1st August 1915 (Sunday)

BORN TODAY: in the skies over the Western Front – The Fokker Scourge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_Scourge

Ireland: At the funeral of exiled Irish Fenian Jeremiah O’Donovan Rosse, Pádraig Pearse gives “one of the most famous speeches of the Irish independence movement stirring his audience to a call to arms” [Wikipedia].

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_O%27Donovan_Rossa

Some, at least, in Ireland, do not forget the call to arms:

https://www.facebook.com/therising2016

War!

In the Near East: the new (and incomplete) Germany to Baghdad railway begins transporting Armenians out of Anatolia and into Aleppo, now a (still troubled) city in Syria. Within 3 weeks, 20,000 are deported, and tales of abuse and atrocities are multiplying. [a report quoted in: “The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-1916”, by Bryce et al]

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=H0mfmdThGLAC&pg=PA556&lpg=PA556&dq=1st+august+1915&source=bl&ots=GIrjbyYxWc&sig=qQZGkXxAI0jTTVWfwZmdIsnB6Yc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDwQ6AEwBTh4ahUKEwiXs7zx7oDHAhVBkBQKHTvmA64#v=onepage&q=1st%20august%201915&f=false

24th July 1915 (Saturday)

BORN TODAY: In Uelzen, Germany – Günther Schwägermann – nazi Hauptsturmführer and adjutant to doctor Joseph Goebells.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnther_Schw%C3%A4germann

Accidents and disasters: at the dockside on the Chicago River, the steamship “Eastland”, which is boarding passengers for a Western Electric works outing across Lake Michigan, rolls over and capsizes. 844 passengers and crew are drowned, over 200 of them Czech immigrants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Eastland

War!

In the Middle East: In Turkish Mesopotamia (now Iraq)  British forces take the town of Nasiriya from the Turks, and begin to prepare plans for an advance  northward to Baghdad. [Roger Ford: “Eden to Armageddon; World War 1 in the Middle East”]

1st June 1915 (Tuesday)

BORN TODAY:

~ in Glasgow, Scotland – Alastair Stevenson (“Jock) Pearson: baker; parachutist; Lieutenant Colonel, DSO with three bars;  a baker again; then a farmer; Brigadier;  “Aide de Camp”  to the Queen; and finally the (14th) Lord Lieutenant of Dunbartonshire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastair_Pearson

~ In Enville, Oklahoma – Cyrus Whitfield (“Johnny”) Bond, country musician.

http://www.nndb.com/people/986/000118632/

` In New York City – Emanuel Hirsch Cohen, better known as John Randolph, actor.

http://spartacus-educational.com/USArandolphJ.htm

War!

In Mesopotamia (Iraq), “Townsend’s Regatta”, a mixed flotilla of Allied craft, is chasing the Turkish gunboats Marmaris and Mosul north on the River Tigris. {Burg & Purcell]
.

31st May 1915 (Monday)

BORN TODAY: in Canberra – Judith Wright, poet, environmentalist and campaigner for aboriginal land rights.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Wright

War!

In Turkish Mesopotamia (now Iraq, allegedly) – British and Indian troops are pushing back the Turks as the Allied forces advance northward in an amphibious operation on the River Tigris. [Burg & Purcell]

On the Austrian Isonzo river in the Julian alps (now the Soca River in Slovenia), Italian forces are attempting to push back Austrian troops and to advance eastward into the province of Carnolia (northern Slovenia). [Burg & Purcell]

14th April 1915 (Wednesday)

War!

In the Middle East:  Anglo-Indian forces oust a much larger combined Turkish and Arab army at the Battle of Shaiba, following which the Ottoman Commander, Suleiman Askeri, takes his own life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Shaiba

On the Black Sea: Tsar Nicholas, the Russian Emperor, inspects troops in the Russian city of Odessa (now in Ukraine).  “To-day I saw our fine fellows [our beauties] in Odessa at a grand inspection. Visited two hospitals. Lovely summer-like weather”. 

http://www.alexanderpalace.org/letters/april15.html

On the North Sea: German Zeppelin L9 carries out a bombing raid on Tyneside, in the north of England.

http://www.iancastlezeppelin.co.uk/14th-april/4582467811

On the (English) Home Front: An army recruiting parade today in Bournemouth, on England’s south coast…

12th April 1915 (Monday)

BORN TODAY:

~ in Natchez, Mississippi – Theodore Roosevelt “Hound Dog” Taylor, Chicago Blues guitarist and singer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hound_Dog_Taylor

~ Also the Wauchope railway station on the North Coast line in New South Wales, serving Wauchope, 455 kilometres from (and to) the Central Railway Station in Sydney.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wauchope_railway_station

War!

In the Middle East

~ Twelve thousand Turkish and Arab Troops counter-attack against the Anglo-Indian forces who are holding Shaiba, near Basra. [Burg & Purcell].

http://www.king-emperor.com/Photographs%20-%20Battle%20of%20Shaiba%201915.html

~ French warships bombard Gaza in Palestine, still a part of the Ottoman Empire and a base for Turkish threats to the Allied forces in Egypt.

http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/71701/GAZA%20WAR%20CEMETERY

11th April 1915 (Sunday)

BORN TODAY: Sunil Santha – Sri Lankan composer, singer and lyricist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunil_Santha

DIED TODAY: In prison in the Netherlands – Serial killer Maria Swanenburg, aged 75, convicted in 1885 of poisoning over 100 people with arsenic between 1880 and 1883, of whom at least 27 died, after starting with her own mother (1880) and shortly after her own father. Her motive – insurance policies. Her punishment – life imprisonment.

http://murderpedia.org/female.S/s/swanenburg-maria.htm

War!

In the Middle East: Turkish forces shell the city of Qurna in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) which has been held by the British since early December 1914. [Burg & Purcell].

9th April, 1915 (Friday)

BORN TODAY: On the Island of Vis in the Austro-Hungarian empire (now in Croatia) – Tomislav Bradanovic Lincir, migrant, actor and lover of fruit trees.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailybreeze/obituary.aspx?pid=174012124

War!

The Western Front: The “Times” of London reports rumours that German forces are planning to use chemical weapons against the Allies:

“It has been reported that in the Argonne, where the trenches are very close, the Germans have on several occasions pumped blazing oil or pitch onto the French, but, according to the statements of our prisoners, they are preparing a more novel reception for us in front of parts of our line. They propose to asphyxiate our men if they advance by means of poisonous gas. The gas is contained under pressure in steel cylinders, and, being of a heavy nature, will spread along the ground without being dissipated quickly.”

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/battles/second-ypres-1915/prelude/press-warning.htm

The Middle East: Sir John Nixon arrives in Basra, in Turkish Mesopotamia (now Iraq) to take command of the original Expeditionary Force, with orders to carry on with a further advance of 60 miles up the Tigris from al-Qurnah to Erza’s tomb and al-Amara.

http://www.winkleighheroes.co.uk/level3/kut.htm

20th March 1915 (Saturday)

War – the ethics of foreign policy

Italy’s price for joining the Triple Alliance: After a long delay the Allies respond to Italy’s terms that they cannot accept complete Italian control of the Adriatic (because of Russia’s continuing support for Serbia). As the wrangling continues, the British political class confide in each other their private opinions of Italy and its people: “greedy and slippery” (Prime Minister Asquith); “the harlot of Europe” (Navy Minister Winston Churchill); “mere organ grinders” (Admiral Fisher); and “the most contemptible nation” (David Lloyd George).  [ Mark Thompson: “The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-1919”]

Britain’s price for a Russian Bosphorous: Meanwhile, also today, Britain and Russia sign a separate agreement where Britain will take control of oil rich Ottoman provinces in Mesopotamia in return for Russia taking control of its Black Sea route to the Mediterranean through the Bosphorous and the Dardanelles. [UK government national archives online]

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/britain-and-russia-divide-future-spoils-of-war

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/battles/gallipoli.htm

The “Spectator” offers its opinion on “Russia’s prize” –  “It is quite clear that France as well as Britain will now welcome Russia’s entry into the warm water, and that winter will no longer mean for Russia the sealing up of all her chief ports. Russia will unquestionably get a great accession of strength by the possession of Constantinople, but no reasonable section of public opinion either here or in France will envy her. She has made great sacrifices for the common cause and deserves great rewards.”

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/the-spectator/2015/03/the-spectator-at-war-russias-prize/

3rd March 1915 (Wednesday)

War!

In the Middle East: At Ahwaz, in Persia, close to the Shatt al-Arab waterway, a small British force attacks, and is soon forced to retreat with heavy losses by, a larger Turkish and Arab force.

http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/the-great-war/great-war-on-land/other-war-theatres/2986-the-battle-at-ahwaz-persia-3-march-1915.html