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.[1]
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."[2]
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.[14]
German and Austro-Hungarian forces clashed in what is now southwestern Poland. Russian forces 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.[16]
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 I. 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.[24]
The popular World War I 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.[46]
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 I.[47]
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.[48] They knew three Russian armies would concentrate against the German Ninth Army to relieve pressure on the Austro-Hungarian line in the south.[49]
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.[50]
Battle of La Bassée - British and French soldiers attempted to recover the northern French city of La Bassée from occupying German forces.[54]
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 de Lille. The barrage continued for another two days.[55]
The German cruiser SMSEmden left Diego Garcia, a British-held atoll in the Indian Ocean after ten days of rest and maintenance. Due to its isolation, the inhabitants were still not aware World War I had started and were unknowingly harboring an enemy vessel, an oversight the German crew took full advantage of.[59]
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.[66]
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.[74]
The trial for 17 of the conspirators in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand 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."[76]
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.[81]
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.[82]
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.[88]
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.[89]
Battle of Messines — Allied troops and cavalry closed the last gaps in the offensive and put the German armies on the defense.[90]
HMSHawke was torpedoed by the German submarine SMU-9 in the North Sea and sank in less than ten minutes with the loss of 524 lives.[95]
The German cruiser SMSEmden 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.[96]
The U.S. government enacted the Clayton Antitrust Act which sought to prevent anti-competitive practices in their incipiency.[97]
Battle of the Yser — Belgian and French troops under Colonel Alphonse Jacques successfully defended the Belgian town of Dixmude against the advancing German army despite heavy losses. Jacques' leadership during the day's battle became so respected he was later awarded the title of Baron with the Belgian nobility.[100]
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.[101]
A German torpedo boat sunk the Japanese cruiserTakachiho 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 I.[108]
While searching for survivors during the aftermath of Battle off Texel, the German hospital shipOphelia 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.[110]
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.[118]
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.[119]
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.[120]
The British submarine HMSE3 was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine SMU-27 in the North Sea, with all 28 of its crew lost. It was first recorded incident in which a naval submarine sank another.[122]
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.[131]
Portuguese forces intercepted a German military column crossing the border between Angola and German South West Africa illegally, resulting in a violent dispute at the town of Naulila that left three German officers dead.[132]
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.[134]
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.[135] 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.[136]
British cargo ship Glitra was stopped in the North Sea off the coast of Norway by German submarine SMU-17 where she was searched under prize rules and her crew allowed to take to the lifeboats before she was scuttled.[139]
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.[143]
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 Dixmude.[145]
Komagata Maru incident — Immigration officer William 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 SS Komagata Maru carrying hundreds of British Indian citizens from docking at a Canadian port.[147][148]
First Battle of Ypres — British and French forces managed to close gaps in the defense line and impede the German offensive in western Belgium.[154]
Trial hearings for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand 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."[155]
Russian theater 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.[159]
Battle of Armentières — Soldiers from the Sixth Germany 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.[163]
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".[169]
First Battle of Ypres — German attacks pushed further 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.[170]
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.[171]
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.[173]
The Greek army occupied Northern Epirus with the approval of the Allies.[180] In response to the Greek occupation, Italy sent its marines to occupy the Albanian port of Vlorë.[181]
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 Sikhs) 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 troops retired to their line to recover.[186]
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.[187]
The Ottoman naval fleet in the Black Sea split up into four combat wings and began targeting Russian ports.[190]
Sentencing began of participants in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand 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.[191]
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.[192]
First Battle of Ypres — German forces captured a crucial crossroads point at Gheluvelt, Belgium, and took 600 British prisoners. Further pushes by the Germans put their artillery within range of Ypres by 3 kilometres (1.9mi).[195]
Battle of the Yser — In a desperate attempt to prevent the Imperial German 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 (1.6km) of lowland from the seacoast to the town of Diksmuide in the south.[196]
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 Ukraine). The battle ended in a Russian victory, with Polish losses at 200 dead, 300 wounded and 400 captured. Russian forces lost 100 men.[197]
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, German Cameroon. Commanded by Captain Ernst von Raben, the German garrison of 200 would hold out for more than a year before surrendering.[198]
The Australian government passed the War Precautions Act, which gave the government special powers for the duration of World War I and for six months afterwards.[199]
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.[202]
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.[203]
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.[204]
Battle of the Yser — Belgian and French counter-attacks stalled the German advance, allowing them to recover Nieuwpoort, Belgium. The Germans canceled a final attack after learning the Allies had flooded the tributaries of the Yser River in their rear and withdrew later that night.[211] 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.[212]
German troops from German South West 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".[219]
Government troops defeated a rebel army of 300 that attempted to take the port city of Esmeraldas, Ecuador, killing or wounding 100 men.[220]
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.[223]
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