Japan declared war on Germany in August 1914 and, with a British contingent, took the German port of Tsingtao in China that November. The same autumn the authorities fired on Komagata Maru passengers, who had been barred from Canada, at Budge Budge near Calcutta, and in February 1915 Indian sepoys mutinied in Singapore. China went through its own upheavals: Yuan Shikai declared himself emperor and was forced to abdicate, a general briefly restored the last Qing emperor in 1917, and that August China declared war on Germany. In India, Congress and the Muslim League agreed the Lucknow Pact, and Gandhi led the Champaran satyagraha. In 1918 Bolsheviks killed Nicholas II and his family at Yekaterinburg, Armenians stopped an Ottoman army at Sardarabad, rice riots spread across Japan, and Allied troops landed at Vladivostok.
This page lists all 255 events in our records for Asia from January 1914 to December 1918, so the months before and after the fighting are here too. 33 are battles and other fighting; the rest are the politics, disasters, culture and daily life that went on alongside. The biggest come first, then every event year by year.
How sure we are: events with no label are high confidence. Medium confidence means the event rests on one source family or a detail is uncertain; Low confidence means the sources disagree or are thin, and 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 biggest stories
Politics & diplomacyWidely known
Romanov family is murdered at Yekaterinburg
· Ipatiev House, Yekaterinburg, Russia · Asia
Medium confidence: rests on one source family, or a detail is uncertain.
Date uncertainty: Often given as the night of 16-17 July 1918
Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra and their five children were shot and stabbed to death by Bolsheviks led by Yakov Yurovsky. Their physician and three servants were killed too, and the bodies were buried in the Koptyaki forest.
Why it is interesting. The Soviet leadership kept up a web of disinformation about the family for eight years.
Notes and dating details
Stored as 17 July 1918. The English article's infobox gives 16-17 July and its lead the night of 16 to 17 July; its body has the family at dinner on 16 July and woken around midnight, with the shooting after that, and Russian Wikipedia says the truck arrived at the Ipatiev House at 1:30 am on the night of 16 to 17 July, after which the family were woken. So the killings took place in the early hours of 17 July, the evening before being 16 July. Russia had moved to the Gregorian calendar in February 1918, so no conversion applies. The id still says 16 because the 1918 and Asia page leads point at it; the stored date of 17 July is the one shown.
Japan and Britain take the German colony of Tsingtao
· Tsingtao (Qingdao), China · Asia
A Japanese force of about 23,000 plus a British contingent besieged the German port; the garrison of about 3,600 surrendered on 7 November and was held in prison camps in Japan until 1920.
Why it is interesting. Planes from the Japanese seaplane carrier Wakamiya attacked sea and land targets, which the article calls a world first.
Notes and dating details
Blockade began 27 August; Japanese forces landed on 2 September; formal handover on 16 November.
Medium confidence: rests on one source family, or a detail is uncertain.
Armenian regular units and militia fought an Ottoman army that had invaded Eastern Armenia, and halted its drive into the rest of the country. The stand opened the way to the First Republic of Armenia, and the Ottomans recognised it at Batum on 4 June.
Why it is interesting. One historian writes that a loss might have left 'Armenia' as only an antique geographical term.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata gives 1918-05-22 as the date; the lead and infobox give 21-29 May 1918. Calendar not stated in source (Ottoman Empire party; Russian-era region); a 1918 newspaper citation in the article carries a double date, 5 (23) June 1918.
Medium confidence: rests on one source family, or a detail is uncertain.
Disturbances over the soaring price of rice began in the fishing town of Uozu and spread through hundreds of places across Japan. Troops and police were deployed, and the Terauchi government later resigned.
Why it is interesting. The unrest ended with the fall of the Terauchi government and opened the way to party-led cabinets.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata gives 1 July - 1 September 1918. The infobox gives 22 July - 21 September 1918; the lead says July to September.
Meeting jointly in Lucknow, Congress and the Muslim League agreed to give religious minorities representation in provincial legislatures. The League also agreed to join the Congress movement for Indian autonomy.
Why it is interesting. Muhammad Ali Jinnah took part in 1916 as a member of both parties, and Bal Gangadhar Tilak represented Congress.
Police fire on Komagata Maru passengers at Budge Budge near Calcutta
· Budge Budge, near Calcutta, India · Asia
Medium confidence: rests on one source family, or a detail is uncertain.
When the Komagata Maru docked at Budge Budge near Calcutta on 29 September after being barred from Canada, a confrontation with the authorities ended in shooting; about 20 passengers were killed.
Why it is interesting. Passengers who had been refused entry to Canada as British subjects were shot on arrival home.
Notes and dating details
Death toll 20 (text) or 26 (infobox, including others); the article says police fired in the lead and troops in the body. The shooting date is implied by the arrival date of 29 September.
Britain and Tibet initial the Simla Convention that created the McMahon Line
· Simla, British India · Asia
Medium confidence: rests on one source family, or a detail is uncertain.
After talks that began on 13 October 1913, British India's Henry McMahon and Tibet's Lonchen Shatra initialled the convention and maps defining Outer and Inner Tibet and the India-Tibet border; the Chinese delegate had initialled a draft on 27 April but Beijing repudiated it.
Why it is interesting. The border between Tibet and British India was agreed only by Britain and Tibet; China refused to sign.
Notes and dating details
Wikipedia's infobox says 'signed 3 July 1914' but the text says only Britain and Tibet initialled that day; a footnote says the map was finalised on 24-25 March.
Zhang Xun restores the Qing emperor Puyi in Beijing
· Beijing, China · Asia
General Zhang Xun's army seized Beijing and briefly put Puyi, the last Qing emperor, back on the throne. Republican troops reversed the restoration, which lasted from 1 to 12 July 1917.
Why it is interesting. Although it is called the Manchu Restoration, almost all of the plotters were ethnic Han.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata's main date is 12 July (the end); it also holds 1 July as start and 12 July as end.
Sun Yat-sen's Constitutional Protection Movement begins
· China · Asia
Medium confidence: rests on one source family, or a detail is uncertain.
Sun Yat-sen led several movements against the Beiyang government, starting in 1917 and lasting to 1922. In July 1917 Sun reached Guangzhou and called on members of parliament to join him there and form a new government.
Why it is interesting. Sun, who opposed China joining the war, negotiated with Germany for two million silver dollars to fund the fight against the northern government.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata end date 1922-01-01. The first movement lasted 1917 to 1920 and the second 1921 to 1922. The English article says Germany provided two million dollars; Chinese Wikipedia says Sun negotiated with Germany for two million silver dollars (and mentions another account of funds raised in Shanghai), so the text says negotiated.
Medium confidence: rests on one source family, or a detail is uncertain.
In August and September 1918 an Ottoman-Azerbaijani force under Nuri Pasha attacked Bolshevik and Armenian defenders of Baku. British, Armenian and White Russian forces under Lionel Dunsterville later took over the defence, and the Central Powers won.
Why it is interesting. Soviet Russia briefly re-entered the war during the battle.
Notes and dating details
Calendar not stated in source (Ottoman Empire). Infobox dates 26 August - 14 September 1918.
The first Indian Science Congress meets in Calcutta
Science
Some 105 scientists met at the Asiatic Society's building in Calcutta for the first session of what became the yearly Indian Science Congress. Ashutosh Mukherjee, then head of the University of Calcutta, chaired the meeting.
Notes
Congress dated 15-17 January 1914 per the association article. Association founders credited to J. L. Simonsen and P. S. MacMahon.
Bribery scandal over Japanese warships breaks in the press
Politics & diplomacy
After a Siemens employee in Tokyo stole documents and sold them to Reuters, the London Daily Telegraph reported criminal proceedings on 21 January. The papers showed secret kickbacks to Japanese naval officers from Siemens and from Vickers, which had offered a battlecruiser deal.
Notes
Some payment dates in the article (Vickers 1911-12 vs offer 1914) are not reconciled.
The railway bridge from the mainland to Pamban Island (Rameswaram), about 2 km long with a section that could be raised for ships, opened on 24 February.
Jiang Qing, born Li Yunhe in Zhucheng, Shandong, became an actress and the fourth wife of Mao Zedong. She later led the Gang of Four.
Notes
Wikipedia gives March 1914 (infobox, lead and Early life text), no day; a hidden editor's comment in the article says there is no official record of her birth date and that a 5 March claim lacks reliable sources. Wikidata lists 5 March 1914 (citing Chinese Wikipedia) and 19 March 1914 (citing English Wikipedia and the Great Norwegian Encyclopedia). Same month, different days: stored at month precision.
The quake killed 94 people and wrecked hundreds of homes in northern Honshu.
Notes
1914 Senboku earthquake article: about 05:00 local time on 15 March (20:00 UTC on 14 March); 94 dead, 324 injured; Ms 7.0 (NOAA lists 7.2). Stored as the local date, like other rows. NOAA and the March 1914 page give 640 homes destroyed.
The Indian mathematician sailed aboard the Nevasa, reached London on 14 April and was taken to Cambridge on 18 April, starting a collaboration with G. H. Hardy and J. E. Littlewood that lasted nearly five years.
McMahon Line boundary is set out by Britain and Tibet
Politics & diplomacy
British and Tibetan representatives exchanged maps and notes in Delhi marking the boundary of eastern Himalayan lands between Tibet and British India. China did not sign the agreement.
Notes
Wikidata gives 1914. The wider Simla Convention accord is dated 3 July 1914 in the article.
Japan's parliament refuses the navy budget and the Yamamoto government falls
Politics & diplomacyMedium confidence
On 24 March the Diet's two chambers blocked the navy's spending plan for 1914; facing a censure motion, Prime Minister Yamamoto Gonnohyoe quit, on that same day by the Siemens article's account. A court martial later demoted both him and his navy minister, Saito Makoto.
Notes
The 1914 in Japan page lists 24 March for the budget and 16 April for Yamamoto's resignation; the Siemens scandal article puts both on 24 March, and Okuma's premiership starts 16 April.
Don Mueang, today an international airport serving Bangkok, was inaugurated as an air base of the Royal Thai Air Force. It had already been used as a landing field.
Notes
Lead and infobox give the opening as 27 March 1914; the history section gives 8 March 1914 for the first flights (transfer of RTAF aircraft). Thai and German Wikipedia confirm 1914 but the day rests on English Wikipedia. Wikidata also lists 1914-01-01 as a start date. The earlier claim about a first KLM commercial flight in 1924 was dropped because it is not backed by a second source.
Pramatha Chaudhuri's magazine Sabuj Patra, with Rabindranath Tagore as a regular contributor, pushed Bengali writing toward the spoken language and away from the older formal style.
Notes
The magazine's article gives the first issue as 25 Baishakh 1321 BS and glosses it 'April 1914'. 25 Baishakh normally falls around 8 May, so the Gregorian date is probably early May; stored as April-May.
On 1 April a troupe of girls gave the Takarazuka Revue's first performance at the Paradise Theater, a converted indoor swimming pool whose changing room served as the stage.
Notes
Day-level date and venue from Japanese Wikipedia (Takarazuka Revue article and its list of 1914 performances: first run opened 1 April 1914 at the Paradise Theater, a converted pool); English Wikipedia gives only 1914. Japanese Wikipedia's article on the Takarazuka New Hot Spring resort describes the pool's changing room as the stage and the pool as the seating. The English article on the Revue says founder Ichizo Kobayashi of Hankyu Railways wanted an attraction to boost train ticket sales. No source opened gives the number or ages of the performers, so they are omitted.
Uryankhay Krai is established as a Russian protectorate
Politics & diplomacyLow confidence
Uryankhay Krai, today's Tuva, was established as a protectorate of the Russian Empire on 17 April 1914, following a declaration by Nicholas II that granted Russian citizenship to residents of five districts.
Notes
Calendar not stated in source. The article dates Nicholas II's citizenship declaration to 4 April 1914 and the establishment to 17 April 1914; the gap is exactly 13 days, the Julian-Gregorian offset, so the two may be one day given in two calendars. The article marks Old Style only for its 1915 date. Wikidata gives only the year. If the source's date is Old Style (Julian), the Gregorian date would be 30 April 1914.
Natsume Sōseki's novel Kokoro ran in installments in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper between 20 April and 11 August 1914. It follows a young man's acquaintance with an older man known as Sensei, who hides a secret about a friend's death.
Notes
Wikidata gives 1914 only. Serial ended 11 August 1914.
Indies Social Democratic Association, forerunner of the PKI, is founded
Politics & diplomacyMedium confidence
Henk Sneevliet, a Dutch socialist, and other Indies socialists set up the Indies Social Democratic Association in the Dutch East Indies. It was the forerunner of the Communist Party of Indonesia.
Notes
Founded as the ISDV (Indische Sociaal-Democratische Vereeniging). The infobox gives 23 May 1914, but no reference is given and 23 May is also the date of the 1920 congress that renamed the party. Lowensteyn's history of the socialist movement gives May 1914 with no day, Wikidata gives May 1914 (imported from Wikipedia), and search results show other secondary sites giving 9 May 1914 (not verified). Stored at month precision where these agree.
Namgyal Wangdi, later called Tenzing Norgay, is born in May 1914. He became a Sherpa mountaineer who, with Edmund Hillary, was first confirmed to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953.
Notes
Exact birth date unknown: he judged it late May from weather and crops, and after the 29 May 1953 Everest ascent celebrated his birthday on that day. Wikidata's 1914-05-29 (referenced to Britannica, Find a Grave and others) reflects that adopted birthday. Year 1914 inferred from the Tibetan Year of the Rabbit. Birthplace disputed: his autobiography gives Tengboche, Khumbu (Nepal); later accounts, including his son's book, give Tse Chu in Tibet.
Members of the Truku indigenous group rose against Japanese colonial forces in what is now Hualien County. The fighting lasted from May to August 1914 and ended in a Japanese victory.
Notes
Start and end months from the lead; the end date 1914-08-28 is when the Governor-General declared the war over; Wikidata gives 1914-08-01 as end. Force figures differ within the English article (up to 20,000 Japanese against about 2,000 people in the text; about 11,075 against 3,000-5,000 in the infobox). Chinese Wikipedia gives 17 May to 28 August 1914 and counts nearly 30,000 people on the Japanese side including carriers, so month precision is kept for the start.
Dadasaheb Phalke's third film was screened in June 1914 and was a commercial success.
Notes
The Phalke article (citing Watve 2012) says it was screened on 6 June 1914; the film's own article gives only 1914 (and calls it his second feature, where the Phalke article calls it his third).
John Hersey, an American writer and journalist, is born in Tianjin, China. He later wrote Hiroshima, about what followed the atomic bombing of that Japanese city.
The Bengali Vaishnava philosopher and reformer Bhaktivinoda Thakur died aged 75.
Notes
Date agreed (23 June 1914). Place disputed: his Wikipedia article says he died at his house in Calcutta; Wikidata gives Puri, as do devotee biographies cited in the accuracy review.
Britain and Tibet initial the Simla Convention that created the McMahon Line
Politics & diplomacyMedium confidence
After talks that began on 13 October 1913, British India's Henry McMahon and Tibet's Lonchen Shatra initialled the convention and maps defining Outer and Inner Tibet and the India-Tibet border; the Chinese delegate had initialled a draft on 27 April but Beijing repudiated it.
Notes
Wikipedia's infobox says 'signed 3 July 1914' but the text says only Britain and Tibet initialled that day; a footnote says the map was finalised on 24-25 March.
· Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India · Asia
Jyoti Basu is born
LivesMedium confidence
Jyotirindra Basu is born in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency. He became a Marxist politician and held the post of West Bengal's Chief Minister between 1977 and 2000.
Notes
Birthplace disputed within the Wikipedia article: its infobox says Dacca, but its early-life text (citing a BBC obituary and ThePrint) says 43/1 Harrison Road, Calcutta. ThePrint (8 July 2019) confirms Calcutta, and Wikidata lists Kolkata. Calcutta kept as better supported; his father's practice and the family's paternal house were in the Dhaka area.
Sun Yat-sen founds the Chinese Revolutionary Party in exile
Politics & diplomacyMedium confidence
Exiled in Japan, Sun created a new party requiring members to swear personal loyalty to him as a base for armed opposition to Yuan Shikai; Huang Xing and other veteran revolutionaries refused to join.
Notes
The article does not name Tokyo for 1914, only 'exiled in Japan'.
Felix Manalo registers the Iglesia ni Cristo with the Philippine government
Religion & philosophyMedium confidence
The church was registered as a corporation sole at the Bureau of Commerce on 13 July 1914.
Notes
The church's article gives 13 July 1914 from the original Articles of Incorporation, but the amended articles filed in 1948 give 27 June 1914 and those filed in 1973 give 27 July 1914. The church dates its origin to 1913.
The First World War's Asian and Pacific theatre opens
War & conflict
The First World War's Asian and Pacific theatre is dated from 3 August 1914. It included the Siege of Qingdao and the Allied seizure of German colonies in China and the Pacific.
Notes
Start date 3 August 1914 is the theatre's conventional start in the infobox; the article records no fighting that day (its first dated actions, e.g. in German New Guinea, come in September 1914). Infobox gives the end as 11 November 1918; Wikidata gives 1919-01-05. Theatre covered Asia and Oceania; region set to Asia, where the main action (Qingdao) took place.
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
Wikidata place (Wereldmuseum Amsterdam) is not where it was held; the article places it in Semarang.
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.
Revolutionaries seize pistols from a Calcutta arms dealer
Politics & diplomacy
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.
Japan and Britain take the German colony of Tsingtao
War & conflict
A Japanese force of about 23,000 plus a British contingent besieged the German port; the garrison of about 3,600 surrendered on 7 November and was held in prison camps in Japan until 1920.
Notes
Blockade began 27 August; Japanese forces landed on 2 September; formal handover on 16 November.
The German light cruiser Emden approached Madras at night and shelled oil tanks of the Burmah Oil Company for about ten minutes before withdrawing. It destroyed 346,000 gallons of fuel.
Police fire on Komagata Maru passengers at Budge Budge near Calcutta
Everyday lifeMedium confidence
When the Komagata Maru docked at Budge Budge near Calcutta on 29 September after being barred from Canada, a confrontation with the authorities ended in shooting; about 20 passengers were killed.
Notes
Death toll 20 (text) or 26 (infobox, including others); the article says police fired in the lead and troops in the body. The shooting date is implied by the arrival date of 29 September.
Mohammad Zahir Shah was born in Kabul. He became the last king of Afghanistan, reigning from 1933 until he was deposed in 1973.
Notes
Lead and body give birth on 15 October 1914 in Kabul and the reign from 8 November 1933 to 17 July 1973. The article's claim that he was the longest-serving Afghan ruler since the Durrani Empire began is a superlative with a single source, so it was removed from the interest line.
German cruiser sinks two Allied warships at Penang
War & conflict
In a surprise attack, a German cruiser of the East Asia Squadron sank two Allied warships in the Penang Strait. 135 French and Russian sailors died and 157 were wounded; the Germans had no casualties.
Notes
Wikidata places it in the Strait of Malacca, Indonesia; the article says off Penang.
German Kiautschou Bay territory ends as Japan occupies it
War & conflict
Japanese forces occupied Kiautschou Bay on 7 November 1914. Japan had demanded in an August ultimatum that Germany give up the territory it had leased in China since 1898.
Notes
Infobox gives the end as 'Occupied by Japan', 7 November; the ultimatum was on 15 August 1914.
Gas explosion at the Hojo coal mine kills about 687 in Japan
Disasters
Methane mixed with coal dust ignited, probably from a spark, at the Mitsubishi Hojo mine in Kyushu. Shafts were sealed to contain the fire, which also killed survivors underground. About one in five of the dead were women who worked alongside their husbands.
Notes and dating
Date uncertainty: Sources give 680-686 or 687 dead; one historian suggests it may have reached 1,000
Hojo article gives 687 dead, with other sources at 680 or 686 and one historian suggesting up to 1,000 (possible company cover-up). TakeMeBack.to dates it 1 December, probably in error.
Tatsuno Kingo's brick station, with its Marunouchi facade, opened on 20 December and replaced Shinbashi as the main terminal. Prime Minister Hara Takashi was stabbed in front of it in 1921.
Electrified Keihin line opens between Shinagawa and Takashimacho
Everyday life
The Keihin line, ancestor of today's Keihin-Tōhoku Line, began running on 20 December 1914, an electrified passenger line joining Shinagawa in Tokyo and Takashimacho in Yokohama.
Notes
Opening date is for the original Shinagawa-Takashimacho section.
Russian settlers founded the city of Belotsarsk in 1914, right after the Uryankhay Krai, a Russian Empire protectorate, was created. It was later renamed and is now Kyzyl, the capital of the Tuva Republic.
Notes
Infobox established 1914; the article says the city was called Belotsarsk 1914-1917. Calendar not stated in source.
The fourth and last German archaeological expedition to Turfan in Xinjiang, led by Albert von Le Coq, ended. It had been cut short by many difficulties.
Notes
Article disagrees with itself on when the fourth expedition ended: one passage says 13 March 1914 (running from 31 March 1913, citing Encyclopaedia Iranica), another says February 1914 (running from June 1913). Stored at year precision. The fourth expedition worked at sites beyond Turfan (full article: Kucha, Kizil, Tumshuk, Kashgar), so the place is given as Xinjiang. The series as a whole is dated 1902-1914; Wikidata gives 1914 only.
Maruyama Zoo, forerunner of the Taipei Zoo, is founded
Everyday lifeMedium confidence
In 1914, under Japanese rule, a private zoo called Maruyama Zoo was set up at Mt. Maruyama on the northern outskirts of Taihoku, now Taipei. It grew into today's Taipei Zoo, which moved to Muzha in 1986 and covers 165 hectares.
Notes
Body: founded as Maruyama Zoo at Mt. Maruyama (now Yuanshan), a northern suburb of Taihoku, privately owned at first; the government bought it the following year; moved to Muzha in 1986. Infobox date opened 1914. Chinese Wikipedia agrees on 1914, the private origin and the 1986 move, and gives 5 April 1914 for the opening without a visible source, so the row stays at year level. Category changed from science_discovery to everyday_life.
A theatre group was formed in Osh under Rahmonberdi Madazimov and the teacher Baltyhodzha Sultanov. It is now the Babur Uzbek Music and Drama Theater, called the oldest professional theater in Kyrgyzstan.
Notes
Year only: infobox 'opened 1914' and History section 'In 1914, the theater group was founded'. The article also describes a 1918 amateur troupe as a founding step. Wikidata inception 1914 (imported from Russian Wikipedia). Article is tagged as needing more citations.
Members of the Manila Club, a club mainly for Britons, set up the Nomads as a multi-sport club in Manila. Its football team won the local league in that same first year.
Notes
Year only: founded 1914 per the infobox and History section; Wikidata inception 1914 (year precision).
General Liu Qing En, first Superintendent of the Hanyang Arsenal, designed a semi-automatic rifle that could be switched to straight-pull bolt action. It was produced from 1914 to 1918, with about 10 made.
Notes
Infobox gives design date ca. 1914 and production 1914–1918; origin Republic of China. The article does not say where the design work was done: Liu contacted Pratt & Whitney in Hartford, Connecticut, at the beginning of 1914 and arrived in Hartford in September 1914, so no place is given. The article carries an 'unreliable sources' tag (March 2026). Wikidata inception 1914, imported from Russian Wikipedia.
The Jama Masjid at Aligarh Muslim University, also known as Sir Syed Mosque, was completed. Building had begun in 1879 under the university's founder, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.
Notes
Construction started 1879; the mosque article's text says completed January 1915 and its infobox says 1915. The month appears only in that article: the university history article says only that it was inaugurated in 1915, and no outside source confirming the month was found.
Ghadar Mutiny plot targets the British Indian Army
War & conflictMedium confidence
A plan was set for February 1915 to start a mutiny across the British Indian Army and end British rule in India. Backed by the Ghadar Party, the Berlin Committee and German officials, it was thwarted by British intelligence and police action.
Notes
Month is when the mutiny was planned to begin; Wikidata also gives 1915-02.
Aung San was born in Natmauk in Burma. He became a politician and independence activist who worked to end British rule and is regarded as the founder of the Tatmadaw.
Sepoys of the 5th Light Infantry mutiny in Singapore
War & conflict
Up to half of the 5th Light Infantry, a British Indian Army regiment in Singapore, mutinied after rumours they would be sent against the Ottoman Empire. Dozens of soldiers and civilians were killed by the mutineers before it was put down.
Notes
Wikidata gives an end date of 1915-02-22 (unsourced). Number killed differs by source: English Wikipedia says 36 soldiers and civilians, the National Library Board's Infopedia says 44 British and 5 Chinese or Malay civilians (49). Infopedia confirms 15 February 1915 as the start and 47 executions (Kassim Mansoor hanged on 31 May), and its totals (47 executed, 165 more sentenced) are consistent with 'more than 205' tried.
Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a senior Indian National Congress leader and social reformer, dies. He had founded the Servants of India Society.
Notes
Place of death disputed: the article's infobox gives Bombay (uncited); Nordisk familjebok and, per Wikidata, the Great Soviet Encyclopedia give Poona (Pune). Both lie in the Bombay Presidency, which is stored.
Sir Reginald Craddock, home member of the Viceroy's council, introduced an emergency criminal law that the council passed at one sitting. It allowed preventive detention, internment without trial and limits on writing, speech and movement.
Mosaburo Makita, born in 1893, started a company in Nagoya that sold and repaired lighting equipment, motors and transformers. It later became Makita, a power tool maker based in Anjō.
Notes
Lead gives 21 March 1915; the infobox and Makita's own history page give only March 1915 (founded in Nagoya by Mosaburo Makita as a sole proprietorship), so the day rests on the article lead alone. The 'factories in eight countries' claim was dropped as unconfirmed outside Wikipedia.
Sultanate of Sulu's sovereignty ends with the Carpenter Agreement
Politics & diplomacy
Under pressure from American commanders, Sultan Jamalul Kiram II signed the Carpenter Agreement, giving up sovereignty over lands controlled by the United States and keeping only his religious role as head of Islam in Sulu. The sultanate lived on as a ceremonial institution.
Notes
Day from the full article's history section (it says the sultanate in effect stopped existing on 22 March 1915 through the Carpenter Agreement), matching the infobox end date of 22 March 1915; the lead says powers were given up 'by 1915'. Wikidata gives 1915. The infobox's 23 July 1914 date belongs to a separate event. Candidate place (East Kalimantan) not used.
The first section of what became the Seibu Ikebukuro Line, from Ikebukuro in Tokyo to Hannō, was opened by the company that preceded today's Seibu Railway.
Notes
It opened on 15 April 1915 as the Musashino Line of the Musashino Railway, a forerunner of today's Seibu Railway, running first between Ikebukuro and Hannō; the Japanese Wikipedia infobox also gives 15 April 1915. Wikidata agrees.
Far Eastern Championship Games are held in Shanghai
SportMedium confidence
The second Far Eastern Games began in Shanghai on 15 May 1915, at Hongkou Park. The event took its Championship Games name that year, and cycling appeared only in this edition.
Notes
Start date 15 May is given by the English article for the Games, its editions table and its dedicated 1915 article. The last day is disputed inside English Wikipedia: the editions table and the 1915 infobox say 21 May, the 1915 article lead says 22 May; neither is clearly better, so no end date is stored. Wikidata gives only the years of the series.
Riots between Sinhalese Buddhists and Ceylon Moors begin in Kandy
Politics & diplomacy
Ethnic riots began in Kandy on the night of 28 May, reached neighbouring villages on 30 May, then Colombo on 31 May. British authorities declared martial law from 2 June and put down the riots, using summary executions.
Notes
End date varies: infobox gives 8 August 1915; lead says suppressed by 9 June; Wikidata gives end 1915-08-30 (end of martial law). A Sri Lankan newspaper history (Sunday Times) says the violence began in the early hours of 28 May, the Vesak procession day, and martial law was declared on 2 June.
Terence Young was born in the Shanghai International Settlement, China. He became a British film director who made the first two James Bond films and Thunderball.
Tapani Incident uprising against Japanese rule begins in Taiwan
War & conflictMedium confidence
Han Chinese and Indigenous Taiwanese fighters, including Taivoan, rose against Japanese rule, starting at the Xilai Temple in Tainan. Under leaders such as Yu Qingfang and Jiang Ding they stormed several police stations; Japan prevailed.
Notes
Infobox dates: 6 July 1915 to 18 May 1916. German Wikipedia also gives 6 July 1915 for the first attacks, so the start is supported. The end is disputed, so only the year is stored: English Wikipedia's body has Jiang Ding surrendering in April 1916 and his followers arrested on 18 May 1916, while German Wikipedia says the uprising ended with his arrest on 16 April 1916 (Polish Wikipedia says April 1916). Also called the Xilai Temple Incident and the Yu Qingfang Incident. The English body places the first police-station raids in August 1915 (Yu Qingfang was betrayed and handed over on 22 August 1915), which differs from the infobox start.
Yaskawa Electric, now a Japanese maker of servos, motion controllers, AC motor drives and industrial robots, is founded by Daigoro Yasukawa with money from his father, the coal-mining industrialist Keiichiro Yasukawa.
Notes
Day 16 July 1915 from the English and Japanese Wikipedia infoboxes; the English lead and Wikidata give only 1915, and the company's milestones page gives the year. Founder: English Wikipedia names Keiichiro Yasukawa; the company's milestones page calls Keiichiro the founding promoter and his fifth son Daigoro the founder; Japanese Wikipedia also calls Keiichiro the founding promoter. Legal form differs: the company page says a joint-stock company in 1915, Japanese Wikipedia a limited partnership (gōshi kaisha) in 1915 that became a joint-stock company in 1919. The milestones page is the company's own account.
Home Minister Ōura Kanetake resigns in the Ōura scandal
Politics & diplomacyMedium confidence
Ōura Kanetake was forced to resign as Home Minister after charges that party funds were given to a Diet official to sway votes on a military spending bill. He was not indicted.
Notes
Kind is end, but no end date for the scandal is stated; the row uses Ōura's forced resignation on 29 July 1915 (English Wikipedia; Japanese Wikipedia's Second Ōkuma Cabinet article also says he resigned on 29 July, while its minister table and the Ōura scandal article give 30 July for the formal dismissal / resignation letter in the official gazette). Wikidata gives only the year 1915 as the end. English Wikipedia says the cabinet held a mass resignation in October 1915; Japanese Wikipedia contradicts this: the cabinet tendered resignations the day after Ōura left, the Emperor refused them, a reshuffle took place on 10 August 1915, and Ōkuma resigned on 4 October 1916 (successor cabinet 9 October 1916). The Japanese account is better detailed and is used. The 29 July date rests on English and French Wikipedia (French closely follows the English).
Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition building opens to the public
ArchitectureMedium confidence
Designed by the Czech architect Jan Letzel and finished in April, the domed exhibition hall in Hiroshima opened formally to visitors in August. Decades later it became the Genbaku Dome, a ruin preserved as a memorial.
Notes
Row is the formal opening (August 1915 in the article); the building was completed in April 1915. Wikidata gives opening 5 August 1915 and inception 5 April 1915, both unsourced, so the month is stored.
Japan's first national high school baseball championship opens
SportMedium confidence
The first national high school baseball championship opened with a ceremonial first pitch on 18 August 1915; Kyoto Dai-ni Chugaku beat Akita Chugaku 2-1 in the final. The tournament is now held each summer at Koshien Stadium.
Notes
Opening date from the article's photo caption of the 1st championship's ceremonial first pitch, 18 August 1915; infobox gives founded 1915. The 1915 venue is not named in the article; Wikidata's place, Koshien Stadium, is the present venue.
Japanese statesman of the Meiji period and one of the senior Genrō, who held several ministerial posts. He died at his summer home in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Notes
Infobox gives death place Ihara, Shizuoka; body text instead names a summer residence at Okitsu-juku in the same prefecture.
Chosen Industrial Exhibition is held in Keijo (Seoul)
Economy & trade
A colonial fair at Gyeongbokgung marked five years since Japan established its rule in Korea and was the new government's first official event. Over 1 million people attended before it closed.
Notes
English Wikipedia's infobox and Korean Wikipedia (which cites a scholarly article) give opening on 11 September and closing on 31 October 1915; Wikidata also lists a start of 9 September, unsourced.
Chen Duxiu's Youth Magazine issues its first number
Art & literature
Chen Duxiu's Youth Magazine, later renamed New Youth, put out its first issue in Shanghai on 15 September 1915. The first issue carried his piece "A Letter to Youth".
Notes
Date is that of the first issue. The magazine was renamed New Youth in September 1916 after the Shanghai YMCA complained about the similar name.
Maqbool Fida Husain was born in Pandharpur, in the Bombay Presidency, into a Suleymani Bohra family. He became an Indian painter and film director, a founding member of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group.
Ryunosuke Akutagawa's short story "Rashomon", drawn from tales in the Konjaku Monogatarishu, first appeared in print in the November 1915 issue of the journal Teikoku Bungaku.
Notes
The English article and Wikidata give only 1915. Japanese Wikipedia and the Aozora Bunko edition's first-publication note both name the November 1915 issue of Teikoku Bungaku; no day-level date found, so month is stored. The story was first collected in a book in May 1917 (Japanese Wikipedia).
Kon Ichikawa is born in Ise, Mie. He became a Japanese film director and screenwriter whose films include The Burmese Harp, Fires on the Plain and Tokyo Olympiad.
Chung Ju-yung is born into a poor family in Tongchon County, Korea, then under Japanese rule. He became a South Korean entrepreneur and founded the Hyundai Group.
Gamelan gong kebyar is first played in public in Jagaraga
Stage, music & filmMedium confidence
Gong kebyar, a style of Balinese gamelan music, had its first public performance at a competition for gamelan gong ensembles held in Jagaraga in northern Bali.
Notes
The December 1915 first public performance at a gamelan gong competition in Jagaraga is given by the English article; German Wikipedia says only that the name gamelan gong kebyar was first used in 1915, and Wikidata gives the year with no reference, so the month rests on the English article and no outside check was available.
A male Ezo brown bear attacked households in a remote part of Hokkaido, Japan, over several days in December 1915. Seven people were killed and three injured before the bear was shot dead.
Notes
Start 9 December 1915 is given by the English article, Wikidata and Italian Wikipedia. The end is disputed, so it is stored at month level: the English infobox and lead give 15 December, while Wikidata and Italian Wikipedia give 14 December. Wikidata category (war_conflict) changed to disaster_nature.
Chinese president Yuan Shikai declared a short-lived Empire of China, with himself as emperor, in an attempt to restore the monarchy. The empire lasted until his abdication on 22 March 1916.
Notes
Infobox gives the empire declared on 12 December 1915. The article text says an assembly unanimously elected him Emperor on 11 December 1915, and that accession rites were delayed until 1 January 1916. German Wikipedia agrees: the assembly elected him on 11 December and he proclaimed the empire on 12 December, then announced its dissolution on 22 March 1916.
National Protection War against Yuan Shikai's empire begins
War & conflict
On 25 December 1915, Yunnan's military leaders Cai E and Tang Jiyao declared independence in Kunming and formed the National Protection Army to fight Yuan Shikai, who had proclaimed himself emperor. The civil war lasted until July 1916.
Notes
Infobox gives 25 December 1915 to 14 July 1916; the body says Yunnan declared independence in Kunming on 25 December 1915. Wikidata gives the same start date (imported from English Wikipedia). Wikidata's place, Guangdong, is one of the provinces that joined later.
Russia, China and Mongolia sign the Treaty of Kyakhta
Politics & diplomacyMedium confidence
A three-party treaty among Russia, Mongolia and China was signed at Kyakhta. Russia and China recognised Outer Mongolia's autonomy within Chinese territory, and Mongolia accepted Chinese suzerainty.
Notes
The lead gives 25 May 1915 and the infobox 29 May 1915; neither states a calendar, and Wikidata stores 25 May 1915 as a Julian date (7 June 1915 Gregorian), imported from Russian Wikipedia. With three candidate days, only the year is stored.
Harukichi Yamaguchi founds the Yamaguchi-gumi in Kobe
Everyday life
The Yamaguchi-gumi, a Japanese yakuza group, was founded in Kobe and named after its founder, Harukichi Yamaguchi. It began as a loose labor union for dockworkers.
Iqbal published Asrar-i-Khudi, a book of Persian poetry dealing mainly with the individual. It was his first collection of poetry and was followed by Rumuz-i-Bekhudi on the individual and society.
Notes
Place not stated in the source; region is an assumption.
Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall is completed in Bangkok
ArchitectureMedium confidence
The Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall, a royal reception hall in Dusit Palace, was finished after eight years of construction, under King Vajiravudh.
Notes
English Wikipedia gives completion in 1915 and construction from 1908 (foundation stone laid 11 November 1908). Thai Wikipedia also gives completion in Buddhist Era 2458 (1915) and a formal inauguration on 11 January 2459 BE (11 January 1916), which I could not confirm elsewhere, so only the year is stored. The English lead says the king commissioned the hall in 1908, but its history section places the commission about a year after 1906.
Nanking Higher Normal School, forerunner of National Central University, is founded
Everyday lifeMedium confidence
After the Republic of China was proclaimed, Nanking Higher Normal School was set up to replace the Liangjiang Higher Normal School. The university now based in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, traces its origin to it.
Notes
Article says 1915 is the year most often cited for the founding of the university.
Kyota Sugimoto created the first practical typewriter for Japanese script, finishing a prototype in 1914 and patenting it in Japan in 1915 (patent No. 27877). His machine carried 2,400 of the thousands of kanji characters, and a US patent followed in 1917.
Notes
Japanese patent No. 27877 (1915) and US patent No. 1,245,633 (1917) from the Kyota Sugimoto article. Nipponica (via Kotobank) says he finished a prototype in 1914 and obtained the patent in 1915; Daijisen says the machine went on sale in 1916. The Japanese typewriter article's line that he obtained the patent rights in 1929 conflicts with these and is not used. Character count: 2,400 per Wikipedia; Mypedia says about 3,000.
The clock tower at Kowloon station, Tsim Sha Tsui, was finished in 1915 as part of the station, which opened on 28 March 1916. Built of red brick and granite, it is 44 metres high.
Notes
Hong Kong's Antiquities and Monuments Office says the clock tower was erected in 1915 as part of the terminus, construction began in 1913 and the terminus opened on 28 March 1916; the tower is 44 m, of red brick and granite. The clocks and bell were installed later and started keeping time in March 1921.
Tamisuke Yokogawa starts the venture that became Yokogawa Electric
Economy & tradeMedium confidence
In 1915 Tamisuke Yokogawa set up a research institute for electric meters in Shibuya, Tokyo, the origin of Yokogawa Electric. The venture was incorporated five years later as Yokogawa Electric Works Ltd.
Notes
The English infobox gives 1 September 1915 (uncited), but the article text, Japanese Wikipedia and Wikidata give only the year 1915, and no approved outside source confirms the day, so the row is stored at year level. The history section describes the 1915 start as a research institute for electrical meters in Shibuya, Tokyo, with incorporation in 1920; the infobox lists Tamisuke Yokogawa, Ichiro Yokogawa and Shin Aoki as founders (Japanese Wikipedia also names all three).
Japanese feminist magazine Seito publishes its last issue
Art & literatureMedium confidence
Seito (Bluestocking), a literary magazine founded in 1911 by five women, ended with its February 1916 issue. It had produced 52 issues and faced growing government opposition.
Notes
Wikidata also gives an end date of 1916-01-01; the magazine's last issue is dated February 1916.
Banaras Hindu University is established in Varanasi
Science
Madan Mohan Malaviya founded Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, absorbing the Central Hindu College. He had the backing of the maharajas of Darbhanga and Benares and the lawyer Sunder Lal.
Kobayashi was born in the port city of Otaru on Hokkaido. He became a Japanese filmmaker, best remembered for The Human Condition trilogy, Harakiri and Kwaidan.
Qamaruddin Khan, later Ustad Bismillah Khan, is born in Dumraon, Bihar. He became an Indian musician credited with spreading the popularity of the shehnai.
Yuan Shikai abdicates and the Empire of China ends
Politics & diplomacy
Yuan Shikai abandoned the monarchy he had tried to restore in China, ending his short-lived empire. An assembly had elected him emperor in December 1915, but in the face of widespread opposition he kept postponing his accession rites.
Notes
Monarchy abandoned on 22 March 1916; the 'Hongxian' era name was abolished on 23 March. The 1 January 1916 date in the article is when the accession rites had first been set, not the end of the empire. Wikidata gives 22 March 1916 for the dissolution (unreferenced).
Boris Svetlov's film In the Kingdom of Oil and Millions has its first showing
Stage, music & filmMedium confidence
Boris Svetlov directed In the Kingdom of Oil and Millions, a 1916 feature based on a story by Ibrahim bey Musabeyov. It was first shown in May 1916 at a Baku cinema owned by Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev.
Notes
Stored at month precision. The English Wikipedia article gives the first showing as 14 May 1916, citing a book on Azerbaijani film history, without saying which calendar; Baku was then in the Russian Empire, which used the Julian calendar, so the Gregorian date would be 27 May 1916 if that is an Old Style date. Both readings fall in May. Wikidata also lists 14 May 1916, imported from English Wikipedia. Release date not confirmed outside Wikipedia: kino-teatr.ru refused automated access and the Azerbaijani energy ministry page could not be reached. Region chosen for Azerbaijan; the film's country is given as the Russian Empire (Azerbaijan).
Tokyo Medical University was established in Tokyo, Japan, with Takuya Takahashi named as founder. It is one of the medical schools set up in Japan before World War II.
Zail Singh, born Jarnail Singh, was born in Sandhwan in Faridkot State. He later became chief minister of Punjab and then held India's presidency between 1982 and 1987.
Balakrishna Menon, later known as Swami Chinmayananda, was born in Ernakulam, Kerala, the eldest son of a judge. He became a Hindu spiritual teacher and founded Chinmaya Mission in 1953.
Notes
Wikidata place is Kerala; article names Ernakulam. The article's count of 95 publications was not confirmed outside Wikipedia and is left out of the reader text.
Yuan Shikai, a Chinese general and statesman who had been the Republic of China's first formal president, dies in Beijing. He had declared himself emperor in December 1915 and been forced to abdicate in March 1916.
The National Protection War was a civil war against Yuan Shikai, who had proclaimed himself emperor. It ended on 14 July 1916, when the provinces withdrew their declarations of independence.
Notes
War began December 1915; Wikidata gives end 1919-07-14, the article gives 14 July 1916.
The Philippine government set up the Philippine National Bank in Manila. A law passed in February 1916 had provided for it to take over from the small, state-owned Agricultural Bank.
Karur Vysya Bank was founded. It is now a private sector bank based in Karur, Tamil Nadu, providing retail, corporate and treasury banking across India.
Notes
Founding day 25 July 1916 from the history section; lead and infobox give 1916.
The University of Mysore was inaugurated in Mysore, India, under Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, who served as its first chancellor. H. V. Nanjundaiah became its first Vice-Chancellor.
An earthquake of local magnitude 6.8 struck Nantou in central Taiwan and destroyed 614 houses. Death tolls given for it range from 16 to 180.
Notes
NOAA UTC date 1916-08-28 07:27; local time 15:27 (UTC+8), same date. NOAA lists magnitude 6.5 and 180 deaths; English and Chinese Wikipedia give ML 6.8, 16 dead and 614 houses destroyed, so the title no longer states a magnitude and the summary uses 6.8 with the tolls as a range.
A decree from the colony's Governor General created the Soerabaiasche Planten- en Dierentuin. The first zoo stood in Kaliondo and moved to Groedo Road on 28 September 1917.
Notes
Infobox gives date_opened April 1918; this entry uses the decree date.
Margaret Lockwood was born in Karachi, British India. She became a British actress, ranked among Britain's most popular film stars in the 1930s and 1940s.
· Madurai, Madras Presidency, British India · Asia
M. S. Subbulakshmi is born
Lives
M. S. Subbulakshmi was born in Madurai to a veena player and her husband. She became a Carnatic singer and the first musician awarded the Bharat Ratna.
Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal was born in Mongolia. He became an officer and politician and ruled the Mongolian People's Republic from 1952 until 1984.
Notes
Birthplace differs: the English infobox says Bayan Chandamani Uula banner, German Wikipedia says Davst in Uvs aimag; the English categories also place him in Uvs Province, so the place is given at that level. Birth date 17 September 1916 agrees in both.
Voters chose 22 of the 24 Philippine Senate seats on 3 October 1916, two senators per district. Manuel L. Quezon's Nacionalista Party won 20 seats and the Progresista Party one. It took over the upper-house role from the Philippine Commission.
Notes
The article says the American Governor General called special elections in 1917 because earlier 1916 elections were found to be fraudulent, in the 6th district. Only Dutch Wikipedia exists for this event, so seat counts rest on the English article.
Tokyo Kashi Company, forerunner of Meiji Seika Pharma, is founded
Economy & tradeMedium confidence
Tokyo Kashi Company was founded in Tokyo on 9 October 1916, with Hanji Sōma named as founder. The business became Meiji Seika Pharma, now a Japanese pharmaceutical company owned by Meiji Holdings.
Notes
Infobox founding entry names Tokyo, 9 October 1916, Tokyo Kashi Company. Company history between 1916 and the later name is not covered.
The Kenseikai came into being on 10 October 1916 when three groups combined: Katō Takaaki's Rikken Dōshikai, Ozaki Yukio's Chūseikai and the small Kōyū Club. It lasted until June 1927, when it merged to form the Rikken Minseitō.
Notes
Japanese Wikipedia gives 10 October 1916 for the founding and 1 June 1927 for its dissolution; the English article says only that it merged in June 1927, so the summary gives the month.
The Philippine Senate was established on 16 October 1916 as the upper house of the Philippine Legislature, following the Jones Law of August 1916. It replaced the Philippine Commission, and its first elections had been held on 3 October.
Notes
Infobox foundation 16 October 1916; Wikidata category proposed architecture, changed to politics.
The Philippine Commission, also called the Taft Commission, was disbanded on 16 October 1916. An elected legislature created by the Philippine Autonomy Act took its place. President McKinley had set the commission up in 1900.
Post of Senate president of the Philippines is created
Politics & diplomacy
The office came into being when the Philippine Senate was inaugurated in 1916, taking the place of the Philippine Commission as upper house of the legislature. Manuel L. Quezon was elected to it on 16 October 1916 by unanimous acclamation.
The fourth Philippine Legislature met under United States sovereign control from 16 October 1916 to 8 March 1919. Its 24-member Senate was led by Manuel L. Quezon and its 90-member House of Representatives by Speaker Sergio Osmeña.
A by-election held in Beijing on 30 October 1916 filled the vice presidency left vacant when Li Yuanhong became president after Yuan Shikai's sudden death. Feng Guozhang beat Lu Rongting, 520 electoral votes to 201.
Notes
Wikidata place gives Taiwan; the article and Chinese Wikipedia say Beijing. Vote counts and date match Chinese Wikipedia.
Huang Xing, a Chinese revolutionary leader, died in Shanghai aged 42, after an illness that the English article attributes to cirrhosis.
Notes
Date and place agree across English, Chinese and German Wikipedia. Cause: English says cirrhosis; Chinese Wikipedia says bleeding from ruptured gullet and stomach veins, inferred to come from cirrhosis; German says only an illness.
Cai E, a Chinese revolutionary and general, died in Fukuoka, Japan, shortly after arriving for tuberculosis treatment. He had commanded the National Protection War opposing Yuan Shikai's bid to bring back monarchy.
Notes
Also romanised Tsai Ao. State funeral held at Yuelu Mountain, Hunan, on 12 April 1917.
Michael Gough was born in Kuala Lumpur to English parents. He became a British actor with over 150 film and television appearances, including Alfred Pennyworth in four Batman films.
Meeting jointly in Lucknow, Congress and the Muslim League agreed to give religious minorities representation in provincial legislatures. The League also agreed to join the Congress movement for Indian autonomy.
Thibaw Min, the last king of Burma, died in exile at Ratnagiri in British India. He had reigned from 1878 until British forces defeated his army in 1885.
Notes
Dates conflict: the infobox and lead give 16 December 1916 (with the Burmese date Saturday, 7th waning of Nadaw 1278 ME), the body gives 15 December 1916, and the succession box gives 19 December 1916. Wikidata gives 19 December 1916, citing Encyclopaedia Britannica Online; the Britannica page could not be opened to check. Month stored.
A private railway company in Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures, Japan, which also operates excursion ships, began on 7 December 1916. Its roots go back to an earlier company founded in 1893, and the Zusō Railway is listed as its predecessor line.
Notes
Japanese Wikipedia gives 7 December 1916 as the company's founding date under the name Sunzu Railway; the English lead's 1893 roots refer to an earlier firm.
Natsume Sōseki, the Japanese novelist behind I Am a Cat, Botchan and Kokoro, died in Tokyo aged 49; his last novel, Light and Dark, was never finished.
Notes
The article gives Tokyo as the place of death. Wikidata names Waseda-Minamichō in Shinjuku, Tokyo (imported from Japanese Wikipedia).
Anti-conscription revolt breaks out in Russian Turkestan
War & conflictMedium confidence
When the Tsarist government ended the exemption of Muslims from military service, major violence broke out in Russian Turkestan. The revolt was put down under martial law and later fed the Basmachi movement.
Notes
Year-level date only. The Basmachi movement article gives 1916 to 1934 in its infobox, but its body says the uprising had died out in most areas by 1926, and the separate article on the 1916 revolt dates the Basmachi revolt 1916 to 1923; the end date is therefore left out. The Basmachi proper are listed from 1918.
The 13th Dalai Lama adopts the Snow Lion flag of Tibet
Politics & diplomacyMedium confidence
A new national flag was adopted and every army regiment was ordered to carry it. It flew as the flag of an independent Tibet until 1951.
Notes
Adoption in 1916 is reported on the account of Tsarong Dasang Dadul. Dating is disputed. French Wikipedia also supports 1916 (Tsarong biography: new flags made in winter 1916), but German Wikipedia says the sun and stripes were added to the regimental symbols in 1912, that it was a military rather than national flag, and that a French consular report describes a snow-lion national flag introduced around 1920, with the present flag used from about 1925.
Bangkok railway station, known as Hua Lamphong, opened after six years of construction that began in 1910. Mario Tamagno and Annibale Rigotti designed it in an Italian neo-renaissance style.
Notes
Year-level because the day is disputed: the English article and infobox and the German infobox give 25 June 1916, but the German article text says the station opened on 16 August 1916. Calendar is Gregorian here; Thailand adopted it later but the dates differ by more than the calendar shift.
Indian leaders set up home rule leagues in British India in 1916, modelled on Irish Home Rule. A league formed at Belgaum in April 1916, and Annie Besant founded another at Adyar, Madras, in September.
Notes
Source gives two league foundings in 1916 (April, Belgaum; September, Adyar, Madras), so the movement is stored at year precision.
Ryunosuke Akutagawa's satirical short story The Nose first came out in Shinshicho, a student magazine of Tokyo Imperial University. It draws on a thirteenth-century Japanese tale.
Notes
Month disputed, so only the year is stored. The English infobox and text give January 1916 (citing Rimer and Gessel); the Japanese Wikipedia infobox gives the first issue of the fourth series of Shinshicho, February 1916. Wikidata gives 1916 only.
13th Dalai Lama founds medical and astrology institutes
Medicine & epidemicsMedium confidence
In 1916 the 13th Dalai Lama set up institutes in Lhasa to train monks in Tibetan medicine, astronomy and astrology, one at Luguk and one at the Chagpori College of Medicine.
Notes
Year only. Wikidata/candidate place India refers to the 1961 re-establishment in Dharamshala; the 1916 institutes were in Lhasa. French Wikipedia also gives 1916 in Lhasa but tells the origin differently (the Dalai Lama's physician asked to convert the Tengyeling monastery into a school of medicine and astrology), whereas English Wikipedia says a planned English school was turned into the institute. The English article's figure of 58 branch clinics (2022) was dropped: the same article also says 53 and no outside source confirmed it.
Madhura Vijayam manuscript is discovered at Thiruvananthapuram
Art & literatureMedium confidence
Pandit N Ramasvami Sastriar found the 14th-century Sanskrit poem by Gangadevi in a private traditional library. It tells of the Vijayanagara conquest of the Madurai Sultanate.
Zulfugar Hajibeyov writes his first opera, Ashig Garib
Stage, music & filmMedium confidence
Ashig Garib, the first opera by Azerbaijani composer Zulfugar Hajibeyov, was written in 1916 from a dastan of the same name. It was first staged in Baku at Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev's theatre.
Notes
Wikidata gives 1916 for the first performance; the text dates the writing to 1916 and says the first staging was in Baku without giving a date. Year-only date; calendar not stated in source.
A football club was founded in Bangkok under the Royal Thai Army, originally named Royal Thai Army Football Club. It later became Army United and was discontinued after the 2019 season.
In Baku, existing musical courses were turned into a musical school. It later became the Azerbaijan National Conservatory Music College, a state secondary college.
Notes
Calendar not stated in source; year precision only. Wikidata category was science_discovery; changed to theatre_music_film.
The Chinese folk religious movement Guiyidao, also called Daoyuan, began in 1916 in Pin County, Shandong, as a spirit-writing (fuji) group led by Liu Shoji.
Notes
Year only. English Wikipedia names Liu Shoji as founder; French and Chinese Wikipedia say the group began in Bin County with the county magistrate Wu Fuyong and the army officer Liu Shaoji, so the founder is stated only as the leader. Membership figures are described in the article as varying widely.
Society of the Sacred Heart establishes a women's special school in Tokyo
Everyday life
A French Catholic order for women, the Society of the Sacred Heart, set up a special school (senmon gakko) in Japan. Granted university status in 1948, it is today the University of the Sacred Heart, in Shibuya, Tokyo.
Notes
Infobox gives 1916/1948 (school, then university).
Football Association of Thailand founds the Kor Royal Cup
SportMedium confidence
The Football Association of Thailand set up a club football tournament that became the country's top-level competition. It was called the Yai Cup until 1963, and the Department of Performing Arts won the first edition.
Notes
Year only. English, Catalan, Spanish and Thai Wikipedia give 1916 (Thai: first held in Buddhist year 2459, won by the Department of Performing Arts); German Wikipedia says 1906 with no contest from 1907 to 1916, which looks like an outlier. Wikidata gives 1916 referenced only to English Wikipedia.
Ceylon holds its second Legislative Council election
Politics & diplomacyMedium confidence
British Ceylon held its second election to the Legislative Council in January 1917.
Notes
Infobox gives 9-20 January 1917; the lead says held 20 January 1917. Month stored because they differ. Wikidata place (United Kingdom) is wrong for this event.
Magnitude 6.2 earthquake kills 54 in Nantou, Taiwan
DisastersMedium confidence
A shallow magnitude 6.2 ML earthquake struck the Nantou area of central Taiwan, then under Japanese rule, in the early hours of 5 January 1917. It killed 54 people, more than any other shock in the 1916-1917 sequence, and destroyed 130 houses.
Notes
Date and time (00:55) come from the sequence table, which uses UTC+8 local time; that is 16:55 UTC on 4 January 1917. The 71 deaths cover the whole 1916-1917 series. A further shock of magnitude 5.5 is listed for 7 January 1917.
M. G. Ramachandran was born in Nawalapitiya, British Ceylon. He became an Indian film actor and politician, holding the office of Tamil Nadu chief minister from 1977 to his death in 1987.
Notes
Wikidata gives Kandy as place; the infobox gives Nawalapitiya, now in Kandy District.
A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck Bali at 07:11 local time, causing widespread damage, especially in the south. Landslides caused 80% of the 1,500 casualties.
Notes
NOAA UTC date 1917-01-20 23:11. Deaths 1,500 is NOAA's total, which includes the minor tsunami.
Yahya Khan was born in Chakwal, British India. He became an army general and was Pakistan's third president, ruling under martial law between 1969 and 1971.
Following a 1915 resolution of the Diet and efforts led by the businessman Viscount Shibusawa Eiichi, Riken came into being in March 1917 as a national scientific research institute.
Shura-i-Islam, a Jadidist political organization headed by Munawwar Qari, was set up in Turkestan during the Russian Revolution. Within weeks it had branches in almost every city of Turkestan.
Notes
Infobox gives founded 15 March 1917; lead says early March 1917, so only the month is stored. Lead places the founding in Tashkent; infobox gives headquarters Kokand. The article does not state the calendar; if these are Old Style dates the Gregorian equivalents fall about 13 days later, still in March.
King Vajiravudh renames the Civil Service College as Chulalongkorn University
Everyday life
The college became a university organised into four faculties for arts and sciences, public administration, medicine and engineering.
Notes
The institution began in 1899 as a school for royal pages and civil servants. Thai Wikipedia also gives 26 March 1917 (B.E. 2460) and calls it Thailand's first higher-education institution for laypeople, so the earlier 'oldest' wording was narrowed to match.
Farmers in Champaran district, Bihar, protested being forced to grow indigo for almost no payment. Mahatma Gandhi led the movement, the first satyagraha he led in British India.
Notes
Start dates disagree: the infobox gives 10 April 1917 (the day Gandhi reached Patna from Calcutta, per Hindi Wikipedia), Hindi Wikipedia dates the farmers' movement to 15 April 1917, and Wikidata gives 19 April 1917, so only the month is stored. The infobox runs the movement to May 1917; the end date is not stored. Hindi Wikipedia also calls it the first satyagraha Gandhi led in India.
Imokawa Mukuzo Genkanban no Maki, an animated short, is released
Stage, music & filmMedium confidence
Ōten Shimokawa made this five-minute silent animated film for the Tenkatsu company, to be shown at the Asakusa Kinema Kurabu cinema in Tokyo. The film was released in April 1917.
Notes
Wikidata gives 1917-01 (P577 1917-01-01); the January 1917 in the article refers to Shimokawa's earlier work. Japanese Wikipedia also gives April 1917 but marks it as uncertain ('said to have been released'), hence month precision and medium confidence.
Patna Museum was founded under the British Raj to house historical artefacts found near Patna. Its building follows Mughal and Rajput styles, and locals call it the Jadu Ghar.
Hara Takashi's party wins the most seats in Japan's general election
Politics & diplomacyMedium confidence
Japan held a general election to fill every one of the 381 House of Representatives seats. Hara Takashi's Rikken Seiyūkai became the largest party with 165 seats, and Terauchi Masatake remained Prime Minister.
Notes
Seiyukai's 165 seats and the Kenseikai's 121 are given by English and French Wikipedia; Japanese Wikipedia lists 163 for the Seiyukai (and 36 for the Kokuminto), so seat counts differ slightly by source. The 213 is the combined seat count of the Kenseikai's predecessor parties.
The rubber firm that became Mikasa is founded in Hiroshima
Economy & tradeMedium confidence
A rubber-goods maker was founded in Hiroshima in 1917 and later became the sports-ball company Mikasa. English Wikipedia calls it the Hiroshima Gomu (Hiroshima Rubber) Corporation and names Masutaro Masuda as founder; Japanese and German Wikipedia call it Masuda rubber works.
Notes
English infobox gives 1 May 1917; Wikidata gives 1917-05 at month precision; Japanese, German and French Wikipedia give only 1917, so the day is unconfirmed and the row is stored at month level. The first company name differs between English Wikipedia (Hiroshima Gomu) and Japanese/German Wikipedia (Masuda rubber works).
Inokashira Park opened to the public on 1 May 1917 under the name Inokashira Onshi Koen, meaning Inokashira Imperial Grant Park. The land had been given to Tokyo in 1913.
Aisyiyah, an Islamic women's organization, is formed in Indonesia
Everyday life
Nyai Ahmad Dahlan formed Aisyiyah, part of Muhammadiyah, to help women get schooling, medical care and social services. It is headquartered in Yogyakarta.
Notes
Indonesian Wikipedia gives the founding in Yogyakarta on 27 Rajab 1335 AH, corresponding to 19 May 1917; Wikidata also holds an unreferenced year-only value.
Dadabhai Naoroji died in Bombay. He worked as a merchant, scholar and writer, led Indian politics as a founding member of the Indian National Congress, and also took part in British public life.
Short animated film The Dull Sword is released in Japan
Stage, music & film
The Dull Sword is a short silent Japanese animated film about a foolish ronin who buys a blunt sword and then tries tsujigiri with it. It is counted among the earliest examples of anime.
Notes
Wikidata also gives release 1917-06-01 (P577, month precision); the article's infobox and lead give June 30, 1917, and Japanese Wikipedia also gives release on 30 June 1917. The runtime is given as four minutes in English and two in German Wikipedia, so it is left out.
Zhang Xun restores the Qing emperor Puyi in Beijing
Politics & diplomacy
General Zhang Xun's army seized Beijing and briefly put Puyi, the last Qing emperor, back on the throne. Republican troops reversed the restoration, which lasted from 1 to 12 July 1917.
Notes
Wikidata's main date is 12 July (the end); it also holds 1 July as start and 12 July as end.
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute is founded in Pune
Science
A research institute in Pune, India, was founded to conserve and study old manuscripts and rare books, especially on Indology. It was named after the Orientalist scholar Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar.
Nur Muhammad Taraki was born at Nawa in Ghazni Province. He grew into an Afghan communist politician and writer who led the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan.
Notes
Wikidata gives 1917-07-15; the infobox and lead both give 14 July 1917, as do German and French Wikipedia. Birthplace: the English infobox says Nawa, German Wikipedia says Kamkinawar on the Mukur plateau and French Wikipedia says only Ghazni province, so the place is given at province level.
Adam Malik Batubara was born in Pematangsiantar, Sumatra, then in the Dutch East Indies. He became a diplomat and politician, serving as Indonesia's third vice president.
Nippon Kogaku Kogyo, later Nikon, is founded in Tokyo
Economy & trade
Three leading optical manufacturers merged on 25 July 1917 to form Nippon Kogaku Kogyo K.K. The company was renamed Nikon Corporation in 1988.
Notes
The infobox gives 26 July 1917; the lead and history section of the English article give 25 July, and German and French Wikipedia also give 25 July 1917.
On 14 August 1917 China's second Duan cabinet declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary, siding with the Entente Powers. The declaration also cancelled all treaties with them and took back their concessions in Tianjin and Hankou.
Sun Yat-sen sets up the Constitutional Protection junta in Guangzhou
Politics & diplomacyMedium confidence
Sun Yat-sen established a provisional military government in Guangzhou during the Constitutional Protection Movement, in the wake of Yuan Shikai's death. It was later defeated by the Beiyang government.
Notes
Infobox gives 1 September 1917; a caption gives an inauguration ceremony on 10 September 1917. Month stored.
A royal decree from King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) fixed the national flag's design: red, white, blue, white and red bands, with the blue centre band twice the width of each of the others.
Notes
Infobox also gives the de jure naval ensign adoption on the same date.
The Armenian National Congress created a permanent executive body, the Armenian National Council, in Tbilisi. The council later set up an independent Armenian republic, in May 1918.
The Yokohama Rubber Company began as a shared venture of two firms, Yokohama Cable Manufacturing and BFGoodrich. It now makes tires, rims and golf equipment.
The Dutch East Indies holds its first Volksraad election
Politics & diplomacyMedium confidence
Elections were held for the elected members of the Volksraad, a council created in December 1916 to widen self-government in the Dutch East Indies. The Dutch Indies Freethinkers Association won, ahead of a Protestant party and a Catholic party.
Notes
Candidate region Europe changed to Asia, where the Dutch East Indies lay. The article's infobox says 22 of 38 seats were up for election but its Background section says half of the 38 seats were elected, so no seat count is used. The day (16 October 1917) rests on the infobox with no citation, and no outside check was available (Dutch Wikipedia has no election date); the Volksraad itself was opened on 18 May 1918.
Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland, later the actress Joan Fontaine, was born in Tokyo. She became a British-American film actress and the younger sister of Olivia de Havilland.
Mitsui & Co. set up a shipbuilding division, with its first shipyard at Tamano. The business is now known as Mitsui E&S, a Japanese heavy industries company.
Notes
Month only. The infobox gives 17 November 1917, Wikidata gives 14 November 1917 (referenced to Wikipedia), and Japanese Wikipedia's history says only November 1917 (Mitsui & Co.'s shipbuilding division at Tamano).
Park Chung Hee was born in Gumi, Korea, then under the Empire of Japan. He became an army officer who took power in the May 1961 coup and led South Korea as president until his assassination in 1979.
Maharaja Bhupinder Singh founds the Patiala State Bank
Economy & tradeMedium confidence
The Patiala State Bank was founded by Bhupinder Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala State, to support agriculture, trade and industry. The bank later became the State Bank of Patiala and merged into the State Bank of India in 2017.
Notes
Wikidata gives 1917 (year only). The article's text gives 17 November 1917; its infobox says only 1917, and Arabic Wikipedia repeats the same day, so no independent check of the day was available.
Indira Priyadarshini Nehru was born in Allahabad, then under the British Raj. She became Prime Minister of India, serving from 1966 to 1977 and from 1980 until her assassination in 1984.
Jagadish Chandra Bose established the Bose Institute in Kolkata, a research institute for biological, physical and chemical sciences. He directed it for its first twenty years.
Notes
Wikidata gives 1917 (year only). The 30 November 1917 date is in the article's infobox and lead with no citation, and no outside check of the day was available (the J. C. Bose article says only 1917).
Kazakh leaders proclaim the Alash Autonomy at Orenburg
Politics & diplomacyMedium confidence
Kazakh leaders proclaimed the Alash Autonomy during the Second All-Kazakh Congress at Orenburg in December 1917. A provisional government was set up under Alikhan Bukeikhanov.
Notes
Congress held 5 to 13 December 1917 O.S. (18 to 26 December N.S.); infobox start 13 December; the text also gives 13 September 1917 for the Alash Orda government. Exact proclamation day unclear, so month stored.
A government claiming authority over Russian Turkestan was proclaimed, based in Kokand. It lasted until its surrender to the Soviet on 22 February 1918.
Notes
Month only, and low confidence. The English infobox, French and Spanish infoboxes give 27 November 1917, Russian Wikipedia and Wikidata give 28 November, and the Spanish body says the autonomous government was proclaimed on 13 December 1917. The Russian article's surrounding chronology (the Tashkent congresses on 15 and 22 November, the Kokand congress called on 26 November) reads as Old Style, which would put 27-28 November at 10-11 December Gregorian, so December is stored. None of the sources labels its calendar.
Semyonov begins an anti-Soviet revolt in Russia's Further-Baikal Region
War & conflictMedium confidence
Semyonov, a Kazak Army captain, seized Berezovka station and called on Verkhneudinsk's citizens to overthrow the local government. He later fled to Manzhouli and formed an army of about 500 horsemen.
Notes
The English article's 18 November 1917 is an Old Style date: Russian Wikipedia gives 18 November (1 December) 1917, so the Gregorian date 1 December 1917 is stored. Wikidata gives November-December 1917 at month level. The earlier 'earliest fronts' claim was not in the article and was dropped.
Eight family-owned firms tied to the Mogi and Takanashi families merged in Noda, Japan, creating the food company now called Kikkoman, which was incorporated on 7 December 1917.
Notes
Infobox also gives 1661 as the oldest establishment.
The Asam Sahitya Sabha, a literary organisation promoting Assamese language, literature and culture, has Sarat Chandra Goswami, Chandranath Sharma and Padmanath Gohain Baruah as founders. Baruah was its first president at the inaugural conference.
Notes
Only the English infobox gives the day (formation 26 December 1917); the article text, Russian Wikipedia and Wikidata give December 1917 or the year only, so the day is unconfirmed. The text names Sibsagar for the inaugural conference; the infobox gives the founding location as Sivasagar.
Sun Yat-sen's Constitutional Protection Movement begins
Politics & diplomacyMedium confidence
Sun Yat-sen led several movements against the Beiyang government, starting in 1917 and lasting to 1922. In July 1917 Sun reached Guangzhou and called on members of parliament to join him there and form a new government.
Notes
Wikidata end date 1922-01-01. The first movement lasted 1917 to 1920 and the second 1921 to 1922. The English article says Germany provided two million dollars; Chinese Wikipedia says Sun negotiated with Germany for two million silver dollars (and mentions another account of funds raised in Shanghai), so the text says negotiated.
Wei Embo, a silk merchant who later took the Christian name Paul, established the True Jesus Church in Beijing. It began at the time of the early twentieth-century Pentecostal movement.
Khivan Revolution against the Khanate of Khiva begins
Politics & diplomacyMedium confidence
The Khivan Revolution is the name for events from 1917 to 1924 that ended the Khanate of Khiva in 1920 and created the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic. Isfandiyar Khan obstructed liberal reforms attempted after the February Revolution of 1917.
Notes
Infobox and lead give 1917-1924; the khanate was eliminated in 1920.
Nizam of Hyderabad orders the creation of Osmania University
ScienceMedium confidence
Mir Osman Ali Khan, seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, issued a firman in 1917 calling for the creation of Osmania University in Hyderabad. It began functioning in 1918.
Notes
Lead gives the firman as 29 August 1917; the history section gives 26 April 1917. Year stored because the two firman dates differ. Infobox gives established 1918; the university began functioning in 1918.
Bukharan Revolution against the Emirate of Bukhara begins
Politics & diplomacyMedium confidence
The Bukharan Revolution is the name for events from 1917 into the mid-1920s that ended the Emirate of Bukhara in 1920 and led to the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic. In 1917 the Russian Provisional Government reaffirmed the emirate's independence.
Notes
English infobox and lead give 1917-1925, Russian Wikipedia's infobox gives 1917-1924, so the end year is disputed and left blank; the emirate was eliminated in 1920. A body passage dates 'the revolution' to an uprising of 27 August 1920, which looks like the overthrow of the emir rather than the whole movement. Stored as a 1917 start at year level.
The Japanese seasoning company Ajinomoto, today a food and biotechnology firm, was founded in 1917 as S. Suzuki & Co. Ltd. (Suzuki Shoten). It now makes seasonings, cooking oils and frozen foods.
Notes
English infobox gives 17 May 1917 but Japanese Wikipedia dates the incorporation of Suzuki Shoten as a joint-stock company (the company's founding day) to 17 June 1917, and German Wikipedia says only 1917, so the row is stored at year level. Wikidata also holds a 1925 inception value. Lead says the Ajinomoto MSG product dates from 1909.
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel Devdas is published
Art & literatureMedium confidence
Devdas is a Bengali romance about a tragic triangle among Devdas, his childhood love Parvati and the courtesan Chandramukhi. Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote it.
Notes
The English infobox gives 30 June 1917 as release date, but German, French and Bengali Wikipedia give only 1917 and Wikidata has only the year, so the day could not be confirmed and the row is stored at year level.
Hisaya Iwasaki buys the Morrison collection, starting the Oriental Library
Science
Hisaya Iwasaki, a former president of Mitsubishi, bought George Morrison's large private collection of publications about China. This purchase was the beginning of the Oriental Library, Tōyō Bunko, in Tokyo.
Notes
The museum infobox lists established 1992 (Setagaya) and 2022 (Chiyoda); the 1917 date is the library's beginning as given in the history section. Wikidata lists two inception years, 1917 and 1924 (the library's formal founding as a foundation, per Wikidata only).
Margaret Cousins, Dorothy Jinarajadasa, Annie Besant and others set up the Women's Indian Association in Adyar, Madras, to improve women's social, economic and political standing. It later campaigned against illiteracy and child marriage.
Notes
The English article gives 8 May 1917 in its body, flagged 'citation needed'; Wikidata has only 1917 and the Spanish article repeats the English text, Swedish gives only 1917, so the day could not be confirmed and the row is stored at year level.
Hiroshi Nomura, who taught chemistry at Tokyo Imperial University, was the first to isolate zingerone from ginger root. The compound gives cooked ginger its sweet flavour.
Shahabad saw a major episode of violence between Hindu and Muslim communities in colonial Bihar. The unrest came amid cow protection campaigns and Muslim organising.
Notes
Year only: the whole article gives no month or day for the riots. The article has no citations, so confidence is medium; its casualty figures are unreferenced and are not used. Infobox lists causes as cow slaughter on Bakr-id and pigs placed near mosques during Gaidar.
Ma clique campaigns against Amchok and Ngolok Tibetans begin
War & conflict
Hui commanders Ma Qi and Ma Bufang led campaigns for Chinese governments against unconquered Amchok and Ngolok tribal areas of Qinghai. Ma Qi occupied Labrang Monastery in 1917.
The State of Buryat-Mongolia arose in 1917 as a buffer state during the Russian Civil War, with the Buryat National Committee (Burnatskom) as its main government body. It lasted until 1921.
Notes
English infobox gives 25 April (calendar not stated; if Old Style the Gregorian date would be 8 May 1917) and Wikidata copies it from English Wikipedia; Russian Wikipedia gives only 'existed 1917-1920', so the day could not be confirmed and the row is stored at year level.
Jin Ziyun, who led the Shanghai Islamic Board of Directors, had the mosque built on land he had bought.
Notes
Infobox completed field reads "1917 ; 1927". The article's claim that it is the largest mosque in Shanghai could not be confirmed (Chinese Wikipedia does not say so), so it was dropped; Chinese Wikipedia confirms the 1917 date and Jin Ziyun and calls the dome span rare in Chinese mosques.
In 1917, in the Taisho period, a private academy named Kokushikan was set up in Tokyo's Azabu District. It is the origin of today's Kokushikan University in Setagaya.
Notes
Japanese Wikipedia gives November 1917 for the founding (lessons held at night in two rooms in Azabu); the English article gives only the year. The figure of 146,000 graduates in the lead was not confirmed in Japanese Wikipedia, so it was dropped.
Balai Pustaka begins as the Kantoor voor de Volkslectuur
Art & literature
The Kantoor voor de Volkslectuur, the Office for People's Reading, was set up in 1917 and used by the Dutch colonial government. It was renamed Balai Pustaka in 1918 and is now Indonesia's state-owned publisher.
Japan's intervention in Siberia begins at Vladivostok
War & conflictLow confidence
Japan sent forces to the Russian Far East in 1918 as part of a wider Allied effort against the Bolsheviks. The warship Iwami reached Vladivostok on 12 January 1918, two days before HMS Suffolk.
Notes
Infobox gives 12 January 1918 to 24 June 1922. Wikidata gives 1918-01-01. Calendar not stated in source (Russia, before 14 Feb 1918). Source family: wikimedia. If the source's date is Old Style (Julian), the Gregorian date would be 25 January 1918.
On 19 January 1918 the Baku City Council started issuing what was called Baku money, an early issue of the rouble currency used in several state entities in Azerbaijan from 1918 to 1923.
Notes
Calendar not stated in source; Baku was in Russian territory before 14 February 1918, so if Old Style the Gregorian date would be 1 February 1918. Wikidata gives 1918 (year) and the description says 1919 to 1923.
Russian soldiers are massacred at Shamkhor, Azerbaijan
War & conflict
Azerbaijani armed groups stopped a train of Russian soldiers returning from the Caucasus Front and demanded its weapons. After the soldiers refused, the train was stormed and hundreds died.
Notes
Source dates it 22-25 January 1918 (9-12 January Old Style); Gregorian dates stored. Infobox casualty estimates run from several hundred to over 1,000. Source family: wikimedia.
A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Guangdong Province, China, on 13 February 1918 and was accompanied by a tsunami. Deaths totalled 2,000, and British Hong Kong also suffered some damage.
Notes
NOAA UTC date 1918-02-13 06:07; local time 14:07 CST per the article, so the same local date. Magnitude 7.3 is NOAA's Ms; the article gives 7.2. Death figure is NOAA's deathsTotal of 2000, which includes the tsunami; the article's infobox gives 1,000 in Shantou. The event is also called the 1918 Shantou earthquake.
Soviet forces shelled and invaded Kokand, the defence quickly fell apart, and a delegation from the city surrendered, ending the Turkestan Autonomy, a short-lived Central Asian government proclaimed in late November 1917 (Old Style).
Notes
The end date of 22 February 1918 is the same in the English and Russian articles; the sources do not state its calendar, and it falls after Russia's switch to the Gregorian calendar on 14 February 1918. The founding is given as 27 November 1917 in the English article and 28 November in Russian Wikipedia and Wikidata. Sources do not label the calendar; as Russia used the Julian calendar until 14 February 1918, these late-November dates are probably Old Style, which would be about 10 December 1917 in the Gregorian calendar.
At about 3 pm during a race meeting at the Happy Valley Racecourse in British Hong Kong, a temporary grandstand collapsed and food stalls and bamboo matting caught fire. Hundreds of spectators died, with counts ranging from 576 to 670.
Notes
Death toll is disputed. The event article gives 670 in its infobox and says the Secretary for Chinese Affairs' annual report finally confirmed that figure, while 614 bodies were officially recovered and the Hongkong Telegraph reported 576 confirmed deaths the next day. The English article on the racecourse itself says at least 590, and French Wikipedia gives 614. The 15:00 local time is from the event article's infobox. Source family: wikimedia.
Russian Bolsheviks and the Young Bukharans attempted to take control of the Emirate of Bukhara by force. The attempt failed and ended with a peace treaty signed on 25 March at Kizyl-Tepe station.
Notes
Calendar not stated in source; treaty date given as 25 March 1918.
Kōnosuke Matsushita founds the company that became Panasonic
Economy & tradeMedium confidence
Kōnosuke Matsushita started the business that grew into Panasonic, at first as a seller of duplex lamp sockets. Its early goods, sold under the National brand, included radios, electric irons and bicycle lamps.
Notes
Wikidata gives 13 March 1918; the company infobox gives 7 March 1918. Company was then called Matsushita Electric.
A conflict began in the South Caucasus over mixed-population lands claimed by both the newly formed Azerbaijani state and Armenia. It ended with the Soviet 11th Army occupying both countries.
Notes
Start date follows the infobox (30 March 1918 to 28 November 1920). The lead places the start late in World War I, and the text dates the Evelina disarming incident to 30 March 1918.
Inter-ethnic clashes and a power struggle took place in Baku and nearby areas between Bolsheviks backed by Armenian Dashnaks and the Azerbaijani Musavat Party. Atrocities were committed by both sides, and the Baku Commune was set up in April.
Notes
Wikidata gives 1918-04-02, the last day of the 30 March - 2 April events. Candidate category everyday_life changed to war_conflict.
Chinese writer Lu Xun publishes a short story in vernacular Chinese, told in diary form by a man who sees cannibalism in his family, village and the Confucian classics.
Notes
Infobox gives pub_date April 1918; the lead says 1918.
Hokkaido University in Sapporo was chartered on 1 April 1918, the same day Tohoku Imperial University handed over its Faculty of Agriculture to it. Its roots lie in Sapporo Agricultural College, set up in 1876.
Notes
Infobox gives 1876 for the agricultural college and 1 April 1918 for the charter.
Turkestan People's University is founded in Tashkent
ScienceMedium confidence
The university, now the National University of Uzbekistan, was officially founded as the Turkestan People's University on 21 April 1918, with five faculties including physics-mathematics and agricultural.
Notes
A decree of 16 March 1918 ordered its organisation. A 2008 anniversary resolution refers to a foundation date in September 1918.
Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic is proclaimed
Politics & diplomacy
On 22 April 1918 the Transcaucasian Seim declared the republic independent, after the Brest-Litovsk treaty gave the Ottomans parts of the region. It covered most of present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, and the Ottoman Empire recognised it at once.
Notes
Wikidata also lists 26 May 1918 as a date; the source gives 22 April for the proclamation.
Turkestan Soviet Federative Republic is proclaimed
Politics & diplomacy
The republic was officially declared on 30 April 1918, with Tashkent as its capital. Bolsheviks in Tashkent created it after the 1917 revolution, with Lenin's support. Cossacks revolting at Orenburg isolated it from Russia, yet it survived until the Red Army arrived in September 1919.
Notes
Name table in the body dates the first name to 30 April 1918, with the constitution adopted on 15 October 1918.
Armenian forces under Drastamat Kanayan and Movses Silikyan fought an Ottoman advance towards Yerevan near Bash Abaran, countering on 25 May; the Turks fell back on 29 May.
Notes
Infobox gives 23-29 May 1918; the text says the Ottoman attack began on 21 May; Wikidata gives 21-29 May. The start day differs, so month precision is used. Ottoman forces involved: the calendar of these dates is not stated.
Armenian regular units and militia fought an Ottoman army that had invaded Eastern Armenia, and halted its drive into the rest of the country. The stand opened the way to the First Republic of Armenia, and the Ottomans recognised it at Batum on 4 June.
Notes
Wikidata gives 1918-05-22 as the date; the lead and infobox give 21-29 May 1918. Calendar not stated in source (Ottoman Empire party; Russian-era region); a 1918 newspaper citation in the article carries a double date, 5 (23) June 1918.
An independent Armenian state arose in May 1918 after the short-lived Transcaucasian Federation broke apart, with Yerevan as capital. Ottoman invasion at first left it with only a small area around Lake Sevan.
Notes
Lead gives May 1918, 28th de jure and 30th de facto; infobox and Wikidata give 28 May.
Armenia's First Republic adopts "Mer Hayrenik" as its anthem
Politics & diplomacyMedium confidence
The song "Mer Hayrenik" ("Our Fatherland"), with lyrics by Mikayel Nalbandian and music arranged by Parsegh Ganatchian, was adopted as anthem of the First Republic of Armenia in 1918.
Notes
Infobox gives adopted '28 05 1918' (read as 28 May); Wikidata lists it as a publication in 1918. The lyrics date from 1861 and the music from 1918.
The influenza pandemic known in India as Bombay Fever begins in Bombay in June 1918. It spread across British India in waves over the following months.
Notes
Wikidata gives the period as 1918 to 1920. Exact June day not stated.
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic creates its armed forces
War & conflictMedium confidence
Azerbaijan's armed forces trace their history to the republic, which created them on 26 June 1918 while the new army was busy putting down an Armenian revolt in Karabakh. The original forces were dissolved when Azerbaijan became a Soviet republic in 1920.
Notes
Wikidata gives 9 July 1918 (flagged as Julian, which is 13 days after 26 June) and also 9 October 1991. The source gives 26 June 1918 without naming a calendar; calendar not stated in source.
Ottoman and Azerbaijani forces under Nuri Pasha beat the Soviet 11th Army and Armenian Dashnak troops, though outnumbered six to one. The Armenian-Soviet force was stopped before it reached Ganja.
Notes
Infobox and lead give 27 June - 1 July 1918; Wikidata gives 1 July, the last day of the clashes (the initial battle ended on 30 June). Ottoman civil dating had matched Gregorian days since March 1917, so no conversion applies.
Turkish and Azerbaijani forces fought the Baku Commune's troops under Stepan Shaumyan for control of Kurdamir. After heavy fighting on 8 July, a regiment sent round to the north made a successful attack, and the Ottoman-Azerbaijani side won.
Notes
The lead gives 5 to 10 July 1918 and the infobox gives 7 to 10 July 1918; Wikidata gives July 1918. The infobox span is stored. Ottoman Empire involved; calendar not stated in source.
Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra and their five children were shot and stabbed to death by Bolsheviks led by Yakov Yurovsky. Their physician and three servants were killed too, and the bodies were buried in the Koptyaki forest.
Notes and dating
Date uncertainty: Often given as the night of 16-17 July 1918
Stored as 17 July 1918. The English article's infobox gives 16-17 July and its lead the night of 16 to 17 July; its body has the family at dinner on 16 July and woken around midnight, with the shooting after that, and Russian Wikipedia says the truck arrived at the Ipatiev House at 1:30 am on the night of 16 to 17 July, after which the family were woken. So the killings took place in the early hours of 17 July, the evening before being 16 July. Russia had moved to the Gregorian calendar in February 1918, so no conversion applies. The id still says 16 because the 1918 and Asia page leads point at it; the stored date of 17 July is the one shown.
Alexei, the last heir apparent of Russia and the only son of Nicholas II, was murdered at the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg along with his family and four retainers.
Olga Nikolaevna, eldest child of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna, was murdered at the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg after the Russian Revolution of 1917.
Tatiana Nikolaevna, second child of Nicholas II, was murdered by Bolshevik revolutionaries at the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg. During the First World War she had trained as a nurse.
Elisabeth of Hesse (Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna) is murdered
Lives
Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, who became Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia, was murdered at Alapayevsk. She was Queen Victoria's granddaughter and a sister of the last empress.
Disturbances over the soaring price of rice began in the fishing town of Uozu and spread through hundreds of places across Japan. Troops and police were deployed, and the Terauchi government later resigned.
Notes
Wikidata gives 1 July - 1 September 1918. The infobox gives 22 July - 21 September 1918; the lead says July to September.
Entente troops, joined by Japan and China, were sent to the Russian Maritime Provinces to back White Russian forces and the Czechoslovak Legion. A Middlesex battalion led by John Ward landed first at Vladivostok on 3 August 1918.
Notes
Infobox: August 1918 - July 1920, with the Japanese withdrawal in October 1922. After 14 Feb 1918 Russia used the Gregorian calendar.
The Armenian National Council set up the predecessor of today's National Assembly in 1918, called the Khorhurd, after the declaration of independence. Avetik Sahakyan was the first speaker of the First Republic's parliament, serving from 1 August 1918.
Czechoslovak flotilla fights the Battle of Lake Baikal
War & conflictMedium confidence
A Czechoslovak flotilla put out from Listvyanka on 15 August 1918 while the Legion under Radola Gajda was contesting the mountain passes around Lake Baikal with the Red Army. The engagement was a Czechoslovak victory.
Notes
Infobox date 16 August 1918; the body has the Czechoslovak fleet sailing out on 15 August 1918.
In August and September 1918 an Ottoman-Azerbaijani force under Nuri Pasha attacked Bolshevik and Armenian defenders of Baku. British, Armenian and White Russian forces under Lionel Dunsterville later took over the defence, and the Central Powers won.
Notes
Calendar not stated in source (Ottoman Empire). Infobox dates 26 August - 14 September 1918.
September Days massacre of Armenians takes place in Baku
War & conflict
After Baku was captured in September 1918, Enver Pasha's Army of Islam and local Azerbaijani allies killed Armenian inhabitants, with estimates of roughly 10,000 to 30,000 dead. Some scholars see it as retaliation for the March Days.
Notes
Calendar not stated in source (Ottoman forces involved); the month is given as September 1918. The count of 10,000-30,000 is an estimate.
China's National Assembly elects Xu Shichang president
Politics & diplomacy
China's National Assembly held its presidential election in Beijing, and Xu Shichang won the vote of the two houses, which the Anfu Club controlled. Feng Guozhang's term was due to end on 10 October 1918. The vice-presidency stayed empty.
· Transcaspian Railway between Pereval and Akhcha-Kuyma · Asia
26 Baku Commissars are executed
War & conflict
After the Bolsheviks lost power in Baku in July 1918, 26 of their commissars were shot by a firing squad on the night of 20 September, on the Transcaspian Railway. Turkmen SR soldiers of the Ashkhabad Committee carried it out.
Notes
Wikidata gives only the year 1918. The article gives the night of 20 September 1918; the commissars were arrested three days earlier. Exact stretch of line is given by station names only.
The Indian spiritual master, revered by both Hindu and Muslim devotees, died on 15 October 1918, the day of Vijayadashami, having warned devotees in August that he would soon leave his body. His resting place is the Samadhi Mandir in Shirdi.
The republic's first flag, adopted on 21 June 1918, was a white crescent and star on red. A draft of a revised flag with blue, red and green stripes won approval on 9 November and was raised over parliament on 7 December.
Notes
Candidate category everyday_life changed to politics_diplomacy. The infobox and lead give 9 November 1918 as the adoption of the tricolour; the body calls it approval of a draft and says the earlier red flag came first on 21 June 1918.
The United States Army sent a force to Vladivostok during the Russian Civil War, where it stayed until 1920. President Wilson wanted to help the Czechoslovak Legion and protect supplies sent to the Russian Far East.
Notes
Article says the first 3,000 troops disembarked at Vladivostok between 15 and 21 August 1918; the formation itself is dated only to 1918.
Osmania University begins functioning in Hyderabad
Everyday lifeMedium confidence
Osmania University began operating in 1918 in a building next to the Nizam College at Basheerbagh in Hyderabad. The Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, had ordered its creation by a firman.
Notes
Year-level date. Article gives two dates for the firman: 29 August 1917 (lead) and 26 April 1917 (history section).
An Armenian military corps is set up in early 1918 to fight the Ottomans in the Turkish-Armenian War. Most of that army was disbanded by the Ottomans after the Treaty of Batum, signed on 4 June 1918.
Notes
Infobox gives 28 May 1918 as the founding date, while the history text says the corps was set up in early 1918, so only the year is stored.
· Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic · Asia
Transcaucasian authorities issue paper money in rubles
Economy & trade
The governing commissariat of the brief Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic put out banknotes valued in rubles. These notes were later replaced at par by separate Armenian, Azeri and Georgian currencies.
Notes
Day not given. Wikidata gives 1924 as the currency's end, matching the infobox withdrawal date.
After the Ottoman win at Baku, Ottoman troops took Derbent and Port-Petrovsk in Dagestan, and Russian forces under Lazar Bicherakhov fought them there during 1918.
Notes
Sources disagree on the dates, so only the year is stored. The English main infobox gives 1 August - 20 September 1918 (first phase a Russian White victory, second phase listed as Ottoman); a separate infobox for the Battle of Tarkin Height gives 4-6 November 1918 (Russian victory); the body also describes fighting at Mamedkala on 13 October. Turkish Wikipedia gives 15-20 September 1918. Russian Wikipedia gives May-September 1918 for a passive phase and October-November for the full offensive, and calls the outcome an Ottoman victory over Bicherakhov's force. Wikidata gives May 1918 to November 1918 at month precision, unsourced. The English lead calls the Ottoman side defeated. Calendar not stated in the sources. Source family: wikimedia.
Republic of Aras is declared in the South Caucasus
Politics & diplomacyLow confidence
A short-lived, unrecognized republic was declared by Jafargulu Khan Nakhchivanski, roughly covering today's Nakhchivan region. It had support from Azerbaijan's ruling Musavat Party and the Ottoman government.
Notes
Lead says declared in December 1918; infobox gives date_start 18 November. Month not settled, so only the year is stored. Ottoman involvement; calendar not stated in source.
Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha is spun off from Mitsubishi & Co.
Economy & trade
Koyata Iwasaki spun the group's international trading business off from the holding company Mitsubishi & Co. in 1918, forming Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha, the forerunner of today's Mitsubishi Corporation.
Notes
Wikidata also gives 1954-07-01, the date of the refounding.
Kamekichi Yamazaki founds the Shokosha Watch Research Institute
Economy & tradeMedium confidence
Kamekichi Yamazaki established the Shokosha Watch Research Institute in Japan. This body was the forerunner of the watchmaker later incorporated as Citizen Watch.
Notes
Day not given. Wikidata also gives 1930-05-28, which the infobox lists as the date the company itself was incorporated; 1918 is the predecessor institute.
Ryosuke Namiki founds the company that became Pilot
Economy & tradeMedium confidence
Ryosuke Namiki, working with Masao Wada, set up the Namiki Manufacturing Company in Japan. It later became the pen maker known as the Pilot Corporation.
Notes
Day not given. The infobox lists 4 January 2002 as the founding of the present corporate entity; the 1918 date is for the original Namiki Manufacturing Company.
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