1915 in Encyclopedia

March – The 1915 locust plague breaks out in Palestine; it continues until October.
March 3 – NACA, the predecessor of NASA, is founded.
March 14
- WWI: Off the coast of Chile, the Royal Navy force SMS Dresden to scuttle.
- Britain, [[French Third Republic|

France]] and Russia agree to give Constantinople and the Bosporus to Russia in case of victory (the treaty is later nullified by the Bolshevik Revolution).

March 18 – WWI: A British attack on the Dardanelles fails.
March 19 – Pluto is photographed for the first time but is not then classified as a planet.
March 25 – The U.S. submarine F-4 sinks off Hawaii; 21 are killed.
March 26 – The Vancouver Millionaires Win the Stanley Cup over the Ottawa Senators three games to zero.
March 28 – The first Roman Catholic Liturgy is celebrated by Archbishop John Ireland at the newly consecrated Cathedral of Saint Paul in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

SMS Dresden]] to scuttle.

April

April 22 – WWI: Start of Second Battle of Ypres. First use of poison gas on the western Front.
April 24 – Beginning of the Armenian Genocide.
April 25 – WWI: Start of the Gallipoli Campaign (lasting until January 1916): Landing at Anzac Cove by Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and landing at Cape Helles by British and French troops to begin the Allied invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire.

RMS Lusitania]].

May

May 3 – John McCrae writes In Flanders Fields.
May 5 – WWI: The Turks begin shelling Anzac Cove from a new position behind their lines.
May 6 – Babe Ruth hits his first career home run off of Jack Warhop.
May 7 – WWI: The RMS Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat, killing 1,198.
May 9 – WWI – Second Battle of Artois: German and French forces fight to a standstill.
May 17 – The last purely Liberal government in the United Kingdom ends when Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith forms an all party coalition.
May 22 – The Quintinshill railway disaster in Scotland leaves more than 200 dead.
May 24 – WWI: Italy joins the Allies after they declare war on Austria-Hungary.
May 25 – China agrees to Twenty-One Demands.
May 29 – Te filo Braga becomes president of Portugal.

June

June 3 – Mexican Revolution: Troops of Obregon and Villa clash at Le n: Obregon loses his right arm in grenade attack but Villa is decisively defeated.
June 9 – U.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigns over a disagreement regarding his nation's handling of the RMS Lusitania sinking.
June 16 – The British Women's Institute is founded.

July

Picture of destruction from the 1915 Galveston Hurricane.

July 7 – An extremely overloaded International Railway (New York Ontario) trolley with 157 passengers crashes near Queenston, Ontario, resulting in 15 casualties.
July 24 – The steamer Eastland capsizes in central Chicago, with the loss of 844 lives.
July 28 – The United States occupation of Haiti begins.

August

August 5–August 23 – Hurricane Two of the 1915 Atlantic hurricane season over Galveston and New Orleans leaves 275 dead.
August 6 – WWI – Battle of Sari Bair: The Allies mount a diversionary attack timed to coincide with a major Allied landing of reinforcements at Suvla Bay.
August 16 – The Entente promises the Kingdom of Serbia, should victory be achieved over Austro-Hungary and its allied Central Powers, the territories of Baranja, Srem and Slavonia from the Cisleithanian part of the Dual Monarchy; Bosnia and Herzegovina; and eastern Dalmatia (from the river of Krka to Bar).
August 17 – Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl in Atlanta, Georgia.
August 31 – Jimmy Lavender of the Chicago Cubs pitches a no hitter against the New York Giants.

September

September 6 – The first prototype tank is tested for the British Army for the first time.
September 7 – Former cartoonist John B. Gruelle is given a patent for his Raggedy Ann doll.
September 8 – A Zeppelin raid destroys No.61 Farringdon Road, London. It was rebuilt in 1917 and called The Zeppelin Building.
September 11 – The Pennsylvania Railroad begins electrified commuter rail service between Paoli and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, using overhead AC trolley wires for power. This type of system is later used in long-distance passenger trains between New York City, Washington, D.C., and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

October

October 12 – WWI: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium.
October 15 – WWI: Austria-Hungary invades the Kingdom of Serbia. Kingdom of Bulgaria enters the war, invading Kingdom of Serbia. The retreat of the Serbian First Army towards Greece begins the Serbian Campaign (WWI).
October 19 – Mexican Revolution: The U.S. recognizes the Mexican government of Venustiano Carranza de facto (not de jure until 1917).
October 23 – WWI: Torpedoing of the armored cruiser SMS Prinz Adalbert results in only three men being rescued from a crew of 675, the greatest single loss of life for the German Imperial Navy in the Baltic Sea during the War.
October 27 – William Morris Hughes becomes the 7th Prime Minister of Australia.
October 28 – The St. Johns School Fire in Peabody, Massachusetts kills twenty-one girls between the ages of 7 and 17.

November

November – Sykes-Picot Agreement: The governments of Britain and France secretly agree to overtake the Middle-Eastern regions of the Ottoman Empire (mostly Syria and Iraq), and establish their own zones of influence.
November 14 – A vision is allegedly encountered by various military personnel in Europe at 22:30 hours (as recounted on the television series One Step Beyond).
November 18 – Release of the U.S. silent film Inspiration, the first mainstream movie in which a leading actress (Audrey Munson) appears nude.
November 23 – The Triangle Film Corporation opens its new motion picture theater in Massillon, Ohio.
November 24 – William J. Simmons revives the Civil War era Ku Klux Klan at Stone Mountain, Georgia.
November 25 – The theory of general relativity is formulated.

December

December 12 – Chinese president Yuan Shikai declares himself Emperor.
December 23 – The HMHS Britannic, the largest individual British loss in WWI, departs Liverpool on her maiden voyage.
December 25 – In WWI, British and German forces declare a Christmas truce, get out of the trenches and have a free-for-all kick-around football game in no-man's land.
December 26 – The Irish Republican Brotherhood Military Council decides to stage a rising on Easter Sunday 1916.

Date unknown

Alfred Wegener proposes the theory of Pangaea.
Emory College is rechartered as Emory University, and plans to move its main campus from Oxford, Georgia to Atlanta.
Lord Beaverbrook buys the Daily Express.
The first stop sign appears in Detroit, Michigan.
Women's suffrage is introduced in Denmark and Iceland.
Franz Kafka's short novel Die Verwandlung is first published in Germany.

Births

January–February

January 2 – John Hope Franklin, American historian (d. 2009)
January 3
- Sid Hudson, American baseball player (d. 2008)
- Mady Rahl, German stage and film actress (d. 2009)
January 4 – Meg Mundy, English-American actress
January 5 – Arthur H. Robinson, American geographer and cartographer (d. 2004)
January 6 – Don Edwards, American politician
January 9 – Anita Louise, American actress (d. 1970)
January 11 – Robert Blair Mayne, British soldier and co-founder of the Special Air Service (d. 1955)
January 14 – Mark Goodson, American television game show producer (d. 1992)
January 15 – Leo Mol, Ukrainian Canadian artist and sculptor (d. 2009)
January 16 – Leslie H. Martinson, American television and film director
January 18 – Santiago Carrillo, Spanish politician
January 20 – Ghulam Ishaq Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 2006)
January 23 – Arthur Lewis, British economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
January 24 – Robert Motherwell, American painter (d. 1991)
January 28 – Nien Cheng, Chinese-born American writer (d. 2009)
January 29 – John Serry, Sr., American musician, composer, arranger (d. 2003)
January 30
- Joachim Peiper, German S.S. officer (d. 1976)
- John Profumo, British cabinet minister (d. 2006)
January 31
- Alan Lomax, American folklorist and musicologist (d. 2002)
- Thomas Merton, American monk and author (d. 1968)
February 1
- Artur London, Czech statesman (d. 1986)
- Sir Stanley Matthews, English footballer (d. 2000)
February 2 – Khushwant Singh, Indian writer
February 4 – Sir Norman Wisdom, English comedian, singer, and actor (d. 2010)
February 5 – Robert Hofstadter, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
February 7 – Teoctist Ar pa u, Ex-Romanian Orthodox Church Patriarch (d. 2007)
February 10 – Karl Winsch, American professional baseball player and manager (d. 2001)
February 11 – Patrick Leigh Fermor, British author and soldier (d. 2011)
February 12 – Richard G. Colbert, American admiral (d. 1973)
February 14 – Ray Evans, American composer (d. 2007)
February 16
- Jim O'Hora, American college football coach (d. 2005)
- Elisabeth Eybers, South African poet (d. 2007)
February 19 – John Freeman, British politician
February 20 – Danuta Szaflarska Polish screen and stage actress
February 21 – Ann Sheridan American film actress (d. 1967)
February 23 – Paul Tibbets, American WWII bomber pilot (Enola Gay) (d. 2007)
February 26 – Preacher Roe, American baseball player (d. 2008)
February 28
- Zero Mostel, American film and stage actor (A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum) (d. 1977)
- Peter Medawar, Brazilian-born scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1987)

March–April

March 4 – Carlos Surinach, Spanish composer (d. 1997)
March 6 – Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, Leader of the Dawoodi Bohra Community
March 9 – John Edgar "Johnnie" Johnson, English pilot (d. 2001)
March 10 – Harry Bertoia, Italian artist and designer (d. 1978)
March 11 – Vijay Hazare, Indian cricketer (d. 2004)
March 14 – Alexander Brott, Canadian conductor and composer (d. 2005)
March 15 – Ferenc Sas, Hungarian football right-winger (died 1988)
March 17 – Bill Roycroft, Australian equestrian (d. 2011)
March 19 – Patricia Morison, American actress
March 20
- Rudolf Kirchschlaeger, Austrian politician (d. 2000)
- Sviatoslav Richter, Ukrainian pianist (d. 1997)
March 23 – Vasily Zaitsev, Soviet sniper (d. 1991)
March 27 – Robert Lockwood Jr., American musician (d. 2006)
March 30
- Arsenio Erico, Paraguayan footballer (d. 1977)
- Pietro Ingrao, Italian politician
March 31 – Albert Hourani, English historian (d. 1993)
April 3 – Piet de Jong, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1967 until 1971
- hsan Do ramac , Turkish physician and academic (d. 2010)
- Axel Axgil, Danish LGBT rights activist (d. 2011)
April 4 – Muddy Waters, African-American musician (d. 1983)
April 7
- Albert O. Hirschman, German-born economist
- Billie Holiday, African-American singer (d. 1959)
- Stanley Adams, American actor (d. 1977)
April 8 – Ivan Supek, Croatian physicist, author, and human rights activist (d. 2007)
April 10
- Harry Morgan, American actor and director (Dragnet and M*A*S*H) (d. 2011)
- Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, Founder of Azad Kashmir, Guerrilla leader who Led the Kashmir revolt against Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir.
April 12 – J lius Tomin, Czech writer known for promoting Interlingua (d. 2003)
April 15 – Elizabeth Catlett, American-born artist (d. 2012)
April 21 – Anthony Quinn, Mexican actor (d. 2001)
April 29 – Donald Mills, lead tenor of The Mills Brothers (d. 1999)
April 30 – Elio Toaff, Italian rabbi

May–June

May 1 – Archie Williams, American athlete (d. 1993)
May 2 – Doris Fisher, American singer and songwriter (d. 2003)
May 3 – Stu Hart, Canadian wrestling trainer (d. 2003)
May 5 – Alice Faye, American entertainer (d. 1998)
May 6 – Orson Welles, American actor and director (d. 1985)
May 8 – Milton Meltzer, American author (d. 2009)
May 10 – Denis Thatcher, British businessman, husband of UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (d. 2003)
May 12 – Fr re Roger, Swiss founder of the Taiz Community (d. 2005)
May 15
- Hilda Bernstein, English-born author, artist, and activist (d. 2006)
- Mario Monicelli, Italian film director (d. 2010)
- Paul Samuelson, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2009)
May 20 – Moshe Dayan, Israeli military leader and politician (d. 1981)
May 26 – Sam Edwards, American actor (d. 2004)
May 27
- Esther Sor , Chilean musician (d. 1996)
- Herman Wouk, American author
May 29 – Karl M nchinger, German conductor (d. 1990)
June 1 – John Randolph, American actor (d. 2004)
June 2 – Tapio Wirkkala, Finnish designer (d. 1985)
June 4 – Modibo Keita, former President of Mali (d. 1977)
June 9 – Les Paul, American inventor and musician (d. 2009)
June 10
- Saul Bellow, Canadian-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2005)
- Peride Celal, Turkish author
June 12 – David Rockefeller, American banker and philanthropist
June 15
- Kaiser Matanzima, President of the Transkei bantustan (d. 2003)
- Thomas Huckle Weller, American virologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2008)
June 17
- Karl Targownik, Hungarian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor (d. 1996)
- Mario Echandi Jim nez, President of Costa Rica (d. 2011)
June 24 – Sir Fred Hoyle, British astronomer (d. 2001)
June 26
- Charlotte Zolotow, American author
- Paul Castellano, American gangster (d. 1985)
June 28 – David Honeyboy Edwards, American musician (d. 2011)

July–August

July 2 – Arthur Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington
July 5 – John Woodruff, American athlete (d. 2007)
July 15 – Albert Ghiorso, American nuclear scientist (d. 2010)
July 17 – Fred Ball, American movie studio executive, actor, and the brother of comedienne Lucille Ball (d. 2007)
July 24 – Enrique Fernando, Chief Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court (d. 2004)
July 26 – Pattabhi Jois, Indian yogi (d. 2009)
July 28
- Charles Townes, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- Frankie Yankovic, American accordion player (d. 1998)
July 28 – Dick Sprang,American comic book artist during the golden age of comics and an explorer (d. 2000)
August 3
- Pete Newell, Canadian-born basketball coach (d. 2008)
- Frank Arthur Calder, Canadian politician (d. 2006)
August 4 – William Keene, American actor (d. 1992)
August 12 – Michael Kidd, American choreographer (d. 2007)
August 14 – Irene Hickson, American professional baseball player (d. 1995)
August 19 – Ring Lardner Jr., American film screenwriter (d. 2000)
August 22 – Hugh Paddick, British actor (d. 2000)
August 25 – Walter Trampler, American violist (d. 1997)
August 27 – Norman F. Ramsey, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011)
August 28
- Tol Avery, American actor (d. 1973)
- Simon Oakland, American actor (d. 1983)
- Max Robertson, British sports commentator (d. 2009)
- Tasha Tudor, American illustrator (d. 2008)
August 29 – Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress (d. 1982)
August 30
- Lilian Craig, British-born, Swedish princess
- Robert Strassburg, American composer (d. 2003)

September–October

September 2 – Meinhardt Raabe, American actor (d. 2010)
September 3 – Knut Nystedt, Norwegian composer
September 8
- Frank Cady, American actor
- Frank Pullen, English business person and racehorse owner (d. 1992)
September 10 – Viva Leroy Nash, American murderer, oldest death row inmate (d. 2010)
September 12 – Frank McGee, American television personality (d. 1974)
September 14
- John Dobson, American astronomer
- Douglas Kennedy, American actor (d. 1973)
September 15
- Ismail Yasin, Egyptian comedian and actor (d. 1972)
- Helmut Schon, German football player and manager (d. 1996)
September 17
- M. F. Husain, Indian artist (d. 2011)
- Adolfo S nchez V zquez, Spanish-born philosopher (d. 2011)
September 23
- Julius Baker, American flautist (d. 2003)
- Clifford Shull, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2001)
September 29 – Vincent DeDomenico, American entrepreneur (d. 2007)
September 30 – Lester Maddox, Governor of Georgia (d. 2003)
October 1 – T. Llew Jones, Welsh author and poet (d. 2009)
October 13 – Terry Frost, English artist (d. 2003)
October 14 – Loris Francesco Capovilla, Italian Prelate of Roman Catholic Church
October 15
- Nellie Lutcher, American singer (d. 2007)
- Yitzhak Shamir, Israeli politician
October 17 – Arthur Miller, American playwright (d. 2005)
October 19 – Farid al-Atrash, Arab composer, singer, virtuoso oud player, and actor (d. 1974)
October 24
- Bob Kane, American comic book artist/writer, creator of Batman (d. 1998)
- Tito Gobbi, Italian operatic baritone (d. 1984)
October 28 – Dody Goodman, American actress and dancer (d. 2008)
October 29 – William Berenberg, American physician (d. 2005)
October 30 – Jane Randolph, American actress (d. 2009)

November–December

November 4 – Wee Kim Wee, 4th president of Singapore (d. 2005)
November 9
- Andr Fran ois, French cartoonist (d. 2005)
- Sargent Shriver, American politician (d. 2011)
November 11 – William Proxmire, U.S. Senator (d. 2005)
November 12 – Roland Barthes, French philosopher and literary critic (d. 1980)
November 17 – David "Stringbean" Akeman, American country music banjo player (d. 1973)
November 19 – Earl Wilbur Sutherland Jr., American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)
November 23 – John Dehner, American actor (d. 1992)
November 25
- Augusto Pinochet, President of Chile (d. 2006)
- Stanley Wilson, American musician (d. 1970)
November 28 – Evald Okas, Estonian painter (d. 2011)
November 29 – Eugene Polley, American engineer (d. 2012)
November 30 – Brownie McGhee, American musician (d. 1996)
November 30 – Henry Taube, Canadian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2005)
December 2 – Marais Viljoen, former President of South Africa (d. 2007)
December 4 – Virginia deGravelles, Louisiana actress
December 7 – Eli Wallach, American actor
December 8 – Ernest Lehman, American screenwriter (d. 2005)
December 9 – Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, German-born soprano (d. 2006)
December 12 – Frank Sinatra, American entertainer (d. 1998)
December 13 – Ross Macdonald, American-Canadian writer (d. 1983)
December 17 – Robert A. Dahl, American political scientist
December 19 – dith Piaf, French singer (d. 1963)
December 21 – Werner von Trapp, member of the Trapp Family Singers (d. 2007)
December 22 – Barbara Billingsley, American actress (Leave It To Beaver) (d. 2010)
December 27 – Gyula Zsengell r, Hungarian footballer (d. 1999)

Deaths

January–June

January 13 – Mary Slessor, Scottish Christian missionary (b. 1848)
January 14 – Richard Meux Benson, English founder of an Anglican religious order (b. 1824)
January 23 – Anne Whitney American sculptor and poet (b. 1821)
February 3 (executed for their part in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria):
- Veljko ubrilovi (b. 1886)
- Danilo Ili (b. 1891)
February 5 – Ross Barnes, American baseball player (b. 1850)
February 18 – Frank James American outlaw (b. 1843)
March 4 – William Willett, English promoter of daylight saving time (b. 1856)
March 9 – Fran ois Faber, Luxembourgian cyclist (b. 1887) (killed in action)
March 15 – George Llewelyn Davies, English soldier, inspiration for the "Lost Boys" of Peter Pan (b. 1893) (killed in action)
March 31 – Wyndham Halswelle, Scottish runner (killed in action) (b. 1882)
April 16 – Nelson W. Aldrich, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island (b. 1841)
April 23
- Rupert Brooke, English poet (sepsis from an infected mosquito bite) (b. 1887)
- Frederick Fisher, Canadian VC recipient (killed in action) (b. 1894)
April 27
- William Barnard Rhodes-Moorhouse, British aviator, first airman to receive the Victoria Cross (b. 1887)
- Alexander Scriabin, Russian composer (b. 1872)
May 7
- Charles Frohman, American theater producer, died on Lusitania (b. 1856)
- Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt I, American sportsman, died on Lusitania (b. 1877)
May 19 – Tony Wilding, New Zealand tennis player (b. 1883)
May 24 – Private John Condon, youngest British soldier to die during the First World War (b. c. 1901)
May 26 – Julian Grenfell, poet (killed in action) (b. 1888)
May 31 – Victor Child Villiers, 7th Earl of Jersey, 18th Governor of New South Wales (b. 1845)
June 7 – Charles Reed Bishop, preeminent businessman and philanthropist in Hawaii (b. 1822)
June 19 – Benjamin F. Isherwood, American admiral and United States Navy Engineer-in-Chief (b. 1822)
June 25 – Tok Janggut, Malayan rebel leader (b. 1853) (killed in battle)