1914
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1915
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1916
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1917
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1918
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1919
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JANUARY
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JANUARY
19th. German Zeppelins drop their first bombs on Britain in East Anglia.. |
JANUARY
6th
House of Commons votes in favour of Military Conscription.
The Home Secretary, Sir John Simon, resigns in protest
The last allied troops are evacuated from Gallipoli.
30th
The final Zeppelin attack on Paris.
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JANUARY
Germany decides to re-introduce unrestricted submarine warfare in an attempt to defeat Britain. They warn the USA of their intention.
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JANUARY
LLoyd George, in Britain, and Woodrow Wilson in America, outline the aims of the war and provisions for peace.
The formation of a League of Nations is called for. |
JANUARY
18th
The Paris Peace Conference convened to discuss the peace terms and set up a League of Nations.
Representatives from more than 32 countries.
They would come together frequently over the next 12 months.
The 4 Prinicpal delegates were: Woodrow Wilson, President of the USA, David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Great Britain, George Clemenceau of France and Vittorio Orlando, Italy's Prime MInister.
5 Treaties were prepared during the year, setting out the terms and conditions of the peace with defeated countries and the re-distribution of teriitorial possessions. |
FEBRUARY
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FEBRUARY
18th
German submarines begin blockade of Britain.
19th
British and French warships bombard forts at the entrance to the Dardanelles. |
FEBRUARY
The Battle of Verdun begins and will last 10 months. |
FEBRUARY
The USA severs links with Germany. Several South American countries follow suit. |
FEBRUARY
In Britain the Representation of the People Act is is passed, extending the franchise to include men over the age of 21 and some women over the age of 30 who meet a property qualification. |
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MARCH
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MARCH
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MARCH
German submarine activity intensified. |
MARCH
Support for entering the war is growing in America.
The British troops take Baghdad |
MARCH
Russia and Germany sign a peace treaty.
The Russian capital is moved from Petrograd to Moscow. |
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APRIL
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APRIL
2nd.
Second Battle of Ypres begins.
Germans use gas, as a weapon, for the first time.
23rd
Poet Rupert Brooke dies on Greek island of Skiros
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25th
Gallipoli - British and French troops land at Cape Helles and the ANZACs at what will become known as 'Anzac Cove'
26th
'Treaty of London' agreed by Britain, France, Russia and Italy. |
APRIL
Daylight Saving Time, putting the clocks forward an hour, is introduced as a wartime measure of economy.
The Easter Rising in Dublin. |
APRIL
Russia faces economic and military collapse with strikes and serious food shortages.
In Moscow Russian troops mutiny.
Tzar Nicholas abdicates.
The USA enters the war .
The Battle of Arras begins; the Canadians take Vimy Ridge.
The second Battle of the Aisne starts.
Lenin returns to Petrograd. |
APRIL
The Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service combine to form the Royal Air Force.
German forces land in Finland.
The Battles of Lys, south of Ypres; the Germans take Armentières.
Pilot Manfred von Richthofen (the 'Red Baron') is shot down and killed on the Western Front.
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MAY
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MAY
7th
'Lusitania' sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland.
9th
The second Battle of Artois begins; assaults on Vimy Ridge and Aubers Ridge.
23rd
Italy mobilises and declares war on Austria-Hungary.
26th
Asquith forms a coalition government and Lloyd George heads a new 'Ministry of Munitions'.
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MAY
31st
The naval Battle of Jutland starts, in which Britan loses 14 ships and Germany 10. |
MAY
Ships begin to sail in Atlantic Convoys in order to combat the threat of submarine attacks. |
MAY
The Third Battle of the Aisne. |
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JUNE
28th.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo |
JUNE
Zeppelins make their first attack on London. |
JUNE
5th
Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State,dies on his way to Russia, when his cruiser, hits a mine off the Orkneys. |
JUNE
The Battle of Messines in which the ridge is mined and blown up.
The British Royal Family changes its name from the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to that of Windsor.
Greece joins the Allies.
In Arabia Allenby is given command. |
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JUNE
The first Treaty
28th
The Treaty of Versailles with Germany |
JULY
Germany promises to support Austria in any conflict with Serbia.
23rd.
Austria issues ultimatum to Serbia.
25th.
Both Austrai and Serbia mobilise.
28th.
Austria declares war on Serbia.
30th
Russia mobilises in support of Serbia.
31st.
Germany demands Russia ends mobilisation.
Germany refuses to guarantee Belgium's neutrality.
Austria begins general mobilisation. |
JULY
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JULY
1st
The first day of the Battle of the Somme in which Britain loses approximately 60,000 men. The battle will last 4 months. |
JULY
31st
The third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) begins. It will last over 3 months and cost 250,000 Allied lives to push the line back 5 miles |
JULY
The Second Battle of The Marne
The Russian Royal family lose their lives.
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AUGUST
1st.
Germany declares war on Russia.
France mobilises.
2nd.
Germany invades Luxembourg.
Russia invades East Prussia
3rd.
Germany declares war on France.
Germany invades Belgium
4th.
England declares war on Germany.
USA declares its neutrality.
5th-6th
Liège taken by Germans.
6th
Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia.
Serbia declares war on Germany.
7th
British and French invade Togoland.
8th
Montenegro declares war on Austria and on the 8th on Germany.
12th.
Austro-Hungarian
army invades Serbia.
13th
France and Britain declare war on Austria.
23rd.
British in action at Mons.
26th
Japan declares war on Austria-Hungary.
26th-30th
Battle of Tannenberg; Russians defeatd by Germans.
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AUGUST
6th
In the Dardanelles the British land at Suvla Bay.
21st
Italy declares war on Turkey. |
AUGUST
27th
Romania enters the war alongside the allies; Germany declares war on Romania.
28th
Italy declares war on Germany.
Hindenberg become Chief of Staff of the German armies.
Turkey declares war on Romania, |
AUGUST
The Second Battle of Verdun begins. |
AUGUST
Battle of Amiens
On the Somme, near Arras, a British and French offensive forces the Germans back to the Hindenberg Line.
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SEPTEMBER
5th. Battle of the Marne started.
14th.
Erich von Falkenhayn replaces Helmuth von Moltke as German Commander in chief.
18th.
Hindenberg becomes Commander in Chief of German armies on the Eastern Front. |
SEPTEMBER
5th
The Tzar takes command of the Russian armed forces in place of Grand Duke Nicholas.
Bulgaria allies herself with Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey and mobilises.
22nd
Second Battle of Champagne begins.
25th
The Third Battle of Artois begins. |
SEPTEMBER
Bulgaria declares war on Romania
Zeppelin bombings culminate in a raid on London by 13 Zeppelins.
Tanks are introduced into battle for the first time during the Battle of the Somme. |
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SEPTEMBER
The Allies begin a major offensive on the Bulgarian Front.
Almost simultaneously, a British offensive in Palestine.
And another, with the Americans, in Argonne and Ypres.
More calls for armistice and peace talks.
Ludendorff insists Germany should initiate peace proposals.
Bulgaria concludes an armistice with the Allies; their armies are demobilised and their armaments handed over to the Allies.
The German government resigns. |
SEPTEMBER
The second Treaty
10th
The Treaty of St.-Germain with Austria. |
OCTOBER
12th. First Battle of Ypres begins.
18th
German submarine attack on Scapa Flow |
OCTOBER
British and French troops land at Salonika.
Belgrade falls to the German & Austrians.
12th
British nurse Edith
Cavell executed by the Germans in Brussels.
Bulgaria and Serbia declare war on each other.
Britain, France and Montenegro decalre war on Bulgaria, follwed a few days later by Russia and Italy.
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OCTOBER
The Battle of Malmaison.
In Dublin The Irish Republic is constituted and Eamon de Valera is elected as President.
Brazil declares war on Germany. |
OCTOBER
British and Arab troops take Damascus.
Max von Baden becomes German Chancellor & Foreign Minister. He joins Austria in asking for an armistice, acknowledging Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points Policy.
French naval forces take Beirut.
The British take Douai
Ludendorff resigns.
Armistice with Turkey concluded
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NOVEMBER
Great Yarmouth shelled by German battle cruisers.
Russia, Serbia, Britain and France declare war on Turkey. |
NOVEMBER
Winston Churchill resigns from the British Cabinet after the failure of the Gallipoli campaign. |
NOVEMBER
In America Woodrow Wilson is re-elected as President, pledged to maintaining peace.
Germany begins the invasion of Romania.
The Battle of the Somme comes to an end with allied losses of 600,000 and German losses of 500,000.
Emperor Franz Josef dies in Vienna.
The provisional Greek Government declares war on Germany and Bulgaria.
Germany sends its first aeroplane bombing raid on London. |
NOVEMBER
French and British troops arrive to strengthen the Italian Front.
Successful Bolshevik Revolution in Russia (known as the 'October Revolution' according to the 'old-style' Russian calendar).
The Battle of Cambrai begins.
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NOVEMBER
Allies conclude armistice with Austria.
German fleet at Kiel mutinies.
Italian forces take Trieste and Fiuma
Germany discusses armistice terms with the Allies at Compiègne
The German Kaiser abdicates and Germany is proclaimed as a Republic.
Allies enter Romania which returns to the war on the side of the Allies.
11th
The Armistice is signed and at 11am hostilities end on the Western Front.
An Allied fleet lands troops at Constantinople by way of the Dardanelles.
A German-Austrian Republic is proclaimed.
A Hungarian Republic is proclaimed.
The German Fllet surrenders and is detained at Scapa Flow. |
NOVEMBER
The third treaty:
27th
The Treaty of Neuilly with Bulgaria
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DECEMBER
First 'ANZAC's arrive in Egypt.
Four German ships sunk by the British in the Battle of the Falkland Islands.
Hartlepool AND Scarborough shelled by German Battle cruisers.
24th
First German Zeppelin appears over Dover
'Christmas Truce' in some frontline trenches. |
DECEMBER
British forces start to withdraw from the Dardanelles.
Sir John French is replaced, as British Commander in Chief, by Sir Douglas Haigh. |
DECEMBER
Prime Minister Asquith steps down and Lloyd George takes his place.
Germany makes tentative overtures for a negotiated peace with the Allies.
The American President acts as the go-between.
The proposals are rejected by the Allies. |
DECEMBER
The USA declares war on Austria.
Russia begins peace talks with the Central Powers
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DECEMBER
Montenegro deposes its king and becomes part of the 'Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes'.
General Election, in Britain, in wich women vote for the first time.
The French occupy Odessa
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DECEMBER
1920
JANUARY
21st
The Inaugural meeting of the League of Nations .... bringing the Paris Peace Conference to a close.
4th JUNE
The fourth treaty:
The Treaty of Trianon with Hungary
10th AUGUST
The fifth treaty:
The Treaty of Sèvres with the Ottoman Empire |
