1914 Boston Braves season

This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It also saw the first airline to provide scheduled regular commercial passenger services with heavier-than-air aircraft, with the St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line.

Events

January

* January 1 – The St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line in the United States starts services between St. Petersburg and Tampa, Florida, becoming the first airline to provide scheduled regular commercial passenger services with heavier-than-air aircraft, with Tony Jannus (the first federally-licensed pilot) conveying passengers in a Benoist XIV flying boat. Abram C. Pheil, mayor of St. Petersburg, is the first airline passenger, and over 3,000 people witness the first departure.
* January 11 – The Sakurajima volcano in Japan begins to erupt, becoming effusive after a very large earthquake on January 13. The lava flow causes the island which it forms to be linked to the Ōsumi Peninsula.
* January 11 – The ''Karluk'', flagship of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, sank after being crushed by ice.

February

* February 8 – The Luxembourg national football team has its first victory, beating France 5–4 in a friendly match, for the first and only time in football history.
* February 12 – In Washington, D.C., the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.
* February 13 – Copyright: In New York City, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is established, to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.
* February 17 – Karl Staaff steps down as Prime Minister of Sweden, in the aftermath of the Courtyard Crisis. He is replaced by Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, father of Dag Hammarskjöld.
* February 26 – The ocean liner that will become HMHS ''Britannic'', sister to the , is launched at the Harland and Wolff shipyards in Belfast.
* February 28 – The Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus is proclaimed by ethnic Greeks, in Northern Epirus.

March

* March 7 – Prince William of Wied arrives in Albania, to begin his reign.
* March 10 – Suffragette Mary Richardson damages Velázquez's painting '' Rokeby Venus'' in London's National Gallery, with a meat chopper.
* March 17 (Saint Patrick's Day) – Green beer is invented by Dr. Thomas H. Curtin, and displayed at the Schnorrer Club of Morrisania in the Bronx, New York.
* March 20 – Film '' Tess of the Storm Country'' is released, propelling its star Mary Pickford to new levels of fame, marking the rise of the modern celebrity.
* March 27 – Belgian surgeon Albert Hustin makes the first successful non-direct blood transfusion, using anticoagulants.
* March 29 – Katherine Routledge and her husband arrive on Easter Island, to make the first true study of it (they depart in August 1915).

April

* April 4–September 27 – ''Komagata Maru'' incident: The sails from India to Canada. Canadian regulations, designed to exclude Asian immigrants, prevent the boat from docking in Vancouver, and it is forced to return to Calcutta with all its passengers.
* April 9 – Tampico Affair: A misunderstanding involving United States Navy sailors in Mexico and army troops loyal to Mexican dictator Victoriano Huerta leads to a breakdown in diplomatic relations between the United States and Mexico.
* April 11 – Canadian Margaret C. MacDonald is appointed Matron-in-Chief of the Canadian Nursing service band, and becomes the first woman in the British Empire to reach the rank of major.
* April 14– 18 – The first International Criminal Police Congress is held in Monaco; 24 countries are represented, including some from Asia, Europe, and the Americas; the Dean of the Paris Law School is president.
* April 20
** Colorado Coalfield War – Ludlow Massacre: The Colorado National Guard attacks a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners in Ludlow, Colorado, killing 24 people.
** President Woodrow Wilson asks the United States Congress to use military force in Mexico, in reaction to the Tampico Affair.
* April 21 – United States occupation of Veracruz: 2,300 U.S. Navy sailors and Marines from the South Atlantic fleet land in the port city of Veracruz, Mexico, which they will occupy for over six months. The ''Ypiranga'' incident occurs when they attempt to enforce an arms embargo against Mexico, by preventing the German cargo steamer from unloading arms for the Mexican government in the port.
* April 22 – Mexico ends diplomatic relations with the United States for the time being.
* April 23 – The Afrikaans language receives official recognition, when Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven addresses the English caucus of the Cape Provincial Council.

May

* May 1 – November 1 – The ''Exposition Internationale'' is held at Lyon, France.
* May 5 – November 11 – The Jubilee Exhibition (''Jubilæumsutstillingen'') is held at Kristiania, Norway, to mark the centennial of the country's Constitution.
* May 9 – J. T. Hearne becomes the first bowler to take 3,000 first-class wickets.
* May 14 – Woodrow Wilson signs a Mother's Day proclamation.
* May 17 – The Protocol of Corfu provides for the provinces of Korçë and Gjirokastër, constituting Northern Epirus, to be granted autonomy under the nominal sovereignty of Albania.
* May 25 – In the U.K., the House of Commons passes the Irish Home Rule Bill.
* May 29 – The ocean liner RMS ''Empress of Ireland'' sinks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; 1,012 lives are lost.
* May 30 – The ocean liner makes her maiden voyage.

June

* c. June – Blaise Diagne of Senegal becomes the first Black African representative in the French Parliament.
* June 1 – Woodrow Wilson's envoy, Edward Mandell House, meets with Kaiser Wilhelm II.
* June 8 – The Brazilian Football Confederation is founded, with Álvaro Zamith as its first president. The Brazilian Olympic Committee is founded on the same day.
* June 9 – Pittsburgh Pirate Honus Wagner becomes the first baseball player in the twentieth century with 3,000 career hits.
* June 12 – Greek genocide: Ottoman Greeks in Phocaea are massacred by Turkish irregular troops.
* June 18 – Mexican Revolution: The ''Constitutionals'' take San Luis Potosí; Venustiano Carranza demands Victoriano Huerta's surrender.
* June 23 – After it had been closed so that it could be deepened, the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal is reopened by the Kaiser; the British Fleet under Sir George Warrender visits; the Kaiser inspects the Dreadnought HMS ''King George V''.
* June 24 – In Manchester, New Hampshire, a downtown fire causes $400,000 worth of damage and injures 19 firemen.

* June 28 – Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria: Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip, 19, assassinates Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Duchess Sophie, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, triggering the July Crisis and World War I. Anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo and Zagreb break out.
* June 29
** The Secretary of the Austro-Hungarian Legation at Belgrade sends a dispatch to Vienna, suggesting Serbian complicity in the crime of Sarajevo. Anti-Serb riots continue throughout Bosnia.
** Khioniya Guseva attempts and fails to assassinate Grigori Rasputin at his hometown in Siberia.
** The International Exhibition opens at the "White City", Ashton Gate, Bristol, England, U.K. It closes on August 15, and the site is used as a military depot.
* June 30 – Among those addressing the Parliament of the United Kingdom, on the murdered Archduke, are Lords Crewe and Lansdowne in the House of Lords, and Messrs Asquith and Law in the Commons.

July

* July 1 – The Royal Naval Air Service, a forerunner of the Royal Air Force, is established.Admiralty Circular CW.13963/14, 1 July 1914: "Royal Naval Air Service – Organisation"
* July 2 – The German Kaiser announces that he will not attend the Archduke's funeral.
* July 4
** The Archduke's funeral takes place at Artstetten Castle, 50 miles west of Vienna, Austria-Hungary.
** Lexington Avenue bombing: Four people are killed in New York City, when an anarchist bomb intended to kill John D. Rockefeller explodes prematurely, in the conspirator's apartment.
* July 5 – A council is held at Potsdam, powerful leaders within Austria-Hungary and Germany meet to discuss the possibilities of war with Serbia, Russia, and France.
* July 7 – Austria-Hungary convenes a Council of Ministers, including Ministers for Foreign Affairs and War, the Chief of the General Staff and Naval Commander-in-Chief; the Council lasts from 11:30 am until 6:15 pm.
* July 9 – The Emperor of Austria-Hungary receives the report of the Austro-Hungarian investigation, into the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria at Sarajevo. ''The Times'' publishes an account of the Austro-Hungarian press campaign against the Serbians (who are described as "pestilent rats").
* July 10 – Nicholas Hartwig, Russian Minister to Serbia, dies of a heart attack while visiting Austrian minister Wladimir Giesl von Gieslingen, at the Austrian Legation in Belgrade.
* July 11
** Baseball legend Babe Ruth makes his major league debut, with the Boston Red Sox.
** , the United States Navy's first "super-dreadnought" battleship, is launched.
** Over 5,000 people attend a rally in Union Square, Manhattan, called by the Anti-Militarist League to commemorate the anarchists killed in the July 4th Lexington Avenue bombing.
* July 13 – Reports surface of a projected Serbian attack upon the Austro-Hungarian Legation at Belgrade.
* July 14 – The Government of Ireland Bill completes its passage through the House of Lords in the U.K. It allows Ulster counties to vote on whether or not they wish to participate in Home Rule from Dublin.
* July 15 – Mexican Revolution: Victoriano Huerta resigns from the presidency of Mexico, and leaves for Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz.
* July 18
** The Signal Corps of the United States Army establishes an Aviation Section, giving definite status to its air service for the first time.
** The British Fleet is reviewed at Spithead, by George V.
** Mahatma Gandhi leaves South Africa for the last time, sailing out of Cape Town for England, on board the S.S. ''Kinfauns Castle''.
* July 19 – George V summons a conference to discuss the Irish Home Rule problem. It meets from July 21– 24, without reaching consensus.
* July 23 – July Ultimatum: Austria-Hungary presents Serbia with an unconditional ultimatum.
* July 25 – Austria-Hungary severs diplomatic ties with Serbia, and begins to mobilise its own forces. Radomir Putnik, Chief of the Serbian General Staff, is arrested in Budapest, but subsequently allowed to return to Serbia.
* July 26 – Bachelor's Walk massacre: The King's Own Scottish Borderers of the British Army fire on Dubliners at Bachelor's Walk, killing three people and injuring a further 38.
* July 27 – Felix Ysagun Manalo registers the '' Iglesia ni Cristo'' (Church of Christ) with the government of the Philippines.

* July 28
** World War I begins when Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia by telegram. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia orders a partial mobilisation against Austria-Hungary.
** Henriette Caillaux, wife of French minister Joseph Caillaux, is acquitted of the murder of Gaston Calmette by reason of crime passionnel.
* July 28–August 10 – World War I: Pursuit of ''Goeben'' and ''Breslau'': British and French naval forces fail to prevent the ships of the Imperial German Navy Mediterranean Division from reaching the Dardanelles.
* July 29
** World War I: Austro-Hungarian Navy river monitor fires the first shots of the war, opening the bombardment of the defences of Belgrade, Serbia's capital.
** In Massachusetts, the new Cape Cod Canal opens; it shortens the trip between New York and Boston by 66 miles, but also turns Cape Cod into an island.
* July 31 – Russia orders full mobilisation.

August

* August 1
** The German Empire declares war on the Russian Empire, following Russia's military mobilization in support of Serbia; Germany also begins mobilisation.
** France orders general mobilisation.
** The New York Stock Exchange is closed because of the outbreak of war in Europe, where nearly all stock exchanges are already closed.
** Marcus Garvey founds the Universal Negro Improvement Association in Jamaica.
* August 2
** German troops occupy Luxembourg, in accordance with the Schlieffen Plan.
** A secret treaty between the Ottoman Empire and Germany secures Ottoman neutrality.
** At 7:00 pm (local time) Germany issues a 12-hour ultimatum to neutral Belgium, to allow German passage into France.
* August 3
** Germany declares war on Russia's ally, France.
** At 7:00 am (local time) Belgium declines to accept Germany's ultimatum of August 2.

* August 4
** German troops invade Belgium at 8:02 am (local time). In London the King declares war on Germany, for this violation of Belgian neutrality and especially to defend France. This means a declaration of war by the whole British Empire against Germany. The United States declares neutrality.
** Ittihad Alexandria is founded in Alexandria, Egypt.
** Imperial German Navy Rear-Admiral Wilhelm Souchon bombards the French Algerian ports of Bône and Philippeville from battlecruiser and light cruiser .
* August 5
** Germany declares war on Belgium.
** The Kingdom of Montenegro declares war on Austria-Hungary.
** The guns of Point Nepean fort at Port Phillip Heads in Victoria (Australia) fire across the bows of the Norddeutscher Lloyd steamer , which is attempting to leave the Port of Melbourne in ignorance of the declaration of war, and she is detained; this is said to be the first Allied shot of the war.
** SS ''Königin Luise'', taken over two days earlier by the Imperial German Navy as a minelayer, lays mines off the east coast of England. She is intercepted and sunk by the British Royal Navy light cruiser HMS ''Amphion'', the first German naval loss of the war. The following day, ''Amphion'' strikes mines laid by the ''Königin Luise'' and is sunk with some loss of life, in the first British casualties of the war.
** German zeppelins drop bombs on Liège, Belgium, killing 9 civilians.
** The first electric traffic light is installed between Euclid Avenue and East 105 Street, in Cleveland, Ohio.
* August 5– 16 – Battle of Liège: The German Army overruns and defeats the Belgians with the first operational use of Big Bertha.
* August 6 – World War I:
** Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia.
** The first engagement between ships (light cruisers) of the British Royal Navy and the Imperial German Navy occurs, when HMS ''Bristol'' pursues the (which escapes) in the West Indies.
* August 7 – World War I:
** Battle of Mulhouse: France launches its first attack of the war, in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to recover the province of Alsace from Germany, beginning the Battle of the Frontiers.
** British colonial troops of the British Gold Coast Regiment, entering the German West African colony of Togoland, encounter the German-led police force at a factory in Nuatja, near Lomé, and the police open fire on the patrol. Alhaji Grunshi returns fire, the first soldier in British service to fire a shot in the war.
* August 8
** German colonial forces execute Martin-Paul Samba, for high treason.
** Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition sets sail on the ''Endurance'' from Britain, in an attempt to cross Antarctica.
* August 9 – World War I: British Royal Navy light cruiser HMS ''Birmingham'' rams and sinks German submarine '' U-15'' off Fair Isle, the first U-boat lost in action.
* August 12 – World War I:
** Battle of Halen: Belgian troops defeat German cavalry, but the battle does little to delay the German invasion of Belgium.
** Formal declaration of war by the United Kingdom on Austria-Hungary.
* August 13 – The Teoloyucan Treaties are signed in the State of Mexico.
* August 15
** The Panama Canal is inaugurated with the passage of the .
** Mexican Revolution: Venustiano Carranza's troops under general Álvaro Obregón enter Mexico City.
* August 15– 24 – World War I: Battle of Cer: Serbian troops defeat the Austro-Hungarian army, marking the first Entente victory of the War.
* August 16 – World War I:
** German warships and (both commissioned in 1912), which reached Constantinople on August 10, are transferred to the Ottoman Navy, ''Goeben'' becoming its flagship, ''Yavuz Sultan Selim''.
** Lake Nyasa is the scene of a brief naval battle, when Captain Edmund Rhoades, commander of the British steamship SS ''Gwendolen'', hears that war has broken out, and he receives orders from the British high command to "sink, burn, or destroy" the German Empire's only ship on the lake, the ''Hermann von Wissmann'', commanded by a Captain Berndt. Rhoades's crew finds the ''Hermann von Wissmann'' in a bay near "Sphinxhaven", in German East African territorial waters. ''Gwendolen'' disables the German vessel with a single cannon shot from a range of about 1,800 metres (2,000 yards). This very brief engagement is hailed by ''The Times'' in England, as the British Empire's first naval victory of World War I.
* August 17–September 2 – World War I: The Battle of Tannenberg begins between German and Russian forces.
* August 20 – World War I:
** German forces occupy Brussels.
** Pope Pius X dies.
* August 22 – World War I – Battle of Rossignol: German forces decisively defeat the French.
* August 23 – World War I:
** Battle of Mons: In its first major action, the British Expeditionary Force holds the German forces, but then begins a month-long fighting Great Retreat to the Marne.
** Japan declares war on Germany.
* August 26 – World War I:
** The Togoland Campaign ends, when the German West African colony of Togoland (Togo from 1960) surrenders to Britain and France.
** Battle of Río de Oro: British Royal Navy protected cruiser HMS ''Highflyer'' forces the , sailing as an auxiliary cruiser, to scuttle.
* August 26– 27 – Battle of Le Cateau: British, French and Belgian forces make a successful tactical retreat from the German advance.
* August 26– 30 – Battle of Tannenberg: The Russian Second Army is surrounded and defeated.
* August 28 – Battle of Heligoland Bight: British cruisers under Admiral Beatty sink three German cruisers.
* August 29– 30 – The Battle of St. Quentin: French forces hold back the German advance.

September

* September 1
** (August 19 Old Style) Saint Petersburg in Russia changes its name to ''Petrograd''.
** The last known passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in the Cincinnati Zoo from old age.
* September 2 – World War I: The French village of Moronvilliers is occupied by the Germans.
* September 3
** Pope Benedict XV (Giacomo della Chiesa) succeeds Pope Pius X, becoming the 258th pope.
** William, Prince of Albania leaves the country after just six months, due to opposition to his rule.
* September 5 – World War I:
** London Agreement: No member of the Triple Entente (Britain, France, or Russia) may seek a separate peace with the Central Powers.
** The First Battle of the Marne begins: Situated north-east of Paris, the French 6th Army under General Maunoury attacks German forces near Paris. Over 2,000,000 fight (500,000 are killed/wounded) in the Allied victory. A French and British counterattack at the Marne ends the German advance on Paris.
** British Royal Navy scout cruiser HMS ''Pathfinder'' is sunk by German submarine ''U-21'' in the Firth of Forth (Scotland), the first ship ever to be sunk by a locomotive torpedo fired from a submarine.
* September 6– 8 – French Army troops are rushed from Paris to join the First Battle of the Marne using Renault Type AG taxicabs.
* September 7 – World War I: Turkey declares war on Belgium.
* September 10 – World War I: South Africa declares war on Germany.
* September 11 – World War I:
** The Battle of Rawa ends in the defeat of Austro-Hungarian forces by the Russians.
** First Battle of the Masurian Lakes: A German offensive pushes the Russian First Army back across its entire front.
** Battle of Bita Paka: The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force lands on German New Guinea and secures a strategically significant wireless station, the first major Australian military engagement of the War.
* September 13 – World War I:
** The conclusion of the Battle of Grand Couronné ends the Battle of the Frontiers, with the north-east segment of the Western Front stabilising.
** South African troops open hostilities in German South-West Africa (modern-day Namibia), with an assault on the Ramansdrift police station.
* September 14 – Royal Australian Navy submarine HMAS AE1 vanishes while on combat patrol near Papua New Guinea, beginning one of Australia's longest naval mysteries; the sunken vessel will not be discovered for another 103 years.
* September 15 – The Maritz Rebellion of disaffected Boers against the government of the Union of South Africa begins. General Koos de la Rey, a Boer general associated with the leaders of the rebellion, is shot dead after his driver fails to stop at a police roadblock.
* September 17
** World War I: The Race to the Sea, by opposing forces on the Western Front, begins.
** Andrew Fisher becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
* September 21 – World War I: British Imperial police forces capture Schuckmannsburg, in the Caprivi Strip of German South-West Africa.
* September 22 – World War I:
** Action of 22 September 1914: German submarine '' U-9'' torpedoes three British Royal Navy armoured cruisers, , and , with the death of more than 1,400 men, in the North Sea.
** Bombardment of Papeete: German naval forces bombard Papeete, French Polynesia.
** German light cruiser SMS ''Emden'' bombards Madras, the only Indian city to be attacked by the Central Powers in the War.
* September 25 – World War I: The first Battle of Albert begins as part of the Race to the Sea.
* September 26 – The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is established, by the Federal Trade Commission Act.
* September 28 – World War I: The First Battle of the Aisne ends indecisively.
* September 30
** World War I: British Indian Army Expeditionary Force A arrives at Marseille for service in the Ypres Salient of the Western Front.
** The Flying Squadron of America is established, to promote the temperance movement.

October

* October 3 – World War I: 25,000 Canadian troops depart for Europe.
* October 4
** The 1914 Burdur earthquake occurs in Turkey.
** The Manifesto of the Ninety-Three is signed, supporting the early German war effort.
* October 9 – World War I: Siege of Antwerp: Antwerp (Belgium) falls to German troops.
* October 14 – World War I: The Canadian Expeditionary Force arrives on 32 ocean liners, in Plymouth Sound.
* October 16– 31– World War I: Battle of the Yser: The Belgian army halts the German advance, but with heavy losses.
* October 19 – World War I:
** The First Battle of Ypres begins.
** The Race to the Sea effectively ends, with the Western Front reaching the Belgian coast.
* October 27 – World War I:
** British super-dreadnought battleship (23,400 tons) is sunk off Tory Island

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