Also in July 1915
2nd Leos Janácek completes Taras Bulba, his rhapsody for orchestra based on the novel of the same name by Gogol. The work, which depicts the heroics and then death of the eponymous Cossack warrior, will not enjoy its first performance until October 1921, with the Czech composer making substantial revisions to the score in the meantime.
14th Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, writes to Sir Henry Mcmahon, British High Commissioner to Egypt, setting out requests for Arab independence after the war is over. In a subsequent series of letters, later known as the Mcmahon-hussein Correspondence, the two establish British support for Hussein’s demands in return for the latter launching an Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire.
17th Organised by Emmeline Pankhurst, the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) marches through London to demonstrate its support for the war effort. The government’s public approval of the march opens the way for women to work in munitions factories and on the land, but on Pankhurst’s conditions that they are paid on equal terms as men. 22nd After suffering serious losses, the Russian Empire begins The Great Retreat of its forces from Galicia and Poland. The retreat, occasioned by the Central Powers (Austria, Germany and allies) crossing the Vistula River, leaves the city of Warsaw isolated. Within two weeks, the city is conquered by the 12th German Army.
26th The Scottish lexicographer James Murray dies. Invited in 1879 by Oxford University Press to be the first editor of the new Oxford English Dictionary, Murray devoted the rest of his life to the project. Initially projected to take about ten years, the dictionary is still some way from completion at the time of Murray’s death. In fact, it will eventually be published in 1928, consisting of 414,825 word definitions over 12 volumes.