Society

Category

(52)

1914

July

31
- London Stock Exchange closesOn 31 July 1914 the London Stock Exchange closed its doors for the first time since 1801. It did not reopen until January 1915.

August

02
- Britain declares a moratoriumOn 2 August 1914 Britain declared a moratorium on the payment of bills of exchange to save the City of London from a wave of bankruptcies.
04
- Britain publishes a list of contraband of warOn 4 August 1914 a British proclamation defined the goods to be treated as contraband of war. It was the first step towards the blockade of Germany.
11
- France publishes its first contraband listOn 11 August 1914 the French government published its lists of war contraband. Aircraft and balloons were classed as absolute contraband.
20
- Death of Pope Pius XOn 20 August 1914, in the first weeks of the war, Pope Pius X died. Witnesses said the outbreak of war had deeply shaken him. He was succeeded by Benedict XV.
- Britain modifies the Declaration of LondonOn 20 August 1914 Britain announced it would apply the Declaration of London on naval warfare, but with changes that tightened control of trade.
25
- France issues a new contraband decreeOn 25 August 1914 the French government issued a decree on applying the Declaration of London, tightening, like the British, the rules for seizing goods.

September

October

30
- Wreck of the hospital ship RohillaOn 30 October 1914 the British hospital ship Rohilla was wrecked in a storm off Whitby. The rescue lasted three days. About 85 people died.

November

1915

January

04
- London Stock Exchange reopensOn 4 January 1915, after a break of more than five months, the London Stock Exchange reopened. Trading was for cash only and not below minimum prices.

February

22
- Bread cards in GermanyOn 22 February 1915 Berliners received their first bread cards, 2 kilograms a week per person. Cut off by the blockade, Germany began rationing food.

April

08
- The Armenian deportations beginOn 8 April 1915 the first convoy of deported Armenians left Zeytun in Cilicia. Deportations ordered by the Ottoman authorities turned into genocide.

May

July

August

15
- National Registration DayOn Sunday 15 August 1915 Britons aged 15–65 filled in national register forms. About 29 million of them were distributed.

October

1916

April

30
- Germany introduces summer timeAt 11 p.m. on 30 April 1916 Germany and Austria-Hungary put their clocks forward an hour. The first summer time in history was meant to save coal and oil.

July

27
- Execution of Captain FryattOn 27 July 1916 a German court martial in Bruges sentenced Captain Charles Fryatt, who in 1915 had tried to ram a U-boat. He was shot that evening.

August

December

1917

February

13
- Arrest of Mata HariOn 13 February 1917 French police arrested the dancer Mata Hari in a Paris hotel on suspicion of spying for Germany and locked her up in Saint-Lazare.

March

08
- Strikes and demonstrations in PetrogradOn 8 March 1917, Women's Day, the women workers of Petrograd took to the streets demanding bread. Within four days the protest drew in hundreds of thousands.

July

30
- Siegfried Sassoon's protestOn 30 July 1917 the Commons heard the protest of the poet Siegfried Sassoon, a decorated officer who refused to serve on in a war he saw as wilfully prolonged.

September

11
- First repatriated prisoners from SwitzerlandOn 11 September 1917, according to a British chronology, the first group of prisoners sent home from internment in Switzerland reached England.

October

15
- Key eventExecution of Mata HariOn 15 October 1917 Mata Hari, a Dutch dancer convicted of spying for Germany, was shot at Vincennes. The evidence of her guilt is disputed to this day.

November

26
- Death of Elsie InglisOn 26 November 1917 the Scottish doctor Elsie Inglis died in Newcastle. She founded the women's hospitals that treated the wounded in France, Serbia and Russia.

December

06
- Halifax explosionOn 6 December 1917 a French munitions ship blew up in Halifax harbour. Nearly 2,000 people died, about 9,000 were injured and the North End lay in ruins.

1918

January

February

March

May

22
- Flu in SpainOn 22 May 1918 the Madrid press reported a mysterious illness among garrison soldiers. Neutral Spain wrote openly about the epidemic and gave it its name.

August

27
- Second wave of the Spanish fluOn 27 August 1918 the first sailors fell ill in Boston. Almost simultaneously the second and deadliest wave of the Spanish flu broke out in Brest and Freetown.

October

November