Followers of Pancho Villa stop a train in Chihuahua and execute 17 American mining engineers, an atrocity that inflamed US-Mexican tensions.

German artillery unleashed a nine-hour bombardment on French positions at Verdun, opening what became the longest and one of the bloodiest battles of World War I.

Britain's Military Service Act came into force, ending centuries of voluntary military tradition and compelling unmarried men aged 18 to 41 into the army.

Irish republicans seize the General Post Office and other key buildings in Dublin, proclaiming an independent Irish Republic against British rule.

U.S. cavalry troops clash with Mexican forces near Parral during the Pancho Villa Expedition, straining relations between Washington and Mexico City.

British artillery pounded German lines along the Somme for a sixth straight day, part of a week-long barrage meant to annihilate defenses before infantry attacked.

Roald Dahl, future author of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and 'Matilda,' was born in Llandaff, Wales, to Norwegian immigrant parents.

British Mark I tanks rumbled into combat for the first time at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, a lumbering new weapon meant to break the trench stalemate.