Events, Verisoph

1913 to 1914 Mekatilili wa Menza and the Giriama uprising 0 cit. The Giriama woman leader Mekatilili wa Menza rallied resistance to British demands for labor and taxes by invoking Mijikenda tradition, the sacred kaya forest shrine, and binding oaths. She drew authority from custom and the ancestors rather than from any colonial office. The British deported her and attacked the kaya, but she became a lasting symbol of coastal Kenyan resistance. politics / religion / society ●●

c. 1913 The Mumbo cult in western Kenya 5 cit. The Mumbo cult, traced in oral tradition to a Luo man named Onyango Dunde who said a serpent deity rose from Lake Victoria and spoke to him, promised that Europeans and their religion would vanish. It rejected Christianity, taxes, and colonial authority and spread among Luo and Gusii communities. The colonial government treated it as subversive and moved repeatedly to suppress it. politics / religion / society ●●

1913 to 1915 William Wade Harris and the Harrist revival 0 cit. The Liberian Grebo prophet William Wade Harris walked through the Ivory Coast and Gold Coast preaching, baptizing, and calling people to burn their traditional charms, and tens of thousands converted in one of West Africa's largest mass movements. He founded an African-led Christianity outside missionary control. Wary of his influence, the French authorities expelled him back to Liberia in 1915. politics / religion / society ●●

1913 The Kikuyu missionary conference debates Protestant unity 0 cit. Protestant missions meeting at Kikuyu in 1913 proposed a federation to coordinate their work and share communion, a plan that provoked a sharp controversy in the wider Anglican Communion. The Anglican bishop of Zanzibar accused the organizers of heresy for worshipping with non-episcopal churches. The episode showed how missions cooperated on the ground in Kenya even as their home churches quarreled over doctrine. religion ●

1913 The Mombasa Lodge is consecrated 0 cit. A Masonic lodge was consecrated at the coastal port of Mombasa in 1913, giving the colony's oldest town its own branch of the fraternity. Its members were administrators, merchants, and professionals of the port. Like the Nairobi lodges, it was a private club of the colonial elite and had no connection to the mission churches. society ●

1913 The Maasai Case 0 cit. A group of Maasai led by Ol le Njogo sued the Crown, arguing the 1911 move broke the 1904 agreement and asking the court to let them stay on Laikipia. The court dismissed the case, ruling that an agreement between the Crown and a tribe was an act of state that British courts could not enforce. The decision confirmed that Africans had no legal defence against the taking of their land, a landmark in the law of colonial dispossession. diplomacy / politics ●●

August 1913 Mekatilili wa Menza Defies Arthur Champion 0 cit. At a public meeting in August 1913 the administrator Arthur Champion demanded Giriama men for labour and closer submission to the government, and the elderly Mekatilili wa Menza rose to refuse him. She rallied the Giriama, especially the women, and administered binding oaths at the sacred settlement of Kaya Fungo against cooperating with the colonisers. Arrested that October and exiled far away to Kisii, she became the enduring symbol of Giriama resistance, her story carried largely through oral tradition. politics / religion / war ●●●

c. 1913 Punitive expeditions and the disarmament of the northern pastoralists 3 cit. Across the early decades of colonial rule British columns mounted repeated punitive patrols against Somali, Borana, Rendille, and Gabra herders, seizing stock, burning settlements, and confiscating firearms and spears. Disarmament left communities exposed to raiders while the state offered little protection in return. The dates span many separate operations, so the year given is approximate for a long campaign of coercion. politics / war ●●

c. 1913 The Dervishes build the fortresses at Taleh 0 cit. After earlier reverses and a period when Britain pulled back to the coast, the Dervish state consolidated in the interior and built stone fortresses at Taleh in the Nugaal valley. The Sayyid governed a functioning statelet with its own administration and defenses. The same year, Dervish forces killed British commander Richard Corfield at the Battle of Dul Madoba, a defeat later remembered in Somali poetry. politics / war ●●

1913 Lancaster House, a Crown mansion in St James's 0 cit. Lancaster House is a grand mansion beside St James's Palace in London, built from the 1820s and known earlier as York House and then Stafford House. In 1913 the soap magnate Sir William Lever bought it, renamed it, and gave it to the nation. From then on the government used it for official hospitality, state receptions, and diplomatic meetings. politics / society ●●●

1913 Bernays' sponsoring committee for Damaged Goods ai_extracted 1 cit. Bernays invented the authoritative sponsoring committee as a publicity device. He first used it in 1913, gathering a committee of physicians to endorse the Broadway play Damaged Goods, which dealt openly with venereal disease. ●●

1913 Leipzig "Battle of the Nations" monument inaugurated ai_extracted 1 cit. Imperial Germany built masses of monuments to fuse Prussian and German history and give the new empire a national past. The centenary memorial of the battle of Leipzig, launched in 1894 by a patriotic monument league, was inaugurated in 1913 as part of this nationalist invention of tradition. ●

1913 Mekatilili wa Menza leads the Giriama resistance 0 cit. In 1913 and 1914 the Giriama rose against British demands for forced labor, taxes, and eviction from their land, rallied by the woman leader Mekatilili wa Menza and the elder Wanje wa Mwadorikola. She revived binding oaths through the kifudu and mwanza dances to unite people against the colonial government. Britain crushed the revolt, burned the sacred kaya at Kaya Fungo, and deported her, but she became a lasting symbol of resistance. politics / war ●●●

1913 The Giriama rise under Mekatilili and are crushed 0 cit. The Giriama leader Mekatilili wa Menza rallied her people against British demands for taxes, forced labour, and porters, administering unifying oaths and invoking the authority of the sacred kaya elders. In her famous confrontation with the officer Arthur Champion she used the fowl and feather challenge to defy British power. The British crushed the 1913-14 rising, burned the sacred Kaya Fungo, killed scores, fined the Giriama, and deported Mekatilili to distant Gusii country, from which she is said to have walked home. politics / religion / society / war ●●●

1913 Ol le Njogo's land suit against the Crown fails 3 cit. A group of Maasai led by Ol le Njogo went to court in 1913 to challenge the second move and hold Britain to the 1904 promise. The court ruled that the agreement was a treaty between the Crown and the Maasai and so lay outside its jurisdiction, and the case was lost on appeal. The judgment left the Maasai with no legal remedy for the loss of Laikipia. diplomacy / politics ●●●

August 1913 Mekatilili binds the Giriama with oaths 0 cit. Mekatilili wa Menza drew on the ritual authority of the kaya, the sacred Giriama forest centre and its elders, to rally resistance in 1913. At meetings she and elders like Wanje wa Mwadorikola led people in binding anti-British oaths, using the kifudu women's rite to hold them to it. The oaths committed Giriama not to give their labour or pay the taxes the colonial state demanded. It was religious and political power used together. politics / religion ●●●

October 1913 Mekatilili leads the Giriama against the British 0 cit. Mekatilili wa Menza led the Giriama resistance of 1913 to 1914 against colonial demands for labour, taxes, and land. She organised meetings, oaths, and open defiance until the British arrested her in October 1913 and exiled her far inland to Mumias. She escaped and returned, and the wider Giriama war followed before the British crushed it. She stands as a documented woman leader of armed and organised anti-colonial resistance. politics / war ●●●

1913 Colonel House, Wilson's silent partner 0 cit. Edward M. House, a Texan who held no office and went by the honorary title Colonel, became Wilson's closest adviser and personal envoy, shaping foreign policy and the peace talks. His novel Philip Dru imagined a benevolent dictator remaking America, which later writers seized on; his real power, though, was simply that of a trusted confidant. ●●

1913 Wilson segregates the federal government 0 cit. Soon after taking office, Wilson's administration segregated federal offices and workplaces and pushed Black civil servants out of their posts. He also screened the pro-Klan film The Birth of a Nation at the White House. It was among the darkest parts of a self-styled progressive presidency. ●●●

1913 The myth of Wilson the Freemason debunked 0 cit. Woodrow Wilson is often listed among Masonic presidents, but he was not a Freemason. A devout Presbyterian and the son of a minister, he held no Masonic membership; the claim is a persistent and documented error. ●

1914 to 1945 Second Thirty Years' War wikidata 0 cit. no story periodization scheme encompassing European wars from 1914 to 1945 ●●●●

28 June 1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand 0 cit. Gavrilo Princip shoots the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne and his wife Sophie during a state visit. politics / war ●●●●●

28 July 1914 Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia 0 cit. After Serbia accepts most but not all of the July Ultimatum, Austria-Hungary declares war, one month to the day after the assassination. politics / war ●●●●●

1 August 1914 Germany declares war on Russia 0 cit. Germany answers Russian mobilization with a declaration of war, activating the long-planned two-front strategy. politics / war ●●●●

4 August 1914 Germany invades Belgium; Britain enters the war 0 cit. German armies cross into neutral Belgium; Britain, guarantor of Belgian neutrality, declares war on Germany the same day. politics / war ●●●●

5 September 1914 to 12 September 1914 First Battle of the Marne 0 cit. French and British forces halt the German advance on Paris; both sides dig in, beginning four years of trench warfare. war ●●●●

c. 1914 New York as the world's financial capital 0 cit. The First World War turns the United States into the world's creditor and shifts financial leadership from London to Wall Street. Home to the New York Stock Exchange, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the largest banks and asset managers, the city has topped global rankings ever since. economy ●●●●●

1914 Founding of Merrill Lynch 0 cit. Charles Merrill opens a brokerage in New York, joined months later by Edmund Lynch. The firm brings Wall Street to Main Street with retail stockbroking and is sold to Bank of America in September 2008 at the height of the financial crisis. economy ●●●

28 June 1914 Assassination at Sarajevo 0 cit. Gavrilo Princip shoots Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife Sophie. The murder sets off the July Crisis and the First World War, which destroys four empires and remakes the world order. politics / war ●●●●●

26 September 1914 Founding of the Federal Trade Commission 0 cit. Woodrow Wilson signs the act creating an independent commission to police unfair methods of competition and deceptive business practices. The FTC becomes a twin pillar of antitrust enforcement alongside the Justice Department. economy ●●

September 1914 British Wellington House propaganda bureau 1 cit. Britain set up a secret War Propaganda Bureau at Wellington House in September 1914 to shape opinion at home and in neutral countries, especially the United States. It pioneered modern state wartime propaganda. politics / war ●●●

28 July 1914 to 1918 The First World War and the Empire at War 0 cit. Millions of soldiers from India, Africa, Canada, Australia, and beyond fought for Britain in the war. Their service strengthened both imperial ties and demands for greater self-rule. war ●●●●●

1 August 1914 Russia Enters the First World War 0 cit. Russia mobilized in support of Serbia and went to war against Germany and Austria-Hungary. Heavy casualties, poor supply, and economic strain steadily undermined support for the monarchy. politics / war ●●●●

20 April 1914 Ludlow Massacre 0 cit. On 20 April 1914 Colorado National Guard troops and camp guards attacked a tent colony of striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, killing about two dozen people including children. The mine was controlled by the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, and the deaths drew national outrage. politics / society ●●●●

1914 Krupp's Big Bertha howitzers used in the First World War 0 cit. In 1914 Krupp's huge Big Bertha siege howitzers smashed Belgian fortresses at the start of the war. Krupp was the main artillery supplier to the German war effort. technology / war ●●●

1914 to 1918 World War I turns the United States into the world's creditor 0 cit. Wartime loans and arms sales shifted the United States from a net debtor to the world's leading creditor nation, while Britain ran up heavy debts to American lenders. The financial balance of the Atlantic began tilting westward. economy / war ●●

October 1914 Benjamin Strong takes charge of the New York Fed 0 cit. Benjamin Strong became the first Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He dominated American monetary policy through the 1920s and built close personal ties with Europe's central bankers. economy / politics ●●●

1914 Maserati's logo is the trident of the Roman god Neptune 0 cit. The Italian carmaker, founded in Bologna in 1914, took its trident logo from the statue of Neptune, the Roman sea god, in the city's central fountain. economy / religion / technology ●●

1914 FTD's emblem is the messenger god Mercury 0 cit. The florist network, founded in 1910, took a running Mercury as its emblem in 1914. The winged messenger god fit a business that carried flowers across distances. economy / religion ●

1914 Europe's mobilization triggers war, 1914 ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Quigley describes how rigid mobilization timetables meant that when the order was given in 1914, the states of Europe were locked into attacking one another, igniting the First World War. ●●

1914 Britain's overseas investment dominance, 1914 ai_extracted 1 cit. no story By 1914 British overseas investment stood at about $20 billion, roughly a quarter of the nation's wealth and larger than the foreign investments of all other countries combined. ●●

1914 Gandhi-Smuts compromise in South Africa (1914) ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Gandhi and Smuts negotiated a 1914 agreement that revoked some discriminations against Indians, recognized Indian marriages, and ended a discriminatory tax, just before the war with Germany. ●●

1914 Anglo-German Baghdad Railway agreement (June 1914) ai_extracted 1 cit. no story In June 1914 Britain and Germany initialed an agreement withdrawing British opposition to the Baghdad Railway in return for German promises, but it was lost in the outbreak of war six weeks later. ●●

1914 Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand at Sarajevo (June 28, 1914) ai_extracted 1 cit. no story The heir to the Habsburg throne was assassinated by Serb extremists at Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, touching off the crisis that led to the World War. ●●

1914 Austrian ultimatum to Serbia (July 23, 1914) ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Backed by a promise of German support, Austria sent Serbia a far-reaching forty-eight-hour ultimatum delivered on July 23, 1914, demanding suppression of anti-Habsburg activity. ●●

1914 Britain declares war on Germany (August 4, 1914) ai_extracted 1 cit. no story On August 4, 1914, Britain declared war on Germany over the attack on Belgium, though Quigley argues the real reason was that Britain could not allow Germany to defeat France. ●●

1914 French army shattered in opening 1914 offensive ai_extracted 1 cit. no story The French opened their attack on Lorraine on August 14, 1914; by August 25th, after eleven days of combat, they had suffered 300,000 casualties, the most rapid wastage of the war. ●●

1914 First Battle of the Marne begins (September 1914) ai_extracted 1 cit. no story On September 6, 1914, the French began a general counterattack ordered by Joffre on Gallieni's insistence, beginning the First Battle of the Marne, which halted the German advance. ●●

1914 Britain treats food as contraband, tightening blockade (August 1914) ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Quigley notes British violations of international law began early: as of August 20, 1914, Britain treated food as contraband and interfered with neutral food shipments to Europe. ●●

1914 Turkey attacks Russia, entering the war (October 29, 1914) ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Having secretly allied with Germany, Turkey removed its mask of neutrality on October 29, 1914, by attacking Russia and cutting her off from her Western allies by the southern route. ●●

1914 French State of Siege proclaimed (August 2, 1914) ai_extracted 1 cit. no story France proclaimed a State of Siege on August 2, 1914, giving the government the right to rule by decree, establishing censorship, and placing the police under military control. ●●

1914 British censorship established under DORA (August 5, 1914) ai_extracted 1 cit. no story British censorship, established August 5, 1914, intercepted cables and private mail, including neutral traffic, becoming an important source of military and economic intelligence. ●●

1914 Quigley: bankers secretly issued Treasury Notes (July 25, 1914) ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Quigley asserts British bankers, facing insolvency at the war's outbreak, secretly arranged on July 25, 1914, to meet their liabilities with fiat Treasury Notes while insisting the government fund the war through loans. ●●

1914 Army refuses to enforce Irish Home Rule, 1914 ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Quigley cites 1914, when the largely Conservative army refused to enforce the Irish Home Rule bill despite its passage after two elections and three Commons votes, as evidence of Conservative control over other parts of government. ●●

1914 The New Republic founded ai_extracted 1 cit. no story The New Republic was founded in 1914 by Willard Straight with Payne Whitney money. Quigley presents it as a vehicle through which Wall Street guided the progressive Left in an Anglophile direction. ●●

1914 Milner Group cannot elect its own Warden when Anson dies ai_extracted 1 cit. no story When Sir William Anson died in 1914 the Milner Group was not yet strong enough to elect one of its own as Warden of All Souls. His successor Pember belonged to the Cecil Bloc but did not resist the group's penetration. ●●

1914 Rockefeller's Colorado coal-field disaster, 1914 ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Gatto refers to the April 1914 Rockefeller disaster in the southern Colorado coal fields, after which a campaign was launched to muzzle critical magazines. ●●

1914 Wilson's July 4, 1914 address on America's global role ai_extracted 1 cit. no story The book quotes a July 4, 1914 presidential address in which Wilson called the United States a light to guide mankind to justice, liberty and peace. It uses this to illustrate Wilson's messianic self-image. ●●

1914 Assassination of Franz Ferdinand triggers World War I ai_extracted 1 cit. no story The book says the Black Hand assassinated Franz Ferdinand in June 1914, setting the 'doomsday mechanism' of alliances into motion. It presents the resulting war as serving the Network's aims. ●●

1914 Fifty-nine countries on the gold standard ai_extracted 1 cit. no story By 1914 the gold standard had become a near-universal 'badge of honor,' with fifty-nine countries tying their currencies to gold. It signaled a pledge to stable money and orthodox finance. ●●

1914 Austria declares war on Serbia ai_extracted 1 cit. no story On 28 July 1914 Austria declared war on Serbia and began bombarding Belgrade. Within days most of Europe had stumbled into general war and Britain faced the worst banking crisis in its history. ●●

1914 London Stock Exchange closes for the first time since 1773 ai_extracted 1 cit. no story On 31 July 1914 the London Stock Exchange shut its doors until further notice as the war crisis hit. It was the first closure since the exchange was founded in 1773. ●●

1914 Bank of England raises Bank rate to 10 percent ai_extracted 1 cit. no story As gold drained from its vaults in the opening days of the war, the Bank of England's bullion reserves more than halved in days. On 1 August 1914 it raised interest rates to an unprecedented 10 percent to conserve gold. ●●

1914 Germany mobilizes and declares war on Russia ai_extracted 1 cit. no story On 31 July 1914 Germany answered Russia's mobilization with its own and demanded French neutrality. The next day it declared war on Russia and France mobilized in turn. ●●

1914 Germany declares war on France and invades Belgium ai_extracted 1 cit. no story On 3 August 1914 Germany declared war on France and invaded neutral Belgium to reach it. The invasion brought Britain into the war. ●●

1914 Britain enters the war over Belgian neutrality ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Britain had guaranteed Belgian neutrality since 1839 and demanded Germany withdraw from Belgium. When the ultimatum expired at midnight on 4 August 1914, Britain was at war with Germany. ●●

1914 Reichsbank suspends gold convertibility of the mark ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Having built up large gold reserves after the 1911 Agadir crisis, Germany's Reichsbank acted fast as war loomed. On 31 July 1914 it suspended the gold convertibility of the mark. ●●

1914 New York Stock Exchange closes ai_extracted 2 cit. no story On 31 July 1914, after London's exchange suspended trading, New York's leading bankers met at the House of Morgan and decided to close the New York Stock Exchange. It was an emergency measure to halt the spreading panic. ●●

1914 Wall Street's worst day since the 1907 panic ai_extracted 1 cit. no story On 30 July 1914 news of Russia's general mobilization hit New York. Stocks fell 7 percent, their single largest down day since the panic of 1907. ●●

1914 Davison: 'the credit of all Europe has broken down' ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Days after the war crisis broke, Morgan partner Henry Davison telegraphed his colleague Thomas Lamont describing the collapse of European credit. His message captured how the global financial system had seized up in August 1914. ●●

1914 Benjamin Strong becomes first governor of the New York Fed ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Pressed by Davison and Warburg that it was his public duty, Benjamin Strong accepted leadership of the new central bank. On 5 October 1914 he was elected the first governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. ●●

1914 Banque de France evacuates its gold reserves ai_extracted 1 cit. no story As German armies advanced in August 1914, the Banque de France secretly executed its emergency plan. On 18 August it shipped 1,300 tons of gold, worth $800 million, to safe sites in the south, emptying its Paris vaults. ●●

1914 German army reaches the outskirts of Paris ai_extracted 1 cit. no story In late August 1914 the German army swept through Belgium and northern France in a great flanking movement. By 29 August it was just twenty-five miles from Paris. ●●

1914 Gold standard suspended at outbreak of war ai_extracted 1 cit. no story The gold standard was officially suspended in Germany and France in August 1914 as the war began. Britain kept the legal fiction of gold convertibility, though submarine risk made gold exports unfeasible. ●●

1914 Franz Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo ai_extracted 1 cit. no story On June 28, 1914, a Slavic nationalist in Sarajevo murdered Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne. The battle lines were drawn. Austria positioned itself against... ●●

1914 Panama Canal opens ai_extracted 1 cit. no story The canal, which opened in 1914, gave the United States sovereignty over the Canal Zone and a unique stake in the new nation (1914) ●●

1914 Asquith approves Morgan purchasing plan ai_extracted 1 cit. no story On December 16, 1914, Prime Minister Herbert Asquith met with Harry Davison and approved the House of Morgan's proposal to serve as the purchasing agency for Allied supplies, reviewing the contract paragraph by paragraph. ●●

1914 British Treasury sends purchasing mission to New York ai_extracted 1 cit. no story The British Treasury sent officials George Paish and Basil Blackett to New York in October 1914 to address war profiteering and coordinate Allied purchases through a single agency to prevent price inflation. ●●

1914 Rockefeller Jr. testifies to House mining subcommittee ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Summoned to give testimony before the House Subcommittee on Mines and Mining in March 1914, Junior saw himself perpetuating his father’s noble legacy. “Father was the greatest business witness ever on the stand,” he said. ●●

1914 Harold McCormick resigns as International Harvester treasurer ai_extracted 1 cit. no story In September 1914, Harold McCormick resigned as treasurer of International Harvester to remain in Switzerland with Carl Jung. He ceded operational control to his brother Cyrus while retaining board membership. ●●

1914 Founding of the Hamburg Bank of 1914 ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Max, Fritz, and Melchior worked on statutes for the new Hamburg Bank of 1914, a financing model copied throughout Germany. ●●

1914 Federal Reserve Bank of New York incorporated ai_extracted 2 cit. no story The certification of incorporation of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is filed on May 18, 1914. ●●

1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand ai_extracted 1 cit. no story power, and the casus belli as accidental as the preceding diplomacy had been reckless. On June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Habsburg throne, ●●

1914 Wells' The World Set Free predicts atomic war ai_extracted 1 cit. no story novel, The World Set Free, predicted atomic bombs, atomic war and world government. ●●

1914 Margaret Sanger arrested over The Woman Rebel ai_extracted 1 cit. no story Margaret Sanger arrested for mailing her newsletter The Woman Rebel which advocated contraception ●●

1914 US Marines guard the Panama Isthmus ai_extracted 1 cit. no story With brief intermissions, Marines were stationed on the Isthmus from November 4, 1903 to January 21, 1914, to guard American interests ●●

1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand ai_extracted 1 cit. no story The origin of World War I usually is attributed to the assassina- tion of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by a Serbian nationalist in 19 ●●

20 April 1914 Ludlow Massacre by Colorado National Guard and mine guards 0 cit. Colorado National Guard troops and private mine guards attacked a tent colony of striking coal miners and their families, killing at least 21 people including women and children. The attack came after months of guards and hired detectives, including agents of the Baldwin-Felts detective agency, being used to suppress the strike. The massacre became a defining example of the private and state security forces being used against labor in the era before modern police reform. politics ●●

September 1914 South African forces invade German South-West Africa 0 cit. As part of the First World War, forces of the Union of South Africa invaded German South-West Africa on behalf of the British Empire, opening a new front against the small German colonial garrison. The campaign combined South African army units with local volunteer forces and moved on multiple fronts from the south and coast. German forces retreated steadily northward over the following months. war ●●

1914 First Le Droit Humain lodge founded in Durban 0 cit. The first South African lodge of Le Droit Humain, the international mixed-gender Masonic order founded in France in 1893, was established in Durban in 1914, adding a distinct co-Masonic strand alongside the male-only Cape, English, Scottish, and Dutch-constitution lodges. society ●

4 August 1914 MI5 rounds up German spy network at outbreak of WWI 0 cit. Within hours of Britain declaring war on Germany, Vernon Kell's Home Section arrested most of a German intelligence network that had been under surveillance since before the war. About twenty agents were rounded up on a single day, crippling German espionage in Britain for the rest of the war. The operation was widely seen as an early success for what would become MI5. politics / war ●●

4 August 1914 The collapse of the Second International 0 cit. When the First World War begins, most socialist parties rally behind their own governments rather than opposing the war as they had pledged. The German Social Democrats' vote for war credits on 4 August 1914 became the symbol of this reversal. The International split along national lines and effectively ceased to function, a betrayal in the eyes of antiwar socialists such as Lenin. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

c. 1914 Borders that ignored African nations 0 cit. By the eve of the First World War the map of Africa was almost fully partitioned along lines drawn for European convenience. These borders lumped rival groups into single colonies and split others across several. The unresolved tensions they created would fuel civil wars and disputes long after the colonizers left. politics / society ●●

1914 The British state buys into Persian oil 0 cit. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company, formed out of the D'Arcy concession, gained a controlling investment from the British government at the urging of Winston Churchill, who wanted secure fuel for the Royal Navy. This tied Britain's military and strategic interests directly to Persian oil. The company, later Anglo-Iranian and then BP, would keep the lion's share of oil profits for decades. economy / politics / war ●●

November 1914 The Ottomans enter World War I 0 cit. The empire joins the Central Powers alongside Germany and Austria-Hungary after a secret alliance and a naval attack on Russian ports. The decision, driven by the Young Turk leadership, tied the empire's fate to Germany's and opened fronts from the Caucasus to Mesopotamia to the Sinai. Defeat would end the empire. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

1914 Churchill puts the Royal Navy on oil 0 cit. As First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill drives the switch of British warships from coal to faster oil-fired engines, and the government buys a controlling stake in Anglo-Persian. Oil became a matter of national security, tying the state directly to the industry. politics / war ●●●

1914 The Giriama Uprising and the Burning of Kaya Fungo 0 cit. The Giriama refusal to supply labour hardened into open revolt in 1913 and 1914, met with a military campaign that killed hundreds and drove people from their land. Colonial forces razed Kaya Fungo, the sacred forest shrine at the heart of Giriama religion and authority, and imposed a heavy collective fine and demands for carriers for the coming world war. Destroying the kaya was an attack on the community's very identity, meant to break the elders and the spirits who sanctioned resistance. economy / religion / war ●●

August 1914 Marcus Garvey founds the UNIA in Jamaica 0 cit. Marcus Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association, which after he moved to the United States grew into the largest mass Black movement of its era. It preached racial pride, economic self-reliance, and a redemption of Africa often summed up as Back to Africa. Garvey remains a contested figure: admirers hail his mass appeal, while critics point to his 1922 meeting with the Ku Klux Klan and his 1923 conviction for mail fraud tied to the Black Star Line. economy / politics / society ●●●

1914 Indians found the East African Indian National Congress 0 cit. Modeled on the Indian National Congress, the new body became the main political vehicle for Kenya's Asians. It pressed for a common electoral roll, equal rights with settlers, free immigration and an end to segregation. For decades it led the campaign against the colour bar. politics ●●

1914 The First World War drains British power 0 cit. The war of 1914 to 1918 cost Britain enormous sums and turned it from the world's leading creditor into a debtor, largely to the United States. British industry and manpower were strained to the limit, and much overseas investment was sold off to pay for the fighting. Britain won the war but came out of it financially weakened and dependent on American credit. economy / politics / war ●●●●