What happened in 1915

World6

• Feb 1William Fox creates the Fox Film Corporation.
• Feb 18WWI: Germany regards the waters around the British Isles to be a war zone from this date, as part of its U-boat Campaign.
• May 6Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition: SY Auroras drift – The breaks loose from its anchorage during a gale, beginning a 312-day ordeal.
• Jul 14The McMahon–Hussein Correspondence between Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca and the British official Sir Henry McMahon concerning the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire begins; in exchange for assistance against the Ottomans, the British offer bin Ali their recognition of an independent Arab kingdom, although clear terms are never agreed.
• Jul 22WWI: The "Great Retreat" is ordered on the Eastern Front; Russian forces pull back out of Poland (at this time part of the Russian Empire), taking machinery and equipment with them.
• JulWWI: South West Africa Campaign – The Union of South Africa occupies German South West Africa with assistance from Canada, the United Kingdom, the Portuguese Republic and Portuguese Angola. South Africa will occupy South West Africa until March 1990.

North America6

• Jan 12A Fool There Was premières in the United States, starring Theda Bara as a femme fatale; she quickly becomes one of early cinema's most sensational stars.
• Jan 21Kiwanis is founded in Detroit, Michigan, as The Supreme Lodge Benevolent Order Brothers.
• Jan 26The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of the United States Congress.
• Feb 8The controversial film, The Birth of a Nation, directed by D. W. Griffith, premieres in Los Angeles. It will be the highest-grossing film for around 25 years.
• Feb 20In San Francisco, the Panama–Pacific International Exposition is opened.
• Sep 7Cartoonist John B. Gruelle is given a patent for his Raggedy Ann doll.

Europe23

• Jan 24WWI: Battle of Dogger Bank – The British Grand Fleet defeats the German High Seas Fleet, sinking the armoured cruiser.
• Jan 31WWI: Battle of Bolimów – Germany's first large-scale use of poison gas as a weapon occurs, when 18,000 artillery shells containing liquid xylyl bromide tear gas are fired on the Imperial Russian Army, on the Rawka River west of Warsaw; however, freezing temperatures prevent it being effective.
• Mar 10WWI: Battle of Neuve Chapelle – In the first deliberately planned British offensive of the war, British Indian troops overrun German positions in France, but are unable to sustain the advance.
• Apr 22WWI: Start of Second Battle of Ypres – Germany makes its first large scale use of poison gas on the Western Front.
• Apr 26Treaty of London: Italy secretly agrees to leave the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, and join with the Entente Powers, in exchange for certain territories of Austria-Hungary on its borders.
• May 7Sinking of the RMS Lusitania: 's main rival, the British ocean liner, is sunk by Imperial German Navy U-boat U-20 off the south-west coast of Ireland, killing 1,199 civilians en route from New York City to Liverpool. The best-known of the celebrities on board is American sportsman Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt.
• May 23WWI: Italy joins the Allies after declaring war on Austria-Hungary.
• Aug 16WWI: The Allies promise the Kingdom of Serbia, should victory be achieved over Austria-Hungary and its allied Central Powers, the territories of Baranja, Srem and Slavonia from the Cisleithanian part of the Dual Monarchy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and eastern Dalmatia (from the river of Krka to Bar).
• Sep 25WWI: Battle of Loos – British forces take the French town of Loos, but with substantial casualties, and are unable to press their advantage. This is the first time the British use poison gas in World War I, and also their first large-scale use of 'New' (or Kitchener's Army) units.
• Oct 12WWI: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad, for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium.
• Oct 15WWI: Serbian Campaign – Austria-Hungary invades the Kingdom of Serbia. Bulgaria enters the war, also invading Serbia. The Serbian First Army retreats towards Greece.
• Nov 21British polar exploration ship Endurance finally breaks apart from pressure of ice around it and sinks into the Weddell Sea, stranding Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition party in the Antarctic. The wreck is discovered at a depth of 3,008 metres (9,869 ft), 107 years later in 2022.
• NovGeneral relativityIt explained gravity as heavy objects bending space and time. The 1919 solar eclipse confirmed that starlight passing near the Sun is bent.
• Dec 23HMHS Britannic, which will be the largest British ship lost in WWI (though with only 30 fatalities), departs Liverpool on her maiden voyage as a hospital ship.
• Dec 26The Irish Republican Brotherhood Military Council decides to stage an Easter Rising in 1916.

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Asia1

• Dec 12President of the Republic of China Yuan Shikai declares himself Emperor.

Middle East14

• Jan 17WWI: Caucasus Campaign – Battle of Sarikamish: Russia defeats Ottoman Turkey.
• Jan 26WWI: The Ottoman Army begins the Raid on the Suez Canal.
• Feb 25Armenian genocide: The Ottoman Empire transfers Armenians from its armed forces to unarmed Ottoman labour battalions.
• Mar 2Armenian genocide: Earliest recorded deportations.
• Mar 18Gallipoli campaign: A Franco-British naval attack on the Dardanelles fails.
• MarThe 1915 Palestine locust infestation breaks out in Palestine; it continues until October.
• Apr 21On the orders of Talat Pasha, Haydar Bey organized an expedition against the Assyrians. He killed thousands of Assyrians along with Kurdish tribes.
• Apr 24Armenian genocide: deportation of Armenian notables from Istanbul begins.
• Apr 25WWI: Start of the Gallipoli Campaign by land forces (lasting until January 1916) – A landing at Anzac Cove is conducted by Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and a landing at Cape Helles by British and French troops, to begin the Allied invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire.
• May 27Armenian genocide: The Tehcir Law is promulgated by the Turkish Ottoman Empire authorizing deportation of the Ottoman Armenian population to Deir ez-Zor in the Syrian desert, leading to the deaths of anywhere between 800,000 and over 1,500,000 civilians and confiscation of their property.
• JunArmenian genocide: 15,000 civilians from the Ottoman Armenian population of Bitlis are massacred by Ottoman Turks and Kurds.
• JulArmenian genocide: 17,000 civilians from the Ottoman Armenian population of Trebizond are massacred by Ottoman Turks.
• Aug 6WWI: Battle of Sari Bair (Gallipoli Campaign) – The Allies mount a diversionary attack timed to coincide with a major Allied landing of reinforcements at Suvla Bay.
• Sep 12French soldiers rescue over 4,000 Armenian genocide survivors stranded on Musa Dagh, a mountain in the Hatay province of Turkey.

Latin America2

• Mar 14Battle of Más a Tierra: Off the coast of Chile, the British Royal Navy forces the Imperial German Navy light cruiser SMS Dresden (last survivor of the German East Asia Squadron) to scuttle.
• Jul 28The American occupation of Haiti (1915–34) begins.

Africa3

• Jan 23Chilembwe uprising: Baptist minister John Chilembwe initiates an ultimately unsuccessful uprising against British colonial rule in Nyasaland (modern-day Malawi).
• Feb 4The Maritz Rebellion of disaffected Boers against the government of the Union of South Africa ends with the surrender of the remaining rebels.
• Jul 11WWI: Battle of Rufiji Delta – German cruiser is forced to scuttle in the Rufiji River, German East Africa (modern-day Tanzania).

Oceania2

• Jan 1WWI: Battle of Broken Hill: A train ambush near Broken Hill, Australia, is carried out by two men (claiming to be in support of the Ottoman Empire) who are killed, together with four civilians.
• May 19WWI: The third attack on Anzac Cove by Ottoman forces is repelled by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.