| Show REIS OF EUROPEAN AND OTHER IMPORTANT BENTS OF THE YEAR 1916 great conflict rages with increased intensity roumania Rou mama fl fifteenth I 1 nation to enter struggle overrun by central powers teutonic allies make first peace proposals united states faces several crises THE EUROPEAN WAR those who are engaged in or are viewing at close range the titanic con duct 1 in which all europe Is involved can with difficulty appreciate the magnitude of the events which have IN transpired during the past 12 months generations to come however look looking ilig back upon this period with ith a clearer vision will recognize the year 1916 as one of the most tremendous from a history making standpoint since the world began europe continued its blood bloodletting letting throughout the year with even greater ferocity than marked the first 18 months following the breaking of the storm the greit war rounded tut fout its second and entered upon its third year with nith little promise of an early conclusion of peace during the year new nations entered into the war one of them roumania to become the scene of some of the most ferocious fighting of the year one new nation was created another tottered to its fall while on a dozen fronts millions of men were fed as human sacrifices to the insatiate war monster there were seven outstanding phases of the great war during the tho year 1916 these comprised the great offensive of the russians Pus in gal cla cia which was finally checked by the ten tonic allies the superhuman efforts of the germans to capture verdun which were thwarted by the equally superhuman defense offered by the french the long awaited grand offen sive of tue the british and the french on the western front resulting in the re covery of considerable area in the somme region but not definitely break ing the deadlock in northern france the checking of an austrian offensive by the italians and the launching of a counter offensive by which the ital tans fans made big strides in their cam laign against trieste the conquest of roumania by tl e teutonic allies the drive of the serbs aided by french italian and british troops in an effort to regain their lost kingdom and the final abandonment by the entente al at lies of their disastrous gallipoli Galli poll cam laign I 1 the rus russians launched their of in galicia on the first day of the year on january 9 the effort of the entente allies to force the darda nelles was vas definitely abandoned and the forces of the allies entirely abed the gallipoli Galli poll peninsula verdun attack launched carly early in february the russians aft er a lull in the fighting resumed their offensive in galicia and on february 10 they crossed the iester and threat ened Czerno viltz the russians un der grand duke nicholas also con tinned their drive in the caucasus and on february 14 they captured the important town of febra ary 21 the germans led by the crown prince launched their attack on ver dun and during the next few days they smashed their way nay through the outer defenses until they came within big gun range of the french strong hold the french taken by surprise were forced to give ground but by the last of the month they had strengthened their shattered lines and had checked the german drive in the verdun sector for the next few months occurred some of the most sanguinary fighting of the entire war the austrians lans had considerable sue cess on the italian front during the month entering durazzo on february 26 and driving the italians before them portugal signalized its entry ii to the great conn ct february 29 b by y seizing 34 german steamers interned in portuguese ports germany demand ed the release of the hips and on march 9 declared war var on portugal the thirteenth nation to enter the con fact et fhe month of march was marked cl lefly by the continued determined at tacks of the germans upon verdun the assault entered its third stige in this month with repeated attacks on vaux Dou aumont and other outlying towns most of which aich were repulsed with terrific losses during the month the italians finally checked the aus trian drive and launched a big offen elve five along the entire austrian front the russians continued their victori ous drive against the turks in ar capturing bialis on march 3 and other important towns later in the month the early days of april saw a slow ing up of tie tl e russian offensive in ga hela the germans laune launched fled a coun ter offensive all along the russian front but gained little headway the fol following loNing months saw terrific fighting along alone this front april 23 the british admitted eted a defeat at the hands of the turks in mesopotamia and on april 29 general to N and 10 brit ish soldiers who had been besieged by the turks at kut el amara were forced to surrender after repeated ef forts to relieve them had tailed failed great sea battle fought the first great naval battle of the war was fought by the german and british high seas fleets off the coast of jutland denmark may 31 the brit ish admit the loss of six large cm cru sers and end eight destroyers the germans one battleship one battle patti cruiser and a number of light cruisers and destroyers more than lives were lost both sides claim the victory five rive days later great britain received a staggering blow when the british cruiser hamp shire was vas blown up inthe in the north sea by a mine and earl kitchener hitchener british secretary of war viar and his entire staff were lost during the early part of june the russians broadened their of in galicia and along the lines further north and on june 7 they an bounced the recapture of the fortress of lutsk in Vol hynia and the crossing of the akwa and rivers at several points on july I 1 the british and french launched their great drive on the west front A concerted attack was made on a 25 mile front north and south of the somene river july 11 after ten days and nights of continuous tight ing the british claimed the capture of the whole of the enemy enem s first lines of defense on a front of 14 yards during the remainder of the month the british and french continued their ad vance the british OCCUPY occupying 1112 the entire village of Poz leres july 26 6 and the french advancing close to peronne I 1 an important railroad center during the month of august the rus russians after terrific fighting pierced the lines on the lemberg and rovel hovel fronts and advanced in the car path lans the italians continued their drive on trieste august 9 after days of terrific fighting they captured go ritz and pushed forward for vard pursuing the retreating austrians Rou Roun marua iania enters war roumania rou manta after months of wavering entered the war on the side of the en tente allies with a declaration of war on austria hungary roumania was vas the fifteenth nation to enter the war on the same day italy declared war on germany and the following day ger many declared war on roumania with the declaration of war fighting began between the Roum anians antans and aus arians on the transylvanian lan frontier august 30 the Roum Rouman anians lans occupied kronstadt and Hermann stadt the two chief cities of transylvania field marshal von hindenburg whose sue suc besses had made him the idol of the german people succeeded general von falkenhayn as chief of the general staff of the german army august 29 during the month of september the Roum anians antans operating cooperating with the russians advanced in northern tran sylvania and bukovina Buko Buk owina but suffered severe reverses at the hands of the bulgarians and austrians in the allied troops made decided gains in the somme sector occupying combles cobbles and other important towns on september 26 early in october the tide turned against the Rouman Roum anians lans and russians in transylvania and the latter were forced to retire before a strong austro german force under command of gen eral von falkenhayn on october 11 the began an invasion of rou mania on the verdun front the french smashed the german lines oc tober 24 retaking Dou aumont fort and vill ige the struggle between the doumanian Rou manian and russian forces on the one side and the and bulgarian armies on the other held the center of attention in november taking advantage of the plight in which the Roum anians antans on the transylvanian lan front found themselves von mackensen Macken aen held his lines in and attacking the danube line forced the river barrier at several points effecting a juncture of their forces the command ers drove the Rouman Roum anians lans back upon bucharest the Roum anians antans retreat ed rapidly toward the capital burning villages il lages and all stores of grain and munitions in the district through which they passed november 28 the seat of the doumanian Rou manian government was moved from bucharest to jassy near the russian frontier the Roum anians evacuated bucharest december 6 in or der to save their army the Ser serbians blans aided by french and italian troops made a start toward winning back their country during no vember their big drive resulted in the capture of monastir Mo on Nov Novem embel bei 19 on the somme front the battle of the ancee opened november 13 with the capture by the british of five miles of the german positions together with three strong towns an announcement of far reaching significance was made in the russian duma december 2 by premier who read a proclamation announcing officially that an agreement concluded by russia france and great britain in 1915 and later approved by italy establishes in definite manner the rights of russia to the straits and constantinople the fall of 0 the british cabinet early in december furnished one of the most sensational features of the years war developments demands of david lloyd george for the formation of a smaller war council to obtain greater efficiency forced the res agnation of premier asquith lloyd george was made premier and selected a new cabinet the prosecution of the war being placed in the hands of five men in eluding the premier the first direct overtures for peace came on december 13 when germany austria hungary bulgaria and turkey 04 sent identical notes to the entente il it lies through the united states spain and switzerland proposing that the belligerents arrange a conference for the discussion of peace terms the notes were transmitted to the allied governments by president wilson with out comment the peace s were nere received coldly premier briand in the french house of deputes es is sued a warning against a p amature peace and the russian duma accord ing to announcement made december 16 passed a resolution favoring a refusal on the part of the allied govern ments to enter into any peace tiati ons whatever under present con dillons As if in answer to the pro the french in the verdun sec see tor delivered a crushing attack on the german forces december 15 winning 12 square miles of territory north of verdun and driving the germans bick close to the line from they start ed their great offensive against ver dun in february general nivelle who v ho d erected this attack had been a few das dabs before placed in supreme command of the french armies in the N west nest est succeeding general joffre who ho nas uns mide comin commender com inder minder in chief of the french armies but with little more than advisory powers WAR AND THE UNITED STATES diplomatic difficulties grov growing out of the war in europe continued to confront the united states govern ment throughout the past year the submarine controversy with germany which had been more or less acute since the s nung liking of the Lusi lusitania tanta was intensified march 2 when the british channel steamer sussex and the brit ish steamer englishman both of which carried americans were torpedoed and sunk without warning this oc burred about two weeks after congress at the urging of the president had re fused to adopt a resolution warning americans to remain off armed mer chant ships of the belligerents the german government at first denied any bil bit ty for the attack on the sussex and on april 18 president wll wit son addressed a note which amounted practically to an ultimatum to the ger man government in this note the pres ident declared that unless german immediately declared and effected an abandonment of its methods of sub maaine warfare against passenger and freight carrying vessels the united states could have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with nith the german empire altogether ger banys reply to this note received in baslington wasi Was ington lington slay may 5 promised campli ance in the future with the laws las of warfare in its submarine operations A supplementary note from berlin re calved slay may 10 admitted that the sus sex was nas torpedoed expressed regret offered indemnity and declared that the submarine commander I 1 ad been punished no further serious contro versy occurred with germany until after the sinking of the marina with americans aboard october 28 it was charged that the vessel was torpedoed without warning after an In tion germany assumed responsibility for the sinking of the boat declaring that the captain of the submarine thought the marina an armed trans port an interchange of notes between the united states and the entente govern ments regarding the seizure and exam nation of american mails malls was prodoc the of little result in several corn coin great britain and france insisted upon their rights to exam examine ne neutral malls but on october 12 2 t they h ey made some slight concessions promis ra in Is ing to improve the mall mail ser service lee b be e tween america and neutral countr countries le s A blacklist against american flims films and individuals charged with dealing with germany w which nys veas published by great britain july 18 and by france august 6 brought emphatic protests from the united states gov but on november 14 great britain formally rejected the american protests declaring that the blacklist was not aimed at neutrals MEXICO AND UNITED STATES the relations of the united states with mexico became more strained during 1916 than at any previous time during the years of civil war that fol lowed the retirement of president por firlo diaz they approached a crisis early in the year when on january 10 nineteen men meri nearly all of them americans were taken from a train near chihuahua and killed by a band of bandits cond conditions alons became still more tense when on march 9 several hundred band ts led by villa ra ded and burned the town of columbus N M kill ng nine american civilians and e ted fed states soldiers march 10 prest dent hlson ordered states troops into mexico to catch villa general carranza head of the de facto govern government met in mexico began soon to display antagonism toward the american expedition and on march 17 he issued orders forbids ng american troops from entering mexican towns he also refused to grant permission for the american forces to use the mexican railroads for the transports tran tion of supplies april 12 a detachment of united states troops was vms attacked by carran za troops and citizens of parral two americans and 40 mexicans were kill ed in the encounter the following day carranza demanded the withdrawal of the american troops from mexico but his demand was ignored ane pursuit of villa came to a standstill however because of the hostility of carranza may 81 31 general carranza again de banded the withdrawal of the united states troops from mexico on peril ot of recourse to arms and followed this up on june 16 with a definite threat of attack un ess the troops ere nere with drawn northward the following loNing fol day re enforce ments were rusl rust ed to the united states troops in mexico and within a short time the expeditionary force aggregated about men june IS 18 the war department ordered all the state militia mobilized and with in the next |
