History of Watchmaking

Creation of the Swiss trade fair MUBA, in Basel. Heuer filed a patent for the "Micrograph" to 1/100th of a second, and the "Semi-micrograph" to 1/50th of a second.

World history

Start of the Battle of Verdun which would continue for ten months until December 15th, 1916. One of the bloodiest battles of the First World War, it claimed 700,000 lives.
A German Zeppelin bombarded Paris.
Assassination of Rasputin.
Ibn Ali led a revolt against the Ottoman Empire.

Art and Culture

Creation of Dada.
A group of European artists met in Zurich at the initiative of the stage director Hugo Ball, for the inauguration of the Cabaret Voltaire. They used a paper-knife to randomly flip open a dictionary. The first word they came across was "dada". In reaction to the absurdity and tragedy of the First World War, they named their newly-founded movement Dadaism. Their intention was to destroy conventional art and literature.