This year saw the beginning of what became known as the First World War, 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. January 11 The Sakurajima volcano in Japan begins to erupt, becoming effusive after a large earthquake on January 13. The lava flow causes the island which it forms to be linked to the Ōsumi Peninsula. The Karluk, flagship of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, sinks after being crushed by ice. January 29 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia dismisses his 4th Prime Minister, Vladimir Kokovtsov due to his "lack of control over the press", he is succeeded by Ivan Goremykin for his second term
February
February 12 – In Washington, D.C., the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place. 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.
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 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 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 21 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 23 The Afrikaans language receives official recognition, when Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven addresses the English caucus of the Cape Provincial Council. MLB Chicago Federals host the Kansas City Packers in the first baseball game played at Weeghman Park (the later Wrigley Field). April 24–25 – Larne Gun Running: 35,000 rifles and over 3 million rounds of ammunition from a German dealer are landed at Larne, Bangor and Donaghadee in Ulster for the Unionist Ulster Volunteers.
May
May 1–November 1 – The Exposition Internationale is held at Lyon, France. May 5–October 11 – The Jubilee Exhibition () is held at Kristiania, Norway, to mark the centennial of the country's constitution. May 9 – J. T. Hearne in England becomes the first bowler to take 3,000 first-class wickets. 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 – The House of Commons of the United Kingdom passes the Government of Ireland Act 1914, the "Irish Home Rule Bill". May 29 – Ocean liner sinks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence following a collision; 1,012 lives are lost. May 30 – Ocean liner makes her maiden voyage.
June
June 1 – Woodrow Wilson's envoy, Edward Mandell House, meets 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 12–18 – Greek genocide: Ottoman Greeks in Phocaea are massacred by Turkish irregular troops.The Atlanta Constitution. 17 June 1914. p. 1. June 18 – Mexican Revolution: The Constitutionalists 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 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 overnight and eventually 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. It closes on August 15, and the site is used as a military depot.
July
July 1 – The Royal Naval Air Service, a forerunner of the Royal Air Force, is established in the United Kingdom.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 funeral of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. July 4 The funeral of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria takes place at Artstetten Castle, 50 miles west of Vienna. 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: 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 of London 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. July 13 – Reports surface of a projected Serbian attack upon the Austro-Hungarian Legation at Belgrade. July 13 – Felix Ysagun Manalo registers the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) as Iglesia ni Kristo with the government of the Philippines. 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. Because of the outbreak of war in Europe and later developments in Ireland, the Act is never implemented in its original form. July 15 – Mexican Revolution: Victoriano Huerta resigns from the presidency of Mexico. 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. 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 – Serbia responds to the ultimatum from the 23rd accepting some but not all of Austria-Hungary's demands. In response 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 – Howth gun-running: former British civil servant and novelist Erskine Childers and his wife Molly sail into Howth in Ireland and land 2,500 guns for the nationalist Irish Volunteers from a German dealer. British Army troops of the King's Own Scottish Borderers, returning to Dublin having been called out to assist police in attempting to prevent the Volunteers from moving the arms to the city, perpetrate the Bachelor's Walk massacre, firing on a crowd of protestors at Bachelors Walk, killing three; a fourth man dies later from bayonet wounds and more than 37 others are injured.
July 28 – The official start of World War I when Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia by telegram. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia orders a partial mobilisation against Austria-Hungary. 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 defenses of Belgrade, Serbia's capital. July 31 – Russia orders full mobilisation.
August
August 1 The German Empire declares war on the Russian Empire, following Russia's military mobilisation in support of Serbia; Germany also begins mobilisation. France orders general mobilisation. The New York Stock Exchange is closed because of the outbreak of the 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 German Empires secures Ottoman neutrality. At 19:00 (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 07:00 (local time) Belgium declines to accept Germany's ultimatum of August 2. August 4 World War I: German invasion of Belgium – At 08:02 (local time) Imperial German Army troops enter Belgium, bringing the July Crisis to a climax. At 23:00 (GMT) the British entry into World War I takes place when King George V in London declares war on Germany for this violation of Belgian neutrality (protected by the Treaty of London (1839)) and especially to defend France. This means a declaration of war by the whole British Empire against the German Empire. The United States declares neutrality.