Villa retreated from the south central Mexican city of Celaya having lost 9,000 men, including 120 officers who were captured and executed.
The Imperial Russian Army defeated the Ottomans at Dilman in what is now Iran.
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Ostensibly exploring the practice of law before the internet. Heck, before good highways for that matter.
Villa retreated from the south central Mexican city of Celaya having lost 9,000 men, including 120 officers who were captured and executed.
The Imperial Russian Army defeated the Ottomans at Dilman in what is now Iran.
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Pancho Villa attempted a second assault on Celaya, this one nearly succeeding, with Obregón's forces being saved by the timely arrival of an ammunition train on the following day.
Meanwhile, Huerta was looking at the situation and weighting on jumping back in.
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Indicative of things to come, perhaps, Huerta was defeated and fled while the United States occupied Vera Cruz, but he was no more pleased about the American presence there than a disgruntled Huerta was, who went on to plot with German agents to bring Mexico into war with the United States, as noted. American forces withdrew in November 1914, but they'd be back, as we'll see, in a different location only shortly thereafter. The intervention at Vera Cruz, however, did prevent the Germans from supplying a shipment of arms to Huerta, which may or may not have had an impact on the Mexican Revolution. Ironically, the arms were actually American made as the Germans, in 1914, were not in a position to export arms to Mexico.Carranza soon found himself fighting the two main stars of the Mexican Revolution, Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. Zapata, while he receives less attention, is by far the most interesting of the two as he had a real political vision for Mexico, that being a distributist agrarian state. Villa was more of a peasant free agent, with less defined goals. Suffice it to say, however, both had been highly successful revolutionaries and a betting man would have bet against Carranza at that point.However, Carranza was a radical as well, and that position allowed him to undercut support for a war weary Mexican population in the south. This began to undercut support for the agrarian Zapata, and he began to face supply problems and accordingly set backs in the field. Nonetheless Zapata was still in the field in 1919 when he was lured into a trap in an effort to secure supplies and assassinated. In the north, Pancho Villa, who had been a very successful natural cavalry commander, found himself unable to adapt to the changes in battlefield tactics that were also being used in Europe. Constantly in battle against Carranzaista commander Alvaro Obregon, who used barbed wire and trenches, his fortunes rapidly declined.Alvaro Obregon, whose competence and study of military tactics lead to the defeat of Pancho Villa and his Division del Norte. He'd ultimately become present of Mexico following his coup against Carranza. Obregon would serve one term as president of Mexico, and was elected to a second term to follow his successor Calles, but he was assassinated prior to taking office.But before they did, Carranza, in spite of a dislike of the United States, approached the Wilson administration about transporting troops through Texas by rail to be used against Villa. Wilson had been horrified by H L. Wilson's actions in bringing about Madero's downfall, and he deeply desired to see an end to the fighting in Mexico. Deciding to recognize Carranza as the legitimate ruler of the country, he granted permission for this to be done in 1915. Traveling under arms, they were used against Villa. Villa retaliated against the United States for its entering the conflict in this fashion by raiding Columbus New Mexico on March 9, 1916.
The raid on Columbus has seemingly baffled American historians ever since, but the reasons for it couldn't be more apparent. Villa was a fairly simply man, not a diplomat, and he had been attacked by Carranza's forces after they'd crossed the United States by rail. By doing that, the US had taken a position in the war, which indeed it had whether President Wilson recognized that or not. Indeed, Wilson had been warned by those knowledgeable not to support Carranza, who deeply disliked the US, and when it wasn't clear who was going to win the civil war. Wilson's actions did nothing to engender love from Carranza but it did inspire Villa to retaliate against the US.
The Battle of Celaya commenced which would see Constitutionalist under Álvaro Obregón repelled Pancho Villa's attack at Celaya.
It was a large-scale battle, with 15,000 Constitutionalist contesting 22,000 Villistas. Obregón had arrived early to prepare defensive positions over which Villa would attempt blind cavalry charges to his defeat.
A French attempt to take German defense positions on the lower slopes of the Hartmannswillerkopf failed.
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Carranza retreated to Veracruz.
Álvaro Obregón issued a 14 point statement on why he opposed Villa. Part of the statement confirmed Pancho Villa had executed Scottish expatriate William S. Benton in February.
German forces occupied Łódź,
Serbians forced the Austro Hungarians back to Belgrade.
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Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata met in Xochimilco, Mexico to negotiate an alliance between them in their opposition to Venustiano Carranza.
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Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata commenced their march on Mexico City following Carranza's public refusal to step down from the disputed Mexican presidency.
Imperial Russian and German forces clashed in bitter winter conditions at Łódź, Poland. The Russians held. Both sides were still clad in their summer uniforms.
Deeply Catholic Karolina Kózka, a 16-year-old Polish girl died while resisting an attempted rape by a Russian soldier near her village of Wał-Ruda, Poland. The soldiers stabbed her to death. Pope John Paul II beatified her as a "martyr of Christ" in 1987.
Austro-Hungarian forces began an assault on Lazarevac, Serbia.
Russian, Turkish Fleets Clash Off Cape Sarych
Admiral von Tirpitz advocated massed Zeppelin attacks on London.
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Pancho Villa ordered his forces to attack a garrison loyal to Venustiano Carranza and Álvaro Obregón at Naco, Sonora, Mexico, commencing what would become a 119 day siege.
The town is on the border with Arizona.
The British took Violaines and French cavalry Fromelles . French forces recaptured Armentières.
The German Navy lost a torpedo squadron trying to lay mines at them mouth of the Thames. A German torpedo boat sank the Japanese cruiser Takachiho.
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The Convention of Aguascalientes, called by Venustiano Carranza convened. Carranza, in spite of calling the meeting, did not attend and did not send representatives. Pancho Villa's representatives were in attendance. Álvaro Obregón came in person. Zapata's representatives would arrive fifteen days after the start of the convention. Villista's dominated.
The first thing the convention did was to declare itself sovereign, the de facto government of Mexico.
British and French forces attempted to take the French city of La Bassée.
King Carol I of Romania, who opposed entering the Great War, died.
The SMS Emden left British held Diego Garcia, with its residents unaware that a war had started.
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Emiliano Zapata wrote to Lucio Blanco:
that this Carranza does not inspire much confidence in me. I see in him much ambition, and an inclination to fool the people.
Zapata also wrote to Pancho Villa to warn him that Carranza's ambitions were dangerous and likely to another war.
The French fought the Germans in the Ardennes, Luxembourgian border and on the Sambre River in Belgium.
A German night attack on Dinant lead the German forces to erroneously believe that the city was full of hostile civilians.
The Germans lost two zeppelins on their first mission, making it three zeppelins lost in a row. French cavalry actually attacked and looted one of the crashed zeppelins.
German colonials troops captured Laï from the French in what is now Chad.
Pvt. John Parr, a 17 year old reconnaissance bicyclist, became the first British soldier to be killed on the Western Front when he was killed in an encounter with German cavalry.
Albanian rebels took Vlorë.
Captain Robert Bartlett met Burt McConnell, secretary for Canadian Arctic Expedition leader Vilhjalmur Stefansson, at Point Barrow, Alaska, who exchanged information on the stranded and missing.
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