What happened in 1916

World4

• Mar 10The McMahon–Hussein Correspondence concludes with an understanding that the United Kingdom would recognise Arab independence in return for Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, launching the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire.
• Jun 4WWI: The Brusilov Offensive, the height of Russian operations in the war, begins with their breaking through Austro-Hungarian lines.
• Jul 26WWI: East African Campaign – The German armed ship SMS Graf von Goetzen scuttles herself on Lake Tanganyika.
• Dec 21WWI: El Arish occupied by the British Empire Desert Column during advance across the Sinai Peninsula.

North America14

• Feb 11The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra presents its first concert in the United States.
• Jul 1Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916: At least one shark attacks 5 swimmers along of New Jersey coastline, resulting in 4 deaths and the survival of one youth, who requires limb amputation. This event is the inspiration for author Peter Benchley, over half a century later, to write Jaws.
• Jul 22Preparedness Day Bombing: In San Francisco, a bomb explodes on Market Street during a Preparedness Day parade, killing 10 and injuring 40; Warren Billings and Tom Mooney are later wrongly convicted of it.
• Jul 30German agents cause the Black Tom explosion in Jersey City, New Jersey, an act of sabotage destroying an ammunition depot and killing at least 7 people.
• Aug 9Lassen Volcanic National Park is established in California.
• Aug 25U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs legislation creating the National Park Service.
• Sep 5D. W. Griffith's film Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages is released in the United States.
• Sep 6The first true self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, is founded in Memphis, Tennessee, by Clarence Saunders, opening 5 days later.
• Sep 11A mechanical failure causes the central span of the Quebec Bridge, a cantilever-type structure, to crash into the Saint Lawrence River for the second time, killing 13 workers.
• Sep 13Mary, a circus elephant, is hanged in the town of Erwin, Tennessee for killing her handler, Walter "Red" Eldridge.
• Oct 16Margaret Sanger opens the first U.S. birth control clinic, a forerunner of Planned Parenthood.
• Nov 5Everett massacre: An armed confrontation in Everett, Washington, between local authorities and members of the Industrial Workers of the World results in seven deaths.
• Nov 71916 United States presidential election: Democratic President Woodrow Wilson narrowly defeats Republican Charles Evans Hughes, when California is called a week after Election Day.
• The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers is founded in the United States as the Society of Motion Picture Engineers.

Europe29

• Feb 21WWI: The Battle of Verdun begins in France.
• Apr 11WWI: The Egyptian Expeditionary Force begins the occupation of the Sinai Peninsula.
• Apr 24The Easter Rising occurs in Ireland. Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood proclaim an Irish Republic, and the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army occupy the General Post Office and other buildings in Dublin, before surrendering to the British Army. A total of 485 Irish Volunteers, British soldiers and Irish civilians were killed as well as 2,200 wounded and 16 rebel leaders would be executed.
• May 315 Irish rebel leaders who took part in the Easter Rising in Dublin in April are executed. Among them were Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, Thomas Clarke and William Pearse, brother of Patrick Pearse who had served as a captain rather than a leader.
• May 16Britain and France conclude the secret Sykes–Picot Agreement, which is to divide Arab areas of the Ottoman Empire, following the conclusion of WWI and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, into French and British spheres of influence.
• May 31WWI: Battle of Jutland, between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet in the North Sea, the war's only large-scale clash of battleships. The result is tactically inconclusive, but British dominance of the North Sea is maintained
• Jul 1WWI: Battle of the Somme, opening with explosion of the British Y Sap and Lochnagar mines and the Battle of Albert: More than one million soldiers die, with 57,470 British Empire casualties on the first day, 19,240 of them killed, the British Army's bloodiest day. The immediate result is tactically inconclusive.
• Aug 3Roger Casement is executed by hanging in Pentonville Gaol, London for his role in the Easter Rising in Dublin.
• Aug 4WWI: Italian forces launch a successful offensive against Austro-Hungarian forces in Gorizia and Sabotin.
• AugAugust 17 (August 4 O.S.) – WWI: The Treaty of Bucharest is signed secretly between Romania and the Entente Powers, stipulating the conditions under which Romania agrees to join the war on their side, particularly territorial promises in Austria-Hungary.
• Sep 15WWI: Battle of Flers–Courcelette, France – The battle is significant for the first use of the tank in warfare; also for the debut of the Canadian and New Zealand Divisions in the Battle of the Somme.
• Nov 18WWI – Battle of the Somme: In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle, which started on July 1.
• Nov 21Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria dies of pneumonia at the Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, aged 86, after a reign of 68 years and is succeeded by his grandnephew Charles I.
• Dec 18WWI: The Battle of Verdun ends in France with German troops defeated.
• Dec 22The British Sopwith Camel aircraft makes its maiden flight. It is designed to counter the German Fokker aircraft.

14 more in the app

USSR / Russia2

• Oct 14Perm State University is founded in Russia.
• Dec 30(December 17 Old Style) – The mystic Grigori Rasputin is murdered in Saint Petersburg.

Asia1

• Mar 22The temporary Emperor of China, Yuan Shikai, abdicates the throne, and the Republic of China is restored once again.

Middle East8

• Jan 9WWI: Gallipoli Campaign – The last British troops are evacuated from Gallipoli, as the Ottoman Empire prevails over a joint British and French operation to capture Constantinople.
• Jan 10WWI: Erzurum Offensive – Russia defeats the Ottoman Empire.
• Jan 13WWI: Battle of Wadi – Ottoman Empire forces defeat the British, during the Mesopotamian campaign in modern-day Iraq.
• Apr 29WWI: Mesopotamian campaign – The Siege of Kut ends with the surrender of British Indian Army forces to the Ottoman Empire at Kut-al-Amara on the Tigris in Basra Vilayet.
• Jun 10The Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire, to create a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo to Aden, is formally declared by Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca.
• Jul 2WWI: Battle of Erzincan – Russian forces defeat troops of the Ottoman Empire in Armenia.
• Aug 3WWI: Sinai and Palestine Campaign – Battle of Romani: British Imperial troops secure victory over a joint Ottoman-German force.
• Dec 23WWI: The Desert Column captures the Ottoman garrison during the Battle of Magdhaba.

Latin America1

• Mar 8Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa leads about 500 Mexican raiders in an attack against Columbus, New Mexico, killing 12 U.S. soldiers. A garrison of the U.S. 13th Cavalry Regiment fights back and drives them away.

Africa2

• Feb 12WWI: Battle of Salaita Hill (East African Campaign) – South African and other British Empire troops fail to take a German East African defensive position.
• Oct 27Battle of Segale: Negus Mikael of Wollo, marching on the Ethiopian capital in support of his son Emperor Iyasu V, is defeated by Fitawrari Habte Giyorgis, securing the throne for Empress Zewditu.