German fighter pilot
Kurt Wintgens became the first person to shoot down another plane using a
machine gun equipped with
synchronization gear, which allowed him to shoot through a turning propeller without hitting its blade. His victory started a period referred to as the "
Fokker Scourge," as
Fokker M.5 airplanes outfitted with machine guns took a heavy toll on
Allied aircraft over the
Western Front. Wintgens himself would down two more enemy planes in July.[5]
A Russian naval squadron under command of
Rear AdmiralMikhail Bakhirev intercepted a message that a German squadron was laying mines around
Åland in the
Baltic Sea and moved to engage them.[6]
A second inquiry into the
sinking of the RMS Lusitania was held at the urging of survivor Joseph Marichal who threatened to sue the
Cunard ocean line for "poor handling" of the disaster, but was soon discredited when the British government found unfavourable details of his background and leaked them to the press.[7]
The
association football club Japonês was formed in
Rio de Janeiro, but renamed a year later as
Olaria after the neighbourhood it was established in to attract more supporters.[16]
Lierne,
Norway was divided into the municipalities of
Nordli and
Sørli, and the municipality of
Leirfjord was created when it was split from
Stamnes. All three were amalgamated again in 1964.[17]
The Russian naval squadron of the
Baltic Sea attacked a German squadron laying mines in the
Baltic Sea at the
Battle of Åland Islands. The German cruiser
SMS Albatross was hit and ran aground, with 27 sailors dead and another 49 wounded.[6] German cruisers
SMS Prinz Adalbert and
Prinz Heinrich sailed to assist the German squadron, but British submarine
HMS E9 torpedoed Prinz Adalbert and forced it to limp to shore.[20]
Battle of Gully Ravine — The Ottoman 1st Division led by Lieutenant Colonel (Kaymakam)
Cafer Tayyar Eğilmez staged a second counterattack and got within 30 metres of British trenches before losses became unbearable to continue.[21] Ottoman commanding officer Faik Paşa then ordered Ottoman to dig defenses to prevent further losses, violating orders from General
Otto Liman von Sanders. As a result, Paşa was replaced with Mehmet Ali Paşa.[22]
German-American anarchist
Eric Muenter planted a timed bomb with three sticks of dynamite in the
Senate reception room of the
United States Capitol,
Washington, D.C., which detonated just before midnight with no casualties. Muenter had tried to plant the bomb in the
Senate chamber but found it locked. He sent a letter under an alias to The Washington Star after the bombing, explaining he hoped the explosion would "make enough noise to be heard above the voices that clamor for war. This explosion is an exclamation point in my appeal for peace."[23]
After setting off a bomb at the
United States Capitol, German-American anarchist
Eric Muenter fled to
New York City where he planted another homemade bomb on munitions ship
SS Minnehaha.[29] He then traveled to the home of banker
J. P. Morgan Jr. in
Glen Cove, New York, with more dynamite and two revolvers. He invaded the house intending to take the family hostage and force the Morgan company to stop financing munitions shipments to
Europe for the
Allied war effort in exchange for their release. However, Morgan was at home along with his wife as well as their butler and the three were able to subdue Muenter despite the anarchist shooting Morgan twice in the groin and leg (he fully recovered within a month). Muenter was arrested by the
New York police department immediately afterward.[30]
Ottoman troops and Arab tribesmen attacked the British-held town of
Lahij in
South Arabia (now
Yemen).[32]
A force of six German Navy airships attempted an attack on a
Royal Navy squadron conducting an aerial reconnaissance in the
German Bight. Bad weather prevented each side from attacking the other. The heavy seas made it impossible for British seaplanes to launch and pursue the airships, and the airships could not get close enough to fire on the ships.[33]
Battle of Gully Ravine — A final attempt to recapture ground from the British ended in failure for
Ottoman Empire forces defending the
Gallipoli peninsula. Facing losses that were four times more than the British, with estimates ranging between 14,000 and 16,000 casualties, General
Otto Liman von Sanders caved to Ottoman officers pleas to stop the assaults and ended the bloodiest part of the
Gallipoli campaign.[37]
German-American anarchist
Eric Muenter committed suicide while in
New York police custody, shortly after he was identified as being behind the bombing three days earlier in
Washington, D.C. His estranged wife reported to police that she learned through a letter sent from Muenter before his arrest that he had hid a bomb on the
SS Minnehaha and that it was set to explode on July 7.[38]
German fighter pilot
Oswald Boelcke claimed his first victory, by shooting down a
Blériot aircraft while flying an
Albatros two-seater biplane, setting him on to eventually become a
flying ace.[42]
English composer
Edward Elgar premiered his composition Polonia at a charity relief concert for Polish war victims in
Queen's Hall,
London. The composition mixed Polish music influences as a patriotic tribute to the people, similar to Carillon that premiered in December 1914 to celebrate the struggles of
Belgium during the first months of
World War I.[43]
First Battle of the Isonzo — An attempt by
Italy to break through the Austro-Hungarian line in the
Alps failed. Despite superior numbers on the Italian side,
Austria-Hungary had better equipment, highly trained soldiers, and superior geographic advantages. The Italians sustained over 14,000 casualties while the Austro-Hungarians received 9,950 casualties.[44]
Armenian genocide — Swedish diplomat
Cossva Anckarsvärd, stationed in
Constantinople, released a two-page report to
Stockholm stating "persecutions of the Armenians have reached hair-raising proportions" and concluded the solution to the "Armenian question" within the
Ottoman Empire would "consist of the extermination of the Armenian nation."[45]
A bomb planted by the late German-American anarchist
Eric Muenter exploded on munitions ship
SS Minnehaha despite efforts by crew to locate it. Fortunately, the bomb was not near the munitions depot that the ship was carrying and damage was minimal. The ship itself would not survive
World War I, and would be sunk by a German
U-boat in 1917.[29]
American Civil War veteran and landowner John N. Ballard deeded a small plot that had been part of the battlefield of
Chantilly,
Virginia, for the purpose of allowing persons or groups the opportunity to erect monuments or markers in remembrance to those who fought in the battle, leading to the eventual establishment of
Ox Hill Battlefield Park in October.[51]
Battle of Manzikert — A Russian force of 22,000 troops attempted to capture strategic hills west of the town of
Malazgirt,
Turkey, assuming defenses were weak. In actuality, a force of 40,000 Ottoman troops was defending the area.[57]
Pablo Falcon, a local deputy of Mexican-American heritage, was shot and killed by Mexican rebels in
Brownsville, Texas. He was the first victim of the
Plan of San Diego, a plan to create unrest among border towns in
Texas during the
Mexican Revolution.[60]
Gallipoli campaign — A force of 7,500 soldiers from
155th and
157th Brigades of the British
52nd Division attacked the centre of the line along Achi Baba Nullah ("Bloody Valley") on the peninsula. The assault gained very little ground and resulted in 2,500 casualties; along with 600 from the Royal Naval Division and 800 men from a supporting French unit. The
Ottoman Empire had 9,000 casualties and 600 prisoners.[63]
Literary magazine Blast put out its second and last edition. The cover featured a woodcut by
Wyndham Lewis (who also edited the magazine) and contained a short play by
Ezra Pound and poetry by
T. S. Eliot. Plans for a further issue fell through as
World War I placed personal and public pressures on all artists involved, even though Lewis had plans as late as 1919 to publish.[78]
Russian forces on the central-north of the
Eastern Front sustained up to 80 percent of losses and were forced to retreat across the
Narew River in
Galicia (now northeastern
Poland) to avoid annihilation.[84]
William Creen, an inmate at the state prison in
Milledgeville, Georgia, tried to kill
Leo Frank, who was serving a commuted life sentence for the murder of 13-year old Mary Phagan. Creen slashed Frank's throat using a kitchen butcher knife but Frank survived the attack. According to The New York Times, Creen told authorities he attacked Frank "to keep the other inmates safe from mob violence, Frank's presence was a disgrace to the prison, and he was sure he would be pardoned if he killed Frank."[85]
Second Battle of the Isonzo — A force of 250,000 troops from the Italian Second and Third Armies engaged in brutal hand-to-hand combat with 78,000 Austro-Hungarian troops, who were better equipped and holding well-defended positions in the
Alps.[89]
The
Board of Invention and Research of the
Royal Navy met for the first time in
London to recruit scientists and engineers to assist with emerging technical and logistical challenges in wartime naval operations.[96]
German submarine
SM U-23 was torpedoed and sunk in the
Atlantic Ocean by British submarine
HMS C27 with the loss of 24 of her 34 crew.[100]
A
strike at the Bayonne refinery in
New Jersey became violent after Mayor
Pierre Prosper Garven of
Bayonne, New Jersey allowed the city's police force to be used to enforce picket lines set by
Standard Oil of New Jersey (the mayor was also on the oil company's payroll as an attorney).[101] Following an initial walk-out of 1,200 refinery works over pay and working conditions, a riot broke out on the picket lines between the strikers and the police, leading to the shooting death of 19-year-old striker John Sterancsak.[102]
Violence stemming from the shooting death of a striking worker on July 20th escalated during the
strike at the Bayonne refinery when a mob attacked and attempted to set fire to the
Tidewater Petroleum in
Bayonne, New Jersey. Violence would continue for another week, resulting in the deaths of five more strikers as well as several injuries and significant property damage caused by arson. Order was eventually restored. Investigation onto the initial riot led to the superintendent of the Tidewater refinery and 32 guards being charged for inciting a riot.[101]
Ross Sea party — Ice pressure on the sides of the drifting British polar ship Aurora in the
Ross Sea damaged the vessel's rudder beyond repair, forcing first officer
Joseph Stenhouse to consider abandoning ship but he belayed the order when ice movements shifted the following day.[106]
Voters in
Alberta,
Canadavoted in favor of prohibiting the sale and distribution of alcohol within the province, the second time the region went dry (the first prohibition was lifted in 1892 when Alberta was part of the
Northwest Territories). Just over 58,000 voted in favour of prohibition while 37,000 voted against. Prohibition was implemented July 1, 1916.[107]
Seventeen-year old British soldier
Herbert Burden was executed for desertion, the youngest ever to be executed by the
British Army. Burden testified during his court-martial that he had not deserted his unit after he had been discharged from a British Hospital on June 26, but he was visiting a friend in a neighboring unit who had lost a comrade in battle and intended to return to his post, arguably making it a case of absent without leave. He was pardoned posthumously by the British government in 2006 along with 300 other executed soldiers.[108]
Battle of Manzikert — Bad communications delays kept Russian general
Nikolai Yudenich from learning that the Russians had retreated from
Manzikert,
Turkey. In all, the Russian force lost between 7,000 and 10,000 men.[57]
The British government introduced the
Elections and Registration Act which required all British citizens aged 15 to 65 to be registered by August 15.[109]
The steamer
Eastland capsized in central
Chicago, with the loss of 844 lives.[114]
German submarine
SM U-36 was sunk in the
North Atlantic by British
Q-ship (armed merchant vessel)
HMS Prince Charles with the loss of 18 out of the 34 crew.[115] It was the first time a militarized merchant ship was able to sink an enemy vessel without the aid of a fellow submarine.[116][117]
Second Battle of the Isonzo — Members of the Italian Second and Third Armies occupied the Cappuccio Wood south of Mount San Michele, which had been used as bridgehead by the
Austro-Hungarian army, but failed to hold the mountain itself.[89]
French submarine
Mariotte was scuttled in the
Dardanelles, with 31 crew taken as prisoners of war.[120] The vessel attempted to slip through the same
anti-submarine net British sub
HMS E14 was able to do five days earlier, but failed to negotiate it and subsequently was forced to surface. Shore batteries spotted the sub and shelled the conning tower before it could submerge.[121]
German destroyer
SMS V188 was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea by
Royal Navy submarine
HMS E16 with the loss of five of her crew.[122]
Vilbrun Guillaume Sam,
President of Haiti, ordered the execution of his predecessor
Oreste Zamor along with 160 other political prisoners in
Port-au-Prince. The brutal mass execution became the tipping point for the nation after months of violent oppression under the regime, resulting in a citizen uprising the same day. Sam took refuge in the French embassy but a mob broke in the following day and killed him.[128]
Adolfo Munoz, a Mexican living in
Cameron County, Texas, was arrested in
San Benito, Texas, for "scheming to rob a local bank and having connections with
armed raiders." A masked lynch mob abducted Munoz from police custody, and he was found dead the following day from multiple gunshot wounds. It was unknown whether the lynch mob were local vigilantes or Mexican rebels.[35]
The
flamethrower was used for the first time in combat, with German forces using it to flush out British soldiers from their trenches at
Hooge,
Belgium.[138]
British cargo ship
Iberian was torpedoed and sunk in the
Atlantic Ocean 9 nautical miles (17 km) southwest of the
Fastnet Rock by German submarine
SM U-28 with the loss of seven crew.[139]
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^Preston, D. (2003) Wilful Murder. The Sinking of the Lusitania. London : Black Swan.
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^Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier: The Development of Aviation Vessels 1849-1922, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989,
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^Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, Second Edition, London: Putnam, 1976,
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^Coulthard-Clark, CD, 2000, Australia's Military Mapmakers – The Royal Australian Survey Corps 1915–96, Oxford University Press,
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^Staatliche Galerie Moritzburg Halle; Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe; Burg Giebichenstein Hochschule für Kunst und Design Halle (Hrsg.): Die hallesche Kunstschule von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart. Halle/Saale und Karlsruhe, 1993, S. 21.
^Komesaroff, Michael B (May 1977). "The Golden Age of Australian Lighthouses". The Victorian Historical Journal. 48 (2). reprinted in
"The Golden Age of Australian Lighthouses". Lighthouses of Australia Inc. Bulletin (5). September 2003. Archived from
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^T.C. Genelkurmay Harp Tarihi Başkanlığı Yayınları, Türk İstiklâl Harbine Katılan Tümen ve Daha Üst Kademelerdeki Komutanların Biyografileri, Genkurmay Başkanlığı Basımevi, Ankara, 1972, p. 129 (in Turkish)
^Aspinall-Oglander, Cecil Faber (1992) [1932]. Military Operations Gallipoli: May 1915 to the Evacuation. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Vol. II (Imperial War Museum and Battery Press ed.). London: Heinemann. p. 95.
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abMcKenzie, F. A. "The Defence of India". The Great War: The Standard History of the All-Europe Conflict.
H. W. Wilson, ed. Vol. 7, chapt. 128. This text is now in the public domain.
^Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, no ISBN, pp. 98-100.
^Plüschow, Gunther (1922). My Escape from Donington Hall. London: John Lane The Bodley Head.
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abcdWeber, John W. (2008). The shadow of the revolution: South Texas, the Mexican Revolution, and the evolution of modern American labor relations. pp. 79–94.
ISBN978-0-549-96152-9.
^van Wyngarden, Greg (2006). Osprey Aircraft of the Aces #73: Early German Aces of World War 1. Botley, Oxford UK & New York City, USA: Osprey Publishing. pp. 16–17.
ISBN978-1-84176-997-4.
^Solbakken, Evald O. (1951). Det røde fylke. Trekk av den politiske arbeiderbevegelse i Hedmark gjennom 100 år (in Norwegian). Hamar: Hedmark Labour Party. pp. 139–143.
^Cron, Hermann (2002) [1937]. Imperial German Army 1914–18: Organisation, Structure, Orders-of-Battle. Helion & Co. pp. 82–83.
ISBN1-874622-70-1.
^"WOMEN'S PEACE ARMY". The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). 9 July 1915. Retrieved 22 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^Strachan, H. (2001). The First World War: To Arms. Vol. I. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 556–57.
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^Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert; Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe (Volume 5) (in German). Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. p. 144.
ASINB003VHSRKE.
^"La storia". Ferrovia Centrale Umbra srl. 6 February 2003. Archived from
the original on 6 February 2003. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
^Stone, Norman (1975). The Eastern Front 1914-17. London. pp. 165–193.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
^Bohdan Kordan, Enemy Aliens, Prisoners of War: Internment in Canada during the Great WarMontreal-Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press. 2002. p. 102
^"Jordan – Syria Boundary"(PDF). International Boundary Study (94). Washington, D.C.: U.S. State Department: 8. December 30, 1969. Archived from
the original(PDF) on March 17, 2016.
^Edmonds, Brig-Gen Sir James E. (1928). "Battle of Aubers Ridge, Festubert, and Loos". Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1915. II. London: Macmillan: 87–9.
^Allen, Anthony (2008). "African Police Medal for Meritorious Service 1915-38". The Journal of the Orders and Medals Research Society. 47 (1): 12–18.
^Kwame Anthony Appiah, Henry Louis Gates Jr., eds. Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, in articles "Civil Rights Movement" by Patricia Sullivan and "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People."
ISBN0-465-00071-1.
^Haigazn K. Kazarian, "The Murder of 6 Armenian Members of the Ottoman Parliament," Armenian Review 22 (Winter 1970), pp. 26-33; "'How Krikor Zohrab was Murdered': The Account of a Sergeant of Gendarmes at Urfa," Armenian Review 35 (Spring 1982), pp. 26-29.
^"BT College - Chronology". Besant Theosophical College. Besant Theosophical College. Archived from
the original on 29 January 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
^Hackmann, Willem (1984). Seek & strike : sonar, anti-submarine warfare, and the Royal Navy, 1914–54 (1st ed.). London: H.M.S.O.
ISBN0112904238.
^"WITHIN OUR GATES". The Age. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 14 July 1915. p. 15. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
^Bleiler, L; Society of the Muse of the Southwest (2011).
Taos. Images of America. Charleston: Arcadia Publishing. p. 75.
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^Richard J. Shuster, "Aden". The Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social and Military History, Volume 1, Spencer C. Tucker, ed. (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2005), p. 37
^Maj A.F. Becke,History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 3b: New Army Divisions (30–41) and 63rd (R.N.) Division, London: HM Stationery Office, 1939/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007,
ISBN1-84734-741-X, pp. 32-37
^Guttman, Jon (2009). Pusher Aces of World War I. Osprey Publishing. pp. 22–23.
ISBN978-1-84603-417-6.
^Rodolfo Rodrigues (2009). Escudos dos Times do Mundo Inteiro. Panda Books. p. 55.
^"French submarine missing". The Times. No. 40920. London. 30 July 1915. col D, p. 6.
^Willmott, Hedley Paul (2009). The Last Century of Sea Power: From Port Arthur to Chanak, 1894–1922. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 387.
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^Gröner, Erich; Jung, Dieter; Maass, Martin (1983). Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe 1815–1945: Band 2: Torpedoboote, Zerstörer, Schnellboote, Minensuchboote, Minenräumboote (in German). Koblenz: Bernard & Graef Verlag. pp. 46, 49.
ISBN3-7637-4801-6.
^Pretorius, Fransjohan (2014). A History of South Africa: From the Distant Past to the Present Day. Hatsfield, Pretoria: Protea Book House. p. 290.
ISBN978-1-86919-908-1.
^
abClodfelter, Micheal (2002). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1500-2000. McFarland. p. 460.
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^Willmott, H.P.; Kindersley, Dorling (2003). First World War. p. 106.
^"Iberian". Uboat.net. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
^Mike Dash, Satan's Circus: Murder, Vice, Police Corruption, and New York's Trial of the Century (Reprint, New York: Three Rivers Press, 2008), p. 329
^Miyata, Hiroyuki (June 2014). 釜石線ショートヒストリー ~路線と蒸気機関車~ [A short history of the Kamaishi Line: The line and steam locomotives]. Japan Railfan Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 54, no. 638. Japan: Koyusha Co., Ltd. pp. 24–25.
^Konefał, Jan (1988). "Bitwa Legionów Polskich pod Jastkowem w dniach 31 lipca – 3 sierpnia 1915 r". Rocznik Lubelski (in Polish) (T. 27/28 (1985-1986)). Lublin: Wydawnictwo Lubelskie: 121–129.
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^Explore Queensland's National Parks. Prahran, Victoria: Explore Australia Publishing. 2008. pp. 30–33.
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^Terada, Hirokazu (19 January 2013). データブック日本の私鉄 [Databook: Japan's Private Railways]. Japan: Neko Publishing. p. 33.
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