January 1– The St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line in the United States starts services between St. Petersburg and Tampa, Florida, becoming the first airline to provide scheduled regular commercial passenger services with heavier-than-air aircraft, with Tony Jannus (the first federally-licensed pilot) conveying passengers in a Benoist XIVflying boat. Abram C. Pheil, mayor of St. Petersburg, is the first airline passenger, and over 3,000 people witness the first departure.[1]
The Sakurajimavolcano in Japan begins to erupt, becoming effusive after a very large earthquake on January 13. The lava flow causes the island which it forms to be linked to the Ōsumi Peninsula.[2]
April 9–Tampico Affair: A misunderstanding involving United States Navy sailors in Mexico and army troops loyal to Mexican dictator Victoriano Huerta leads to a breakdown in diplomatic relations between the United States and Mexico.[15]
April 11– Canadian Margaret C. MacDonald is appointed Matron-in-Chief of the Canadian Nursing service band, and becomes the first woman in the British Empire to reach the rank of major.[16]
April 14–18– The first International Criminal Police Congress is held in Monaco; 24 countries are represented, including some from Asia, Europe, and the Americas; the Dean of the Paris Law School is president.[citation needed]
April 21–United States occupation of Veracruz: 2,300 U.S. Navy sailors and Marines from the South Atlantic fleet land in the port city of Veracruz, Mexico, which they will occupy for over six months. The Ypiranga incident occurs when they attempt to enforce an arms embargo against Mexico, by preventing the German cargo steamer SSYpiranga from unloading arms for the Mexican government in the port.[citation needed]
April 22– Mexico ends diplomatic relations with the United States for the time being.[citation needed]
The Secretary of the Austro-Hungarian Legation at Belgrade sends a dispatch to Vienna, suggesting Serbian complicity in the crime of Sarajevo. Anti-Serb riots continue throughout Bosnia.[citation needed]
The International Exhibition opens at the "White City", Ashton Gate, Bristol, England, U.K. It closes on August 15, and the site is used as a military depot.[32]
July 5– A council is held at Potsdam: powerful leaders within Austria-Hungary and Germany meet to discuss the possibilities of war with Serbia, Russia and France.[citation needed]
July 7–Austria-Hungary convenes a Council of Ministers, including Ministers for Foreign Affairs and War, the Chief of the General Staff, and Naval Commander-in-Chief; the Council lasts from 11:30 am until 6:15 pm.[citation needed]
July 14– The Government of Ireland Bill completes its passage through the House of Lords in the U.K. It allows Ulster counties to vote on whether or not they wish to participate in Home Rule from Dublin. Because of the outbreak of war in Europe and later developments in Ireland, the Act was never implemented in its original form.[citation needed]
In Massachusetts, the new Cape Cod Canal opens; it shortens the trip between New York and Boston by 66 miles, but also turns Cape Cod into an island.[40]
SS Königin Luise, taken over two days earlier by the Imperial German Navy as a minelayer, lays mines40 miles (64km) off the east coast of England. She is intercepted and sunk by the British Royal Navylight cruiserHMS Amphion, the first German naval loss of the war. The following day, Amphion strikes mines laid by the Königin Luise and is sunk with some loss of life, in the first British casualties of the war.[citation needed]
British colonial troops of the British Gold Coast Regiment, entering the German West African colony of Togoland, encounter the German-led police force at a factory in Nuatja, near Lomé, and the police open fire on the patrol.[46]Alhaji Grunshi returns fire,[47] the first soldier in British service to fire a shot in the war.[46]
Lake Nyasa is the scene of a brief naval battle, when Captain Edmund Rhoades, commander of the British steamship SSGwendolen, hears that war has broken out, and he receives orders from the British high command to "sink, burn, or destroy" the German Empire's only ship on the lake, the Hermann von Wissmann, commanded by a Captain Berndt. Rhoades's crew finds the Hermann von Wissmann in a bay near "Sphinxhaven", in German East African territorial waters. Gwendolen disables the German vessel with a single cannon shot from a range of about 1,800 meters (2,000 yards). This very brief engagement is hailed by The Times in London as the British Empire's first naval victory of World War I.[citation needed]
December 25– World War I: Cuxhaven Raid: British aircraft launched from warships attack the German port of Cuxhaven with submarine support, although little damage is caused.[83]
Phi Sigma, a local undergraduate classical club, is founded by a group of students in the Greek Department at the University of Chicago.[citation needed]
The year 1914 holds profound significance in Jehovah’s Witnesses theology. They interpret biblical prophecies to assert that in October 1914, Jesus Christ began his invisible reign as King in heaven, marking the conclusion of the “Gentile Times” or “appointed times of the nations” mentioned in Luke 21:24. This period, they believe, commenced with Jerusalem’s destruction in 607 B.C.E. and spanned 2,520 years, culminating in 1914.
Jehovah’s Witnesses also associate 1914 with the onset of the “last days,” characterized by global conflicts, natural disasters, and moral decline, as foretold in scriptures like Matthew 24:3-8 and 2 Timothy 3:1-5. They view events such as World War I, which began in 1914, as fulfillment of these prophecies, signifying Christ’s heavenly enthronement and the establishment of God’s Kingdom.
Smith, David James (2010). One Morning In Sarajevo. Hachette UK. ISBN978-0-297-85608-5. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved September 27, 2016. He was photographed on the way to the station and the photograph has been reproduced many times in books and articles, claiming to depict the arrest of Gavrilo Princip. But there is no photograph of Princip's arrest – this photograph shows the arrest of Behr.
United States Military Academy, Department of Military Art and Engineering (1953). Summaries of Selected Military Campaigns. The Academy. p.89. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
Herwig, H. (2009). The Marne, 1914: The Opening of World War I and the Battle that Changed the World. New York: Random House. pp.217–219. ISBN978-1-4000-6671-1.
United States Military Academy, Department of Military Art and Engineering (1953). Summaries of Selected Military Campaigns. The Academy. pp.80–85. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
Stikkers, Andre (2014). Glycine Airman Book - Play it again Sam! Airman History and Overview (3rded.). The Netherlands: Adr. Heinen. pp.15, 66. ISBN978-90-8680-157-2.
Kernfeld, Barry, ed. (2002). "Adler, Larry". The new Grove dictionary of jazz. Vol.1 (2nded.). New York: Grove's Dictionaries Inc. p.16. ISBN1-56159-284-6.
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Townsend, Henry; Greensmith, Bill (1999). A Blues Life. University of Illinois Press. p.2. ISBN978-0-252-02526-6. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
Gunther, Renate (July 5, 2002). Marguerite Duras. Manchester University Press. p.2. ISBN978-0-7190-5757-1. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
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"Buscan convertir en museo la casa de Troilo"[They seek to turn the house of Troilo into a museum] (in Spanish). parlamentario.com. May 17, 2007. Archived from the original on October 2, 2019. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
NATO Letter. North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Information Division. 1957. p.3. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
Tapol. Tapol, the British Campaign for the Release of Indonesian Political Prisoners. 2004. p.23. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
The Illustrated Weekly of India. Published for the proprietors, Bennett, Coleman & Company, Limited, at the Times of India Press. 1975. p.39. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
Official Associated Press Almanac. New York Times, Book & Educational Division. 1970. p.544. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
Shetty, Prabhakara H. (October 30, 1993). "Richard Laurence Millington Synge". In James, Laylin K. (ed.). Nobel Laureates in Chemistry, 1901-1992. Chemical Heritage Foundation. p.356. ISBN978-0-8412-2690-6. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
Sakany, Lois (November 2002). Joe DiMaggio. The Rosen Publishing Group. p.11. ISBN978-0-8239-3779-0. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
Science Chronicle. Pakistan Council of Scientific & Industrial Research. 1974. p.67. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
Amory, Cleveland; Blackwell, Earl (1963). Celebrity Register. Simon and Schuster. p.656. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
Sons of the American Revolution (1914). National Year Book. Sons of the American Revolution. p.98. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
Rodica Zafiu, "Demetriade Mircea", in Aurel Sasu (ed.), Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române, Vol. I, p. 471. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. ISBN973-697-758-7
Berberian, Houri (2001). Armenians and the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1911: 'The Love for Freedom Has No Fatherland'. Westview Press. p.154.
Chemical Society (Great Britain) (1915). Journal of the Chemical Society. The Society. p.582. Archived from the original on December 7, 2023. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
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Beatty, Jack. The Lost History of 1914: Reconsidering the Year the Great War Began (1912) excerpt; argues the war was not inevitable
Gilbert, Martin. A History of the Twentieth Century: Volume 1 1900-1933 (1997); global coverage of politics, diplomacy and warfare; pp 297–349; emphasis on World War I