15 August 1914: the Panama Canal opens as the world goes to war
On 15 August 1914 the SS Ancon made the first official passage of the Panama Canal, just as the war that had broken out in Europe at the end of July was spreading far beyond it.
How sure we are: events with no label are high confidence. A grey label such as Exact day uncertain says why one detail is less certain; a yellow label such as Sources differ on the date marks a low-confidence event where the sources disagree or are thin. The notes say where. Dates are in the Gregorian calendar; where a country still used another calendar, the notes give the original. How events are checked
The canal opens
Architecture
The Panama Canal opens to ships
· Panama · North America
On 15 August
The canal was inaugurated on 15 August with the passage of the SS Ancon, completing a project led by George Washington Goethals.
Why it is interesting. The same day, a servant murdered seven people at Frank Lloyd Wright's Wisconsin home, and Sri Aurobindo's Arya launched in India.
Notes and dating details
Cross-lane (engineering); may duplicate another helper's event. Listed under 'architecture' on the 1914 in architecture page.
One card for each big happening, not every declaration.
Politics & diplomacyWidely known
United Kingdom declares war on Germany
· United Kingdom · Europe
11 days before 15 August
The United Kingdom declared war on the German Empire on 4 August 1914 after Germany refused to withdraw troops from neutral Belgium. The declaration covered the whole British Empire.
Why it is interesting. Many historians now doubt that the invasion of Belgium was Britain's real reason for going to war.
The Battle of Cer began on the night of 15 August 1914 around Cer Mountain in Serbia, when Serbian and Austro-Hungarian forces clashed. It ended on 24 August with a Serbian victory.
Why it is interesting. Serbia's win was the Allies' first victory against the Central Powers, and the war's first aerial dogfight happened during it.
Notes and dating details
Infobox gives 15-24 August 1914 (footnote cites Neiberg, Mitrovic and Glenny), matching Wikidata start and end. The full article gives a continuous chronology from Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on 28 July through the invasion on 12 August, fighting from about 23:00 on 15 August and the Serbian re-entry into Sabac on 24 August, so the dates are New Style.
Battle of Mons: British Expeditionary Force meets the German 1st Army
· Mons, Belgium · Europe
8 days after 15 August
In the British Expeditionary Force's first big engagement of the war, British troops tried to hold the Mons–Condé Canal against the German 1st Army. Outnumbered, and exposed when the French Fifth Army retreated, they were forced to fall back.
Why it is interesting. The British retreat from Mons lasted two weeks and ended near Paris, and the 1914 Star earned by BEF veterans became known as the Mons Star.
German troops burn the university library of Leuven
· Leuven, Belgium · Europe
10 days after 15 August
On the night of 25 August, German soldiers broke into the Leuven (Louvain) university library in the old cloth hall and set it alight; within ten hours the collection was virtually destroyed, a loss put at over 230,000 volumes and 750 medieval manuscripts.
Why it is interesting. A university library was burned in the first weeks of the war.
Notes and dating details
Cross-lane with the war helper. The Sack of Louvain article gives the fire at about 11:30 pm on 25 August.
Battle of Tannenberg: Russian 2nd Army is encircled and nearly destroyed
· Allenstein, East Prussia, German Empire (present-day Poland) · Europe
11 days after 15 August
Some details uncertain.
Between 26 and 30 August 1914, the German 8th Army encircled and almost completely destroyed the Russian 2nd Army, and its commander Alexander Samsonov took his own life. Hindenburg named the battle after Tannenberg, though it took place near Allenstein.
Why it is interesting. It brought Hindenburg and Ludendorff great prestige, and the Russians had sent their daily marching orders by radio without encoding them.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata gives a start of 1914-08-23 (unsourced) and an end of 1914-08-30; the lead and infobox give 26-30 August 1914, and the body describes early movements from 23 to 26 August. Fought in East Prussia, German Empire (Gregorian calendar).
Within days the fighting spread to the seas and to Germany's colonies, in date order.
War & conflict
Britain begins a naval blockade of Germany
· At sea
During August 1914
Some details uncertain.
The United Kingdom set up a naval blockade of Germany as soon as war broke out. The Allies later declared foodstuffs contraband, the most controversial part of the blockade.
Why it is interesting. In December 1918 a German public health board blamed the blockade for 763,000 civilian deaths from hunger and disease; a 1928 study put the toll at 424,000, and later scholars give similar or lower figures.
Notes and dating details
The article dates the blockade as 1914-1919 and states no single end date.
German warships Goeben and Breslau reach the Dardanelles and are handed to the Ottoman navy
· Dardanelles and Constantinople · Middle East
5 days before 15 August
After shaking off British pursuers in the Mediterranean, the two German ships reached the Dardanelles on 10 August and were transferred to the Ottoman navy on 16 August, with German crews still aboard.
Why it is interesting. The bloodless chase ended the careers of two British admirals, and Churchill later said the ship brought more ruin than any other.
Notes and dating details
The Goeben article does not name Bone and Philippeville as the targets on 4 August; the Wikipedia 1914 page does.
Skirmish on Lake Nyasa between British and German gunboats
· Sphinxhaven, German East Africa
2 days before 15 August
Some details uncertain.
On 13 August 1914 the British gunboat Gwendolen found the German gunboat Hermann von Wissman under repair near Sphinxhaven. A single shot disabled the German vessel in a minor skirmish with no human casualties.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata gives 14 August 1914 with no reference; the Wikipedia article gives 13 August, citing Paice, Tip & Run (2007).
The Australian Imperial Force came into being on 15 August 1914, after Britain declared war on Germany. Its initial strength was a single infantry division plus a light horse brigade.
Notes and dating details
English Wikipedia says the force was officially formed on 15 August 1914. It was formed in Australia.
Battle of Laï: German column from Kamerun drives French out of a Chad village
· Laï, Chad · Africa
6 days after 15 August
A German column from Kamerun under Captain von Duhring attacked Laï in southern Chad, defended by Captain Jeanjean. The French were driven out and the Germans held the village until 1 September 1914.
Britain asked for help on 7 August, Japan sent an ultimatum on 15 August that went unanswered, and declared war on 23 August, followed by a declaration against Austria-Hungary on 25 August.
Why it is interesting. Japan had proposed joining the war only if it could seize Germany's territories in the Pacific.
German Togoland surrenders to British and French forces
· Togoland, German Empire · Africa
11 days after 15 August
Sources differ on the date.
On 26 August 1914 the German colony of Togoland gave up, with governor Hans Georg von Doering in charge. French and British troops had invaded unopposed on 7 August; the colony was later divided between British and French zones.
Why it is interesting. German technicians destroyed the radio station on the night of 24/25 August before the surrender.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata gives only 1914. Infobox and body give the surrender on 26 August 1914; German Wikipedia says Togo was formally handed to the British on 27 August 1914. Allied occupation 26 August; partition 27 December 1916.
New Zealand troops occupy German Samoa without a fight
· Apia, Samoa · Oceania
14 days after 15 August
Figures vary by source.
Date uncertainty: 23 or 29 August
A New Zealand force of about 1,400 landed at Apia in Samoa on 29 August and met no resistance; it was the second German colony taken, after Togoland.
Why it is interesting. It was the second German colony captured by the Allies, after Togoland.
Notes and dating details
Troop numbers differ: 1,374 in 1914 in New Zealand, 1,413 (landing party) in the Occupation of German Samoa article. The 1914 in Germany page lists 23 August.
The first of several Kurdish rebellions against the Ottoman Empire began in August 1914, before the empire entered the war, after reprisals following the killing of a Dersim mayor's nephew.
Notes and dating details
Source gives August 1914 only. Calendar not stated in source. Wikidata gives 1914-08; rebellions continued to October 1918.
Soldiers open fire on villagers in the Ijemo Massacre
· Abeokuta, Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria (now Nigeria) · Africa
7 days before 15 August
Around 3 p.m. on 8 August 1914, soldiers fired on a gathering of villagers at Ijemo in Abeokuta, including their leader Oluwo Arimokunrin. The incident grew out of the Ijemo people's opposition to the Treaty of 1893.
Notes and dating details
Article does not give a death toll; it says a number of Ijemo people were killed.
Revolutionaries seize pistols from a Calcutta arms dealer
· Calcutta, British India · Asia
11 days after 15 August
Members of a Bengali revolutionary group intercepted a consignment of Mauser pistols and ammunition belonging to Rodda & Co. in Calcutta and got away with part of it. A newspaper called it the greatest daylight robbery.
Science, sport, film, books and faith, the same four weeks.
Art & literature
Franz Kafka begins writing The Trial
· Europe
During August 1914
Exact day uncertain.
Kafka drafted the opening sentence of his novel in August 1914 and kept working on it through 1915. It was left unfinished and appeared posthumously in 1925.
Why it is interesting. The novel about Josef K., arrested by an unreachable authority, was later listed among Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century.
Notes and dating details
Month precision only. Written in 1914 and 1915; published posthumously 26 April 1925.
Al Ittihad of Alexandria, one of Egypt's oldest football clubs, was formed in 1914 when two local clubs, El Haditha and United Champions, joined together.
Notes and dating details
The club's article gives 4 August 1914 in its infobox; the 1914 year page gives 2 August.
The Colonial Exhibition, a trade exposition, ran in Semarang, Dutch East Indies, from 20 August to 22 November 1914. No exposition of that scale had been held in the colony before.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata place (Wereldmuseum Amsterdam) is not where it was held; the article places it in Semarang.
Total solar eclipse crosses Scandinavia and Russia as war interrupts a test of relativity
· Russian Empire (path from Greenland through Norway and Sweden to Russia) · Europe
6 days after 15 August
Astronomer Erwin Freundlich travelled to Russia hoping to measure the bending of starlight by the Sun's gravity during the total eclipse of 21 August, as a test of Einstein's general relativity. War broke out, he and his equipment were interned, and the measurement was never made.
Why it is interesting. War cut short an attempt to test Einstein's general relativity during an eclipse.
Notes and dating details
Freundlich was interned for a few days and released in a prisoner exchange.
· Tel Aviv, Ottoman Empire (now Israel) · Middle East
7 days after 15 August
Date may use an older calendar.
Eden Theater was inaugurated in Tel Aviv on the corner where Lilienblum Street meets Pines Street. German architect Richard Michael designed it; Akiva Aryeh Weiss, one of Ahuzat Bayit's founders, built it for licence holders Moshe Abarbanel and Mordechai Weiser.
Notes and dating details
Calendar not stated in source (Ottoman-ruled area; the article mentions the Ottoman authorities and the governor of Jaffa). The building is dated 1913 in the infobox; the article gives 22 August 1914 for the inauguration. Abarbanel and Weiser obtained the business licence in 1913.
Away from the canal, the same fortnight either side.
Lives
Ellen Axson Wilson dies
· Washington, D.C., United States · North America
9 days before 15 August
Ellen Axson Wilson, First Lady of the United States and first wife of President Woodrow Wilson, died at the White House in Washington, D.C., from Bright's disease.
Fidalgo club, forerunner of Madureira, is founded in Rio de Janeiro
· Rio de Janeiro, Brazil · South America
7 days before 15 August
The Fidalgo club was founded in the Madureira neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro. In 1933 it was reorganised as Madureira Atlético Clube, and a 1971 merger produced today's Madureira Esporte Clube, which plays in the Campeonato Carioca.
Notes and dating details
English Wikipedia says the club was founded as Fidalgo Madureira Atlético Clube. Portuguese Wikipedia says Fidalgo Football Club, founded 8 August 1914, merged in 1933 with another club to form Madureira Atlético Clube, and that 8 August 1914 is the official foundation date; both agree on that date and on the 1971 merger.
John Philip Holland, an Irish-American marine engineer, died in Newark, New Jersey. He had developed the USS Holland and the Royal Navy's Holland 1 submarines.
Notes and dating details
The USS Holland article also calls her the Navy's first submarine and gives purchase on 11 April 1900 and commissioning on 12 October 1900. The earlier claim that submersibles occupied 56 of his 73 years was dropped as unchecked.
Federal army surrenders to Constitutionalists at Teoloyucan
· Teoloyucan, State of Mexico · North America
2 days before 15 August
Representatives of Huerta's government signed away the Federal Army, agreeing to its dissolution and the surrender of Mexico City to Obregon's and Carranza's forces.
Notes and dating details
Obregon's troops entered the capital on 15 August per the Wikipedia 1914 page (14 August per the Zacatecas article).
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