What happened this Month 100 years ago - the run up to war" ?

[centurion]

February 1913

In the Air

• Orville Wright states that "The belief that the aeroplane would supersede automobiles and even railway trains, which was freely circulated when the aeroplane first came into public knowledge as a practical thing, was, of course, too foolish for serious consideration."
  
• Olympia Aero Show exhibits two pusher aircraft with forward firing machine guns. These are the Grahame-White Military biplane Type VI and the Vickers Destroyer (later designated Vickers E.F.B.1). The latter becoming the original of the FB5 Gunbus
  
• The Japanese army airship whilst preparing to land at Aoyama collides with a monument to the Japanese Emperor Meiji, seriously injuring members of the crew and badly damaging the stern.
  
• Italians deploy airships in Libya. Fort Bezhani is bombed.
  
• 2nd reading of the Aerial Navigation Bill "preventing mischievous persons—possibly from over-sea—from hovering over places where there are combustible stores, to the great inconvenience of the people of this country. As a matter of detail, it will be necessary, in order to put the law on the same footing, that we should have the same power in regard to air craft as to ships".
  
• First aircraft arrive at the original air station at Dysart Montrose. Five aircraft of No2 Squadron of the newly formed Royal Flying Corp (RFC) fly to Montrose from Farnborough, a 450-mile journey that takes 13 days to complete.
  
• The Belgian pilot Van den Born displays the first aircraft in Thailand at the Sa Pathum Horse Racing Course. The Thai authorities are impressed enough by the display that in the same month they send three officers to learn to fly in France.
  
• British Admiralty orders 21 aeroplanes. RNAS begin trials at East Church with a Donnet L'Eveque flying boat
  
• Greek military aviators, Michael Moutoussis and Aristeidis Moraitinis perform the first naval air mission with a Farman MF.7 hydroplane.
  
• Major Siegert, Kommandeur of the Fliegerstation at Metz, begins night flying training for his pilots
  
• Lt. J. H. Towers of the US Navy attempts to bomb stationary (moored) targets
  
• Fernand Jacquet (1888-1947) who is to score seven aerial victories as a Belgian ace during the First World War gets his wings
  
• A Bulgarian aircraft is brought down over over the fortress of Adrianople its Russian pilot becoming the first airman to become a POW
  
• The unidentified airship reports of January 1913 are repeated on a much wider scale, mainly in the last week of the month. As well as from Grimsby and North Sea (trawler Othello 170 miles from Spurn Head),Rosyth, New Brighton, Kirkcaldy, Hucknall, Ardwick Greater Manchester Papplewick, St. Alban’s Head Dorset, Romiley, Portland Harbour, Hyde, Avonmouth, Portishead, Leeds, Kessingland, and others in the UK there are reports from Austria Hungary, Germany, Poland, Russia, Belgium,the Netherlands, Luxumberg, Roumania and even Australia. Many share a similar characteristic a cigar shaped craft with a searchlight in the nose and two smaller lights port and starboard.
  

[centurion]

February 1913

On the Ground

• Ground broken for construction of Australian Federal Capital at Canberra
  
• Belgium introduces legislation for expansion of armed forces from 250,000 men to 500,000. This is to be achieved by increasing the number of sons liable to service from any one household from one to two and extending the length of service. The degree of the latter is in part dependant on arm of service but on average is about by 50%. Provision is made for increased expenditure on artillery and small arms but no thought seems to be given to 'beefing up' the forts. The change is effective immediately but the full impact is not anticipated before 1918
  
• In Germany the APK orders another "Big Bertha" howitzer
  
• The Greek army achieves a decisive victory over Ottoman forces at the Battle of Bizani through the use of an extensive preliminary barrage including heavy artillery to destroy Turkish strong points and bunkers. This is extensively analysed by many observers and becomes a model for early WW1 battle tactics.
  
• In response to questions in the House the British Secretary of State for War (Colonel Seely) announces the intention to adopt the Vickers .303 machine gun.
  
• The Army Post Office Corps becomes a Special Reserve unit of the Royal Engineers and adopts the title Royal Engineers Postal Section
  
• The celebrations marking the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty begin with an artillery salute of thirty-one rounds from the Peter and Paul Fortress. The Patriarch of Antioch performs a special mass at the Kazan Cathedral. Nevsky Prospekt is lined with troops and crowds of people eager to catch a glimpse of the imperial family. An amnesty is proclaimed. This allows many revolutionaries to return to St Petersburg.
  
• In Prince Albert, Saskatchewan an Infantry Corps, consisting of 8 companies formed the previous month is named as the 52nd Regiment Prince Albert Volunteers
  
• In New Zealand the the Hauraki Regiment is allied to the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (formerly the 43rd Monmouthshire Regiment).
  

[JimSmithson]

Hope the recovery is going well Robert.

I loved the entry about the USN trying to destroy icebergs - did anyone tell them how much of an iceberg you can see!!?

Jim

[centurion]

Hope the recovery is going well Robert.

I loved the entry about the USN trying to destroy icebergs - did anyone tell them how much of an iceberg you can see!!?

Jim

It appears to have been an attempt to find a way of avoiding future Titanic type incidents and they were hoping to be able to break the bergs up (which in fact would have meant more bits of floating ice still capable of sinking a liner and these much less visible) no one had any idea what the effect of naval gun fire would be. The RN repeated the experiments during WW2 as there was a scheme to float man made bergs out to form a chain of landing strips and hence a transatlantic air bridge. One concern was how vulnerable these would be to enemy action - what would happen if Bismark or Tirpitz showed up and fired on them? The answer was not a lot.

[centurion]

March 1913

Naval affairs

• Archduke Franz Ferdinand, urges the new head of the Austro-Hungarian navy, admiral Anton Haus, to order three new dreadnoughts because the last of the STT built Tegettthoff class, the Prinz Eugen , was launched four months previously and the yard is standing empty and urgently needs a follow up contract. Haus is willing but the KUK government has no budget allocated for this. Any building will require government borrowing and the KuK naval accounts have what we would today call a black hole. The Hungarian Prime Minister Wekerle and the Finance minister Dr. Teleszky argue that the only legal way is to make provision in the 1914/15 budget from government revenues. Even the Emperor is unable to shift them and the ships are not ordered until a year later. The long term result is that the KuK enters the war with 3 less dreadnoughts than intended
  
• Italian Regia Marina dreadnought Andrea Doria launched
  
• The German dreadnought SMS König launched
  
• American dreadnought USS Arizona ordered
  
• Australia's first Naval Defence Act is passed
  
• HMS Pioneer, (3rd class cruiser), presented to the Commonwealth of Australia as a gift from the British Admiralty.
  
• HMAS Melbourne, the first cruiser of the new Australian Navy, arrives at Melbourne with a mixed crew of Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy sailors
  
• Franklin D Roosevelt joins the Wilson administration as Assistant Secretary of the Navy
  
• US Congress authorises the organization of a Navy Reserve Dental. Corps
  

[centurion]

March 1913

In the Air

• Serbian aircraft from Nis start to conduct recon flights. Sgt Mihajlo Petrovic KIA over Skadar
  
• First ever air raid on a capital city when Bulgarian no.2 Aeroplane Otdelnie at Kabakcakoy dispatches a Farman VII piloted by Ernest Burie to bomb Constantinople. Burie returns after 2½ hour round trip
  
• Ottoman army introduces white crescent moon and star on red background markings on its aircraft
  
• German airship LZ-15 destroyed in a forced landing
  
• The first RFC night flight made by Lieutenant Cholmondley during a period of very fine weather in bright moonlight
  
• First Sopwith Tractor biplane Type D (Originally known as the Three-Seater) delivered to Hendon. Serves in Belgium in 1914
  
• War Office acquires Grahame White 'Popular' a single seat pusher scout
  
• War Office orders two Dunne D.8 aircraft. The D.8 was a swept wing tailless pusher that was inherently stable
  
• China acquires 12 French military aircraft
  
• Sikorsky makes first flight in the twin engined Bol'shoi Bal'tisky which proves underpowered so two more engines added. Forms prototype for series of four engined bombers deployed in WW1
  
• Geoffrey de Havilland crashes B.S.1 scout, breaking his jaw.
  
• US Army forms 1st Aero squadron for recon operations on Mexican border
  
• Australian flying school inaugurated at Point Cook, Victoria.
  
• Calshot Naval Air Station opens for the purpose of testing seaplanes
  
• 2nd Lt. Lanoe Hawker RE gains his flying certificate. Later Awarded Victoria Cross for engaging three German aircraft on 25 July 1915. Killed in dogfight with Manfred von Richthofen on 23 November 1916
  
• Lt. C. E. H. Rathborne RMLI later Air Commodore gains flying certificate
  
• The naval section in the K.u.K. war ministry lays down formal training conditions for naval pilots
  
• The US Secretary of the Navy approves a 35 percent pay increase for existing Navy pilots, followed by the issue of a certificate to newly qualified “Navy Air Pilots.”
  

[centurion]

March 1913

On the ground

• Canberra officially named by Lady Denman
  
• In response to the demographic effects of a long term a falling birth rate and an estimated 300,000 increase in German strength France takes measures to increase the size of her army by introducing an Army Service Bill. This reintroduces a 3 year requirement to serve (it had been reduced to two) and also extends the requirements to be in the reserve. Extra expenditure on fortresses and artillery is also voted through
  
• The Russian government is impressed by the French approach and a similar plan is ordered . However although work on drafting it starts immediately Russian civil service incompetence and political in fighting will mean that nothing is ready to go before the Duma until 1914 - too late to have any impact.
  
• In Hungary after five years of effort Samuel Baron von Hazai overcomes administrative inertia and is able to create an honvéd artillery force of field gun regiments (Feldgeschütz-Regimenter), and independent field gun detachments (Feldgeschütz Abteilungen). Austria already has a similar organisation.
  
• British War Office approval is granted for a “wheeled” battalion of Huntingdonshire volunteers. This becomes in 1914 the Huntingdonshire Cyclist Battalion.
  
• King George I of Greece is assassinated after 50 years on the throne. He is succeeded by his son Constantine.
  
• Following the assassination of his rival Song Jiaoren, Yuan Shikai uses military force to dissolve China's parliament and rules as a dictator.
  
• The creeping barrage is first used, by Bulgarian artillery crews, during the siege of Adrianople
  
• US and Mexican regular army forces exchange fire across the border
  

[centurion]

I didn't start this thread - however two things

1. I'm not getting much feedback. Is it worth continuing to go on with my monthly bulletins?
   
2. Could the OP possibly change the title to "What happened this Month 100 years ago - the run up to war" ?
   

[bruce]

I am enjoying the fruits of your research, Cent.

Bruce

[margaretdufay]

Very happy to do so, your contributions are really interesting Centurion

mags

[centurion]

Very happy to do so, your contributions are really interesting Centurion

mags

Thanks

[b3rn]

Please continue, excellent thread

[belongabill]

please carry on,all the little bits of info is great

[centurion]

April is already progressing

[redbarchetta]

Excellent information, very well presented, eminently readable - only 68 months to go, Cent !

James

[centurion]

Excellent information, very well presented, eminently readable - only 68 months to go, Cent !

James

I didn't sign up for the duration! The title ends 'The run up to war' and that's what I intend to do.

[redbarchetta]

Oh, I assumed "The Run up to war" was the title of this 'chapter', so to speak, to be superseded by "What happened this month 100 years ago - 1914, the war of movement"... etc...

[Just kidding, this is great and considerably above the call of duty already, Cent]

James

[BPJermyn]

Found this thread today and appreciate the content and the time it takes to put together.

I find I'm taking information here to do some additional research / reading.

BPJ

[centurion]

Found this thread today and appreciate the content and the time it takes to put together.

I find I'm taking information here to do some additional research / reading.

BPJ

Thanks

April is ready to go but I'll wait until we're actually in that month.

[margaretdufay]

How are you feeling now Centurion, hope you are feeling much better. and once again thanks for all the work that you've done for this thread.

mags

[centurion]

Generally ok thanks although I think the wizards at the hospital ought to retake their potions exams as some are disagreeing with me a little, however they promise that this will pass. All vital signs seem to be fine so far.

[centurion]

April 1913

Naval Affairs

• Admiral Hugo von Pohl begins duties as German Chief of Admiralty Staff. Later in April he presents the Kaiser with a detailed plan for a war of commerce against British shipping using free ranging commerce raiders and torpedo boats at approaches to major ports. This is essentially the plan put into effect at the beginning of WW1 with U boats (which were effectively submersible torpedo boats in any case) substituted and followed until unrestricted submarine warfare adopted.
  
• Churchill continues to press Tirpitz over the idea of a battleship holiday. Tirpitz requests his staff to think up plausible reasons he can present to the Reichstag (some members of which who appear to favour the idea) why this should not be adopted.
  
• German fleet manoeuvres off Heligoland witnessed by Kaiser on board a German dreadnought. Torpedo boat S178 rammed and sunk by SMS.Yorck. 66 lives lost
  
• As part of a Balkan war peacekeeping/ enforcement effort a five-power naval force takes up position at Antivari (Montenegro), with British admiral Burney as the senior naval officer. They later occupy Scutari in conjunction with KuK troops
  
• First US Submarine to operate in Philippine waters B-2 (Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 11) arrives as deck cargo on USS Ajax
  
• HMS Ajax (King George V class battleship) begins sea trials
  
• Japanese battle cruiser Kongo completed in British yards. Used in 1914 in support of Japanese army units during the Siege of Tsingtao.
  
• French battleships Provence and Bretagne launched. These are France’s first Dreadnought type battleships. Used in WW1 to blockade the KuK fleet.
  
• Italian battleship Caio Duilio launched
  
• Konig class battleship SMS Konig launched
  
• Kaiser class battleship SMS Konig Albert commissioned
  
• SMS Goeben begins service with the German Mediterranean Division
  
• USS Jupiter a Proteus-class collier commissioned and joins the US fleet. This was a giant, battleship sized vessel and becomes the first ship to transit the Panama Canal from west to east, proving the navigability of the canal for capital ships. During 1917 she will ferry the US Flying Corps and its aircraft to France. After WW1 she is converted into an aircraft carrier becoming the USS Langley.
  
• SS Vaterland launched becoming the largest passenger ship in the world upon her completion. Later impounded in America and became the troopship USS Leviathan and after the war an American liner the SS Leviathan
  
• HMS New Zealand arrives in Wellington
  
• HMS Triumph ( Swiftsure class battleship, designed for Chile but purchased in 1903) sails for Hong Kong.
  
• The Shipbuilding Yard at Williamstown is officially opened by the Governor of Victoria, Sir John Fuller
  
• IJN establishes a wireless communications facility at its Yokosuka Naval Base
  
• Labour leader Kier Hardie asks the PM to reject the offer made by the Prime Minister of Canada to make a loan gift of three battleships to the Admiralty on the grounds that it is politically controversial in Canada - gets very short shrift from both the speaker and the PM for speaking on matters proper to the Canadian government's competency.
  
• US Secretary for the Navy, Daniels, announces that cadets found guilty of hazing will be jailed.
  

[centurion]

April 1913

In the Air

• All French army aircraft units are placed under the control of the army corps commander of the appropriate area in which they will operate. This structure will be maintained throughout WW1
  
• German Army Zeppelin LZ 16 makes an emergency landing in Luneville, France. Crew taken into temporary custody. The French make drawings and take numerous photographs before she and her crew are handed back to her owners, this material is shared with with the British.
  
• Parseval non rigid airship P.L 9 reported sold to Turkey
  
• Parseval non rigid airship P.L.18 sold to Britain and becomes Parseval No.4. Still in use in WW1 she pioneered the use of the blimp as a naval patrol craft.
  
• Using some of material from LZ 16 work begins at Vickers on the design of a second rigid airship for the RN – the R.9. Design headed by the assistant to H B Pratt - a Mr Barnes Wallis.
  
• Hythe School of Musketry carries out AA trials firing at kites towed by narrow gauge railway engines at 20 mph and an altitude of 60 ft. 50 soldiers score a total of 6 hits from 475 rounds. A Maxim 303 machine gun scores 2 hits out of a burst of 250 rounds and another hit from a second burst of 180 rounds. The trials continue later in the year using a Maxim pom pom and 13 pounder field pieces
  
• The Curtiss Model "G" Scout the first tractor-type military aircraft built by Curtiss is sold to the Signal Corps for $5,500
  
• Eric Harrison leaves England in the “Otway” for Australia, He takes with him five aircraft – two B.E. bi-planes, two Deperdussins and a Bristol bi-plane. The total cost of aircraft and spares was £3,538. These form the nucleus of Australia’s Central Flying School
  
• Work starts on the Avro 504 prototype
  
• The Admiralty places a contract for the Sopwith Bat Boat - the world's first amphibian aircraft [Two Bat Boats serve with the RNAS and one with the German Navy]
  
• The Belgium army’s balloon unit is split into lighter and heavier than air sections. This results in Belgium's first military aeroplanes and crews being formed into the Compagnie des Aviateurs forming the seed of the Belgian Flying Corps.
  
• The Romanian Parliament passes the first act providing an organizational structure of for military aeronautics This is ratified by King Carol I through Royal Decree no. 3199 / 30th April 1913. The Romanian Military Aeronautics Service is set up.
  
• Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands signs Koninklijk Besluit nummer 29 (Royal Decision number 29) that a Luchtvaartafdeling (LVA - Aviation department) is to be founded within the Koninklijke Landmacht (Royal Army)
  
• Naval air stations established at Felixstowe and Yarmouth
  
• The KuK Navy establishes a seaplane base at Cattaro
  
• U.S. civilian aviator, Robert Fowler, makes the first flight over the Panama Canal. This generates enough alarm in governmental circles to bring about regulatory measures pertaining to aviation and the Canal and prompts moves to establish anti aircraft defences there
  
• US Army's first flying boat (a Curtiss F boat) is destroyed in a crash: Lieut. Rex Chandler, Coast Artillery Corps, U.S. A., is killed instantly and Lieut. Lewis H. Brereton, U.S.Army badly injured.
  
• Emmanouil Argyropoulos and the athlete and poet Konstantinos Manos are killed when their captured Bleriot XI crashes from 600 ft near Thessaloniki
  
• The Cody V breaks up in the air killing its pilot
  
• James Thomas Byford McCudden (in 1918 Major McCudden VC, DSO & Bar, MC & Bar, MM, CdeG) transfers to the newly formed Royal Flying Corps as 892 Air Mechanic 2nd Class and is posted to Farnborough.
  
• Raoul Stojsavljevic the future KuK ace starts flying training at Wiener-Neustadt
  
• The first Schneider Trophy competition is held at Monaco. Roland Garros wins for France.
  
• The Daily Mail offers a prize of £10,000 to. "the aviator who shall first cross the Atlantic in an aeroplane”
  
• The Japanese Kawasaki Ohtori No.4 becomes the first aircraft to fly in Korea
  

[centurion]

April 1913

On the Ground.

• Moltke revises the Schlieffen plan to allow for an accelerated timetable once the army has mobilized making it almost impossible thereafter for diplomatic negotiation before war declared. In August 1914 this will lead to the out of hand rejection of an offer to keep Britain and France out of the war if the invasion of Belgium is abandoned.
  
• The German Army Bill authorising a substantial increase in size is referred to the Budget Committee by the Reichstag. Some members are resisting the increased expenditure.
  
• Debate on the British Army Bill in the Lords discusses the danger of invasion if and when a BEF is sent to France
  
• 2nd reading in the Commons of the National Service (Territorial) Bill
  
• A new pay scheme for British army officers is announced in the Commons It is intended to enable soldiers commissioned from the ranks to live on their pay and to this end includes more money for some junior officers, initial uniform allowances etc.
  
• Arthur Arz von StrauBenburg attains the rank of Feldmarschall-Leutnant and is reassigned to the war ministry in Vienna (in 1918 he will be the last KuK chief of the General Staff)
  
• French socialist politician Pierre Laval criticises the French army and calls for its abolition and replacement by a national militia
  
• Based on Greek army experience at the battle of Battle of Bizani (see Feb 1913) the French Army orders their first heavy field guns, 220 of the 105mm Schneider long gun
  
• A Serbian military commission is despatched to purchase £100,000 worth of military lorries
  
• A British order is eventually placed for two Lewis guns, one for the Ordnance and one for the Admiralty.
  
• A large quantity of guns from Germany for the UVF is landed at Larne (this post's author’s grandfather acting as a runner for the organisers).
  
• The first German military meteorological service is established
  
• The establishment of the Permanent Force marks a milestone in the history of the SA Army . The five army regiments of the Permanent Force, known as the South African Mounted Rifles (SAMR), are organized along the lines of the old Cape Mounted Rifles and have both police and military duties. A separate School of Musketry is opened at Tempe and the first course, for rifle instructors, begins.
  
• Major Thomas H. M. Green appointed Governor, Military Prisons - a post he held in WW1
  
• According to some sources Adolf Hitler leaves Liverpool (where he has been sponging off his half-brother) for Germany (this is disputed).
  
• In the Balkans, a region which Churchill remarked “produces more history than they can consume" peace breaks out, again, for a while, as individual cease fires in the 1st Balkan war start to come into effect.
  

[1st AIF]

Good work Centurion. I'm sure there are many of us reading your snippets of histroy.

Len