On March 30th 2016, Dennis Cross published the latest instalment of his Centennial Countdown blog. Here’s his email summary of the posting:
‘In March 1916, Pancho Villa and his bandits cross the border and attack a town in the United States, burning buildings and killing Americans before being driven back into Mexico. President Wilson, who has appointed a new Secretary of War, sends Brigadier General John J.Pershing on a punitive expedition into Mexico to capture Villa. The Mexican government objects to this violation of its territory. In Washington, presidential opposition defeats a Congressional resolution warning Americans not to travel on ships of nations at war. Back from Europe, Colonel House confers with President Wilson, who endorses the House-Grey Memorandum. The British response is not encouraging. From his vacation in Trinidad, former President Roosevelt issues a statement denying any interest in the 1916 presidential campaign, a statement that is widely interpreted as a declaration of candidacy. The submarine issue surfaces again when a German U-boat attacks a ferry in the English Channel, injuring four Americans; the United States considers irs response. On leave from the front, Winston Churchill returns to England and speaks in the House of Commons, but his critique of British naval policy is not well received. Elsewhere on the Continent the war continues. The German attack on Verdun increases in intensity as the Allies mount simultaneous offensives: by the Russians in the Caucasus and White Russia (now Belarus), and by the Italians on the Isonzo. In Mesopotamia the British make another attempt to relieve the besieged garrison at Kut Al Amara. General Gallieni resigns as French Minister of War. Yuan Shih-Kai abandons the idea of a Chinese empire with himself as emperor.’