1916

1916 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	1916; MCMXVI
Ab urbe condita	2669
Armenian calendar	1365; ԹՎ ՌՅԿԵ
Assyrian calendar	6666
Baháʼí calendar	72–73
Balinese saka calendar	1837–1838
Bengali calendar	1322–1323
Berber calendar	2866
British Regnal year	6 Geo. 5 – 7 Geo. 5
Buddhist calendar	2460
Burmese calendar	1278
Byzantine calendar	7424–7425
Chinese calendar	乙卯年 (Wood Rabbit); 4613 or 4406; — to —; 丙辰年 (Fire Dragon); 4614 or 4407
Coptic calendar	1632–1633
Discordian calendar	3082
Ethiopian calendar	1908–1909
Hebrew calendar	5676–5677
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1972–1973
- Shaka Samvat	1837–1838
- Kali Yuga	5016–5017
Holocene calendar	11916
Igbo calendar	916–917
Iranian calendar	1294–1295
Islamic calendar	1334–1335
Japanese calendar	Taishō 5; (大正５年)
Javanese calendar	1846–1847
Juche calendar	5
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4249
Minguo calendar	ROC 5; 民國5年
Nanakshahi calendar	448
Thai solar calendar	2458–2459
Tibetan calendar	ཤིང་མོ་ཡོས་ལོ་; (female Wood-Hare); 2042 or 1661 or 889; — to —; མེ་ཕོ་འབྲུག་ལོ་; (male Fire-Dragon); 2043 or 1662 or 890

Last updated December 07, 2025

From top to bottom, left to right: The Battle of the Somme begins as British and French forces attack German lines in northern France, causing over one million casualties; the Battle of Verdun between France and Germany leaves nearly 700,000 dead or wounded, symbolizing the Western Front stalemate; the Brusilov Offensive gives Russia major gains against Austria-Hungary but with heavy losses; the Battle of Jutland in the North Sea, the war’s largest naval battle, ends without a clear victor but secures British naval dominance; the Arab Revolt is launched against Ottoman rule with British support and T. E. Lawrence; and the Easter Rising in Dublin sees Irish republicans stage a doomed revolt against British rule.

1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar, the 1916th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 916th year of the 2nd millennium, the 16th year of the 20th century, and the 7th year of the 1910s decade. As of the start of 1916, the Gregorian calendar was 13days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

Events

Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix.

January

January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that has been stored and cooled.
January 9 – WWI: Gallipoli Campaign – The last British troops are evacuated from Gallipoli, as the Ottoman Empire prevails over a joint British and French operation to capture Constantinople.
January 10 – WWI: Erzurum Offensive – Russia defeats the Ottoman Empire.
January 12 – The Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, part of the British Empire, is established in modern-day Tuvalu and Kiribati.^[1]
January 13 – WWI: Battle of Wadi – Ottoman Empire forces defeat the British, during the Mesopotamian campaign in modern-day Iraq.
January 29 – WWI: Paris is bombed by German zeppelins.
January 31 – WWI: An attack is planned on Verdun, France.

February

February 9 (6.00 p.m.) – Tristan Tzara "founds" the art movement Dadaism (according to Hans Arp).
February 11
- Emma Goldman is arrested for lecturing on birth control in the United States.^[2]
- The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra presents its first concert in the United States.
- The Romanian Association football club Sportul Studențesc is founded in Bucharest.
February 12 – WWI: Battle of Salaita Hill (East African Campaign) – South African and other British Empire troops fail to take a German East African defensive position.
February 21 – WWI: The Battle of Verdun begins in France.

March

March 8 – 9 – Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa leads about 500 Mexican raiders in an attack against Columbus, New Mexico, killing 12 U.S. soldiers. A garrison of the U.S. 13th Cavalry Regiment fights back and drives them away.
March 10 – The McMahon–Hussein Correspondence concludes with an understanding that the United Kingdom would recognise Arab independence in return for Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, launching the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire.
March 15 – United States President Woodrow Wilson sends 12,000 United States troops over the U.S.–Mexico border to pursue Pancho Villa; the 13th Cavalry regiment enters Mexican territory.
March 16 – Mexican Revolution: The U.S. 7th and 10th Cavalry regiments under John J. Pershing cross the border, to join the hunt for Villa.
March 22 – The temporary Emperor of China, Yuan Shikai, abdicates the throne, and the Republic of China is restored once again.
March 24 – French ferry SS Sussex is torpedoed by SM UB-29 in the English Channel, with at least 50 killed (including the composer Enrique Granados), resulting on May 4 in the Sussex Pledge by Germany to the United States.^[3]

April

April
- The toggle light switch is invented, by William J. Newton and Morris Goldberg.
- Korea Tungsten is founded in Daegu, predecessor of leading steel producer in Asia, POSCO (Pohang Steel Company).^[4]
April 11 – WWI: The Egyptian Expeditionary Force begins the occupation of the Sinai Peninsula.
April 22 – The Chinese troop transport SS Hsin-Yu capsizes off the Chinese coast; at least 1,000 are killed.
April 24 – 30 – The Easter Rising occurs in Ireland. Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood proclaim an Irish Republic, and the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army occupy the General Post Office and other buildings in Dublin, before surrendering to the British Army.
April 24 – May 10 – Voyage of the James Caird: An open boat journey from Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands to South Georgia in the southern Atlantic Ocean (800 nautical miles (1,500 km; 920 mi)) is undertaken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and five companions, to obtain rescue for the main body of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, following the loss of its ship Endurance.
April 27 – WWI: Gas attack at Hulluch in France: The 47th Brigade, 16th (Irish) Division is decimated, in one of the most heavily concentrated German gas attacks of the war.
April 29 – WWI: Mesopotamian campaign – The Siege of Kut ends with the surrender of British Indian Army forces to the Ottoman Empire at Kut-al-Amara on the Tigris in Basra Vilayet.

May

May 16
- United States Marines invade the Dominican Republic.
- Britain and France conclude the secret Sykes–Picot Agreement, which is to divide Arab areas of the Ottoman Empire, following the conclusion of WWI and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, into French and British spheres of influence.
May 31 – June 1 – WWI: Battle of Jutland, between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet ^[5] in the North Sea, the war's only large-scale clash of battleships. The result is tactically inconclusive, but British dominance of the North Sea is maintained.

June

June 4 – WWI: The Brusilov Offensive, the height of Russian operations in the war, begins with their breaking through Austro-Hungarian lines.
June 5 – WWI: HMS Hampshire sinks, having hit a mine off the Orkney Islands, Scotland, with Lord Kitchener aboard.^[6]
June 10 – The Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire, to create a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo to Aden, is formally declared by Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca.
June 15 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America.^[7]
June 24 – Mary Pickford becomes the first movie star to sign a million-dollar contract, making her one of the highest-paid people in the world.

July

July 1 – November 18 – WWI: Battle of the Somme, opening with explosion of the British Y Sap and Lochnagar mines and the Battle of Albert: More than one million soldiers die, with 57,470 British Empire casualties on the first day, 19,240 of them killed, the British Army's bloodiest day.^[8] The immediate result is tactically inconclusive.
July 1 – 12 – Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916: At least one shark attacks 5 swimmers along 80 miles (130 km) of New Jersey coastline, resulting in 4 deaths and the survival of one youth, who requires limb amputation. This event is the inspiration for author Peter Benchley, over half a century later, to write Jaws .
July 2 – WWI: Battle of Erzincan – Russian forces defeat troops of the Ottoman Empire in Armenia.
July 6 – WWI: The Battle of Kostiuchnówka concludes in Galicia (modern-day Ukraine) with Russian Imperial troops breaking through the line, forcing the Polish Legions and supporting Hungarian troops to retreat, with the Poles enduring 2,000 casualties.^[9]
July 15 – In Seattle, William Boeing incorporates Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing ).
July 15 – 19 – WWI: Battle of Delville Wood – 766 men from the South African Brigade are killed, in South Africa's biggest loss during the First World War.
July 19 – 20 – WWI: Battle of Fromelles – An attack by Australian and British troops is repulsed by the German army, with heavy casualties.
July 22 – Preparedness Day Bombing: In San Francisco, a bomb explodes on Market Street during a Preparedness Day parade, killing 10 and injuring 40; Warren Billings and Tom Mooney are later wrongly convicted of it.
July 26 – WWI: East African Campaign – The German armed ship SMS Graf von Goetzen scuttles herself on Lake Tanganyika.
July 29 – Matheson Fire: In Ontario, Canada, a lightning strike ignites a forest fire that destroys the towns of Cochrane and Matheson, killing 233.
July 30 – German agents cause the Black Tom explosion in Jersey City, New Jersey, an act of sabotage destroying an ammunition depot and killing at least 7 people.

August

August – Robert Baden-Powell publishes The Wolf Cub's Handbook in the U.K., establishing the basis of the junior section of the Scouting movement, the Wolf Cubs (modern-day Cub Scouts).
August 3 – 5 – WWI: Sinai and Palestine Campaign – Battle of Romani: British Imperial troops secure victory over a joint Ottoman-German force.
August 4 – 16 – WWI: Italian forces launch a successful offensive against Austro-Hungarian forces in Gorizia and Sabotin.
August 7 – WWI:
- Portugal joins the Allies.
- French and British forces make an unopposed entry into German-controlled Togoland; on December 27 the country is partitioned between the two allies.
August 9 – Lassen Volcanic National Park is established in California.
August 15 – Club Atlas is founded as an association football club in Guadalajara, Mexico, by English-educated players.
August 16 – The Migratory Bird Treaty between Canada and the United States is signed.
August 17 (August 4 O.S.) – WWI: The Treaty of Bucharest is signed secretly between Romania and the Entente Powers, stipulating the conditions under which Romania agrees to join the war on their side, particularly territorial promises in Austria-Hungary.
August 21 – WWI: Peru declares neutrality.
August 25 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs legislation creating the National Park Service.
August 27 – WWI: The Kingdom of Romania declares war on the Central Powers, entering the war on the side of the Allies.
August 28 – WWI:
- Germany declares war on Romania.
- Italy declares war on Germany.
August 29 – The United States passes the Philippine Autonomy Act.
August 30 – The crew of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition's Endurance is rescued from Elephant Island.

September

September 1 – Bulgaria declares war on Romania, going on to take Dobruja.
September 2 – WWI: British pilot Leefe Robinson becomes the first to shoot down a German airship over Britain.
September 4 – WWI: East African Campaign – Dar es Salaam surrenders to British Empire forces, securing them control of the Central Line of railway through German East Africa.
September 5 – D. W. Griffith's film Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages is released in the United States.
September 6 – The first true self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, is founded in Memphis, Tennessee, by Clarence Saunders, opening 5 days later.^[10]
September 11 – A mechanical failure causes the central span of the Quebec Bridge, a cantilever-type structure, to crash into the Saint Lawrence River for the second time, killing 13 workers.
September 13 – Mary, a circus elephant, is hanged in the town of Erwin, Tennessee for killing her handler, Walter "Red" Eldridge.
September 15–22 – WWI: Battle of Flers–Courcelette, France – The battle is significant for the first use of the tank in warfare; also for the debut of the Canadian and New Zealand Divisions in the Battle of the Somme.
September 19 – WWI: East African Campaign – Belgian troops occupy Tabora in German East Africa.
September 27 – Iyasu V of Ethiopia is deposed in a palace coup, in favour of his aunt Zewditu.
September 29 – John D. Rockefeller becomes the first person to reach a nominal personal fortune of US$1 billion

October

October 7 – The Georgia Tech vs. Cumberland College American football game ends in a score of 222-0.
October 12 – Hipólito Yrigoyen is elected President of Argentina.
October 14 – Perm State University is founded in Russia.
October 16 – Margaret Sanger opens the first U.S. birth control clinic, a forerunner of Planned Parenthood.
October 20 – Black Friday (1916): A violent and deadly storm hits Lake Erie in the United States.
October 21 – Friedrich Adler shoots Count Karl von Stürgkh, Minister-President of Austria.
October 27 – Battle of Segale: Negus Mikael of Wollo, marching on the Ethiopian capital in support of his son Emperor Iyasu V, is defeated by Fitawrari Habte Giyorgis, securing the throne for Empress Zewditu.
October 28 – 1916 Pioneer Exhibition Game: game of Australian rules football contested at Queen's Club, West Kensington, London, by two teams of elite footballers selected from men serving in the First AIF at the time.

November

November 1
- Pavel Milyukov delivers his "stupidity or treason" speech in the Russian State Duma, precipitating the downfall of the Boris Stürmer government.
- The first 40-hour work week officially begins, in the Endicott-Johnson factories of Western New York.
November 5
- The Kingdom of Poland (1916–18) is proclaimed by a joint act of the emperors of Germany and Austria.
- Everett massacre: An armed confrontation in Everett, Washington, between local authorities and members of the Industrial Workers of the World results in seven deaths.
- Honan Chapel, Cork, Ireland, a product of the Irish Arts and Crafts movement (1894–1925), is dedicated.
November 7
- 1916 United States presidential election: Democratic President Woodrow Wilson narrowly defeats Republican Charles Evans Hughes, when California is called a week after Election Day.
- Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first woman elected to the United States House of Representatives.
- Radio station 2XG, located in the Highbridge section of New York City, makes the first audio broadcast of presidential election returns.
November 13 – Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes is expelled from the Labor Party over his support for conscription.
November 18 – WWI – Battle of the Somme: In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle, which started on July 1.
November 21
- Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria dies of pneumonia at the Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, aged 86, after a reign of 68 years and is succeeded by his grandnephew Charles I.
- WWI: Hospital ship HMHS Britannic, designed as the third Olympic-class ocean liner for White Star Line, sinks in the Kea Channel of the Aegean Sea after hitting a mine; 30 lives are lost. At 48,158 gross register tons, she is the largest ship lost during the war.
November 23 – WWI: Eastern Front – Bucharest, the capital of Romania, is occupied by troops of the Central Powers.

December

December 12 – "White Friday": In the Dolomites, 100 avalanches bury at least 2,000 Austrian and Italian soldiers.
December 16 – Robert Baden-Powell gives the first public display of the new Wolf Cub section of Scouting at Caxton Hall, Westminster.
December 18 – WWI: The Battle of Verdun ends in France with German troops defeated.
December 21 – WWI: El Arish occupied by the British Empire Desert Column during advance across the Sinai Peninsula.
December 22 – The British Sopwith Camel aircraft makes its maiden flight. It is designed to counter the German Fokker aircraft.
December 23 – WWI: The Desert Column captures the Ottoman garrison during the Battle of Magdhaba.
December 30
- Emperor Charles IV of Hungary and his wife Zita of Bourbon-Parma are crowned emperor and empress of Austria-Hungary.
- Humberto Gómez and his mercenaries seize Arauca in Colombia and declare the Republic of Arauca. He proceeds to pillage the region before fleeing to Venezuela.
- (December 17 Old Style) – The mystic Grigori Rasputin is murdered in Saint Petersburg.
December 31 – The Hampton Terrace Hotel in North Augusta, South Carolina, one of the largest and most luxurious hotels in the United States at the time, burns to the ground.

Date unknown

The 1916 Summer Olympics are cancelled in Berlin, Germany.
Food is rationed in Germany.
Ferdinand de Saussure's Cours de linguistique générale is collected posthumously and published.
Oxycodone, a narcotic painkiller closely related to codeine, is first synthesized in Germany.
Ernst Rüdin publishes his initial results on the genetics of schizophrenia.
Louis Enricht claims he has a substitute for gasoline.
Rodeo's first side-delivery bucking chute is designed and made by the Bascom brothers (Raymond, Mel, and Earl) and their father, John W. Bascom, at Welling, Alberta, Canada.
Gustav Holst composes The Planets, Opus 32.
Bray Studios begins the Farmer Al Falfa series, the first of the Terrytoons .
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers is founded in the United States as the Society of Motion Picture Engineers.
Ishikawajima Automobile Manufacturing, predecessor of Isuzu, a truck brand in Japan, is founded.^{[ page needed ]}

Sport

March 30 – National Hockey Association's Montreal Canadiens win their First Stanley Cup by defeating the Pacific Coast Hockey Association's Portland Rosebuds 3 games to 2. All Games were played at Montreal's Montreal Arena.
Due to the outbreak of World War I, the 1916 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, is cancelled.

In fiction

In the 1941 film Citizen Kane , Charles Foster Kane runs for New York governor and loses. Also in 1916, Emily Monroe Norton divorces him and, in either this year or in 1917, he marries Susan Alexander.