A Dictionary of Dates

PREFACE - THE aim of the compilers of this volume has been to give every date likely to be of service to the general reader, while getting rid of the superfluities which make the typical datebook too bulky for easy use. It is not intended to be in any way a substitute for dictionaries of biography or the books of information on special subjects, which are otherwise accounted for in the series. It only supplies the names of personages, for instance, where they mark a distinct point in time-as Caxton, Ket of Kets Rebellion, or Wagner-or where they enter into a chronological group, such as the Kings, Popes, Archbishops, Authors, etc.. who mark the record. That is, it is a book to save memory on the side which most requires economy and gains least by unusual effort one to annihilate as far as possible that confusion of successive events and relative epochs to which we are all liable. Those who have on occasion been at a loss to remember the exact concurrence of Louis the Fourteenth in France and Charles the Second in England, or the months between the Battle of Minden and the Battle of Pfaffendorf, or the temporal gap between Descartes and Hegel, will find chronology made easy by a working acquaintance with these pages. Take the case of London alone the Bishops, the Bridge, the City, the County the date of the first Lord Mayor, the Fire, the Plague, the Treaties and the University-all these have their reference while Westminster demands some half - dozen separate entries. Even as it is, the necessity of drawing the line between the indispensable and the seldom used date has in some pages, it may be, led to a doubtful omission or insertion. The publishers are only too conscious that thisfirst attempt to issue a useful dictionary of dates for the use of readers of Everymans Library is not by any means perfect, but they hope that, as in the natural course of time the book will require revision, they will have many practical and useful suggestions from their readers, which they hope to incorporate in future editions. BEDFORD STREET, Scptctnber 191 I. vii NOTE TO THE 1924 EDITION THE occurrence of the Great War, with its repercussions throughout the world, its epic battles, its profound effect on old polities and on old territorial limits, renders an Appendix to this dictionary indispensable. As far as possible important events correlated with those in the old edition have been included, and the general principle of selection implicit in that edition preserved. No dictionary of dates, however, which purports to mention events up to the very month of publication can be expected to present recent events in their ideal relative importance to those long anterior. The risk, indeed, of getting present events out of focus is inseparable from such a dictionary, and therefore many which might otherwise have found a place have been ignored. The period covered in the Appendix is from the beginning of 1913 to the autumn of 1923. For convenience of arrangement the events of the Great War, military and naval, together with declarations of war, and treaties, have been included under one comprehensive title. War, The Great while political and administrative events directly connected with the War or events independent of it have been given under individual headings. By comparison with previous wars, the inclusion of so many battles may seem excessive. But from the point of view of themagnitude of the operations and of their effect on the history of nations, many of those mentioned can more than challenge comparison even with Creasys fifteen decisive battles. Yet a vast number of battles, sieges, actions, and tactical incidents which by the standards of former days might have loomed large are omitted, so as to leave in bolder relief the more significant engagements...