1914

Events in 1914 55

• 1820 – 1914 John Tenniel (1820-1914) Died 25 February 1914, aged 93 An English illustrator and political cartoonist, Tenniel is best remembered for his original illustrations of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. He also served as the principal political cartoonist for Punch magazine for over fifty years. His images of Alice remain the definitive visual interpretation of the books.
• 1835 – 1914 Pope Pius X (1835-1914) Died 20 August 1914, aged 79 Born Giuseppe Sarto, Pius X reigned as Pope from 1903 and was known for promoting frequent Communion and opposing theological modernism. He died shortly after the outbreak of the war he had tried to avert. He was later canonized in 1954.
• 1836 – 1914 Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914) Died 2 July 1914, aged 77 A British businessman and statesman, Chamberlain served as a reforming mayor of Birmingham before becoming a dominant and divisive figure in national politics, championing tariff reform and imperial unity. He split both the Liberal and Unionist parties over his policies. A stroke in 1906 ended his active career, and he died just before the war his son Austen and grandson would later shape British policy around.
• 1838 – 1914 John Muir (1838-1914) Died 24 December 1914, aged 76 A Scottish-born naturalist and writer, Muir was a tireless advocate for wilderness preservation in the United States and co-founded the Sierra Club. His writing and lobbying helped establish Yosemite and other national parks. He is often called the father of the American national park system.
• 1839 – 1914 Carol I of Romania (1839-1914) Died 10 October 1914, aged 75 A German prince installed as ruler of Romania in 1866, Carol I became the country's first king in 1881 and oversaw its modernization and independence from Ottoman suzerainty. His nearly five-decade reign was the longest in Romanian history. He died weeks into the war, having clashed with his government over Romania's neutrality.
• 1839 – 1914 Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) Died 19 April 1914, aged 74 An American philosopher, logician, and scientist, Peirce founded the philosophical school of pragmatism and made lasting contributions to semiotics and logic. He worked much of his life in poverty and obscurity, gaining wider recognition only after his death. He is now regarded as one of America's most original thinkers.
• 1843 – 1914 Bertha von Suttner (1843-1914) Died 21 June 1914, aged 71 An Austrian writer and pacifist, von Suttner authored the influential anti-war novel Lay Down Your Arms and helped inspire Alfred Nobel to create a peace prize. In 1905 she became the first woman awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She died just weeks before the war she had spent decades warning against.
• 1859 – 1914 Jean Jaures (1859-1914) Died 31 July 1914, aged 54 Jaures was France's leading socialist voice and a committed anti-militarist who worked to prevent a European war. He was shot dead in a Paris cafe by a nationalist fanatic days before general mobilization began. His death removed one of the few political figures capable of rallying opposition to the coming war.
• 1914 – 1953 Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) Died 9 November 1953, aged 39 Dylan Thomas was a Welsh poet celebrated for works including "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" and the radio drama "Under Milk Wood." He died in New York City during a lecture tour, his death long associated with heavy drinking though the exact medical cause was disputed. He remains one of the most widely read poets of the twentieth century.
• 1914 – 1959 George Reeves (1914-1959) Died 16 June 1959, aged 45 Reeves was an American actor best known for playing Superman in the television series Adventures of Superman during the 1950s. His death from a gunshot wound at his Los Angeles home was ruled a suicide, though the circumstances remain disputed. The role of Superman had come to overshadow his earlier film career.
• 1914 – 1944 Noor Inayat Khan (1914-1944) Died 13 September 1944, aged 30 British SOE agent of Indian descent and the first female wireless operator sent into occupied France. She was betrayed and arrested by the Gestapo in Paris. She was executed at Dachau and posthumously awarded the George Cross.
• 1914 Panama Canal opens Panama Canal opens The Panama Canal opened to traffic on 15 August 1914, linking the Atlantic and Pacific and cutting some 13,000 kilometres off the voyage around South America. The United States completed it after a French attempt collapsed; around 25,000 workers died across both efforts, mostly from malaria and yellow fever. Control passed to Panama in 1999.
• 1914 The Courtyard Speech Borggårdskrisen Gustaf V addressed thousands of peasants demanding stronger defense, triggering a constitutional crisis.
• 1914 – 1918 World War I Global conflict The Great War drew in empires across Europe, killing over 17 million. It reshaped borders, toppled empires, and sowed the seeds of WW II.
• 1914 First scheduled commercial airline flight The St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line begins service in Florida Pilot Tony Jannus flew a Benoist airboat carrying a single paying passenger across Tampa Bay, inaugurating the world's first scheduled airline using a fixed timetable. The short-lived line proved that regular passenger air travel was commercially viable. It is widely cited as the birth of the airline industry.
• 1914 – 1997 William S. Burroughs (1914-1997) Died 2 August 1997, aged 83 William S. Burroughs was an American writer and a central figure of the Beat Generation, best known for his novel Naked Lunch. His experimental cut-up writing techniques influenced generations of writers and musicians. He died in Lawrence, Kansas, of a heart attack.
• 1914 Charlie Chaplin debuts his Tramp character on screen Kid Auto Races at Venice introduces cinema's most enduring costume Charlie Chaplin first appeared in his baggy-trousered, bowler-hatted Tramp costume in the short comedy Kid Auto Races at Venice, California. The character went on to become the most recognisable figure in silent film. It launched Chaplin's transformation into the world's first global movie star.
• 1914 – 1990 Arthur Kennedy (1914-1990) American actor with five Oscar nominations, the original Biff in Death of a Salesman.
• 1914 – 2009 Norman Borlaug (1914-2009) Died 12 September 2009, aged 95 Borlaug was an American agronomist whose high-yield wheat varieties sparked the Green Revolution, credited with saving hundreds of millions of people from famine across Asia and Latin America. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for this work. He continued research and advocacy for global food security into his final years.
• 1914 – 1998 Octavio Paz (1914-1998) Died 19 April 1998, aged 84 Octavio Paz, the Mexican poet and essayist awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1990, died in Mexico City on 19 April 1998. His work, including The Labyrinth of Solitude, remains foundational to modern Latin American literature.
• 1914 – 2000 Alec Guinness (1914-2000) English actor who moved from the Ealing comedies to The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia and Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars.
• 1914 – 2000 Sir Alec Guinness (1914-2000) Died 5 August 2000, aged 86 Alec Guinness was among Britain's foremost actors, ranging from Ealing comedies to David Lean epics such as The Bridge on the River Kwai, for which he won an Oscar. To later audiences he was Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, a role he regarded with some disdain despite the fortune it brought him. He was also a celebrated stage performer.
• 1914 Ludlow Massacre National Guardsmen attack a striking miners' tent colony in Colorado During a long coal strike, Colorado National Guard troops and mine guards attacked a tent colony of striking miners and their families at Ludlow, killing around twenty people including women and children. The massacre triggered a ten-day armed uprising by miners across the region. It became a defining episode in American labor history.
• 1914 United States occupation of Veracruz American forces seize the Mexican port amid the Mexican Revolution U.S. Marines and sailors occupied the port of Veracruz after an incident involving detained American sailors, intervening in Mexico's ongoing revolution. The occupation strained relations with the government of Victoriano Huerta and drew condemnation from several Latin American states. American forces withdrew in November after mediation.
• 1914 – 1958 Tyrone Power (1914-1958) Died 15 November 1958, aged 44 Power was one of Hollywood's leading matinee idols of the 1930s and 1940s, starring in films such as "The Mark of Zorro" and "Witness for the Prosecution." He suffered a fatal heart attack while filming a swordfighting scene in Spain.
• 1914 – 1981 Joe Louis (1914-1981) Died 12 April 1981, aged 66 American boxer Joe Louis, world heavyweight champion from 1937 to 1949, died in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 12 April 1981. He defended his title a record twenty-five times and his 1938 rematch victory over Max Schmeling became a landmark moment in American sports history. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
• 1914 – 1986 Lilli Palmer (1914-1986) German actress who fled the Nazis, worked in Britain and Hollywood, and later wrote bestselling memoirs.
• 1914 – 1984 Yuri Andropov (1914-1984) Died 9 February 1984, aged 69 Yuri Andropov, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and former KGB chairman, died in Moscow after a long illness having led the country for only fifteen months. He was succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko.
• 1914 Franz Ferdinand is assassinated Sarajevo, Bosnia Gavrilo Princip shot the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne and his wife Sophie after the motorcade took a wrong turn and stopped in front of him. Six other conspirators had already failed that morning.
• 1914 – 2000 Gino Bartali Gino the Pious Legendary climber who famously helped save Jews during WWII by hiding documents in his bike. Winner: 2x Tour de France.
• 1914 – 1994 Woody Strode (1914-1994) American football player and actor, one of the players who reintegrated the NFL, later a John Ford regular.
• 1914 Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia Vienna, Austria-Hungary A local war intended to punish Serbia. The alliance system turned it into a continental one within a week.
• 1914 – 1983 Louis de Funes (1914-1983) Died 27 January 1983, aged 68 Louis de Funes was a French actor renowned for his manic comic performances in films such as The Gendarme of Saint-Tropez and La Grande Vadrouille. He was one of the most popular French film stars of the 1960s and 1970s. His comedies remain widely watched in France today.
• 1914 – present Swiss National Park Conservation Pioneer The first national park in the Alps and Central Europe, focused on total nature protection.
• 1914 Germany invades Belgium; Britain declares war Brussels and London The Schlieffen Plan required violating Belgian neutrality, which Britain had guaranteed since 1839. The German chancellor called the treaty a scrap of paper.
• 1914 – 2001 Tove Jansson Creator of Moomins Author and artist who created the Moomins, a globally recognized Finnish cultural icon.
• 1914 Battle of Tannenberg German forces destroy the Russian Second Army in East Prussia German Eighth Army commanders Hindenburg and Ludendorff encircled and destroyed the invading Russian Second Army near Tannenberg. The Russian commander, General Samsonov, took his own life amid the collapse. The victory made Hindenburg and Ludendorff national heroes and shaped the Eastern Front for years.
• 1914 Battle of Heligoland Bight The first naval clash of the war sees British ships raid German waters A British force raided German patrols near Heligoland in the North Sea, sinking three light cruisers and a torpedo boat for no losses of their own. It was the first naval battle of the war and a morale boost for the Royal Navy. The action made the German fleet more cautious about contesting the North Sea.
• 1914 The First Battle of the Marne Marne, France The French counter-attack that stopped the German advance on Paris and ended the Schlieffen Plan. Reserves were rushed to the front in Paris taxis. The war of movement was over.
• 1914 – 2005 Robert Wise (1914-2005) Died 14 September 2005, aged 91 Robert Wise, the film director and editor behind "West Side Story", "The Sound of Music" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still", died on 14 September 2005. He won Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture twice, for "West Side Story" and "The Sound of Music". Wise began his career as an editor, cutting "Citizen Kane" in 1941.
• 1914 Irish Home Rule Act receives royal assent Ireland is granted self-government, immediately suspended for the war The Government of Ireland Act, granting home rule to Ireland after decades of political struggle, finally received royal assent. Its implementation was suspended for the duration of the war then underway, a delay that hardened divisions on all sides. The unresolved question fed directly into the Easter Rising two years later.
• 1914 – 2002 Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002) Died 18 April 2002, aged 87 The Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl sailed the balsa raft Kon-Tiki from Peru to Polynesia in 1947 to argue that ancient South Americans could have settled the Pacific islands. His book and film about the voyage were worldwide successes. He led later reed-boat expeditions with the Ra and Tigris, though most scholars rejected his migration theories.
• 1914 First Battle of Ypres Allied and German forces fight to a stalemate in Flanders German attempts to break through to the Channel ports were halted by British, French, and Belgian forces around the Belgian city of Ypres. Losses were heavy on both sides, effectively destroying the original British Expeditionary Force. The battle marked the end of the war of movement and the start of static trench warfare in the west.
• 1914 – 2006 Fayard Nicholas (1914-2006) American dancer, one of the Nicholas Brothers, famous for acrobatic tap routines.
• 1914 – 1984 Jackie Coogan (1914-1984) American actor, the first major child star, whose lost earnings led to the Coogan Act, and later Uncle Fester.
• 1914 – 1995 Jonas Salk (1914-1995) Died 23 June 1995, aged 80 Jonas Salk was an American virologist who developed the first effective vaccine against poliomyelitis, first tested successfully in 1955. His vaccine dramatically reduced polio cases worldwide and he refused to patent it, saying it belonged to the people. He later founded the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California.
• 1914 Siege of Tsingtao Japanese and British forces seize Germany's colony in China A Japanese force, joined by a small British contingent, besieged and captured the German-leased port of Tsingtao on China's Shandong peninsula. It was Japan's first major action of the war and its first as an ally of Britain. The port's fall ended German colonial presence in East Asia.
• 1914 Battle of Coronel A German squadron hands the Royal Navy its first defeat in a century Admiral Maximilian von Spee's East Asia Squadron sank two outgunned British cruisers off the coast of Chile, killing over 1,600 sailors. It was the first British naval defeat in a major engagement since the Napoleonic era. The loss prompted the dispatch of a stronger squadron that destroyed von Spee's ships weeks later at the Falklands.
• 1914 – 2000 Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000) Died 19 January 2000, aged 85 Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-born Hollywood star of the 1930s and 1940s, promoted as "the most beautiful woman in the world" and seen in Samson and Delilah. With the composer George Antheil she co-patented a 1942 frequency-hopping system meant to guide torpedoes, a concept later foundational to spread-spectrum wireless. Her scientific work was recognised only late in life.
• 1914 – 1999 Joe DiMaggio (1914-1999) Died 8 March 1999, aged 84 Joe DiMaggio was a Hall of Fame center fielder for the New York Yankees, famous for his 56-game hitting streak in 1941, a record that still stands. He was a nine-time World Series champion and one of baseball's most iconic figures. He died of lung cancer in Hollywood, Florida.
• 1914 Battle of the Falkland Islands Royal Navy destroys the German East Asia Squadron A British squadron sent to avenge the defeat at Coronel caught and sank most of Admiral Maximilian von Spee's East Asia Squadron off the Falkland Islands. Von Spee and both his sons were killed. The battle ended the threat German surface raiders posed to Allied shipping in the South Atlantic and Pacific.
• 1914 – 1996 Dorothy Lamour (1914-1996) American actress and singer, the sarong-clad star of the Road to... films with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.
• 1914 – 2000 Patrick O'Brian (1914-2000) Died 2 January 2000, aged 85 Patrick O'Brian wrote the Aubrey-Maturin novels, a twenty-book sequence set in the Royal Navy of the Napoleonic Wars and admired for its historical detail and prose. Long a cult favourite, the series found a wide readership in the 1990s. After his death it emerged that his "Irish" background was largely invented.
• 1914 Christmas truce on the Western Front Enemy soldiers briefly cease fire and fraternise in no man's land In several sectors of the Western Front, German and British troops spontaneously stopped fighting, exchanged gifts, and reportedly played football in no man's land. Officers on both sides moved quickly to end the unofficial ceasefire and prevent it recurring. It became one of the most retold episodes of the entire war.
• 1914 – 2008 Richard Widmark (1914-2008) Died 24 March 2008, aged 93 American film actor who made his memorable debut as a giggling killer in Kiss of Death and went on to a decades-long career in Hollywood. He worked with directors including John Ford and Elia Kazan.