1916
January, 7
In his Christmas adress in front of the Duma,
Tsar Nicholas II announces the tenure of new elections in May to elect the new Duma, stating his intention to have the Duma draft a new Constitution for the Russian Empire ; he however affirms that he will be free to put any veto to an article of the Constitution that would displease him.
January, 13
The North Sea floods in the Zuiderzee region in the Netherlands, making 10,000 dead.
Former Mexican dictator and President Victoriano Huerta dies in exile in El Paso, Texas.
January, 20
Nedeljko Cabrinovic, failed assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914, dies of tuberculosis in Therensienstadt prison.
February, 8
Foundation of the Dada artistic movement in Zurich, Switzerland, aimed at ridiculing bellicism in Europe and overall vacuity.
February, 10
The I Olympic Winter Games open in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. First conceived as an one-week venue for winter games after the interest they generated at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games, it retroactively became the first Olympic Winter Games in history.
February, 12
The Senussi order, under secret agreement with the Ottoman Empire,
begin a revolt against Italian colonists in Libya and French settlers in Algeria ; with French support, the revolters are kept at bay.
February, 17
The Garmisch-Partenkirchen Winter Olympic Games close. The official tally is Norway, followed by Germany, the host-nation, and Switzerland.
February, 21
Conservatives in the French governement manage to overthrown incumbent President of Council Alexandre Millerand by Georges Leygues.
February, 28
British American novelist Henry James dies at 72 in Chelsea, England.
February, 29
The ratification of the
Eighteenth Amendement to the Constitution by Delaware gives officially to American women the right to vote, beginning with the 1916 presidential and congressionnal elections.
March, 2
American representatives of the State and War Departments meet with Mexican rebel leader Pancho Villa outside of Palomas, a village near the US-Mexico border. Villa had contacted American authorities with the threat of raiding a nearby American village for supplies, money and munitions ; he gives them evidence of German military advisers in the Carranza governement and asks for American support for the rebels in order to rout out the Carranza faction and German ingerency. After some confering,
President Woodrow Wilson decides to agree to supply Pancho Villa, prefering Mexicans to fight each other to a possible German-influenced Mexico under Carranza, just south of the United States. In exchange, Villa won’t threaten American interests in Mexico or cross the border. Wilson refuses to reveal German involvement in Mexico in order not to alienate the politically powerful German American minority, few months from election day.
March, 9
Alexandre Millerand regains his seat of French President of Council after a vote of non-confidence against the Leygues government.
March, 15
As according to Tsar Nicholas II’s wishes, the Duma is dissolved.
March, 22
Due to internal issues and facing a huge revolt from China’s southern provinces led by warlord Cai E,
Yuan Shikai renounces to his prospect of a new Chinese Empire under his helm and reverts back to the Republic. From this point, the pro-Kuomintang South escapes to Beijing’s authority.
April, 7
The Tuareg tribes led by Ag Mohammed Wau Tegguida Kaocen in Northern Niger revolt against French colonists, imitating Senussi revolts in Libya and Algeria.
April, 11
British authorities in Egypt agree to not enter the Sinai Peninsula, which remains part of the Ottoman Empire.
April, 19
The Uprising Law is passed in the United Kingdom : individuals « caught preparing and/or executing acts of high treason, violence and sedition against representatives of His Majesty’s authority » are now passible of immediate detention and execution, depriving them of their habeas corpus rights. It officially sanctions exactions against Irish civilians but also enacts truely martial law in Ireland.
April, 26
On Easter Monday,
Secretary of the Irish Volunteers Eoin Mac Neill sends to newspapers and city halls throughout Ireland the Easter Proclaimation, declaring an independant Irish State with himself as his Premier,
saying that Ireland should consider itself free from British rule, refusing to give up arms until all of Ireland is united under a single government, and calling British Expeditionary Forces to desert « to avoid killing their Celtic brothers ». The declaration of independance is of course considered null and void by the Bonar Law cabinet, while some of the Irish independantists, such as Arthur Griffith or John Redmond, consider it too bold a move and still ask for negotiations with London about Home Rule or Dominion status.
May
Softly,
General Archibald Murray, commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Forces, begins to withdraw most of his forces from Munster Province, deemed too rebellious and too violent for British troops ; the presence in big cities, such as Dublin, Cork or Galway, where every night sees new bomb attacks and other ambushes, is also loosened. General Murray petitions the government for a conscription law or help from the Colonial forces to help him enforce law and order in Ireland.
May, 5
At the demand of Dominican President Juan Isidro Jimenez, concerned by dissent,
the United States send Marines to the Dominican Republic.
May, 10
After unsuccesqful plotting against French rule,
Emperor of Annam Duy Tan is deposed and exiled to Reunion Island by French authorities ; he is replaced by his cousin Khai Dinh.
May, 20
After a long and uneasy process,
the new Duma is elected, with a majority dominated by independants, Constitutional Democrats (Kadets), Alexandr Kerensky’s Trudoviks and regional parties. They agree to keep Alexei Khvovstov as Prime Minister and form a Constituent Assembly, as decided by the Tsar.
May, 27
Hero of the French colonization of Africa, mostly in Madagascar, Joseph Gallieni, dies aged 67 in Versailles, France. He receives national honours.
June, 6
President and ephemeral former Emperor Yuan Shikai dies in Beijing, aged 56, from uremia. In his will, he rests the future of the Republic on three of his followers : Duan Qirui, Li Yuanhong and Xu Shichang. In a mutual agreement,
Li Yuanhong becomes President of the Republic, a mere figurehead dominated by the Premier and real power, Duan Qirui. However, the southern Provinces, committed to Sun Yat-Sen’s Kuomintang, are now totally escaping to Beijing’s government.
June, 9
Leader of the (not-seating) Irish Parliamentary Party
John Redmond is assassinated in Galway, mostly due to a refusal to endorse the Easter Proclaimation. John Dillon, his Deputy, replaces him and sticks to his negotiation policy, while supporting the Easter Proclaimation « until a proper compromise is reached with London ».
June, 11
At the fifth ballot, in the Republican National Convention in Chicago, Illinois,
Massachusetts Senator John W. Weeks is nominated as the Republican presidential candidate, representing the moderate faction against conservatives led by Senator Elihu Root and liberals led by Albert Cummins ; the support for his main competitor, Associate Justice Charles Evans Hughes, vanished at the second ballot. The point of the Republicans is to avoid the same split than in 1912. Weeks nominated former Nebraska Senator Elmer Burkett as his running mate.
June, 18
Chief of the German General Staff Helmuth von Moltke dies in Berlin, Germany ; he is replaced by
General Erich von Falkenhayn, who succesfully pushes towards an offensive strategy in a hypothetical war against France.
June, 25
Mehmed Talaat Pasha becomes Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, replacing Caliph Mehmed V’s trustee Said Halim Pasha and officially finalizing the takeover of Ottoman Empire’s politics by the Commitee Union and Progress, continuing the modernist and pro-Western policies. Some said that this move by Talaat Pasha was in order to consolidate the Triumvirate’s hold on Ottoman politics after the setback created by Armenian autonomy in 1915.
July, 1
A Conscription Bill is defeated in the House of Commons due to Labour and Liberal dissidents’ manoeuvring.
The death toll of British soldiers killed in Ireland reach 1,000. The number of Irish civilians killed is left unknown.
July, 4
Russia sends troops in Central Asia to quell down revolts created by a lack of freedom of cult for Muslims and high taxes.
July, 11
After a dispute about the budget allowed to the Durazzo military base and the Austro-Hungarian alliance, Minister of Finance Paolo Boselli replaces Vittorio Emanuele Orlando as President of Council of Italy.
July, 15
The Munoz Vernaza-Suarez Treaty is signed, fixing once and for all the border between Colombia and Ecuador.
July, 16
Without surprise, President Woodrow Wilson is unanimously re-nominated at the Democratic National Convention in Saint Louis, Missouri. He also re-nominates Vice President Thomas R. Marshall as his running mate.
Irish Volunteer commander Eamon De Valera is killed in a shootout with British forces in Cork.
July, 17
The Fourth Balkan War begins when the Serbian army makes a surprise attack in Macedonia, an area heavily contested between Serbia and Bulgaria ; the Bulgarian Empire immediately declares war to Serbia. No Balkanic country moves, making military preparations instead ; the Austro-Hungarians reinforce their garrisons in Bosnia.
July, 22
The Games of the VI Olympiad open in the Deutsches Stadion in Berlin, Germany, in a ceremony presided by Kaiser Wilhelm II. 32 nations participate, with Argentina, Brazil and Monaco making their first appearences.
July, 31
A general strike fails in Mexico City against Venustiano Carranza’s rule, who declares martial law against strikers and loses support among the working class.
August
The Fourth Balkan War in Macedonia quickly turns into a war of attrition, neither side winning the upper hand.
August, 1
The National Assembly of the Republic of China reopens for the first time since a year and a half ; this move fails to convince Sun Yat-Sen’s factions.
August, 4
Due to a general lack of interest,
Denmark agrees to sell the Danish West Indies (Sankt Thomas, Sankt Jan, Sankt Croix) to the United States of America for 25 million dollars.
August, 14
The Berlin Summer Olympic Games conclude. The United States win most of the medals, followed by Sweden and the host nation, Germany. The Kaiser voiced his discontent at the relatively poor and uneventful performance by the German athletes, having hoped that the event would become a propaganda success for his country.
August, 20
The Ottoman Empire and Germany conclude a defensive military alliance, reinforced by mutual assisstance and German advisers in the Ottoman Empire ; the alliance is a major victory in foreign affairs for the Young Turks, having managed to find a trusted ally against Russia.
August, 24
The Russian Constituent Assembly announces it has completed a Constitution ; it is sent to the Tsar for his approval.
August, 28
James Connelly, leader of the trade unionist and socialist Irish Citizen Army, agrees to a truce with the Irish Volunteers, joining forces with them in exchange of an acknowledgement of workers’ rights and nationalizations in a would-be Irish State.
September, 5
D. W. Griffith’s new extravaganza,
Intolerance, premieres in the United States. In spite of being a massive success, it fails to gain back his extravagant budget.
September, 14
Russian Bolshevik revolutionary Leon Trotsky is expelled from France ; after being taken to the Spanish border, he embarks to the United States.
September, 17
A coup occurs in Ethiopia against Negus Iyasu V, suspected of conversion to Islam ; her aunt Zauditu, daughter of Menelik II, is imposed as Empress under the regency of her cousin Ras Tafari Makonnen. Iyasu V takes his partisans to the countryside.
September, 23
From his position of Governor-General of Armenia in Trebizond, former United States President Theodore Roosevelt reiterates his will not to endorse anyone in the ongoing presidential election, citing his reserve as temporary resident of a foreign country. The remnants of the 1912 Progressive Party had earlier failed to draft him as a presidential candidate.
September, 29
The Irish Volunteers re-christen themselves the Free Irish Army ; the nature of the future Irish State is left undetermined at this point, Arthur Griffith still pressing for a dual monarchy on the Austro-Hungarian model and the Irish Republican Brotherhood preferring to stage their own guerilla against the British.
October
According to historians,
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, exiled in Japan, has a series of meetings with the Japanese governement and General Staff.
October, 5
Imam Yahya of Yemen successfully proclaims his independance from the Ottoman Empire, with British support, having ruled the area since 1913. This is seen as a move against the Ottoman-German alliance, in order to weaken Ottoman presence in the Arabian peninsula and to protect Aden.
October, 11
Former King Otto of Bavaria, deposed in 1913 on grounds of mental illness, dies aged 68 in Munich, Germany.
October, 12
A strike in Cape Town, asking for better wages in British-held mines, is violently repressed by colonial police and military, all very worried about being sent to Ireland and from the continued stress between British authorities and « bitter enders », Boer War veterans who never quite accepted the peace terms. The Cape Town Massacre leaves more than 62 dead and 200 wounded in the streets.
Opposition Afrikaner politicians, such as General J. B. M. Hertzog, vehemently protest this « act of war against the Afrikaner settlers ». « Bitter enders » begin a campaign of public disobedience against British authorities in the Union of South Africa. Some going as far as buying smuggled German weapons from German Southwest Africa…
Hipolito Yrigoyen, candidate of the Radical Civic Union, is elected President of Argentina, ending years of conservative domination.
October, 13
Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich and Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna marry in St. Petersburg, in a lavish ceremony attended by most of the royal families in Europe. The wedding is the occasion for an informal meeting between representatives about the issues in Russia, in Austria-Hungary and Ireland.
October, 15
At the instigation of known Germanophile King Gustaf V,
the Swedish government concludes a defensive military alliance with Germany, clearly aimed at the prospect of a Russian agression. France and Russia protest.
October, 19
The Cape Town Massacre convinces Prime Minister Andrew Bonar Law to push again for a conscription law, not wanting to deprive the Empire from its garrissons.
October, 21
During a visit by the British Royal Family in Leicester, returning from the wedding of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna in Russia, an unknown assaillant manages to sneak in the crowd and open fire at the open car carrying two bodyguards at the front seat, King George V and the Prince of Wales on second row, Lord Kitchener and the Duke of York at the third row of seats. The gunman fires five times with his pistol : one of the bodyguards is immediately killed by two bullets, Lord Kitchener and the Prince of Wales are respectively wounded in the right arm and bruised at the cheek, and the Duke of York steps in front of his father to cover him, taking a bullet in the left lung at the process. The assaillant manages to flee the scene in the ensuing confusion ; the Duke of York is rushed to the hospital.
October, 23
The Duke of York dies, aged 20, from complications due to his wounds at a Bristol hospital, in spite of the efforts of the royal doctors. The government proclaims three days of mourning. Prime Minister Bonar Law immediately blames Irish terrorists « for this despicable act of cowardice. »
October, 27
At Segale, in Ethiopia,
Negus Mikael of Wollo, father of the deposed Emperor Iyasu V, manages to defeat the troops of Zauditu supporter Fitawrari Habte Giyorgis, freeing the road to Addis-Abeba and forcing Zauditu to flee. The Ethiopian Civil War begins.
October, 29
The Duke of York is interred at Saint George’s Chapel, in Windsor Castle ; most of the guests at the Russian wedding of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna ironically return for the funeral.
October, 31
The assassin of the Duke of York is apprehended in Dover, while attempting to cross the Channel for France : surprisingly, it is a woman, Mary Richardson, a suffragette activist known for previous acts of arson and slashing the Rokeby Venus in the National Gallery, having already made jail time for these acts. While being arrested, she claims to have open fire to the King to help « the women’ suffrage cause, when our boys are sent to shed blood in Ireland and American women are allowed to vote. »
Charles Taze Russell, founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, dies aged 64 in Pampa, Texas.
November-December
The arrest of suffragette assassin Mary Richardson leads to a
massive police crackdown on suffragette militants, most notably mother and daughter Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst ; their daughter and sister, Sylvia, dies, bludgeoned to death while resisting arrest. Suffragettes having mastered East Asian martial arts such as ju-jitsu, their spectacular fights against police forces result in the crackdown being called the "Ju Jitsu Riots".
November, 3
Qatar becomes officially a British protectorate, without Ottoman opposition.
November, 7
Carrying on a healthy economy, lack of Progressive endorsement for the Republicans, successful military interventions in Latin America and issues kept at the Mexican border,
Woodrow Wilson wins the presidential election, becoming the first Democratic incumbent to win a second term to the White House since Andrew Jackson in 1832. The Wilson/Marshall ticket wins against Weeks/Burkett with 51, 3% of the popular vote, 32 states and 296 electoral votes, the vote being particularly close in California, West Virginia and Wisconsin, each taken by the Democrats. The Socialist ticket, led by Allan Benson, manages to earn 5% of the popular vote, making it to third place. The Democrats managed to keep control of both Houses of Congress.
Apart from being the first American election in which women were allowed to vote (going for Wilson in a sympathy vote), the election also saw the election of Jeanette Rankin as a Republican to Montana’s At-Large District, the first women ever elected on her own right. Also, Ashley Grant Miller becomes the first Socialist ever elected to Senate, in a close election in Nevada.
November, 10
The Home Department extends the Uprising Law to « terrorism and violent actions motivated by suffrage issues. »
November, 14
After long and hard negotiations with the Tsar,
the new Russian Constitution is unveiled by Tsar Nikolai II, accompanied by his son the Tsarevitch Alexei (still recovering), Prime Minister Khvovstov and President of the Duma Vladimir Nabokov. The main points of the new Constitution, inspired by the October Manifesto, are :
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The Duma is composed of deputies elected by universal male suffrage, elected in each uyzed proportionally to the uyzed (county)’s population, in two turns, nominally (with names and candidatures approved by the Governor), in a winners-take-all system to avoid the fragmentation of the Duma.
-The zemstvo system is simplificated, and so’s the volosts and mirs. Its members are elected directly by list in two rounds, and are tasked with local administration.
-The judicial system is left unchanged, such as the administrative subdivisions.
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The Prime Minister is designated by the Tsar along with his ministers, but has to be approved by the Duma ; he is responsible to the Tsar and the Duma ; can be dismissed anytime by the Tsar anytime, and by the Duma by a motion of censorship reaching the two thirds.
-The budget is voted by the Duma, but the Imperial Household’s budget is left at the discretion of the government.
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Freedoms of speech, strikes press, conscience, assembly and association are guaranteed, as long as they do not represent a threat against the Tsar, his government, the army, the Orthodox Church or the integrity of the Russian Empire.. Censorship still exists but is loosened.
-Limited autonomy for Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Armenia, with a suspending of the Russification policy in Poland, Finland and the Baltic Countries ; nevertheless, the teaching of the regional languages is not encouraged.
-The Russian Orthodox Church is the official religion of the Russian Empire, but
a relative freedom of cult is implemented, as long as religions don’t contradict with the authority of the Tsar and do not prevent their followers from abiding to their duties (such as military service). New ghettos are created for the Jewish communities « to protect them from further exactions », while Muslims are told to acknowledge the Tsar and not the Ottoman Caliph.
-Hereditary, religious and national class restrictions are aolished.
-The police is replaced by a public militisiya, subordinated to the local authorities.
-The line of succession is opened to women for the first time since Pavel I : should the Tsar die without a male heir, his daughters or sisters would be in line for the throne by order of birth, only if they don’t marry a commoner or a foreign reigning monarch, their husband is to rule with them, crowned as Tsars. As such, it moves newlywed Olga Nikolaevna (who married a Russian Romanov, Dmitri) as second-in-line in the Russian line of succession, next to her weak brother Alexei, and pushes back Grand Duke Mikhail, the Tsar’s brother, from second-in-line to sixth-in-line.
November, 15
Polish writer and Nobel Prize Laureate Henryk Sienkiewicz dies in Vevey, Switzerland, aged 70.
The repatriation of his remains in Poland, authorized by Russian authorities, generates a great outbreak of emotion throughout Poland, fostering hope for greater autonomy and even independance from Russian rule.
November, 21
After almost 68 years of reign and many great upheavals under his rule,
Austrian Emperor and King of Hungary Franz Joseph dies at 86 after catching a cold in Schonbrunn Palace, in Vienna. He is succeeded by Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este, aged 51, who takes the regnal name of Ferdinand II in Austria and Ferdinand VI in Hungary.
Prime Minister Alexei Khvovstov is re-appointed under the new Constitution, with Pavel Milyukov as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Eudcation, and Alexandr Kerensky as Minister of Labour.
November, 22
American writer Jack London dies of uremia aged 40 in Glen Ellen, California.
December, 1
In his adress to the Diet of Hungary,
Emperor Ferdinand II announces his desire to hold new negotiations for the Ausgleich (Compromise) that form the federal structure of Austria-Hungary for April in Pressburg, with the intention of rattaching new entities to the Austro-Hungarian Crown. While Czechs, Croats and Serbians rejoice, it generates considerable uproar in Hungary and Austria. Ferdinand decides to keep most of his great-uncle cabinet intact, only placing Graf Ottokar von Czernin, his political ally, as Foreign Minister, another move directed against the Hungarians.
December, 5
Conscription Law is passed at the House of Commons, riding on a sympathy vote after the assassination of the Duke of York.
December, 9
The Ottoman Empire enters the Fourth Balkan War at the side of Bulgaria ; this declaration of war does not concern the Ottoman-German alliance, and fails to tilt the balance and to make a breakthrough in Macedonia. Austro-Hungarian Chief of Staff Conrad von Hotzendorf pushes Ferdinand II to an Austro-Hungarian entry against Serbia ; the Emperor disagrees, citing the upheavals created by his new policies.
December, 14
The Danish people approves in a referendum the selling of the Danish West Indies to the United States.
December, 18
Accused of fraud by the opposition and facing heavy riots, President of Cuba Mario Garcia Menocal calls the United States for support ;
Wilson obliges by sending American Marines in Cuba to quell the revolts.
December, 29
Lucknow Pact between Hindu nationalists and Muslim nationalists in India, in favor of a single Indian nation.
This is unlike Europe, which by the 1930s is already at the mercy of an anti-national (?), syndicalist tide that appears to be fulfilling Marx's dream of making the working classes identify more with class than nation. Heaven knows what Europe will be by the end of the millennium.
