Today we officiaIly turn our calendars to December. The following, courtesy of Newspaper Metro, gives you some interesting events that unfolded in December of 1916.
The year 1916 was a significant one in world history. World War I, one of the largest wars in history and one that involved more than 70 million military personnel, was raging in 1916. In Ireland, the Easter Rising of 1916 would end in defeat for the Irish Republicans but go on to have long-lasting and far-reaching impacts on the United Kingdom.
The month of December 1916 was no stranger to meaningful events. The end of the year is a time of reflection for many people, and those interested in world history can use the end of 2016 to reflect on what the world was thinking about when the calendar turned a century ago.
–December 13: White Friday occurs along the Italian front of World War I. Roughly 270 soldiers are killed when an avalanche strikes the Austrian barracks on Mount Marmolada. Hundreds more are killed later in the day when avalanches also strike Italian and other Austrian positions. Reports indicate both sides were intentionally firing into weakened snowpacks to bury their enemies.
–December 18: The Battle of Verdun, which began 10 months earlier and became one of the largest and longest battles in World War I, ends. The battle averaged 70,000 casualties per month, claiming the lives of more than nearly one million French and German soldiers, according to recent estimates.
–December 30: Influential Russian mystic Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin is murdered by Russian nobles. A Siberian-born peasant, Rasputin would gain considerable influence over Czar Nicholas II and Czarina Alexandra. Though some historians now believe Rasputin’s influence over the royal couple has been exaggerated, the Russian nobles were nonetheless threatened and tried to kill him, first with poison and then by shooting him. When each of those efforts failed, Rasputin was bound and tossed into a freezing river.