World War One (jan 1, 1914 – jan 1, 1918)

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1914:

Jul 30 Tsar Nicholas II of Russia signs the order to mobilize his army

Aug 1 Germany declares war on Russia.

Aug 3 Germany declares war on France.

Aug 4 Britain stands by its agreements with France and Belgium and declares war on Germany.

Aug 6 Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia. Serbia declares war on Germany.

Aug 7 British troops begin to arrive in France. As German troops are moving toward France through Belgium, French troops begin their invasion of Germany, through Lorraine.

Aug 8 In the Battle of Mulhouse, the French push into Alsace yesterday is thrown back by the Germans. Alsace has been German territory since 1871.

Aug 12 Great Britain and France declare war on Austria-Hungary.

Aug 14 The French offensive begins against the Germans in Lorraine, a part of France's Plan XVII.

Aug 15 Britain has requested help from its ally, Japan, and that country sends an ultimatum to Germany demanding evacuation of its colonial force at Qingdao (on China's the Shandong Peninsula).

Aug 17 Russia invades Germany's homeland in East Prussia.

Aug 23 Japan declares war on Germany.

Aug 24 German troops cross the border into France.

Aug 29 Britain has asked New Zealand to do a "great and urgent imperial service" by seizing German Samoa, which New Zealand does with no resistance from Germans or Samoans.

Aug 31 Germans defeat Russians at the Battle of Tannenberg – successful defensive warfare.

Sep 5 The German army in France is stopped at the Battle of the Marne.

Sep 15 On German territory In East Prussia, the Russians are defeated at the Battle of Masurian Lakes.

Sep 15 In France, defensive warfare is proven superior. Neither side will be able to penetrate the enemy's line. Rather than race around enemy positions, trenches will be extended.

Sep 21 Germans in the Bismarck Archipelago surrender to the Australians.

Oct 3 Japan takes control of the Marshall and Caroline Islands from the Germans.

Oct 14 Canadian troops arrive in Britain.

Oct 17 Trenches now extend from the Swiss border to the English Channel on the coast of Belgium. The frontline runs through France, and with German troops still on French territory their success in getting there helps make Germany appear as the aggressor, unlike France's invasion of Germany (Plan XVII) which was driven back in late August. But the superiority of defensive warfare in Europe at this time in history remains largely unrecognized.

Oct 17 Indian troops arrive in France, welcomed in the press as "the wonderful little brown men we have been waiting to see."

Nov 1 Russia declares war on Turkey.

Nov 5 Britain and France declare war on Turkey.

Nov 7 Germany's colonial troops at Qingdao surrender to the Japanese.

Nov 22 Fighting the Ottoman Empire, British and India troops win the Battle of Basra (in Iraq). The British-led force suffers less than 500 casualties and Turk casualties are estimated as greater than 1,000.

Nov 22 The Battle of Ypres ends after 34 days. The French have lost from 50,000 to 85,000 killed, the British 7,960 killed, and the Germans 19,530 killed. These deaths and the many other deaths already suffered by Germany is hardening the attitudes of German civilians against anything but defeating the enemy militarily.

Nov 23 Benito Mussolini is excited about the manliness, heroism and drama of war. He supports Italy participating in the Great War and is expelled from the Italian Socialist Party.

Dec 25 At places along the Western Front, German and Allied troops sing Christmas songs. Hearing the singing from the other side they venture across no man's land to visit and exchange friendship and gifts. Military commands are shocked and order no more fraternizing.

1915:

Apr 25 The British strategy, suggested by First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, is to attack the enemy alliance at its "soft underbelly." British troops land at Cape Hellas, French at Kum Kale, and New Zealanders and Australians at Anzac. The Turks will contain these offensives.

May 7 The war looms larger to people in the United States as the Germans sink the British liner the Lusitania. Among the 1,198 people who die are 128 Americans who chose to ignore German warnings. The ship was carrying munitions and was a legitimate target in the naval blockade warfare that Britain had initiated against Germany. Some in the US respond with a view of Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany as a Satan responsible for the war. President Wilson announces that he is "too proud to fight." He favors neutrality.

May 23 Some Italians see opportunity in joining the war. Italy has more to lose by warring against Britain and France, so Italy chooses to war against Austria-Hungary, with whom it has had territorial conflicts.

Aug 4 The German army has been advancing against the poorly equipped Russians. The Germans drive the Russians out of Warsaw. Despite their failures the Russians soldier on.

Aug 6 Another offensive begins at Gallipoli. In four days the Turks, led in person by Mustafa Kemal, will push the invaders back, with great losses for New Zealanders. Kemal (the future Ataturk, a secularist) is being transformed into a national hero.

Sept 18 Reacting to international outrage at the sinking of the Lusitania and other neutral passenger lines, Kaiser Wilhelm sees himself as honorable and suspends Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare. The German navy is ordered not to sink passenger ships.

1916:

Jan 1 The Royal Army Medical Corps performs the first successful blood transfusion.

Mar 24 The SS Sussex, carrying passengers between France and Britain on the English channel, is torpedoed. Of the 53 crew and 325 passengers at least 50 are killed, maybe 100.

Apr 24 The Easter uprising begins in Dublin. Participants occupy the post office, courts of law, and several other locations. A proclamation is read from the steps of the post office.

May 1 Those rising in Dublin against British rule have failed to gather substantial support for their fellow Irish. The Easter uprising collapses. The Commander-in-Chief of the British forces announces that all involved in the insurrection have surrendered. Within a week eight who are associated with the uprising are executed, which inflames Irish opinion and creates sympathy for the rebels.

May 4 The sinking of the SS Sussex has prompted President Woodrow Wilson to threatened to break diplomatic relations with Germany. Germany responds by again promising not to target passenger ships. It promises also not to sink merchant ships until the presence of weapons has been established, if necessary by a search of the ship. Germany also claims that merchant ships will not be sunk without providing for the safety of passengers and crew.

May 16 In secret the British and French establish the Sykes-Picot Agreement, a plan to carve up the Ottoman Empire to their advantage. France is to control southeastern Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and northern Mesopotamia (Iraq). Britain is to control the rest of Mesopotamia, Jordan and an area around Haifa in Palestine.

Jun 4 Out of artillery shells, a Russian general, Brusilov, begins an offensive against the Austro-Hungarians without the usual bombardment, and his attack catches the enemy enemy off-guard. Rather than strike at their enemy's strongest point, as military tradition demanded, the Russians strike at a weak point and break through the Austro-Hungarian lines, pushing the Austro-Hungarian forces, plus some Germans and Turks with them, into retreat.

Jul 1 The Allies begin their Somme offensive. Men rise out of their trenches against machine guns manned by forewarned Germans. The first day the British infantry loses 60,000 men. The offensive appears a failure from the first day, but it is to continue as generals don't want to admit failure.

Aug 27 Romania is impressed by the Brusilov offensive. It has been promised territory at the expense of Hungary and chooses to join the war on the side of the Allies.

Sep 1 Bulgaria declares war on Romania.

Nov 5 In a move against the Russian empire, the German and Austro-Hungarian "emperors" jointly proclaim a new Kingdom of Poland.

Nov 18 Britain's general commanding the Somme offensive finally calls off the battle. The Allies have suffered 623,907 casualties, the Germans an estimated 465,000.

1917:

Feb 1 Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm has been under pressure from his military to let them have the tools they need for victory. He gives in to the call from his admirals to unleash their submarines, which they claim will win the war. Germany announces that its submarines will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.

Mar 1 Germany has sent the secret message – the Zimmermann Telegram – offering to return to Mexico border states that the US took from Mexico after the US-Mexican War if Mexico joins Germany against the US. The British have intercepted the telegram, and the US government makes the text of the telegram public.

Mar 4 In the US, Woodrow Wilson begins his second term as president.

Apr 2 Wilson is overwhelmed by public opinion. His advisors favor war against Germany, and now that Russia has overthrown its tsar it is argued that the US would be fighting a war against autocracy. Wilson tells Congress that the US will not choose "the path of submission." He asks Congress for a declaration of war on Germany to make the world "safe for democracy."

Apr 6 In the US, the House of Representatives votes 373 to 50 in favor of declaring war, and the Senate votes in favor by 82 to 6. Congress goes wild with joy.

Jul 17 Britain's King George V responds to wartime passion by issuing a royal proclamation that changes the name of his family's royal house to the House of Windsor. It had been the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. King George and his relatives in British relinquish their German titles and styles and adopt British-sounding surnames.

Dec 30 The Battle of Jerusalem, on-going since November 17, ends with a British victory.


1918:

Mar 1 The promised victory by Germany's admirals has not materialized. A naval convoy system introduced by the Allies in May 1917 had reduced the effectiveness of Germany's submarines. But rather than respond with an offer at a negotiated settlement, Germany's military command wanted to go for victory with a huge ground offensive.

Mar 21 The German military begins an offensive, Plan Michael, employing 182 divisions opposite the French and British, hoping to knock France out of the war. They kill 20,000 British soldiers on the first day. After six days the Germans advance 40 miles but have to wait for other units to catch up. The Germans have a large artillery piece with a range of 130 kilometers that has begun to shell Paris.

May 30 The Germans have advanced to within 90 kilometers (56 miles) of Paris, with an advance party within 63 kilometers (39 miles) of Paris. The Germans need a break. The British and French have a few days to recuperate and to bring up reinforcements.

Jun 9 Eager American troops have entered the war in force. The Battle of Belleau Wood has been underway since June 1. They halt the German advance.

Aug 8 The British and French begin an offensive. With 430 tanks the British advance nine miles by evening on the first day, and they capture 16,000 German prisoners, including division staffs, and 161 big guns. Ludendorff calls August 8 a "black day" for the German army.

Sep 28 General Ludendorff is under enormous pressure. He has been drinking alcohol, suffering crying spells and temper tantrums. He is fantasizing that a miracle can save Germany, that the flu will destroy the French army. He learns that Germany's ally Bulgaria is seeking a peace deal, and he will be described as having collapsed.

Sep 29 Allied forces break through the Hindenburg Line.

Oct 4 Germany has a new parliamentary government responsible to the chancellor rather than Kaiser Wilhelm and responsible for the war effort.

Oct 30 The Allied powers sign an armistice with the Ottoman Empire (Turkey).

Nov 3 Austria-Hungary signs an armistice with the Allies.

Nov 8 In Germany the Kaiser is being scapegoated. The German army withdraws its support of him.

Nov 9 Germany is declared a republic, not to have a constitutional monarch like Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium and many other European countries. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates and goes into exile in the Netherlands.

Nov 9 Revolt has spread to enlisted German sailors, to soldiers and some civilians. A rebel group of socialists have taken power in Munich and have proclaimed Bavaria a democratic republic.

Nov 10 in a French forest in Compiègne, a German and French delegation meet to arrange an armistice.

Nov 11 Warsaw is free of German troops. This is to be Poland's Independence Day.

Nov 11 The armistice is signed. Government is handed a new chancellor, a Social Democrat, Friedrich Ebert. Kaiser Wilhelm objects but he is powerless without an army to back him up. People from Germany to the US crowd together for the noisiest celebration ever. General Pershing is disappointed because he wanted to take the war into Germany.

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