January 1
January 1
British ship Formidable is torpedoed
In the early‑morning hours of New Year’s Day, 1915, the 15,000‑ton British HMS class battleship Formidable is torpedoed by the German submarine U‑24 and sinks in the English Channel, killing…
A Year In History: 1915
Also Within This Year in History:
1915
The horrors of modern warfare were on full view in 1915, the second year of World War I. A German U-boat sank the passenger liner Lusitania off Ireland, German zeppelins bombed London, the French developed a fighter plane that could fire precisely timed machine-gun bullets through its propeller, and German troops unleashed poison gas for the first time on the battlefield. In America, meanwhile, a young Boston Red Sox pitcher named Babe Ruth clubbed his first major-league homer.
January 1
January 1
A preview of “The Birth of a Nation” is shown to audiences
On January 1, 1915, audiences file into the Loring Opera House at 3745 7th Street in Riverside, California, for a sneak preview of D.W. Griffith’s first full‑length feature film, The…
January 7
January 7
Bolshevik envoy approaches German ambassador in Turkey
As Bolshevik groups work to foment revolution among Russia’s peasants, Alexander Helphand, a wealthy Bolshevik businessman working as a German agent, approaches the German ambassador to Turkey in Constantinople to…
January 14
January 14
South African troops occupy Swakopmund in German Southwest Africa
As part of an attempt to display its loyalty to the British empire and, perhaps more importantly, enlarge its own sphere of influence on the African continent, South Africa sends…
January 19
January 19
First air raid on Britain
During World War I, Britain suffers its first casualties from an air attack when two German zeppelins drop bombs on Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn on the eastern coast of…
January 24
January 24
British and German navies battle at the Dogger Bank
German naval forces under Admiral Franz von Hipper, encouraged by the success of a surprise attack on the British coastal towns of Hartlepool and Scarborough the previous month, set off…
January 28
January 28
Germans sink American merchant ship
In the country’s first such action against American shipping interests on the high seas, the captain of a German cruiser orders the destruction of the William P. Frye, an American…
January 29
January 29
German lieutenant Erwin Rommel leads daring mission in France
On January 29, 1915, in the Argonne region of France, German lieutenant Erwin Rommel leads his company in the daring capture of four French block‑houses, the structures used on the…
February 4
February 4
Germany declares war zone around British Isles
A full two years before Germany’s aggressive naval policy would draw the United States into the war against them, Kaiser Wilhelm announces an important step in the development of that…
February 7
February 7
Winter Battle of the Masurian Lakes begins
On this day in 1915, in a blinding snowstorm, General Fritz von Below and Germany s Eighth Army launch a surprise attack against the Russian lines just north of the…
February 8
February 8
“The Birth of A Nation” opens in L.A., glorifying the KKK
On February 8, 1915, D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation, a landmark film in the history of cinema, premieres at Clune’s Auditorium in Los Angeles. The film was America’s…
February 12
February 12
British planes raid Belgian coast
One of the biggest air raids of World War I occurs on this day in 1915, when 34 planes from the British Naval Wing attack the German‑occupied coastal towns of…
February 12
February 12
Lorne Greene is born
Lorne Greene, the actor who played Ben Cartwright on the immensely popular television Western Bonanza, is born in Ontario, Canada. An only child, Greene later said he based his portrayal…
February 15
February 15
Mutiny breaks out among Indian soldiers in Singapore
In Singapore on this day in 1915, Indian soldiers launch the first large‑scale mutiny of World War I. Some 800 soldiers in the Indian army’s 5th Light Infantry Brigade broke…
February 17
February 17
Zeppelin L‑4 crashes into North Sea
After encountering a severe snowstorm on the evening of February 17, 1915, the German zeppelin L‑4 crash‑lands in the North Sea near the Danish coastal town of Varde. The zeppelin,…
February 19
February 19
British navy bombards Dardanelles
On this day in 1915, British and French battleships launch a massive attack on Turkish positions at Cape Helles and Kum Kaleh at the entrance to the Dardanelles, the narrow…
February 27
February 27
The Valley of Fear is published
On this day in 1915, The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle is published in novel form. Sherlock Holmes had been a popular character since he first appeared in…
March 3
March 3
“Birth of a Nation” opens in New York
Director D.W. Griffith’s controversial Civil War epic The Birth of a Nation opens in New York City on March 3, 1915, a few weeks after its West Coast premiere in…
March 13
March 13
Battle of Neuve Chapelle ends
On this day in 1915, British forces end their three‑day assault on the German trenches near the village of Neuve Chapelle in northern France, the first offensive launched by the…
March 14
March 14
German cruiser Dresden sinks
On this day in 1915, the British ships Kent and Glasgow corner the German light cruiser Dresden in Cumberland Bay, off the coast of Chile. After raising the white flag,…
