Today -100: November 3, 1914: Did you know one of those could be closed?

Montenegro declares war on Turkey.  No one notices.

Headline of the Day -100:  “North Sea Closed by British Order.”  Supposedly Britain is laying mines in the North Sea purely in retaliation for Germany laying mines off the coast of Ireland along the shipping route between Liverpool and the US, but a naval blockade of Germany is an obvious, indeed inevitable tactic given Britain’s naval superiority.  (Update: This must be a response to the sinking of the super-dreadnought Audacious by a submerged mine a week ago, which the public hasn’t been told about yet).

The Mexican convention accepts Carranza’s resignation and elects Gen. Eulalio Gutiérrez president for a term of... 20 days, but Carranza says he never officially resigned, because his conditions (the retirement of Villa and Zapata as commanders) were not met.

The Turkish government has asked if it’s too late to apologize for starting a war with Russia and blowing all that shit up (some people in government are less intent on war than others, the others being primarily Young Turks).  Russia isn’t really saying, but the minimum conditions would be the removal of all German officers from the Turkish army and navy and the dismantling of two cruisers Germany transferred to Turkey.  The grand vizier has apologized for Turkey’s actions, while blaming the Russian navy for starting it.  I’m not sure what that means – Russian ships fired on the Turkish ships which came to bombard Odessa?

Fog of War (Rumors, Propaganda and Just Plain Bullshit) of the Day -100: Some random Englishwoman reports that since the start of the war Kaiser Wilhelm’s hair has turned white.

Headline of the Day -100:  “Pooh-Poohs Invasion Talk.”  Britain does, because what other country would “pooh pooh” something?

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