Armageddon will be in 1914 or 1915?

The following is presented on the CARM site:

Armageddon is in 1915

" . . . the Kingdom of God is already begun, that it is pointed out in prophecy as due to begin the exercise of power in A.D. 1878[3], and that the "battle of the great day of God Almighty (Rev. 16:14), which will end in A.D. 1915, with the complete overthrow of earth's present rulership, is already commenced." (The Time is at Hand, 1881, emphasis added. The date was changed to 1914 in a later edition.)

Armageddon is in 1914

 " . . . the Kingdom of God is already begun, that it is pointed out in prophecy as due to begin the exercise of power in A.D. 1878[3], and that the "battle of the great day of God Almighty (Rev. 16:14), which will end in A.D. 1914, with the complete overthrow of earth's present rulership, is already commenced," (The Time is at Hand, 1889,...).

Much of the Carm site page has to do with the JWs and how they constantly change their teachings and thus is not actually related to Charles Taze Russell or the Bible Students. Russell was never a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses, nor did he speak on behalf of that organization. It is not our purpose here to defend the JW organization, but we do defend Brother Russell regarding any false or misrepresenting statements made about him.

However, since there was no edition of The Time Is At Hand until 1889, there is evidently something wrong with the above. Obviously, the author has gotten the editions confused.

The first quote actually appears to be from the 1911 edition, in which the date 1914 was changed to 1915 in some places. There were changes on page 101 that were made in the 1911 edition that Brother Russell evidently never authorized, as can be seen from many of his other statements at that time.

Nevertheless, page 101 in the 1899 edition reflects Russell’s view before 1904. The original on page 101 reads:

That the “battle of the great day of God Almighty ” (Rev. 16: 14.), which will end in A. D. 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth’s present rulership, is already commenced.”

This was changed in the 1911 edition to:

That the “battle of the great day of God Almighty” (Rev. 16:14), which will end in A.D. 1915, with the complete overthrow of earth’s present rulership, is already commenced.

Anyone familiar with Russell's statements elsewhere in the Watch Tower, sermons, etc, at that time, would know that Brother Russell no longer believed that the "battle of the great day of God Almighty" had already commenced in 1874, as he did before 1904. In other word the change on page 101 to '1915' contradicts mamy statements Russell was saying elsewhere from 1904 to 1914. Brother Russell never fully updated his Studies to reflect his change of viewpoint in 1904. From his writings in the Watch Tower and elsewhere, we can see that from 1904 onward Russell was not expecting Armageddon (the time of trouble) to commence until October of 1914.

Nonetheless, there were several instances in which 1914 was changed to 1915 in the 1911 editions that Russell apparently never authorized. Russell usually reported changes made in the pages of the Watch Tower. He never reported any change to page 101 of The Time Is At Hand. Russell appears to have had no knowledge of the changes made in the 1911 edition from 1914 to 1915. There are speculations about the changes from 1914 to 1915 in the 1911 editions, one of which is that the pages were reset and the typist made an error by typing 1914 to 1915. We cannot know for a certainty about how these changes came about; we can say that Russell never mentioned these changes from 1914 to 1915, and that such changes still would not agree with what Russell was saying elsewhere in 1911.

Often, however, many would like to make it appear that these changes took place, not in 1911, but not until after 1914. Thus, they will cite a 1915 edition, or a later edition, and thus falsely claim that the change took place because of the alleged failure of what was being expected in 1914.

Today, most editions of The Time Is At Hand retain the 1915 error on page 101. The only edition we know that has made changes to reflect Russell's change of viewpoint is that of Paul S. L. Johnson. Johnson's 1937 edition reads:

Johnson’s 1937 edition therefore reads:

that the “battle of the great day of God Almighty” (Rev 16:14) will begin in A.D. 1914, and that it will end in the complete overthrow of earth’s present rulership.

In 1915, however, Russell appears to have separated the actual battle of the great day from being the entire "time of trouble," and evidently had begun to believe that the battle is the final phase of the time of trouble. Nevertheless, he died in 1916, still holding to the belief that the time of trouble had begun in 1914.

Unlike the JW leadership, however, Russell did not assume authority to demand that all Bible Students had to accept his conclusions. As far as Russell was concerned, the Watch Tower Society of his time held no authority, and there was no governing body governing the Bible Students Association.