What Happened in 1916 — Events, Births & Deaths

World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli concludes with an Ottoman Empire victory when the last Allied forces are evacuated from the peninsula.

World War I: Imperial Russia begins the Erzurum Offensive, leading to the defeat of the Ottoman Empire's Third Army.

Oswald Boelcke and Max Immelmann become the first German aviators to earn the Pour le Mérite, receive the German Empire's highest military award, for achieving eight aerial victories each over Allied aircraft.

In Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., the Supreme Court of the United States declares the federal income tax constitutional.

World War I: The British government passes the Military Service Act that introduces conscription in the United Kingdom.

The Canadian province of Manitoba grants women the right to vote and run for office in provincial elections (although still excluding women of Indigenous or Asian heritage), marking the first time women in Canada are granted voting rights.

The Centre Block of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada burns down with the loss of seven lives.

World War I: In France, the Battle of Verdun begins.

The Governor-General of Korea establishes a clinic called Jahyewon in Sorokdo to segregate Hansen's disease patients.

World War I: In the Battle of Verdun, a German unit captures Fort Douaumont, keystone of the French defences, without a fight.

Ocean liner SS Maloja strikes a mine near Dover and sinks with the loss of 155 lives.

Tokelau is annexed by the United Kingdom.

In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill and mine workers is raised from 12 to 14 years old.

World War I: A British force unsuccessfully attempts to relieve the siege of Kut (present-day Iraq) in the Battle of Dujaila.

Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa leads nearly 500 Mexican raiders in an attack against the border town of Columbus, New Mexico.

Battle of Verdun: German attack captures Côte 265 at the west end of Mort-Homme but the French 75th Infantry Brigade manages to hold Côte 295 at the east end.

Albert Einstein submits his paper, "The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity", which establishes his general theory of relativity, to the journal Annalen der Physik.

World War I: During a mine warfare in high altitude on the Dolomites, the Italian troops conquer the Col di Lana held by the Austrian army.

Easter Rising: Irish rebels, led by Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, launch an uprising in Dublin against British rule and proclaim an Irish Republic.

Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition launch a lifeboat from uninhabited Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to organise a rescue for the crew of the sunken Endurance.

Easter Rising: Battle of Mount Street Bridge.

World War I: The UK's 6th Indian Division surrenders to Ottoman Forces at the Siege of Kut in one of the largest surrenders of British forces up to that point.

Easter Rising: After six days of fighting, Irish rebel leaders surrender to British forces in Dublin, bringing the Easter Rising to an end.

Twenty-one Lebanese nationalists are executed in Martyrs' Square, Beirut by Djemal Pasha.

Vietnamese Emperor Duy Tân is captured while calling upon the people to rise up against the French, and is later deposed and exiled to Réunion island.

Sailing in the lifeboat James Caird, Ernest Shackleton arrives at South Georgia after a journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island.

A seventeen-year-old farmworker, Jesse Washington, is lynched in Waco, Texas, USA, after being convicted of rape and murder.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Third Republic sign the secret wartime Sykes-Picot Agreement partitioning former Ottoman territories such as Iraq and Syria.

World War I: Battle of Jutland: The British Grand Fleet engages the High Seas Fleet in the largest naval battle of the war, which proves indecisive.

The United States Senate confirms the appointment of Louis Brandeis to the United States Supreme Court, making him the first Jew to be an Associate Justice.

The National Defense Act is signed into law, increasing the size of the United States National Guard by 450,000 men.

World War I: Russia opens the Brusilov Offensive with an artillery barrage of Austro-Hungarian lines in Galicia.

The Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire is declared by Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca.

Mary Pickford becomes the first female film star to sign a million-dollar contract.

British diplomat turned Irish nationalist Roger Casement is sentenced to death for his part in the Easter Rising.

World War I: In "the day Sussex died", elements of the Royal Sussex Regiment take heavy casualties in the Battle of the Boar's Head at Richebourg-l'Avoué in France.

The New Zealand Labour Party was founded in Wellington.

World War I: Battle of Delville Wood begins as an action within the Battle of the Somme, lasting until 3 September 1916.

In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt incorporate Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing).

Max Reger's Hebbel Requiem is first performed in a memorial concert for the composer, conducted by Philipp Wolfrum.

World War I: Battle of Fromelles: British and Australian troops attack German trenches as part of the Battle of the Somme.

Preparedness Day Bombing: In San Francisco, a bomb explodes on Market Street during a parade, killing ten and injuring 40.

The Black Tom explosion in New York Harbor kills several people and destroys some $20,000,000 worth of military goods.

World War I: Austrian sabotage causes the sinking of the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci in Taranto.

World War I: Battle of Romani: Allied forces, under the command of Archibald Murray, defeat an attacking Ottoman army under the command of Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein, securing the Suez Canal and beginning the Ottoman retreat from the Sinai Peninsula.

The Paraguayan Regional Workers' Federation reorganizes itself into the Regional Workers' Center of Paraguay.

The Migratory Bird Treaty between Canada and the United States is signed.

World War I: Romania signs a secret treaty with the Entente Powers. According to the treaty, Romania agreed to join the war on the Allied side.

The United States National Park Service is created.

World War I: The Kingdom of Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary, entering the war as one of the Allied nations.

World War I: Germany declares war on Romania.

World War I: Italy declares war on Germany.

The United States passes the Philippine Autonomy Act.

Ernest Shackleton completes the rescue of all of his men stranded on Elephant Island in Antarctica.

World War I: Leefe Robinson destroys the German airship Schütte-Lanz SL 11 over Cuffley, north of London; this is the first German airship to be shot down on British soil.

In a bid to prove that women were capable of serving as military dispatch riders, Augusta and Adeline Van Buren arrive in Los Angeles, completing a 60-day, 5,500 mile cross-country trip on motorcycles.

World War I: Tanks are used for the first time in battle, at the Battle of the Somme.

World War I: During the East African Campaign, colonial forces of the Belgian Congo (Force Publique) under the command of Charles Tombeur capture the town of Tabora after heavy fighting.

Iyasu V is proclaimed deposed as ruler of Ethiopia in a palace coup in favor of his aunt Zewditu.

Georgia Tech defeats Cumberland University 222–0 in the most lopsided college football game in American history.

Margaret Sanger opens the first family planning clinic in the United States.

Negus Mikael, 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 I.

Hussein bin Ali proclaims himself "King of the Arab Countries".

The Kingdom of Poland is proclaimed by the Act of 5th November of the emperors of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

The Everett massacre takes place in Everett, Washington as political differences lead to a shoot-out between the Industrial Workers of the World organizers and local police.

World War I: Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes is expelled from the Labor Party over his support for conscription.

World War I: First Battle of the Somme: In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle which started on July 1, 1916.

Samuel Goldwyn and Edgar Selwyn establish Goldwyn Pictures.

Costa Rica signs the Buenos Aires Convention, a copyright treaty.

World War I: The Central Powers capture Bucharest.

World War I: The Battle of Verdun ends when the second French offensive pushes the Germans back two or three kilometres, causing them to cease their attacks.

World War I: Battle of Magdhaba: Allied forces defeat Turkish forces in the Sinai Peninsula.

Russian mystic and advisor to the Tsar Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin is murdered by a loyalist group led by Prince Felix Yusupov. His frozen, partially-trussed body was discovered in a Petrograd river three days later.

The last coronation in Hungary is performed for King Charles IV and Queen Zita.