and music instructor, taught many of renowned Russian composers at the St. Petersburg Conservatory his pupils including Sergei Prokofiev, Nikolai Myaskovsky, Mikhail Gnesin, Lazare Saminsky and Boris Asafyev (b. 1855); Samuel Barrett Miles, British diplomat, served as diplomat for British Empire for the Arab-speaking countries from 1872 from 1886 (b. 1838)

    • August 29, 1914 (Saturday)

  • Battle of Tannenberg – German forces surrounded the retreating Russian Second Army in open fields at the village of Frogenau, east of Tannenberg where many were mowed down by enemy fire.
  • Battle of St. Quentin – The French Fifth Army attacked St. Quentin but German forces were alerted of the attack from intelligence given by a captured French officer. The Germans held off French troops from entering the town although successful attacks on right guard forced some of the units to fall back. In all, the French sustained 10,000 casualties while Germany took 7,000 casualties.
  • Battle of Gnila Lipa – Austrian-Hungarian forces reformed a new line of defense on the Gnila Lipa River in the Ukraine against the Russian Imperial Army.
  • Siege of Maubeuge – Germany artillery began to bombard the fortress in Maubeuge, and would capture it within a week.
  • Kamerun Campaign – The British Royal West African Frontier Force clashed with German troops in the First Battle of Garua, a border post near the port city of Garoua, Kamerun (now Cameroon).
  • The Liverpool Pals were formed as part of the King's (Liverpool) Regiment.
  • Born: Bernard Vonnegut, American atmospheric scientist, discovered using silver iodide could be used in cloud seeding, older brother to author Kurt Vonnegut, in Indianapolis (d. 1997); Paavali (Olmari) of Finland, Russian-Finnish clergy, archbishop of the Finnish Orthodox Church from 1960 to 1987, in Saint Petersburg (d. 1988); Willard Waterman, American actor, best known the title character in the radio series The Great Gildersleeve in the 1940s and 1950s, in Madison, Wisconsin (d. 1995)

    • August 30, 1914 (Sunday)

  • Battle of Tannenberg – German forces almost completely annihilated the Russian Second Army with 92,000 captured, 78,000 killed or wounded, and only 10,000 escaping. German forces only lost 12,000 out of the 150,000 men committed to the battle. Rather than notify Nicholas II of Russia of the defeat, commanding general Aleksander Samsonov left his field headquarters and disappeared into the nearby woods. A German search party came across his body a year later, with evidence the Russian officer had committed suicide with his own pistol. The Red Cross arranged to return his body to his family.
  • Battle of St. Quentin – French forces received the order to retreat from Saint Quentin, but were able to repulse any German counterattacks.
  • Battle of Gnila Lipa – Austrians-Hungarian forces attempted to take advantage of a 48-hour delay for the Imperial Russian Army to reorganize for attack with a new assault, but the opposing side had more artillery guns. The defense line collapsed and 20,000 Austrian-Hungarian troops were taken prisoner during the retreat.
  • German aircraft bombed Paris for the first time, killing one civilian. German warplanes also attacked the city the following day.
  • New Zealand troops landed at German Samoa (later Western Samoa) in the Pacific and occupied the Germany colony until 1920.
  • Mexican Revolution – Mexican revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata agreed to support the new Mexican government under Venustiano Carranza.
  • An Armenian militia of members with the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party was organized in the city of Zeitun (Süleymanlı), Turkey to resist the Ottoman Empire.
  • Born: Julie Bishop, American actress, known for film roles in Princess O'Rourke and The High and the Mighty, in Denver (d. 2001); Michael Howlett, American politician, 33rd Illinois Secretary of State, in Chicago (d. 1992)
  • Born: Sydney Wooderson, British middle-distance runner, silver medalist at the 1934 Commonwealth Games and gold medalist at 1938 and 1946 European Athletics Championships, in Camberwell, England (d. 2006); Rudolf Enseling, German officer for the Waffen SS during World War Two, recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, in Karlsruhe, Germany (d. 1977)
  • Died: Ingress Bell, English architect and professional partner of Sir Aston Webb (b. 1837); Daniel Elmer Salmon, American veterinarian surgeon, leading researcher in animal diseases for the U.S. Department of Agriculture including Salmonella (b. 1850)

    • August 31, 1914 (Monday)

  • The Vatican held a papal conclave to choose a successor to Pope Pius X, who passed away on August 20.
  • Kamerun Campaign – The First Battle of Garua ended when British colonial troops were pushed out of the West African German colony Kamerun after unsuccessfully trying to capture key forts in Garua.
  • Born: Joan Barclay, American actress, starred in many B movies on the 1930s and 1940s including Prison Shadows and Phantom Patrol in Minneapolis (d. 2002); Richard Basehart, American actor, best known for the role of Admiral Harriman Nelson in the 1960s television series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in Zanesville, Ohio (d. 1984); Franz Rosenthal, German-American academic, professor of Semitic and Arabic languages at Yale University from 1956 to 1985, in Berlin (d. 2003)

    • References

    August 1914 Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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