Timeline May 1915

Events in May 1915 14

• 1856 – 1915 Charles Frohman (1856-1915) Died 7 May 1915, aged 58 American theatrical producer Charles Frohman dominated Broadway and London theater for two decades, staging works by J. M. Barrie and discovering major stars of the era. He died when the RMS Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk off the Irish coast.
• 1856 – 1915 Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) Died 7 May 1915, aged 58 American writer and founder of the Roycroft artisan community, Elbert Hubbard was known for the inspirational essay "A Message to Garcia." He and his wife Alice died together when the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat.
• 1877 – 1915 Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt (1877-1915) Died 7 May 1915, aged 37 American businessman and heir to the Vanderbilt railroad fortune, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt drowned when the RMS Lusitania was torpedoed off the Irish coast. He reportedly gave up his life jacket to help other passengers before the ship sank.
• 1915 Gas at Second Ypres Ypres, Belgium German troops released 168 tonnes of chlorine from cylinders, opening a four-mile gap in the Allied line. It was the first large-scale use of chemical weapons in war, and within a year both sides were using them.
• 1915 – 1998 Alice Faye (1915-1998) American actress and singer, 20th Century Fox's top musical star of the late 1930s.
• 1915 Alice Faye born in New York Alice Faye is born in New York.
• 1915 – 1985 Orson Welles (1915-1985) Died 10 October 1985, aged 70 Welles was an American director and actor best known for Citizen Kane, widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. He also directed The Magnificent Ambersons and Touch of Evil. He died in Los Angeles on 10 October 1985.
• 1915 The Lusitania is sunk Off Ireland A U-boat torpedoed the liner off the Old Head of Kinsale. She sank in 18 minutes with 1,198 dead, including 128 Americans, and shifted American opinion sharply against Germany.
• 1915 – 2003 Denis Thatcher (1915-2003) Died 26 June 2003, aged 88 Denis Thatcher was a businessman and the husband of the British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. He was a constant presence during her 11 years in office and cultivated a public image of dry loyalty. He was made a baronet in 1991.
• 1915 Enlists as a private Adelaide, Australia Cairns joined the Australian Imperial Force as a private in the Army Medical Corps, interrupting his medical degree. He served with the AIF before returning to finish it.
• 1915 – 1981 Moshe Dayan (1915-1981) Died 16 October 1981, aged 66 Israeli military leader and statesman Moshe Dayan, who commanded Israeli forces during the Six-Day War and later served as defense and foreign minister, died in Tel Aviv on 16 October 1981. He was a signatory of the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty as foreign minister. His eyepatch made him one of the most recognizable Israeli figures internationally.
• 1915 Italy enters World War I Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary, joining the Allies Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary on 23 May 1915, abandoning its prior alliance with the Central Powers under the secret Treaty of London. The declaration opened a new front along the Isonzo River that would see repeated costly Italian offensives.
• 1915 Italy enters the war Rome, Italy Italy abandoned the Triple Alliance and joined the Entente, promised Austrian territory in a secret treaty. It opened a front in the Alps that would cost 600,000 Italian lives.
• 1915 – 2019 Herman Wouk (1915-2019) Died 17 May 2019, aged 103 Herman Wouk was an American novelist known for The Caine Mutiny, which won the Pulitzer Prize, and the war epics The Winds of War and War and Remembrance. He continued writing into his final years and published a memoir at age 100. He died at his home in Palm Springs, California, ten days short of his 104th birthday.