Wood magnate William Boeing founds the Boeing Airplane Co. in Seattle.

United States. After the Wright brothers were granted U.S. Patent 821,393 on May 22, 1906, for a “flying machine,” fierce competition erupted in the United States, quickly escalating into a patent war that included 12 major lawsuits, widespread media coverage, and an effort by Glenn Curtiss and the Smithsonian Institution to discredit the Wright brothers. By 1917, the two major patent holders, the Wright Company and the Curtiss Company, had effectively blocked the construction of new airplanes in the United States, which was desperately needed at the outbreak of World War I. The U.S. government, following a recommendation from the newly formed National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, pressured the industry to form a cross-licensing organization (in other words, a patent pool), the Aircraft Manufacturers Association. All aircraft manufacturers were required to join the association, and each member was required to pay a relatively small lump sum (for the use of aeronautical patents) for each airplane produced; the majority of this would go to the Wright-Martin and Curtiss companies until their respective patents expired. This agreement was intended to last only for the duration of the war, but in 1918 the lawsuit was never renewed. Meanwhile, Wilbur Wright had died (in May 1912), and Orville had sold his interest in the Wright Company to a group of New York financiers (in October 1915) and retired from business. The lawsuits damaged the public image of the Wright brothers, who had previously been widely regarded as heroes. Critics claimed that the brothers’ actions could hinder the development of aviation, and compared their actions unfavorably to those of European inventors, who worked more openly. The Aircraft Manufacturers Association was an early example of a government-mandated patent pool. It has been used as an example in recent cases, such as the management of patents for antiretroviral drugs for HIV to provide access to otherwise expensive treatments in Africa. The Curtiss and Wright organizations merged in 1929 to form the Curtiss-Wright Corporation, which still exists today.

In England, Sir Frank Watson Dyson conceived the experiment to test Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity through a total solar eclipse. The experiment was performed by Arthur Eddington two years later.

(April 1, 1917 in the Russian calendar) Lenin leaves Bern for St. Petersburg aboard a train with only one sealed carriage (to avoid interference from the countries crossed)

Italian mine on Colbricon

The entry of the United States of America into the war, which was decisive for its fate

Zimmermann Telegram: German offer to Mexicans to reconquer Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona in exchange for their military intervention against the United States. The telegram was intercepted and decrypted by British intelligence in January and disclosed to the American president on February 24. The telegram was also recognized as genuine by the German government itself in March, which favored America’s decision to enter the war in April.

Einstein understood the importance of a space with positive curvature, as proposed by Schwarzschild several years earlier. The universe, according to general relativity, may be finite, but like the surface of a ball, that is, without boundaries.

The Mexican Constitution (of the United Mexican States – Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos) is proclaimed. This is the current Constitution in Mexico. It was the first constitution in history to include social rights, two years before the German Weimar Constitution. After seven tumultuous years of revolution, Mexican President Venustiano Carranza proclaimed the modern Mexican Constitution, which enshrined the restitution of land to the local population, the separation of church and state, and the initiation of significant reforms in the economic and educational sectors. Approved by a constitutional assembly, this politically progressive document combined revolutionary demands for agrarian reform with advanced social theory. In reality, it took decades for many of these radical reforms to be implemented. In 1920 Carranza was deposed and assassinated, and Mexico only stabilized after World War II, when industry became a mainstay of the economy and Miguel Alemán inaugurated an uninterrupted series of non-military governments with his presidency.

China. After Nationalist leader Sun Yat-Sen and the commander of the armed forces, Yuan Shikai, power fell into the hands of local governors and district military commanders, while the Communist Party organization maintained a sort of shadow government.

Russia. Eight million Russians have already died in World War I. The economy collapses, and with it the Tsar’s power.

Murder of Rasputin. Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin (Григо́рий Ефи́мович Распу́тин), better known as Rasputin (Pokrovskoe, January 22, 1869 – St. Petersburg, December 29, 1916), an influential Russian monk, was assassinated by the Russian nobility because of his influence over the royals. Rasputin had won the favor of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna Romanova by managing to stem the bleeding of Prince Alexei, who suffered from hemophilia. Born in Siberia to peasants, Rasputin, despite being accused of lechery and a penchant for alcohol, wielded great influence over the royal family, particularly the Tsarina. When Nicholas II left with the army for World War I, it was effectively Rasputin who ruled Russia through the empress. In the early hours of December 30, 1916, a group of nobles lured Rasputin to the Yusupovsky Palace, where they attempted to poison him. When he appeared unharmed despite the massive dose of poison administered in his wine and food, the attackers shot him, and Rasputin collapsed. But a minute later, he recovered, struck one of his attackers, and tried to flee the palace, so they shot him again. Still alive, Rasputin was tied up and thrown into the icy river. A few months later, the regime was overthrown by the Russian Revolution.

The French retake Fort Duamont

Nikola Tesla is taken to court by the City of New York to pay $935 in back taxes. Tesla is forced to admit that he earns only about $350 a month, barely enough to cover his daily expenses. The judge asks him, “How do you live?” and he replies, “Mostly on credit.” In November of the previous year, the New York Times had published speculation that Tesla and Edison would receive the Nobel Prize (which would have secured Tesla’s financial well-being), but the famous New York newspaper was wrong.

The Battle of Verdun, after 10 months of incessant fighting, is practically over: official French losses were 377,231, including 162,308 killed; actual estimates reach 500,000 French casualties in 10 months; the Germans admitted 377,000 losses and 200,000 killed; the total, on the French and German sides alone and only in the 10 most intense months of the battle, goes beyond 700,000 casualties.

On the Somme the British use tanks for the first time

Arab Revolt in Arabia, part of the Ottoman Empire.

Albert Einstein publishes General Relativity: Annalen der Physik, volume 49: “The Foundation of General Theory of Relativity”

Nazario Sauro was hanged by the Austrians in Pola. The Italian 35th Division landed in Thessaloniki.

Italian mine on Castelletto

7:30 a.m.: British attack on the Somme: 200,000 men rush against the German lines; at 7:32 a.m., thousands of German Maxim machine guns open fire: within minutes, 70,000 men will be killed, including 20,000 dead. From the book “To the Last Man”: “…the rat-rat-rat of the Maxim gun – a machine-made funeral knell…”

5:00 The Germans take possession of Fort Duamont without firing, almost, a shot.

3:45 – 4:30: Some German soldiers incredibly manage to enter Fort Duamont, unaware of each other are Kunze, Eugen Radtke and his men, Haupt

German offensive towards Fort Duamont and Verdun

Verdun: Bombing by German heavy guns (420mm Big Berthas)