History
Though triggered by the assassination (June 28, 1914) of
the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of
Austria in Sarajevo, Bosnia at the hands of a pro-Serbian nationalist
assassin (a Bosnian Serb student named Gavrilo Princip), the war's
origins lie in the complex relations of the European powers in the late
19th and early 20th centuries.
The Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 had brought not only
the establishment of a powerful and dynamic German Empire , but also a
legacy of animosity between France and Germany following the latter's
annexation of the formerly French territory of Alsace-Lorraine. Under
the political direction of her first Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck,
Germany secured her new position in Europe by an alliance with
Austria-Hungary and a diplomatic understanding with Russia.
The accession (1888) of Emperor Wilhelm II brought to the
German throne a young ruler determined to direct policy himself, despite
his rash diplomatic judgment. After the 1890 elections, in which the
centre and left parties made major gains, and due in part to his
disaffection at inheriting the Chancellor who had guided his grandfather
for most of his career, Wilhelm engineered Bismarck's resignation.
Much of the fallen Chancellor's work was undone in the
following decades, as Wilhelm failed to renew the arrangement with
Russia, presenting republican France with the opportunity to conclude
(1891-94) a full alliance with the Russian Empire. Worse was to follow,
as Wilhelm undertook (1897-1900) the creation of a German navy capable
of threatening Britain's century-old naval mastery, prompting the
Anglo-French Entente Cordiale of 1904 and its expansion (1907) to
include Russia.
Rivalry among the powers was exacerbated from the 1880s
by the scramble for colonies which brought much of Africa and Asia under
European rule in the following quarter-century. Even the once hesitantly
imperialistic Bismarck became an advocate of overseas Empire, adding to
Anglo-German tension as German acquisitions in Africa and the Pacific
threatened to impinge upon British strategic and commercial interests.
Wilhelm's support for Moroccan independence from France, Britain's new
strategic partner, provoked the Tangier Crisis of 1905. During the
Second Moroccan or Agadir Crisis (1911), a German naval presence in
Morocco tested the Anglo-French coalition once again.
A key ingredient in the emerging diplomatic powder-keg
was the growth of powerful nationalist aspirations among the Balkan
states, which each looked to Germany, Austria-Hungary or Russia for
support. The rise of anti-Austrian circles in Serbia following a 1903
palace coup contributed to a further crisis in 1908 over Austria's
unilateral annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, German pressure forcing
a humiliating climb-down on the part of a Russia weakened (1905) by
defeat at the hands of Japan and subsequent revolutionary disorder
Alarm at Russia's unexpectedly rapid recovery after 1909
fuelled feeling among German ruling circles in favor of a pre-emptive
war to break alleged Entente "encirclement" before Russian rearmament
could tip the strategic balance decisively against Germany and
Austria-Hungary. By 1913 both France and Germany were planning to extend
military service, while Britain had entered into a naval convention and
military discussions with France during the previous year.
The
Outbreak
Austrian regional security concerns grew with the
near-doubling of neighboring Serbia's territory as a result of the
Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. Franz Ferdinand's assassination in June 1914
provided the opportunity sought by some Austrian leaders for a reckoning
with the smaller Slav kingdom. The Sarajevo conspirators were alleged by
the Austro-Hungarian authorities to have been armed by the shadowy Black
Hand, a pan-Serb nationalist grouping with links to Serbian ruling
circles.
With German backing, Austria-Hungary, acting primarily
under the influence of Foreign Affairs Minister Leopold von Berchtold,
sent an effectively unfulfillable 15-point ultimatum to Serbia (July 23,
1914), to be accepted within 48 hours. The Serbian government agreed to
all but one of the demands. Austria-Hungary nonetheless broke off
diplomatic relations (July 25) and declared war (July 28) through a
telegram sent to the Serbian government.
The Russian government, which had pledged in 1909 to
uphold Serbian independence in return for Serbia's acceptance of the
Bosnia annexation, mobilized its military reserves on July 30 following
a breakdown in crucial telegram communications between Wilhelm and Tsar
Nicholas II, who was under pressure by his military staff to prepare for
war. Germany demanded (July 31) that Russia stand down her forces, but
the Russian government persisted, as demobilization would have made it
impossible to re-activate its military schedule in the short term.
Germany declared war against Russia on (August 1) and, two days later,
against the latter's ally France.
The outbreak of the conflict is often attributed to the
alliances established over the previous decades - Germany-Austria-Italy
vs. France-Russia; Britain and Serbia being aligned with the latter. In
fact none of the alliances was activated in the initial outbreak, though
Russian general mobilization and Germany's declaration of war against
France were motivated by fear of the opposing alliance being brought
into play.
Britain's declaration of war against Germany (August 4)
was officially the result not of her understandings with France and
Russia (Britain was technically allied to neither power), but of
Germany's invasion of Belgium, whose independence Britain had guaranteed
to uphold (1839), and which stood astride the planned German route for
invasion of Russia's ally France.
The First Battles
Germany's plan (named the Schlieffen plan) to deal with
the Franco-Russian alliance involved delivering a knock-out blow to the
French and then turning to deal with the more slowly mobilized Russian
army. The German plan involved demanding free passage across Belgium.
When this was denied, Germany invaded, occupying Luxembourg rapidly but
encountering resistance before the forts of the Belgian city of Liège.
Britain sent an army to France, which advanced into Belgium.
The delays brought about by the resistance of the
Belgians, French and British forces and the unexpectedly rapid
mobilization of the Russians upset the German plans. Russia attacked in
East Prussia, diverting German forces intended for the Western Front,
allowing French and British forces to halt the German advance on Paris
at the First Battle of the Marne (September 1914) as the Central Powers
(the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires) were forced into fighting a
war on two fronts.
Entry of the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in October -
November 1914, threatening Russia's Caucasian territories and Britain's
communications with India and the East via the Suez canal. British
action opened another front in the South with the Gallipoli (1915) and
Mesopotamia campaigns, though initially the Turks were successful in
repelling enemy incursion. But in Mesopotamia, after the disastrous
Siege of Kut (1915-16), the British reorganized and captured Baghdad in
March 1917. Further to the west in Palestine, initial British failures
were overcome with Jerusalem being captured in December 1917 and the
Egyptian Expeditionary Force under Edmund Allenby going on to break the
Ottoman forces at the Battle of Megiddo (September 1918).
Italian Participation
Italy, since 1882 notionally allied to the German and
Austro-Hungarian Empires but with her own designs against Austrian
territory in South Tyrol, Istria and Dalmatia, and a secret 1902
understanding with France effectively nullifying her alliance
commitments, joined the Allies in May 1915, declaring war against
Germany fifteen months later. Italian action along the Austrian border
pinned down large numbers of enemy troops, though the crushing
German-Austrian victory of Caporetto (October 1917) temporarily
eliminated Italy as a major threat.
The Fall of Serbia
After repulsing three Austrian invasions in
August-December 1914, Serbia fell to combined German, Austrian and
Bulgarian invasion in October 1915. Serbian troops continued to hold out
in Albania and Greece, where a Franco-British force had landed to offer
assistance and to pressure the Greek government into war against the
Central Powers.
The perception of war in 1914 was almost romantic, and
its declaration was met with great enthusiasm by many people. The common
view was that it would be a short war of maneuver with a few sharp
actions (to "teach the enemy a lesson") and would end with a victorious
entry into the capital (the enemy capital, naturally) then home for a
victory parade or two and back to "normal" life. There were some
pessimists (like Lord Kitchener) who predicted the war would be a long
haul, but "everyone knew" the War would be "Over by Christmas...."
The Trenching Begins
After their initial success on the Marne, Entente and
German forces began a series of outflanking maneuvers to try to force
the other to retreat, in the so-called Race to the Sea. France and
Britain soon found themselves facing entrenched German positions from
Lorraine to Belgium's Flemish coast. The sides took set positions, the
French and British seeking to take the offensive while the Germans
sought to defend the territories they had occupied.
One consequence of this was that the German trenches were
much better constructed than those of their enemy: the Anglo-French
trenches were only intended to be 'temporary' before their forces broke
through the German defenses. Neither side proved able to deliver a
decisive blow for the next four years, though protracted German action
at Verdun (1916) and Allied failure the following spring brought the
French army to the brink of collapse as mass desertions undermined the
front line.
Around 800,000 soldiers from Britain and the Empire were
on the Western Front at any one time, 1,000 battalions each occupying a
sector of the line from Belgium to the Arne and operating a month-long
four stage system, unless an offensive was underway. The front contained
over 6,000 miles of trenches. Each battalion held its sector for around
a week before moving back to support lines and then the reserve lines
before a week out-of-line, often in the Poperinge or Amiens areas.
The Somme and Passchendaele
Both the Battle of the Somme and the Battle of
Passchendaele (1917) also on the Western Front resulted in enormous loss
of life on both sides but minimal progress in the war. It is interesting
to note that, when the British attacked on the first day of the battle
of the Somme, and lost massive amounts of men to a continuous hail of
machine-gun fire, they did succeed in gaining some ground. This caused
the German command to order its soldiers to re-take this ground, which
resulted in similar losses for the Germans. Hence, instead of a lopsided
engagement, with only British soldiers attacking, which would have
resulted in large amounts of casualties only for the British, the volume
of attacks was rather evenly distributed, which caused even distribution
of the casualties.
Poison Gas
Not even an initially devastating array of new weapons
achieved the required victory: poison gas (first used by the Germans on
Russian soldiers without much success in battle of Bolimow on January 1,
1915; more often quoted as first use is the attack on Canadian soldiers
at Ypres on April 22, 1915); liquid fire, introduced by the Germans at
Hooge on July 30, 1915); and armored tanks (first used by the British on
the Somme on September 15, 1916) each produced initial panic among the
enemy, but failed to deliver a lasting breakthrough.
Aircraft and U-Boats
Military aviation achieved rapid progress, from the
development of (initially primitive) forward-firing aerial machine-guns
by the German air force in the autumn of 1915 to the deployment of
bombers against London (July 1917): more dramatic still, at least for
Britain, was the use of German submarines (U-boats, from the German
Unterseeboote) against Allied merchant shipping in proscribed waters
from February 1915. Germany's decision to lift restrictions on submarine
activity (February 1, 1917) was instrumental in bringing the United
States into the war on the side of the Allies (April 6). The sinking of
the passenger liner Lusitania was a particularly controversial "kill"
for the U-boats.
While the Western Front had reached stalemate in the
trenches, the war continued to the east.
German Victories in the East
The Russian initial plans for war had called for
simultaneous invasions of Austrian Galicia and German East Prussia.
Although Russia's initial advance into Galicia was largely successful,
they were driven back from East Prussia by the victories of the German
generals Hindenburg and Ludendorff at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes
in August and September 1914.
Russia's less-developed economic and military
organization soon proved unequal to the combined might of the German and
Austro-Hungarian Empires. In the spring of 1915 the Russians were driven
back in Galicia, and in May the Central Powers achieved a remarkable
breakthrough on Poland's southern fringes, capturing Warsaw on August 5
and forcing the Russians to withdraw from all of Poland.
Russia Unsettled
Dissatisfaction with the Russian government's conduct of
the war grew despite the success of the June 1916 Brusilov offensive in
eastern Galicia against the Austrians, when Russian success was
undermined by the reluctance of other generals to commit their forces in
support of the victorious sector commander. Allied fortunes revived only
temporarily with Romania's entry into the war on August 27: German
forces came to the aid of embattled Austrian units in Transylvania, and
Bucharest fell to the Central Powers on December 6. Meanwhile, internal
unrest grew in Russia, as the Tsar remained out of touch at the front,
while the Empress's increasingly incompetent rule drew protests from all
segments of Russian political life, resulting in the murder of
Alexandra's favorite Rasputin by conservative noblemen at the end of
1916
The Russian Revolution
In March 1917, demonstrations in St. Petersburg
culminated in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the appointment of
a weak centrist provisional government, which shared power with the
socialists of the Petrograd Soviet. This division of power led to
confusion and chaos, both on the front and at home, and the army became
progressively less able to effectively resist the Germans. Meanwhile,
the war, and the government, became more and more unpopular, and the
discontent was strategically used by the Bolshevik party, led by
Vladimir Lenin, in order to gain power.
The triumph of the Bolsheviks in November was followed in
December by an armistice and negotiations with the Germans. At first,
the Bolsheviks refused to agree to the harsh German terms, but when the
Germans resumed the war and marched with impunity across the Ukraine,
the new government acceded to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3,
1918, which took Russia out of the war and ceded vast territories
including Finland, the Baltic provinces, Poland and the Ukraine to the
Central Powers.
1917 finally saw the entry of the United States into the
war.
Entry of the United States
Early in 1917 Germany resumed its policy of unrestricted
submarine warfare. This, combined with public indignation over the
Zimmerman Telegram, led to a final break of relations with the Central
Powers. President Woodrow Wilson requested that the United States
Congress declare war, which it did on April 6, 1917. (Only one member of
Congress, Jeanette Rankin of Montana, voted against the war).
The United States Army and the National Guard had
mobilized in 1916 to pursue the Mexican "bandit" Pancho Villa, which
helped speed up the mobilization. The United States Navy was able to
send a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand
Fleet, and a number of destroyers to Queenstown, Ireland, to help guard
convoys. However, it would be some time before the United States forces
would be able to contribute significant manpower to the Western and
Italian fronts.
The British and French insisted that the United States
emphasize sending infantry to reinforce the line. Throughout the war,
the American forces were short of their own artillery, aviation, and
engineering units. However, General John J. Pershing, American
Expeditionary Force commander, resisted breaking up American units and
using them as reinforcements for British and French units, as suggested
by the Allies.
German Offensive of 1918
The entry of the U.S. into the war the previous year had
made the eventual arrival of U.S. troops certain, while Russia's
withdrawal and the Italian disaster at Caporetto allowed the transfer of
German troops to the West. Four successive German offensives followed,
that of May 27 yielding gains before Paris comparable to the first
advance.
On March 21, 1918 Germany launched a major offensive,
"Operation Michael", against British and Commonwealth forces. The German
army developed new tactics involving storm troopers, infantry trained in
Hutier tactics (after Oskar von Hutier) to infiltrate and take trenches.
The Allies reacted by appointing French Field Marshal
Foch to coordinate all Allied activity in France, and then as
generalissimo of all Allied forces everywhere.
The German offensive moved forward 60 km and pressed the
British lines so much that the British Expeditionary Force (BEF)
commander, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, issued a General Order on
April 11 stating "With our backs to the wall and believing in the
justice of our cause each one of us must fight on to the end." However,
by then, the German offensive had stalled because of logistical
problems. Counterattacks by Canadian and ANZAC forces pushed the Germans
back.
Allied Victory
The American Expeditionary Force, under General John
Pershing, entered the battle lines in significant numbers in April 1918.
At the Battle of Belleau Wood, from June 1 to June 30, 1918, the Second
Division, including the United States Marine Corps, helped clear out the
German offensive threatening Paris.
On July 18, 1918, at the Battle of Chateau-Thierry,
French and American forces went on the offensive.
The British Army, using a large number of tanks, attacked
at Amiens on August 8 causing such surprise and confusion that German
commander-in-chief, General Ludendorff, said it was "the blackest day of
the German army."
On September 12 the First United States Army, which had
recently been organized from the American Expeditionary Force,
eliminated the Saint-Mihiel salient, which the Germans had occupied
since 1914. This salient threatened the Paris-Nancy railroad line.
American forces were short of artillery support, which was provided by
the French and British. This also was the first use of the U.S. Tank
Corps, led by Lieutenant Colonel George S. Patton. Four days later, the
salient was cleared out.
On September 26 American forces began the Meuse-Argonne
Offensive, which continued until the end of the war. A key German
observation post on Hill 305 in Montfaucon d'Argonne was captured on
September 27. Approximately 18,000 Americans fell during this offensive.
This was the first offensive conducted by the United States as an
independent army. General Pershing's general thrust was the Rhine River,
which he expected to breach early in 1919.
On October 24 the Italian Army, with very limited
American assistance, began the Vittorio Veneto offensive against the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, which lasted until November 4.
End of the War
Bulgaria was the first of the Central Powers to sign an
armistice (September 29, 1918, followed by Turkey (October 30) Germany
requested a cease-fire on October 3, 1918, followed by Austria-Hungary.
The fighting ended with an armistice agreed on November 11 at Compiègne.
Austria and Hungary had signed separate armistices following the
overthrow of the Habsburg monarchy.
When Wilhelm II. ordered the German High Seas Fleet to
sortie against the Allied navies, they mutinied in Wilhelmshaven
starting October 29, 1918. On November 9, a German Republic was
proclaimed, marking the end of the 1871 German Empire. The Kaiser fled
the next day to Holland, which granted him political asylum.
Distinguishing Features of the War
The First World War was different from prior military
conflicts: it was a meeting of 20th century technology with 19th century
mentality and tactics. This time, millions of soldiers fought on all
sides and the casualties were enormous, mostly because of the more
efficient weapons (like artillery and machine guns) that were used in
large quantities against old tactics. Although the First World War led
to the development of air forces, tanks, and new tactics (like the
Rolling barrage and Crossfire), much of the action took place in the
trenches, where thousands died for each square meter of land gained.
The First World War also saw the use of chemical warfare,
and aerial bombardment, both of which had been outlawed under the 1909
Hague Convention. The effects of gas warfare were to prove long-lasting,
both on the bodies of its victims (many of whom, having survived the
war, continued to suffer in later life) and on the minds of a later
generation of war leaders (Second World War) who, having seen the
effects of gas warfare in the Great War, were reluctant to use it for
fear that the enemy would retaliate and might have better weaponry.
A Deadly War
Many of the deadliest battles in history occurred in this
war. See Ypres, Vimy Ridge, Marne, Cambrai, Somme, Verdun, Gallipoli.
See Wars of the 20h Century for various totals given for the number that
died in this war. For instance, is it proper to consider the Influenza
pandemic (see below) as part of the overall death count for the war,
given the important part the War played in its transmission?
Revolutions
Perhaps the single most important event precipitated by
the privations of the war was the Russian Revolution. Socialist and
explicitly Communist uprisings also occurred in many other European
countries from 1917 onwards, notably in Germany and Hungary. As a result
of the Bolsheviks' failure to cede territory, German and Austrian forces
defeated the Russian armies, and the new communist government signed the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918. In that treaty, Russia renounced
all claims to Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland (specifically, the
formerly Russian-controlled Congress Poland of 1815) and Ukraine, and it
was left to Germany and Austria-Hungary "to determine the future status
of these territories in agreement with their population."
Influenza Pandemic
A separate, but related event was the great influenza
pandemic. A new strain of Influenza, originating in the U.S.A. (but
misleadingly known as "Spanish Flu") was accidentally carried to Europe
with the American forces. The disease spread rapidly through the both
the continental U.S. and Europe, reaching, eventually, around the globe.
The exact number of deaths is unknown, but in excess of 20 million
people worldwide is not considered an overestimate.
Social trauma: The experiences of the war lead to a sort
of collective national trauma afterwards for all the participating
countries. The optimism of 1900 was entirely gone and those who fought
in the war became what is known as "the Lost Generation" because they
never fully recovered from their experiences. This was especially acute
in France where a huge number of their young men were killed or injured
during the conflict. For the next few years the nation became obsessive
in its mourning and thousands of memorials were erected, one for each
village in France.
Geopolitical Consequences
Nearly 15 percent of the land area of the German Empire
was ceded at Allied insistence to various countries. The largest
confiscated part of Germany was given to Poland; this part was called
the "Polish Corridor" because of its position between East Prussia and
the rest of Germany. In addition the western powers helped Poland gain
another huge chunk of land in western Ukraine. Britain and France
occupied the vast majority of former German and Ottoman colonies as
"League of Nations mandates".
Russia also lost substantial land. The countries of
Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were created to accommodate ethnic
groups. Also, land was taken for addition to Poland, and Romania.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken into many pieces.
The new republics of Austria and Hungary were established, disavowing
any continuity with the empire. Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia formed the
new Czechoslovakia. Galicia was transferred to Poland and South Tyrol
and Trieste went to Italy. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, and
Vojvodina were joined with Serbia and Montenegro to form the Kingdom of
the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later Yugoslavia. Transylvania became
part of Romania.
Because of the intermixed population and partly because
of the interests of great powers, the new borders did not always follow
ethnic divisions. The new states of eastern Europe nearly all had large
national minorities. Hundreds of thousands of Germans continued to live
in the newly created countries. A quarter of ethnic Hungarians found
themselves living outside of Hungary.
Less concrete changes include the growing assertiveness
of Commonwealth nations. Battles such as Gallipoli for Australia and New
Zealand, and Vimy Ridge for Canada led to increased national pride and a
greater reluctance to remain subordinate to Britain, leading to the
growth of diplomatic autonomy in the 1920s.
Also extremely important was the participation of French
colonial troops from Indochina, North Africa, and Madagascar without
whom France might well have fallen. When these soldiers returned to
their homelands and continued to be treated as second class citizens,
many became the nucleus of pro-independence groups.
World War 1 Facts
-
World War 1 was officially started in 1914
-
More than 8.5 million people died as a direct result
of World War
I
-
Today there is still an unexploded mine shaft from
World War 1 at the New Zealand Memorial Park in Messines.
-
The German cruiser Emden23 sunk 23 Allied vessels
-
More than 2,600 Allied ships were sunk by the German
U-Boats during World War
I
-
During World War 1, 24 total nations declared war on
one or more of the Central Powers
-
The were 5,200 US Casualties per square mile during
the Battle of Belleau Wood in June of 1918
-
Germany produced 123 Zeppelin and similar airships
during World War I
-
There were 56,000 mines laid by US Navy during the
North Sea barrage
-
Britain produced 5,400 Sopwith Camel fighter planes
during World War I
-
There were an estimated 58,000 British casualties on
the first day on the Battle of the Somme
-
An estimated 32 million artillery shells were fired
during the Battle of Verdun
-
There were approximately 275,000 Italian prisoners
taken at Caporetto
-
The Japanese sent 75,000 troops to Siberia in 1918
-
Under The Versailles Treaty, the size of German Army
was limited to 100,000 soldiers.
-
Over 19 million soldiers from all nations were
wounded during World War I
World War 1 Summary
World War 1, lasted from 1914 to 1918. World War 1 began
as a local European conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia on July
28, 1914
It was transformed into a general European war by the
declaration of war made by Germany against Russia, on August 1, 1914.
These intermingled conflicts eventually became a global
war involving thirty two nations, twenty eight of which, known as the
Allies and the Associated Powers, and including Great Britain, France,
Russia, Italy and the United States, opposed the coalition known as the
Central Powers, consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and
Bulgaria.
The immediate cause of the war between Austria-Hungary
and Serbia was the assassination on June 28, 1914, at Sarajevo, capital
of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia, of the Archduke Francis
Ferdinand, heir-presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Gavrilo
Princip, a Serb nationalist.
The fundamental causes of the conflict, however, were
rooted deeply in the European history of the previous century,
particularly in the political and economic policies of the nations of
Europe after the year 1871, which marked the emergence of Germany as a
great world power.
The unarmed British passenger ship Lusitania was
torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine on May 7, 1915. This outraged
the American public opinion against Germany.
Hostilities between the Allied and Central Powers
continued until the signing of the Armistice on November 11, 1918, a
period of four years, three months and fourteen days. The aggregate
direct war costs of all the belligerents amounted to about 186 billion
dollars.
Casualties in the land forces amounted to over 37
million; in addition deaths among civilian populations caused indirectly
by war approximated 10 million.
World
War I Timeline
1914
July 28
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
July 29 - December 9
Austria-Hungary repeatedly invades Serbia but is
repeatedly repulsed
August 1
Outbreak of war. Germany declares war on Russia
August 3
Germany declares war on France
August 4
Germany invades neutral Belgium
August 4
Britain declares war on Germany
August 4
US President Woodrow Wilson declares policy of US
neutrality
August 14
Battle of the Frontiers begins
August 17-19
Russia invades East Prussia
August 23
Japan declares war on Germany
August 23 - September 2
Austria-Hungary invades Russian Poland (Galicia)
August 26-30
Battle of Tannenberg, which Russia loses; Germany's
greatest success of the war on Eastern Front
September 5-10
First Battle of Marne, halts German advance, resulting in
stalemate and trench warfare
September 9-14
First Battle of Masurian Lakes, which Russia again loses
September 14
First Battle of Aisne begins
September 15 - November 24
The "race to the sea", trenches appear on September 15
September 17-28
Austro-German attack western Poland
October 14 - November 22
First Battle of Ypres
October 29
Turkey enters the war on the side of the Central Powers
December 8
Battle of the Falkland Islands
December 21
First German air raid on Britain
December 25
Unofficial Christmas truce declared by soldiers along the
Western Front
1915
January 1 - March 30
Allied offensive in Artois and Champagne
January 15
Japan's 21 demands on China
January 19-20
First German zeppelin attack on England
February 4
German U-boat attacks on Allied and neutral shipping;
declares blockade of Britain
February 7-21
Russians suffer heavy losses at Second Battle of Masurian
Lakes (also known as the Winter Battle)
February - April
Austro-Hungarian attack on Russian Poland (Galicia)
collapses, with the Russians counterattacking
February 19-August
Allied amphibious attack on the Dardanelles and Gallipoli
(initiated by Winston Churchill, who resigns as a consequence) ends with
the Turkish siege of the Allied forces
March 1
First passenger ship sinks, the British liner Falaba
March 11
Britain announces blockade of German ports
April-June
Germans focus on Eastern Front, breaking through
Gorlice-Tarnow and forcing Russia out of much of Poland
April 22 - May 25
First use of poison gas by Germany starts Second Battle
of Ypres
April 25
Allied landing at Gallipoli
April 26
France, Russia, Italy and Britain conclude secret Treaty
of London
May 2
Austro-German offensive on Galicia begins
May 7
U-boat sinks British liner Lusitania with the loss of
American lives, creating a US-German diplomatic crisis
May 9
Second Battle of Artois begins
May 23
Ignoring treaty agreements with the Central Powers, Italy
declares war on Austria-Hungary
May 25
British Prime Minister Asquith reorganizes his Liberal
government as a coalition of the parties
June 29 - December 2
Italians launch unsuccessful attack on Hungarians at 1st,
2nd, 3rd & 4th Battles of Isonzo; there are to be 12 in total
September 5
Tsar Nicholas takes command of Russian armies
September 22
Second Battle of Champagne begins
October 3
Anglo-French force lands at Salonika in Greece
October - November
Austro-German-Bulgarian forces invade Serbia, expelling
Serbian army from the country
December 19
Sir Douglas Haig replaces Sir John French as commander of
British Expeditionary Force
December 28
Allies begin withdrawal of troops from Gallipoli
1916
February 21 - December 18
German attack on Verdun in the longest battle of the war,
ultimately defended by the French at great cost to both sides
March 11 - November 14
5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th Battles of Isonzo between
Italy and Austria-Hungary
April
British forces in Mesopotamia begin advance on Baghdad
March 9
Pancho Villa's raid on Columbus, New Mexico
March 24
French passenger ship, Sussex, torpedoed
April 24
Easter rebellion starts in Ireland
May 4
Germany renounces submarine policy
May 19
Britain and France conclude Sykes-Picot agreement
May 31 - June 1
Battle of Jutland, the biggest naval battle in history,
ultimately without a clear victor
June - August
Turkish forces, led by Enver Pasha, are defeated by the
Russians in the Caucasus
June 4 - September 20
Russian Brusilov offensive in Carpathia nearly knocks
Austria-Hungary out of the war
June 5
With British support (led by T.E. Lawrence), Hussein,
grand sherif of Mecca, lead an Arab revolt against the Turks in the
Hejaz
July 1
Start of the Battle of the Somme, with the greatest
number of casualties in British military history, 60,000
July 29
US marines land in Haiti
August - December
Romania enters the war with the Allies, but is quickly
overrun by German forces
August 28
Italy declares war on Germany
August 31
Germany suspends submarine assaults
September 15
Tanks introduced for the first time on the Somme
battlefield by the British
October 15
Germany resumes U-boat attacks
November 7-9
US President Woodrow Wilson secures re-election
November 18
End of the Battle of the Somme
November 28
First German airplane (as opposed to zeppelin) air-raid
on Britain
November 29
US occupation of Santa Domingo proclaimed
December 7
David Lloyd George replaces Asquith as British Prime
Minister
December 12
Germany issues peace note suggesting compromise peace
December 18
US President Woodrow Wilson requests statements of war
objectives from warring nations in peace note
1917
January 10
Allies state peace objectives in response to US President
Woodrow Wilson's December 1916 peace note
January 31
Germany announces unrestricted submarine warfare
February 1
Germany resumes unrestricted submarine warfare
February 3
US severs diplomatic ties with Germany
February 23 - April 5
German forces begin withdrawal to strong positions on the
Hindenburg Line
February 24
Zimmermann Telegram is passed to the US by Britain,
detailing alleged German proposal of an alliance with Mexico against the
US
February 26
US President Woodrow Wilson requests permission from
Congress to arm US merchantmen
March 1
Zimmermann Telegram published in US press
March 11
British capture Baghdad
March 12
US President Woodrow Wilson announces arming of US
merchantmen by executive order after failing to win approval from
Congress
March 15
Tsar Nicholas II abdicates as a consequence of Russian
Revolution
March 20
US President Woodrow Wilson's war cabinet votes
unanimously in favor of declaring war on Germany
April 2
US President Woodrow Wilson delivers war address to
Congress
April 6
US declares war on Germany
April 9-20
Nivelle Offensive (Second Battle of Aisne, Third Battle
of Champagne) ends in French failure
April 16
Lenin arrives in Russia
April 29 - May 20
Mutiny breaks out among French army
May 12 - October 24
10th, 11th and 12th Battles of Isonzo fought, ending in
Italian failure
May 28
Pershing leaves New York for France
June 7
British explode 19 large mines under the Messines Ridge
June 15
US Espionage Act passed
June 26
First US troops arrive in France, 1st Division
June 27
Greece enters the war on the side of the Allies
July 2
Pershing makes first request for army of 1,000,000 men
July 6
T.E. Lawrence and the Arabs capture Aquaba
July 11
Pershing revises army request figures upwards to
3,000,000
July 16
Third Battles of Ypres (Passchendaele) begins
July 31
Major British offensive launched at Ypres.
September 1
Germany takes the northernmost end of the Russian front
in the Riga offensive
October 24
Austria-Germany breakthrough at Caporetto on Italian
front
November 7
Bolshevik Revolution in Russia results in Communist
government under Lenin taking office
November 20
British launch surprise tank attack at Cambrai
December 7
US declares war on Austria-Hungary
December 9
Jerusalem falls to Britain
December 22
Russia opens separate peace negotiations with Germany
(Brest-Litovsk)
1918
January - September
T.E. Lawrence leads Arab guerrillas in successful
campaign against Turkish positions in Arabia and Palestine
January 8
US President Woodrow Wilson makes "Fourteen Points"
speech to Congress
February 11
US President Woodrow Wilson makes "Four Principles"
speech to Congress
March 3
Soviet Russia concludes separate peace negotiations in
treaty of Brest-Litovsk
March 21
Germany launches Spring push, eventually mounting five
major offensives against Allied forces, starting with the Battle of
Picardy against the British
March 26
Doullens Agreement gives General Ferdinand Foch
"coordinating authority" over the Western Front
April 9
Germany launches second Spring offensive, the Battle of
the Lys, in the British sector of Armentieres
April 14
Foch appointed Commander-in-Chief of Allied forces on
Western Front
May 25
German U-boats appear in US waters for first time
May 27
Third German Spring offensive, Third Battle of the Aisne,
begins in French sector along Chemin des Dames
May 28
US forces (28th Regiment of 1st Division) victorious in
first major action, Battle of Cantigny
June 6
US 3rd Division captures Bouresches and southern part of
Belleau Wood
June 9
Germans launch fourth Spring offensive, Battle of the
Matz, in French sector between Noyan and Montdider
June 15
Italians prevail against Austro-Hungarian forces at
Battle of Piave
July 6
US President Woodrow Wilson agrees to US intervention in
Siberia
July 15
Final phase of great German Spring push, the Second
Battle of Marne, begins
July 16-17
Former Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, and children, are
murdered by the Bolsheviks
July 18
Allies counterattack against German forces, seizing
initiative
August 3
Allied intervention begins at Vladivostok
August 8
Haig directs start of successful Amiens offensive,
forcing all German troops back to the Hindenburg Line; Ludendorff calls
it a "black day" for German army
September 12
US forces clear the St.-Mihiel salient, during which the
greatest air assault of the war is launches by the US
September 19
Start of British offensive in Palestine, the Battle of
Megiddo
September 26
Battle of the Vardar pits Serb, Czech, Italian, French
and British forces against Bulgarian forces
September 26
Meuse-Argonne offensive opens; the final Franco-American
offensive of the war
September 27 - October 17
Haig's forces storm the Hindenburg Line, breaking through
at several points
September 29
Bulgaria concludes armistice negotiations
September 28 - October 14
Belgian troops attack at Ypres
October 3-4
Germany and Austria send peace notes to US President
Woodrow Wilson requesting an armistice
October 17 - November 11
British advance to the Sambre and Schledt rivers, taking
many German prisoners
October 21
Germany ceases unrestricted submarine warfare
October 27
Erich Ludendorff resigns
October 30
Turkey concludes an armistice with the Allies
November 3
German fleet mutinies at Kiel
November 3
Trieste falls to the Allies; Austria-Hungary concludes an
armistice
November 7-11
Germany negotiates an armistice with the Allies in
Ferdinand Foch's railway carriage headquarters at Compiègne
November 9
Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates
November 10
Kaiser Wilhelm II flees to Holland
November 10
German republic is founded
November 11
Armistice day; fighting ceases at 11am
1919
January 10-15
Communist revolt in Berlin
January 18
Start of peace negotiations in Paris
January 25
Peace conference accepts principle of a League of Nations
February 6
German National Assembly meets in Weimar
February 14
Draft covenant of League of Nations completed
May 6
Peace conference disposes of German colonies
May 7 - June 28
Treaty of Versailles drafted and signed
June 21
German High Seas Fleet scuttled at Scapa Flow
July 19
Cenotaph is unveiled in London |
