1916

Events in 1916 56

• 1830 – 1916 Franz Joseph I of Austria (1830-1916) Died 21 November 1916, aged 86 Franz Joseph I ruled as Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary for 68 years, one of the longest reigns in European history. He died at Schonbrunn Palace in the midst of the war his empire had entered after the assassination of his nephew Franz Ferdinand.
• 1843 – 1916 Henry James (1843-1916) Died 28 February 1916, aged 72 Henry James was an American-born author of novels including "The Portrait of a Lady" and "The Turn of the Screw," who became a British subject the year before his death. He died in London, having spent most of his career in Europe.
• 1850 – 1916 Horatio Herbert Kitchener (1850-1916) Died 5 June 1916, aged 65 Lord Kitchener was a British Field Marshal and Secretary of State for War, whose face became famous on the "Your Country Needs You" recruitment poster. He drowned when HMS Hampshire struck a German mine off Orkney while he was en route to Russia.
• 1850 – 1916 Victoriano Huerta (1850-1916) Died 13 January 1916, aged 65 Victoriano Huerta was a Mexican general who served as president from 1913 to 1914 after the overthrow of Francisco Madero. He died in United States custody in El Paso, Texas, after being arrested while allegedly plotting a return to power in Mexico.
• 1859 – 1916 Sholem Aleichem (1859-1916) Died 13 May 1916, aged 57 Sholem Aleichem was a Yiddish author whose stories of Tevye the Dairyman later formed the basis of "Fiddler on the Roof." He died in the Bronx, New York, and his funeral drew one of the largest public gatherings the city had seen.
• 1867 – 1916 Enrique Granados (1867-1916) Died 24 March 1916, aged 48 Enrique Granados was a Spanish composer and pianist best known for his suite "Goyescas." He drowned in the English Channel when the ferry SS Sussex was torpedoed by a German submarine while he was returning from the United States.
• 1869 – 1916 Grigori Rasputin (1869-1916) Died 30 December 1916, aged 47 Grigori Rasputin was a Russian mystic who gained enormous influence over the family of Tsar Nicholas II. He was murdered by a group of nobles led by Prince Felix Yusupov, an act that further destabilized the Russian monarchy on the eve of revolution.
• 1873 – 1916 Erik Satie French avant-garde composer Eccentric French composer whose Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes pioneered minimalism and influenced Debussy, Ravel and the entire 20th-century avant-garde.
• 1876 – 1916 Jack London (1876-1916) Died 22 November 1916, aged 40 Jack London was an American novelist best known for "The Call of the Wild" and "White Fang." He died at his ranch in California at age 40, having become one of the first American authors to earn a fortune from popular fiction.
• 1880 – 1916 Franz Marc (1880-1916) Died 4 March 1916, aged 36 Franz Marc was a German painter and co-founder of the Der Blaue Reiter expressionist group, known for his vivid depictions of animals. He was killed at the Battle of Verdun while serving in the German army.
• 1882 – 1916 Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916) Died 17 August 1916, aged 33 Umberto Boccioni was an Italian Futurist painter and sculptor known for "Unique Forms of Continuity in Space." He died of injuries after falling from a horse during military training near Verona.
• 1915 – 1916 The Gallipoli campaign Gallipoli, Ottoman Empire Allied troops landed on the peninsula and never got off the beaches. Eight months and around 250,000 casualties on each side ended in evacuation — the campaign's only well-executed phase.
• 1916 – 1973 Betty Grable (1916-1973) Died 2 July 1973, aged 56 American actress and dancer Betty Grable, the top box-office star and most popular pin-up of the 1940s, died of lung cancer in Santa Monica, California.
• 1916 – 2021 Beverly Cleary (1916-2021) Died 25 March 2021, aged 104 American children's author who created Ramona Quimby and Henry Huggins, selling over ninety million books.
• 1916 – 1924 Capablanca's unbeaten streak 8 years without a tournament loss From 1916 to 1924 Capablanca scored +40 =23 -0 in tournament games — a record span without a single loss that has never been surpassed at the elite level.
• 1916 National Park Service created National Park Service created Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act on 25 August 1916, creating the National Park Service to manage the parks and monuments that until then had been run piecemeal by the army and the Interior Department. Its mandate was to conserve the land while leaving it unimpaired for future generations. The model was copied by park services worldwide.
• 1916 – 1965 Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) Died 8 August 1965, aged 48 Shirley Jackson was an American author best known for her chilling short story "The Lottery" and the Gothic novel The Haunting of Hill House. Her work profoundly influenced later horror and suspense fiction. She died of heart failure at her home in North Bennington, Vermont, on 8 August 1965.
• 1916 Military Service Act introduces conscription in Britain Britain conscripts soldiers for the first time The British Parliament passed the Military Service Act, introducing conscription for single men aged 18 to 41. It marked the first time Britain had conscripted soldiers for overseas service, and was extended to married men later in the year.
• 1916 Dada movement founded Cabaret Voltaire opens in Zurich Writers and artists including Hugo Ball and Tristan Tzara founded the Dada movement at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich. The anti-war, anti-bourgeois movement rejected conventional aesthetics and later influenced Surrealism.
• 1916 The Battle of Verdun Verdun, France Falkenhayn chose a place the French would defend to the last man and set out to bleed France white. Ten months, around 700,000 casualties, and the line ended almost where it started. The French rotated most of their army through it.
• 1916 – 1987 Jackie Gleason (1916-1987) Died 24 June 1987, aged 71 Gleason was an American comedian and actor best known for creating and starring in the television series The Honeymooners. He also appeared in films including The Hustler and Smokey and the Bandit. He died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
• 1916 – 1994 Dinah Shore (1916-1994) American singer and television host, known for See the USA in Your Chevrolet.
• 1916 – present BMW Bavarian engineering company founded BMW began as an aircraft engine manufacturer before evolving into a premium automobile and motorcycle brand. The company became globally known for sporty luxury vehicles, engineering precision and performance-oriented driving dynamics.
• 1916 Pancho Villa raids Columbus, New Mexico Mexican revolutionary attacks a US border town Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa's forces attacked the town of Columbus, New Mexico, killing several American civilians and soldiers. The raid prompted the United States to launch the Punitive Expedition into Mexico under General John J. Pershing.
• 1916 – 1995 Harold Wilson (1916-1995) Died 24 May 1995, aged 79 Harold Wilson served twice as British prime minister, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 1974 to 1976, leading the Labour Party through periods of economic strain and social change. His governments introduced major social reforms and held Britain's first referendum on membership of the European Community. He resigned unexpectedly in 1976, citing a wish to retire while still in good health.
• 1916 – 2004 Mercedes McCambridge (1916-2004) American actress, a radio star who won an Oscar in her film debut and voiced the demon in The Exorcist.
• 1916 Einstein publishes general theory of relativity Landmark paper redefines gravity as spacetime curvature Albert Einstein published "The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity" in Annalen der Physik. The theory redefined gravity as the curvature of spacetime and was later confirmed by observations of starlight bending during a solar eclipse.
• 1916 – 1986 Sterling Hayden (1916-1986) American actor, sailor and author, known for The Asphalt Jungle, Dr. Strangelove and The Godfather.
• 1916 – 2003 Gregory Peck (1916-2003) Died 12 June 2003, aged 87 Gregory Peck was a leading Hollywood actor for more than four decades, associated with upright, principled characters. He won the Academy Award for playing the lawyer Atticus Finch in 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. He was also active in liberal political causes and the film academy.
• 1916 – 1999 Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999) Died 12 March 1999, aged 82 Yehudi Menuhin was an American-born violinist regarded as one of the greatest of the 20th century. He performed and recorded prolifically for eight decades and later held British citizenship, being made a life peer. He died in Berlin from complications following bronchitis.
• 1916 Easter Rising Irish republicans rebel against British rule in Dublin Irish republicans launched an armed insurrection in Dublin, seizing key buildings and proclaiming an Irish Republic. British forces suppressed the rising within a week, and the subsequent execution of its leaders galvanized support for Irish independence.
• 1916 – 2001 Claude Shannon (1916-2001) Died 24 February 2001, aged 84 Shannon was a mathematician and engineer whose 1948 paper founded information theory and introduced the bit as the unit of information. His earlier master's thesis had shown how Boolean algebra could describe electrical circuits. His ideas underpin all modern digital communication.
• 1916 – 2006 Glenn Ford (1916-2006) Canadian-born American actor, a leading man in Gilda, The Big Heat, Blackboard Jungle and 3:10 to Yuma.
• 1916 – 2002 Camilo Jose Cela (1916-2002) Died 17 January 2002, aged 85 The Spanish writer Camilo Jose Cela won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1989. His 1942 novel The Family of Pascual Duarte, a grim tale of rural violence, helped revive the Spanish novel after the civil war, and The Hive portrayed the hunger of postwar Madrid. He was a divisive figure who had worked as a censor under Franco before serving as a senator in the democratic era.
• 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement signed Britain and France secretly agree to divide Ottoman Arab lands Britain and France secretly agreed to divide the Ottoman Empire's Arab provinces into postwar spheres of influence. Negotiated by Mark Sykes and Francois Georges-Picot, the agreement shaped the modern borders of the Middle East.
• 1916 The Battle of Jutland North Sea The only full-scale clash of battle fleets in the war. Britain lost more ships and men, but the German fleet returned to port and stayed there — which settled the blockade, and the war's outcome, more than any battle on land.
• 1916 Brusilov Offensive Major Russian offensive against Austro-Hungarian forces Russian General Alexei Brusilov launched a massive offensive against Austro-Hungarian forces along the Eastern Front. It was one of the most successful Russian offensives of the war, inflicting huge casualties but exhausting Russian reserves in the process.
• 1916 Arab Revolt begins Sharif Hussein of Mecca rises against Ottoman rule Sharif Hussein bin Ali of Mecca launched an uprising against Ottoman rule with British backing. The revolt, later aided by T. E. Lawrence, sought Arab independence and contributed to the collapse of Ottoman control in the region.
• 1916 – 2004 Francis Crick (1916-2004) Died 28 July 2004, aged 88 Crick co-discovered the double-helix structure of DNA with James Watson in 1953, a breakthrough that earned them the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He later worked on the theoretical basis of consciousness.
• 1916 – 2009 Robert McNamara (1916-2009) Died 6 July 2009, aged 93 McNamara served as US Secretary of Defense under presidents Kennedy and Johnson, overseeing the escalation of the Vietnam War before later becoming president of the World Bank. He later expressed regret over his role in the war in memoirs and the documentary The Fog of War. He remains one of the most consequential and controversial American officials of the Cold War era.
• 1916 – 2001 Dorothy McGuire (1916-2001) American actress, star of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Disney family films.
• 1916 – 2001 Herbert A. Simon (1916-2001) Died 9 February 2001, aged 84 Simon was a polymath who won the 1978 Nobel Prize in Economics for his theory of bounded rationality in decision-making. He was also a founder of the fields of artificial intelligence and cognitive science. He spent most of his career at Carnegie Mellon University.
• 1916 – 2020 Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020) Died 26 July 2020, aged 104 Olivia de Havilland was a two-time Academy Award-winning actress best remembered for playing Melanie in Gone with the Wind. She died on 26 July 2020 in Paris, at the age of 104.
• 1916 The Battle of the Somme Somme, France On the first day the British Army took 57,470 casualties, 19,240 of them dead — the worst day in its history. The battle ran for 141 days and moved the line about six miles.
• 1916 – 2014 Gough Whitlam (1916-2014) Died 21 October 2014, aged 98 Gough Whitlam, the reformist Australian prime minister whose government was controversially dismissed by the governor-general in 1975, died in Sydney. His government introduced universal healthcare and free university education in Australia. His dismissal remains a defining moment in Australian constitutional history.
• 1916 – 2008 Van Johnson (1916-2008) American actor, MGM's boy next door of the war years.
• 1916 – 1994 Martha Raye (1916-1994) American comedian and singer, famous for her big mouth and for entertaining troops from the Second World War to Vietnam.
• 1916 Shackleton's crew rescued from Elephant Island Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition survivors saved The remaining crew of Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition were rescued from Elephant Island after their ship Endurance was crushed by pack ice. Shackleton had earlier crossed 800 miles of open ocean in a small boat to South Georgia to organize the rescue.
• 1916 – 1990 Roald Dahl Writer, 1916-1990 - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda Welsh-born writer of children's books and macabre short stories, and an RAF fighter pilot before that.
• 1916 Tanks go into action Flers-Courcelette, France Forty-nine Mark I tanks were sent forward on the Somme; most broke down or ditched. The idea worked well enough to be worth persisting with.
• 1916 – 1977 Peter Finch (1916-1977) Died 14 January 1977, aged 60 Peter Finch was a British-Australian actor best known for his role as a deranged newsman in the film Network. He died of a heart attack shortly before winning a posthumous Academy Award for the role.
• 1916 – 1996 François Mitterrand (1916-1996) Died 8 January 1996, aged 79 François Mitterrand served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest tenure in French republican history. He was the first Socialist elected to the office under the Fifth Republic and oversaw major reforms including abolition of the death penalty. He died of prostate cancer in Paris shortly after leaving office.
• 1916 – 2009 Walter Cronkite (1916-2009) Died 17 July 2009, aged 92 Cronkite anchored the CBS Evening News for nineteen years and was often called "the most trusted man in America." He covered major events including the Kennedy assassination, the Apollo moon landings and the Vietnam War. His measured reporting style shaped American television journalism for a generation.
• 1916 Woodrow Wilson re-elected US President Wilson narrowly defeats Charles Evans Hughes Woodrow Wilson won re-election as President of the United States, narrowly defeating Republican Charles Evans Hughes. His campaign emphasized having kept the country out of the European war, though the US would enter it the following year.
• 1916 – 2020 Kirk Douglas (1916-2020) Died 5 February 2020, aged 103 Kirk Douglas was a Hollywood leading man of the 1950s and 60s, starring in films including Spartacus and Paths of Glory, and a founder of Bryna Productions. He died on 5 February 2020 at the age of 103.
• 1916 – 2003 Maurice Wilkins (1916-2003) Died 5 October 2003, aged 86 Maurice Wilkins was a biophysicist whose X-ray diffraction work at King's College London contributed to the discovery of the structure of DNA. He shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with James Watson and Francis Crick.