Harman Patil (Editor)

October 1914

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The following events occurred in October 1914:

Contents

October 1, 1914 (Thursday)

  • The Battle of Arras began when General Louis de Maud'huy ordered troops with the French Tenth Army to attack German forces southeast of Arras and Lens in northern France, but vastly underestimated the strength of the German forces positioned there.
  • Mexican revolutionary leader Venustiano Carranza called on all other revolutionary leaders to meet for convention in Mexico City in what was perceived as "the last attempt to create unity among the revolutionaries."
  • Former Canadian Labour Minister and future Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, who had been a director for the Rockefeller Foundation since June, was assigned by the American business family to head an inquiry into the Colorado mine strike that resulted in violence and dozens of deaths earlier in 1914, particularly at Ludlow.
  • The Edward VII Monument, designed by Louis-Philippe Hébert, was unveiled at Phillips Square in Montreal by Edward's brother Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, who was then the Governor General of Canada. Edward had visited Montreal in 1860, when he was the Prince of Wales, to open the Victoria Bridge.
  • The one-mile oval Bowie Race Track was opened for horse racing outside of Bowie, Maryland by the Southern Maryland Agricultural Society.
  • Born: Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian, 12th Librarian of Congress, in Atlanta (d. 2004); Dan Eley, British chemist, co-developer of the Eley–Rideal mechanism in surface chemistry (d. 2015)
  • Died: Kitty Lange Kielland, Norwegian painter, best known for her landscapes of Jæren in southern Norway (b. 1843)

    • October 2, 1914 (Friday)

  • Battle of Arras — French forces gave up Douai in northern France after the German reserve units staged a successful counterattack.
  • William Hearst became Premier of Ontario, succeeding James Whitney who died suddenly on September 25.
  • Violent fallout from the Komagata Maru incident continued in India when Sikh passengers of the Japanese vessel refused orders to board a train from Calcutta to Punjab and opened fire, killing one police officer and wounding several others. British troops opened fire and killed 16 Sikhs and arrested dozens more.
  • Born: Jack Parsons, American rocket engineer, one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Aerojet in California, in Los Angeles (d. 1952, killed in an explosion); Romeo Lamothe, Canadian politician, Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1961 to 1971, in St. Edouard, Alberta (d. 1991)
  • Died: Joé Anduran, French rugby player, played for the France national rugby union team in 1910, killed at Bois-Bernard in the Pas-de-Calais, in northern France (b. 1882); John Hughes, Welsh association football player, one of the founding players of the Aberystwyth Town F.C. in Aberystwyth, Wales (b. 1855)

    • October 3, 1914 (Saturday)

  • Some 25,000 to 33,000 Canadian troops departed for Europe, the largest force to ever cross the Atlantic Ocean at the time.
  • Battle of Arras — The French line held against the German advance on Arras.
  • German and Austro-Hungarian forces clashed in what is now southwestern Poland. Russian orders had been ordered to pull back but only the cavalry obeyed, leaving behind an infantry group that believed it could hold its position. They were destroyed the next day, with 7,000 Russian troops captured.
  • Forces under command of Essad Pasha Toptani took Durrës, the capital of Albania, with no resistance.
  • The Port Adelaide Football Club defeated the Carlton Football Club to be crowned Champions of Australia for a record fourth time and becoming the only League club in Australian football to go through its entire season undefeated.
  • Born: Robert W. Levering, American politician, U.S. Representative for Ohio from 1959 to 1961, survivor of the Bataan Death March chronicled in his autobiography Horror Trek, in Fredericktown, Ohio (d. 1989); Neva Egan, American educator, wife to Alaska's first governor William A. Egan and First Lady of Alaska, in Wilson, Kansas (d. 2011)
  • Born: Andreas Hinterstoisser, German mountain climber, died during an attempt to climb the north face of Eiger in Bernese Alps in 1936, in Bad Reichenhall, Germany (d. 1936); Lê Trọng Tấn, Vietnamese military officer, Chief of General Staff for the People's Army of Vietnam from 1975 to 1986, in Hoài Đức District, Vietnam (d. 1986); Vaclavs Borduško, Latvian-Canadian association football player, played for Latvia national team from 1934 to 1939, in Riga (d. 1999)

    • October 4, 1914 (Sunday)

  • An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the surface wave magnitude scale shook Lake Burdur in southwestern Turkey, causing an estimated 4,000 deaths and destroying more than 17,000 homes.
  • Battle of Arras — The French Tenth Army failed to hold back the German advance and lost Lens in northern France.
  • The Manifesto of the Ninety-Three was proclaimed in Germany, in which 93 prominent German scientists, scholars and artists signed a document declaring their unequivocal support of German military actions in the early period of World War One. While the document galvanized public support in Germany, it was met with outrage by the international intellectual community, especially since it came after reports of atrocities committed by occupying German forces in Belgium in August.
  • U.S. President Woodrow Wilson declared a national day of prayer throughout the United States for the end of World War One.
  • The Baltic Exhibition closed in Malmö, Sweden, four days after its official closing date of September 30.
  • Born: Jim Cairns, Australian politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia from 1974 to 1975, in Carlton, Victoria, Australia (d. 2003); David Say, British clergy, Bishop of Rochester in the Church of England from 1961 to 1988, in Wye, Kent, England (d. 2006); Marvin Ash, American jazz musician, best known for his recorded interpretations of classic ragtime tunes such as "Maple Leaf Rag", in Lamar, Colorado (d. 1974)

    • October 5, 1914 (Monday)

  • Essad Pasha Toptani became the third Prime Minister of Albania.
  • Winston Churchill visited government officials in Antwerp with the Royal Marine Brigade where he offered to resign from his position as First Lord of the Admiralty to take command of the newly formed Royal Navy Division and help with defending Belgium from the German invasion. Although the offer was supported by Field Marshal Herbert Kitchener, the British cabinet rejected it.
  • Sergeant Joseph Frantz and Corporal Louis Quenault of the French Escadrille were the first aviators in history to shoot down another aircraft with gunfire, downing a German Aviatik B.II with machine gun fire from their Voisin III over Jonchery, Reims.
  • A mine explosion killed 16 near Birmingham, Alabama.
  • Ethel Barrymore made her screen debut in the drama The Nightingale, written by American playwright Augustus Thomas, who was a close friend to Ethel's father Maurice Barrymore. The films has long been considered lost.
  • Born: Mirosław Vitali, Ukrainian-British physician, specialized in treatment and care of amputee patients during and after World War Two, recipient of the Order of the British Empire, in Uman, Ukraine (d. 1992)
  • Died: Albert Solomon, Australian politician, 23rd Premier of Tasmania (b. 1876)

    • October 6, 1914 (Tuesday)

  • Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr. married Rose Fitzgerald in Boston.
  • Born: Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer, leader of the Kon-Tiki expedition, in Larvik, Norway (d. 2002); Mary Louise Smith, American political organizer, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee from 1974 to 1977, in Eddyville, Iowa (d. 1997)
  • Died: Adrien Albert Marie de Mun, French political activist, recipient of the Order of St. Gregory the Great (b. 1841)

    • October 7, 1914 (Wednesday)

  • Born: Begum Akhtar, Indian singer of Hindustani classical music, in Faizabad, India (d. 1974); Alfred Drake, American singer and actor, best known his Broadway lead roles in Oklahoma!, Kiss Me, Kate and Kismet, in New York City (d. 1992); Will Lang, Jr., American journalist, chief regional bureau director for Life magazine from 1965 to 1968, in Chicago (d. 1968)

    • October 8, 1914 (Thursday)

  • In a raid planned by Royal Naval Air Service Wing Commander Charles Samson, two Sopwith Tabloids attacked the Zeppelin sheds at Düsseldorf and the Cologne railway station. Flight Lieutenant Reggie Marix was able to destroy a shed holding the Imperial German Army Zeppelin Z IX (or LZ25) as well as Z IX itself, the first time that an aircraft destroyed a dirigible.
  • The popular World War One patriot song "Keep the Home Fires Burning", composed by Ivor Novello with lyrics by Lena Guilbert Ford, was published with the original title "'Til the Boys Come Home" by Ascherberg, Hopwood and Crew Ltd. in London. The song was re-titled to its current name in 1915.
  • Born: William A. Egan, American politician, first Governor of Alaska from 1959 to 1966 and 1970 to 1974, in Valdez, Alaska (d. 1984); Yvon Robert, Canadian wrestler, competed in various wrestling organizations from 1932 to 1959, including the National Wrestling Association, in Verdun, Quebec (d. 1971)
  • Born: Henry C. Pearson, American abstract and modernist painter, often associated with the Op Art movement and the famous Responsive Eye exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1965, in Kinston, North Carolina (d. 2006); Louis Berry, American lawyer, first African American permitted to practice law in his hometown of Alexandria, Louisiana (d. 1998); Harlan Hagen, American politician, U.S. Representative of California from 1953 to 1967, in Lawton, North Dakota (d. 1990)
  • Died: Adelaide Crapsey, American poet, known for her poetry collection Verses published posthumously (b. 1878)

    • October 9, 1914 (Friday)

  • Siege of Antwerp — Finding no resistance from the defending fortresses around Antwerp, German commanding officer Hans Hartwig von Beseler ceased bombardment and called on Belgian General Victor Deguise to surrender. However, four civilian representatives, including the Mayor of Antwerp Jan De Vos, met with Beseler beforehand to request an end to the bombardment of the city and signed a capitulation. The document forced Deguise to accept the terms a day later and surrender along with 30,000 Allied troops. German troops occupied the city until the end of World War One.
  • Battle of the Vistula River — German forces arrived at Vistula River but found little resistance on the river's west bank. General Nikolai Ruzsky, commander of the Russian Northwest Front, sent troops from Warsaw to attack the German's left flank, but the Germans knew of the army's strength from orders found on the body of a Russian officer. They knew three Russian armies would concentrate against the German Ninth Army to relieve pressure on the Austro-Hungarian line in the south.
  • A German airplane appeared over Lille, France and dropped two bombs on the city's post office. By the afternoon, all men of fighting age were ordered to leave Lille immediately, while civilians in the surrounding towns and villages were evacuated.
  • Born: Joseph L. Melnick, American medical scientist, lead breakthrough research in how polio was spread, in Boston (d. 2001)
  • Died: John Tipton, American-Canadian politician, municipal alderman from 1908 to 1913 on both Strathcona, Alberta and Edmonton city councils, instrumental in the amalgamation of Edmonton and Strathcona into one city (b. 1849)

    • October 10, 1914 (Saturday)

  • The Battle of La Bassée - British and French soldiers attempted to recover the northern French city of La Bassée from occupying German forces.
  • The last train left Lille, France at dawn, an hour after German artillery began to fire on the station, the city's main government building and the famous Palais des Beaux Arts. The barrage continued for another two days.
  • Mexican revolutionary leaders Pancho Villa, Venustiano Carranza and Alvaro Obregon met at the Convention of Aguascalientes in Mexico to discuss future governance of the nation after the deposing Mexican president Victoriano Huerta in July. Revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata delayed attending the meeting until 15 days later.
  • Carol I of Romania, the first King of Romania, died and was succeeded by his nephew Ferdinand I of Romania. Carol I opposed the country entering the World War One because of close relations with Germany, but Ferdinand was in favor and formally sided with the Allies in 1916.
  • The German cruiser SMS Emden left Diego Garcia, a British-held atoll in the Indian Ocean after 10 days of rest and maintenance. Due to its isolation, the inhabitants were still not aware World War One had started and were unknowingly harbouring an enemy vessel, an oversight the German crew took full advantage of.
  • The American schooner Alma A. E. Holmes collided with the steamer Belfast in thick fog off the coast of Marblehead, Massachusetts and sank, with all crew rescued.
  • The East Fremantle Football Club defeated the South Fremantle Football Club 43-24 to win its ninth West Australian State Premiership.
  • The Spanish opera Margot, composed by Joaquín Turina, debuted at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid.
  • Born: Tommy Fine, American baseball player, pitcher for Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Browns, in Cleburne, Texas (d. 2005); Ivory Joe Hunter, R&B singer, songwriter and pianist, best known for the hit "Since I Met You Baby", in Kirbyville, Texas (d. 1974); Agostino Straulino, Italian sailing boat racer, gold medalist in the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki (d. 2004)
  • Died: Gijsbert van Tienhoven, Dutch politician, 21st Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1841); Ivers Whitney Adams, American baseball executive, founder of the first professional team in Boston, the Boston Red Sockings (now the Atlanta Braves) (b. 1838)

    • October 11, 1914 (Sunday)

  • Battle of Flirey — French forces abandoned attempts to retake the village of Saint-Mihiel in northeastern France from German forces, who were now too entrenched to be moved, thus ending the battle. The village would not be retaken until 1918.
  • More than 100,000 visitors attended the final day of the Jubilee Exhibition in Oslo.
  • Brown University celebrated its 150th anniversary as a post-secondary institution. Among the many official dignitaries that attended included:
  • U.S. President William H. Taft
  • Andrew Carnegie, steel industrialist and philanthropist
  • John D. Rockefeller, Jr., executive of Standard Oil
  • Herbert Putnam, librarian for the Library of Congress
  • Howard Elliott, president of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad
  • William Faunce, president of Brown University
  • Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Columbia University
  • Arthur Twining Hadley, president of Yale University
  • Jacob Gould Schurman, president of Cornell University
  • William De Witt Hyde, president of Bowdoin College
  • John Grier Hibben, president of Princeton University
  • Alexander Meiklejohn, president of Amherst College
  • Mary Emma Woolley, president of Mount Holyoke College
  • Benjamin Ide Wheeler, president of University of California
  • Born: J. Edward Day, American lawyer and businessman, 55th United States Postmaster General who introduced the ZIP code system to United States Postal Service, in Jacksonville, Illinois (d. 1996); Elaine Lorillard, American arts philanthropist, founder of the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island, in Tremont, Maine (d. 2007)

    • October 12, 1914 (Monday)

  • German forces took control of Ghent, France with little resistance, allowing the city to escape much of the destruction from World War One.
  • Battle of Messines — French and British soldiers advanced on the German defense line in French portion of Flanders, capturing the town of Mont des Cats in the process.
  • The German barrage on Lille, France ended with troops entering the city. In all, the barrage killed 80 civilians, destroyed the railway station, and set parts of the city on fire.
  • Maritz Rebellion — The Union of South Africa declared martial law in response to a Boer uprising that included 12,000 rebel soldiers under command of general Manie Maritz, Christiaan de Wet and Christian Frederick Beyers.
  • The trial for 17 of the conspirators in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria began in Sarajevo. Gavrilo Princip, the Serbian student who fired the fatal shots, admitted in court his motivation for assassination was purely political: "I am a Yugoslav nationalist and I believe in unification of all South Slavs in whatever form of state and that it be free of Austria ... By means of terror."
  • The British captured one of the colliers the German cruiser SMS Emden relied on for coal supplies.
  • Died: Poindexter Dunn, American politician, U.S. Representative for Arkansas from 1879 to 1889 (b. 1834); Margaret E. Knight, American inventor, first noted female American inventor with nearly a dozen patents to her name, in York, Maine (b. 1838); Alfred Marsh, British communist leader, editor of the Freedom newspaper(b. 1858)

    • October 13, 1914 (Tuesday)

  • The Battle of Armentières began in northern France, with soldiers with the British Expeditionary Force advancing to find Germans dug in and well-defended.
  • Battle of La Bassée — British forces nearly lost Givenchy in northeastern France when Germany troops attacked them during the rainstorm, with the British losing c. 1,000 casualties.
  • The Imperial Japanese Navy attempted air-to-air combat for the first time, as a naval airplane joined three Imperial Japanese Army airplanes in an attempt to attack a German reconnaissance plane during the Siege of Tsingtao. However, the German aircraft escaped.
  • The Boston Braves defeated the Philadelphia Athletics in all four games to win the 1914 World Series.
  • The Algoma Central and Hudson Bay Railway, building northward from Sault Ste. Marie, opened its northernmost section between Oba and Hearst, Ontario.
  • A 33-pound (15 kg) iron meteorite hit the ground near Appley Bridge, England.
  • Born: Joseph Aloysius Durick, American clergy, Roman Catholic bishop of Tennessee and civil rights advocate, co-author of the 1963 civil rights letter "A Call for Unity", in Dayton, Tennessee (d. 1994)
  • Died: Walter Withers, Australian landscape artist, member of the Heidelberg School of Australian impressionists (b. 1854)

    • October 14, 1914 (Wednesday)

  • The Canadian Expeditionary Force arrived on 32 ocean liners in Plymouth Sound.
  • Battle of La Bassée — British soldiers and French cavalry attacked German defenses on a canal leading to La Bassée but lost 967 casualties when action wrapped the following day.
  • Battle of Armentières — German forces regrouped behind the river Lys in northeastern France and waited for the German 4th and 6th armies to organize in Belgium, giving the town of Bailleul back to the Allies.
  • Battle of Messines — Allied troops and cavalry closed the last gaps in the offensive and put the German armies on the defense.
  • Born: Raymond Davis Jr., American physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics for his research with neutrinos (d. 2006); Mickey Moore, Canadian-American film actor director, best known his child actor work in the 1920s and as a second unit director for the Indiana Jones film trilogy (d. 2013); Alexis Rannit, Estonian-American poet, known for his poetry collections in the Estonian language compiled as the Aleksis Rannit Papers in Kallaste, Estonia (d. 1985)
  • Born: Harry Brecheen, American baseball player, pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1943 to 1952, in Broken Bow, Oklahoma (d. 2004); Tom Dollery, British cricketer, played for the British national team from 1947 to 1950, in Reading, Berkshire, England (d. 1987)

    • October 15, 1914 (Thursday)

  • The HMS Hawke was torpedoed by German submarine U-9 in the North Sea and sank in less than 10 minutes with the loss of 524 lives.
  • The German cruiser SMS Emden captured a British steamer in the Indian Ocean and sank her the next day. Over the next five days, she captured five more vessels and used one of them as a collier.
  • The U.S. Government enacted the Clayton Antitrust Act which sought to prevent anti-competitive practices in their incipiency.
  • Singer Beniamino Gigli made his stage debut at Rovigo in the Amilcare Ponchielli opera La Gioconda.
  • A. A. Milne's collection of short stories for Punch magazine were published in the anthology Once a Week.
  • Born: Mohammed Zahir Shah, last King of Afghanistan, from 1933 to 1973, in Kabul (d. 2007); Lawrence H. Cooke, American judge, Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1979 to 1984, in Monticello, New York (d. 2000); Harvey L. Price, American executive for Boy Scouts of America, 6th Chief Scout Executive, in Ossian, Indiana (d. 2005)
  • Died: Anthony Traill, Irish academic, provost of Trinity College Dublin (b. 1838)

    • October 16, 1914 (Friday)

  • Battle of the Yser — Belgian and French troops under Colonel Alphonse Jacques successfully defended the Belgian town of Diksmuide against the advancing German army despite heavy losses. Jacques' leadership during the day's battle became so respected he was later awarded the title "de Dixmude".
  • Battle of La Bassée — British troops sustained another 1,000 casualties as they advanced to Aubers in northeastern France, but managed to recapture Givenchy from the Germans.
  • Battle of Armentières — British forces secured the Lys river crossings while the German focused their attacks further north at Dixmude.
  • Italian Foreign Minister Antonino Paternò Castello died and was succeeded by Sidney Sonnino, who continued to follow the negotiating strategy set by his predecessor which lead to the secret Treaty of London in 1915.
  • The main body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, which included 8,000 troops, finally departed from New Zealand for Australia where they joined up with the First Australian Imperial Force.
  • Born: Leonard Litwin, American real estate developer, owner of Glenwood Management in New York City, one of the investors named in the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities scheme (still alive as of 2015); Mircea David, Romanian association football player and manager, goalkeeper for CA Oradea and Venus București from 1933 to 1952, in Sinaia, Romania (d. 1993)

    • October 17, 1914 (Saturday)

  • Battle of La Bassée — British forces captured Violaines and gained a foothold on Aubers Ridge while French cavalry captured Fromelles from the Germans in northeastern France.
  • Battle of Armentières — French forces recaptured Armentières.
  • Battle off Texel — The German Imperial Navy lost an entire torpedo squadron as it tried to lay mines in shipping lanes at the mouth of the Thames River, including 218 sailors killed and 30 taken prisoner.
  • While searching for survivors during the aftermath of Battle off Texel, the German hospital ship Ophelia was seized, even though war conventions stipulated for navies never to do so. The Royal Navy justified the seizure as coded radio messages were monitored coming from the ship, the ship's wireless was destroyed, and the crew was observed throwing documents overboard. The ship was renamed SS Huntley.
  • An Imperial German Navy torpedo boat sunk the Japanese cruiser Takachiho with the loss of 271 officers and sailors. With only three survivors of the disaster, it was the largest single loss for Japanese forces for all of World War One.
  • The American passenger ship SS Northern Pacific was launched by William Cramp & Sons from Philadelphia and was to go into service by March 1915. She was acquired by the United States Shipping Board in 1917 for military service after the United States entered World War One.
  • Born: Jerry Siegel, American comic book author, co-creator of Superman with Joe Shuster, in Cleveland (d. 1996)

    • October 18, 1914 (Sunday)

  • Battle of the Yser — A German offensive overran Allied troops from the coastal town of Nieuwpoort, Belgium south to Arras in France.
  • Battle of La Bassée — The German army received reinforcements and slowed the British advance.
  • Battle of Armentières — French and British forces attacked German defenses in the Lys river valley. The Germans gave up part of a valley ridge but forced the remaining Allied troops to dig in.
  • Battle of Messines — The Allied advance against Germany halted near Messines. The French cavalry, which had done most of the advancing against the Germans, sustained around c. 175 casualties.
  • Battle of the Vistula River — Germany called on Austria-Hungary to provide reinforcements to hold a line German lines at Vistula River west of Warsaw, but Austria-Hungarian commanders did not want their troops mingling with the Germans and instead offered to cover the German line's right flank to free up extra German troops. Unfortunately, the Austrian-Hungarian troops came too late to deliver a needed counterattack against the three Russian armies attacking the lines, allowing Russian troops to cross the river.
  • The British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet took shelter in Lough Swilly while Scapa Flow was secured against submarine attack.
  • British sub HMS E3 was torpedoed and sunk by the German sub SM U-27 in the North Sea, with all 28 of its crew lost. It was first recorded incident in which a naval submarine sank another.
  • Benito Mussolini, chief editor of the socialist newspaper Avanti!, declared in favour of intervention on the side of the Triple Entente, and was subsequently expelled from the Italian Socialist Party.
  • The Clare sports club won their first All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship title, beating Laois 2-4 and 1-2 in the final at Croke Park in Dublin.
  • The first mass was held in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis after it was officially dedicated by the city of St. Louis.
  • Born: Norman Chaney, American child actor, played "Chubby" in 19 Our Gang comedies from 1929 to 1931, in Cambridge, Maryland (d. 1936); Siegfried Müller, German Waffen-SS officer during World War Two, recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in Krefeld, Germany (d. 1974)

    • October 19, 1914 (Monday)

  • The First Battle of Ypres began as German, French and British forces advanced to encounter each other at the western Belgian town of Langemark.
  • The Race to the Sea effectively ended with the start of the First Battle of Ypres, with the Western Front reaching the Belgian coast.
  • Battle of La Bassée — British infantry and French cavalry captured Le Pilly (now Herlies) in northeastern France but were forced to retire by German artillery-fire.
  • Portuguese forces intercepted a German military column crossing the border between Angola and German Southwest Africa illegally, resulting in a violent dispute at the town of Naulila that left three German officers dead.
  • Born: Juanita Moore, American actress, best known for the Oscar-nominated role in Imitation of Life, in Greenwood, Mississippi (d. 2014)
  • Died: Julio Argentino Roca, Argentine general and statesman, 14th President of Argentina (b. 1843); Robert Hugh Benson, British clergy, Anglican priest who converted to Roman Catholicism, author of apocalyptic novel Lord of the World which has been read by several Popes (b. 1871)

    • October 20, 1914 (Tuesday)

  • Battle of La Bassée — Two fresh army divisions reinforced German defenses, forcing advancing British forces to dig in. That decision narrowly forestalled a German counter-offensive which was to commence that same day.
  • Battle of Armentières — German cavalry was reorganized on the river Lys to pin down the forces in front of them while infantry attacked the flank and rear of the opposing forces at Ennetières, France. After initial setbacks, German troops broke through and captured the town as well as Prémesques further north. German artillery began to bombard Armentières and force many Allied troops to withdraw.
  • First Battle of Edea — British and French colonial troops began their assault on German forces stationed at Edéa in Kamerun (now Cameroon).
  • The British ocean liner HMS Princess Irene was launched by William Denny and Brothers in Dumbarton, Scotland for the Canadian Pacific Railway, but was recommissioned by the Royal Navy as a minelayer.
  • Born: Fred Chaney, Sr., Australian politician, 8th Administrator of the Northern Territory, in Fremantle, Australia (d. 2001); Tulsi (Jain monk), Indian Jian monk, founder of the Anuvrata movement and the Jain Vishva Bharati University, in Ladnu, Rajasthan, India (d. 1997); James C. Floyd, British-Canadian aerospace engineer, chief design engineer for Avro Canada, in Manchester (still alive in 2015)

    • October 21, 1914 (Wednesday)

  • First Battle of Ypres — Soldiers from the German 6th and 4th armies attacked Allied forces from the Belgium towns of Armentières, Messines and Langemarck.
  • Battle of La Bassée — Germans troops attacked the Allied defensive line through a mist early morning, and managed to break a gap in line through the element of surprise. But as the mist lifted later, British reserves were able to organize a counterattack which retook most of the lost trenches. However, the British sustained some 1,079 casualties. A reserve trench line was dug to ensure Allied defenses would hold to future counterattacks by the Germans.
  • Battle of Armentières — German forces gained then lost the trench system at Le Gheer, but were able to bombard and capture the village of Le Maisnil.
  • Battle of the Yser — Germans forces were able to establish a small bridgehead on the west bank of the Yser River in Belgium, but were still not able to take Diksmuide.
  • Komagata Maru incident — Immigration officer W.C. Hopkinson was shot dead in a Vancouver provincial courthouse by Mewa Singh, a member of the city's Sikh community, just before Hopkinson was to testify in a trial hearing. Singh shot the officer in retaliation for testimony he gave the day before at the trial of Ram Singh for the murder of Argun Singh (who was shot dead in front of his home on September 3) which resulted in the defendant's acquittal. Hopkinson's murder was the fifth in a bloody feud that erupted in Vancouver's Sikh community between supporters and detractors of the British Columbia government's decision in May to bar the Japanese vessel Komagata Maru carrying hundreds of British Indian citizens from docking at a Canadian port.
  • Born: Martin Gardner, American mathematician and writer, creator of the popular Mathematical Games columns in Scientific American from 1956 to 1981, in Tulsa, Oklahoma (d. 2010)

    • October 22, 1914 (Thursday)

  • First Battle of Ypres — German forces capture the Belgium town of Langemarck.
  • Battle of La Bassée — German troops forced the British out of Violaines in northeastern France.
  • Battle of Armentières — Germany resumed renewed attacks on the Allied line over the next three days but failed to make any significant breakthroughs.
  • The Brady Theater in Tulsa, Oklahoma opened to the public, and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
  • Born: André Neher, French-Jewish scholar and philosopher, author of The Exile of the Word (L'Exil de la Parole), a theological mediation on the Holocaust, in Obernai, France (d. 1988)
  • Died: Edward Francis Winslow, American railroad executive, executive for the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railroad, the New York, Ontario and Western Railway, the Manhattan Elevated Railway, and the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (b. 1837); Konishiki Yasokichi I, Japanese sumo wrestler, 17th sumo wrestler to earn the yokozuna title (b. 1866)

    • October 23, 1914 (Friday)

  • First Battle of Ypres — British and French forces managed to close gaps in the defense line and impede the German offensive in western Belgium.
  • Trial hearings for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria wrapped in Sarajevo, with the court dismissing the defendants' claims that official Serbia was blameless. In a verdict that ran five days later: "The court regards it as proved by the evidence that both the Serbian intelligence and military circles in the Kingdom of Serbia in charge of the espionage service, collaborated in the outrage."
  • Italian forces occupied the port city of Vlorë, or Avlona as they called it, in response to plans by Greece to occupy southern Albania following the dissolving of the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus.
  • The Northwestern Pacific Railroad was completed, connecting Humboldt County, California to the United States rail network.
  • German noble Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick established the War Merit Cross that could be awarded for exemplary military service to any rank in the German Imperial Army. The last medal was award in 1918.
  • Russian theatre actor and director Yevgeny Vakhtangov began teaching acting, drama and the theatrical arts and newly college of drama known as Mansurova School for the street where it was established. It was later renamed Vakhtangove School in 1917 after the professor and then its present name Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute in 1939 after its most famous student. The college is still active.
  • Born: Dick Durrance, American skier, 17-time national champion and European competitor, in Tarpon Springs, Florida (d. 2004)
  • Died: José Evaristo Uriburu, Argentine politician, 13th President of Argentina (b. 1831); Peter Christian Bønecke, Danish architect, best known for his collaborations with Carlsberg founder J. C. Jacobsen (b. 1841)

    • October 24, 1914 (Saturday)

  • First Battle of Ypres — German attacked the Allies at Gheluvelt, Belgium.
  • Battle of Armentières — Soldiers from the German 6th Army attempted to overrun French defenses on the main canal leading to the Lys River. French brigades held off the attack for 48 hours until withdrawing with a loss of 585 casualties.
  • Maritz Rebellion — Regular troops with the Union of South Africa defeated the main rebel Boer army under command of General Manie Maritz, forcing him to flee to Germany.
  • Born: Lakshmi Sahgal, Indian politician, notable leader with the Indian National Army during World War Two, in Malabar District, British India (d. 2012)
  • Died: Colin H. Campbell, Canadian politician, Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for Morris from 1899 to 1914 (b. 1859)

    • October 25, 1914 (Sunday)

  • General elections were held in Switzerland, with the Free Democratic Party of Switzerland retaining its majority in the National Council.
  • Erich von Falkenhayn replaced Helmuth von Moltke as German Chief of Staff.
  • Ottoman War Minister Enver Pasha ordered Vice-Admiral Wilhelm Souchon to mobilize his ships in the Black Sea and attack the Russian fleet "if a suitable opportunity presented itself".
  • First Battle of Ypres — German attacks pushed furthern attacks on the south flank of the Allied line and nearly punched through the following day, until Allied reserves stopped the gap and prevented a full rout.
  • Battle of La Bassée — British, French and German infantry fought hand-to-hand as the Germans try to overrun the Allied trenches, but were eventually forced out by reinforcements. Many of the attacking German soldiers were killed or captured.
  • Italian rider Lauro Bordin won the 10th Giro di Lombardia bicycle race in Lombardy, Italy.
  • Born: John Berryman, American poet, best known for his poetry collection The Dream Songs, in McAlester, Oklahoma (d. 1972); Maudie Prickett, American actress, best known for her character actor work including the 1960s sitcom Hazel, in Portland, Oregon (d. 1976); Heinz Hämel, German Waffen-SS officer during World War Two, recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, in Vellmar, Germany (d. 1977)
  • Died: Charles W. H. Douglas, British Army general, Chief of the General Staff in 1914 (b. 1850); William Leigh Williamson Eyre, British biologist, founding member of the British Mycological Society (b. 1841)

    • October 26, 1914 (Monday)

  • Battle of La Bassée — The Germans launched probing attacks on the British and French defensive line around Neuve Chapelle but could not break through the line.
  • First Battle of Edea — British and French colonial troops captured Edéa in Kamerun (now Cameroon) after the Germans fled.
  • The Ottoman naval fleet under command of Vice-Admiral Wilhelm Souchon left port on a "reconnaissance exercise" in the Black Sea.
  • The Norwegian schooner Endurance, carrying members of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition led by British explorer Ernest Shackleton, arrived at the British-governed South Georgia Islands in the south Atlantic Ocean. They would stay at the Grytviken whaling station for a month before commencing to the Ross Ice Shelf of the Antarctic.
  • Captain Robert Bartlett and eight survivors of the Karluk arrived in Victoria, British Columbia on the Bear, the American cutter Bartlett originally recruited to rescue the shipwreck survivors in the Bering Sea.
  • Born: Jackie Coogan, American actor, best known for the title role in Charlie Chaplin's The Kid and Uncle Fester in the 1960s TV sitcom The Addams Family, in Los Angeles (d. 1984); Gladys Widdiss, Wampanoag elder in New England, President of the Aquinnah Wampanoag of Gay Head from 1978 until 1987, in Aquinnah, Massachusetts (d. 2012)

    • October 27, 1914 (Tuesday)

  • Battle of the Vistula River — The German Ninth Army and the Austria-Hungary First Army made a general retreat after failing to hold the western bank of the Vistula River. Austria-Hungary lost somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000 men while Germany lost just over 19,000.
  • The Greek army occupied Northern Epirus with the approval of the Allies. In response to the Greek occupation, Italy sent its marines to occupy the Albanian port of Vlorë.
  • The British super-dreadnought battleship HMS Audacious sank off Tory Island, northwest of Ireland, by a minefield laid by the armed German merchant-cruiser Berlin.
  • An explosion and fire in a coal mine near Royalton, Illinois killed 61 miners.
  • Born: Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet and author, most known for the poem "Do not go gentle into that good night", in Uplands, Swansea, Wales (d. 1953); Jan Kott, Polish-American theater academic on Shakespeare, author of Shakespeare, Our Contemporary, in Warsaw (d. 2001)

    • October 28, 1914 (Wednesday)

  • First Battle of Ypres — Responding to costly failures of the German 4th and 6th armies to punch through the Allied line in western Belgium, German commanders ordered holding attacks while a new force was assembled to press an attack towards Ypres and Poperinghe.
  • Battle of La Bassée — Allied forces attempted to recapture Neuve Chapelle, but disorganization inhibited any real advance. Forces included British, French, and Indian troops (many of them Sikh) leading to language difficulties in communicating orders, along with most soldiers exhausted by nearly 15 days of fighting. Some soldiers were reported falling asleep while firing. British Indian forces in particular sustained major casualties, with the 47th Sikh company losing 221 out of 289 men. Eventually, Allied troopes retired to their line to recover.
  • Battle of Armentières — Despite being bombarded for two days by German artillery, defending French soldiers repulsed two waves of attacks and inflicted heavy enemy casualties.
  • Battle of Penang — After successfully disguising itself as the British cruiser HMS Yarmouth, the German cruiser SMS Emden entered the Penang harbour in British Malaya and torpedoed the Russian protected cruiser Zhemchug, killing 88 sailors and wounding 121, out of a crew of 250. The French destroyer Mousquet set off in pursuit of Emden, but was quickly sunk by the German ship.
  • The Ottoman naval fleet in the Black Sea split up into four combat wings and began targeting Russian ports.
  • Sentencing began of participants in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo. The principle assassin, Gavrilo Princip, was relieved of a death sentence for being under the age 20 at the date of the assassination and was instead given 20 years imprisonment.
  • Maritz Rebellion — The rebel Boer commando unit under General Christian Frederick Beyers was attacked and dispersed by the South African regular army, forcing Beyers to go on the run for a month before his death at Vaal River on December 8.
  • Born: Jonas Salk, American medical researcher and virologist, developed the first successful polio vaccine, in New York City (d. 1995); Glenn Robert Davis, American politician, U.S. Representative of Wisconsin from 1947 to 1957, and 1965 to 1974, in Vernon, Wisconsin (d. 1988); Richard Laurence Millington Synge, English chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of chromatography (d. 1994)
  • Born: Johnny Rigney, American baseball player, pitcher for the Chicago White Sox from 1937 to 1942 and 1946 to 1947, in Oak Park, Illinois (d. 1984); Dody Goodman, American actress, best known for playing the mother of title character in the TV comedy series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, in Columbus, Ohio (d. 2008)
  • Died: Richard Heuberger, composer, best known for his operetta Der Opernball (b. 1850)

    • October 29, 1914 (Thursday)

  • German warships SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau, now with the Ottoman Navy, participated in bombarding Russian ports Novorossiysk, Odessa and Sevastopol in the Black Sea.
  • First Battle of Ypres — German forces captured a crucial crossroads point at Gheluvelt, Belgium and took 600 British prisoners. Further pushes by the German put their artillery within range of Ypres by 3 kilometres (1.9 mi).
  • Battle of the Yser — In a desperate attempt to prevent the Germany army from overrunning the last major territory in Belgium, engineers opened the sluices that controlled the tides of the North Sea and flooded about 1-mile (1.6 km) of lowland from the seacoast to the town of Diksmuide in the south.
  • Battle of Mołotków — Some 6,000 Polish Legion soldiers allied with the Central Powers clashed with 15,000 Russian troops near the village of Mołotków in Galicia (now part of the Ukraine). The battle ended in a Russian victory, with Polish losses at 200 dead, 300 wounded and 400 captures. Russian forces lost 100 men.
  • Siege of Mora – British and French colonial forces under command of Captain R. W. Fox began to assault the German stronghold located on the mountain of Mora, Kamerun. Commanded by Captain Ernst von Raben, the German garrison of 200 would hold out for more than a year before surrendering.
  • The Australian government passed the War Precautions Act 1914, which gave the government special powers for the duration of World War One and for six months afterwards.
  • The cornerstones for the Brooks County Courthouse in Falfurrias, Texas were laid. The courthouse was named after former Texas Ranger and judge James Brooks, who spearheaded the project. The court house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.
  • Born: Manuel Flores Leon Guerrero, 6th Governor of Guam from 1963 to 1969, in Hagåtña, Guam (d. 1985)
  • Died: Félix Bracquemond, painter and etcher, awarded grande medaille d'honneur at the Universal Exhibition of 1900 (b. 1833); James Anson Otho Brooke, British military officer, recipient of the Victoria Cross, killed in action (b. 1884)

    • October 30, 1914 (Friday)

  • First Battle of Ypres — German forces attacked the left flank of the British Expeditionary Force at Gheluvelt, Belgium but were repulsed, while a motley command of French and British troops rallied to retake key villages British lost to the offense.
  • Battle of the Yser — The Germans launched a large attack that punched through the Belgian Army's defensive and were able to reach Nieuwpoort and Pervijze in Belgium.
  • Battle of La Bassée — German attacked during the nighttime and engaged British Indian troops sent to relieve Allied forces. Despite assurances of ten days of rest, many of the Allied troops were relocated to other positions in the front of northeastern France with an engineer corps remaining behind to build more fortifications.
  • Battle of Messines — German forces launched a general assault on the Allied line, forcing them to withdraw from the town of Hollebeke on their north flank while retaining Messines on their south.
  • Battle of Rufiji Delta — The German cruiser SMS Königsberg was blocked from leaving the mouth of Rufiji River in German East Africa (now Tanzania) by British warships HMS Chatham, HMS Dartmouth and Weymouth.
  • The SS Rohilla, requisitioned as a military hospital ship, was lost by grounding in a storm on rocks off Whitby with the loss of 85 lives.
  • Two days after the Battle of Penang, the German cruiser SMS Emden stopped a British steamer and transferred survivors it picked up after sinking the French destroyer Mousquet.
  • Born: Anna Wing, English actress, best known for the role of Lou Beale in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, in London (d. 2013); Elmer Knutson, Canadian businessman and politician, founder of the Canadian western separatist organization Western Canada Federation, in Torquay, Saskatchewan (d. 2001); James Laughlin, American poet and publisher, founder of New Directions Publishing, in Pittsburgh (d. 1997)
  • Born: George Stephen Ritchie, British naval officer and deep sea explorer, commanded the HMS Challenger when it recorded the depth of Challenger Deep with echo sounding equipment (the deepest point in the Earth's seabed), in Burnley, England (d. 2012); Pat Mackie, New Zealand union leader, chief leader in the 1964 Mount Isa Mines strike (d. 2009)
  • Died: Charles Pelham, Lord Worsley, British noble, killed in action during the First Battle of Ypres (b. 1887)

    • October 31, 1914 (Saturday)

  • The Battle of the Vistula River concluded in a Russian victory over German and Austro-Hungarian forces around Warsaw. However, the German army destroyed much of the rails and bridges to delay the Russian Army from advancing. Still, the victory boosted the morale of the Russian Army at a crucial time as it proved the armies of the Central Powers could be beaten.
  • Battle of the Yser — Belgian and French counter-attacks stalled the German advance, allowing them to recover Nieuwpoort, Belgium. The German's canceled a final attack after learning the Allies has flooded the tributaries of the Yser River in their rear and withdrew later that night. The price has been high for Belgium, with casualties estimated to be between 20,000 and 40,000 (French forces sustained 15,000). However, Germany's casualties were greater during the retreat, with estimates exceeding 76,000.
  • First Battle of Ypres — The Germans broke through Allied line near Gheluvelt, Belgium but a critical counter-attack by a British regiment restored the line.
  • Battle of Messines — The German army captured parts of the town of Messines.
  • Battle of Armentières — France consolidated its defense forces north of the Lys River while the British Expeditionary Force was able to repulse German attacks on its trenches over a 48-hour period.
  • Siege of Tsingtao — The Japanese Imperial Navy began shelling the German colonial port Tsingtao in China.
  • Italian forces seized Sazan Island off the coast of Albania to further contain Greek military occupation in the country.
  • British naval cruiser HMS Hermes was sunk by German sub SM U-27 in the Straits of Dover with the loss of 44 lives.
  • German troops from German Southwest Africa raided and destroyed a Portuguese fort at Cuangar, Angola in retaliation for the deaths of German officers in Naulila earlier in October, killing 8 soldiers and one civilian in what was referred to as the "Cuangar Massacre".
  • Government troops defeated a rebel army of 300 that attempted to take the port city of Esmeraldas, Ecuador, killing or wounding 100 men.
  • The Nair Service Society was established in southern India as a caste-based organization that owned and managed a number of educational institutions and hospitals.

    • References

    October 1914 Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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