Chronological Tables

Certain variations in the dates assigned events are to be found and have not yet been authoritatively settled. They are not however in most instances of substantial importance. These lists follow the Statesman's Year Book for European events and the list published by the Committee on Public Information for those relating to the united States.

1914

June 28.	Murder of Archduke Francis Ferdinand at Serajevo.
July 23.	Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia.
July 28.	Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
July 31.	German ultimatums to Russia and France.
Aug. 1.	Germany declares war on Russia and invades Luxemburg.
Aug. 2.	German ultimatum to Belgium, demanding a free passage for her troops across Belgium.
Aug. 3.	Germany declares war on France.
Aug. 4.	Germans enter Belgium.
Aug. 4.	Great Britain declares war on Germany.
Aug. 4.	President Wilson proclaims neutrality of United States.
Aug. 6.	Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia.
Aug. 7.	Liége occupied.
Aug. 10.	France and Great Britain declare war on Austria-Hungary.
Aug. 16.	British expeditionary force landed in France.
Aug. 18.	Russia invades East Prussia.
Aug. 20.	Brussels entered by Germans.
Aug. 21-23.	Battle of Mons-Charleroi. Dogged retreat of French and British in the face of the German invasion.
Aug. 23.	Japan declares war on Germany.
Aug. 23.	Kiaochow in China bombarded by Japanese.
Aug. 24.	Fall of Namur.
Aug. 25.	Fall and destruction of Louvain.
Aug. 25-Dec. 15.	Russians overrun Galicia. Lemberg taken (Sept. 2); Przemysl besieged (Sept. 16 to Oct. 15,and again after Nov. 12). Dec. 4. Russians 3 ½ miles from Cracow.
Aug. 26.	Allies conquer Togo, in Africa.
Aug. 26-31.	Russians defeated in battle of Tannenberg.
Aug. 28.	British naval victory off Helgoland Bight, in North Sea.
Sept. 5.	Great Britain, France, and Russia sign a treaty not to make peace separately.
Sept. 6-10.	First battle of the Marne.
Sept. 7.	Extreme point of German advance.
Sept. 7.	Germans take Maubeuge, in northern France.
Sept. 11.	Australians take German New Guinea, and other German Pacific island possessions.
Sept. 12-17.	Battle of the Aisne.
Sept. 16.	Russians driven from East Prussia.
Sept. 22.	Three British armored cruisers sunk by a submarine.
Sept. 27.	Successful invasion of German Southwest Africa. by General Botha.
Oct. 9.	Germans occupy Antwerp, the chief port of Belgium.
Oct. 13.	Belgian government retires to Havre, which remains its seat during the war.
Oct. 16-28.	Battle of the Ysre. Belgians and French halt German advance.
Oct. 17-Nov. 15.	Battle of Flanders, near Ypres, saving Channel ports.
Oct. 20-27.	German armies driven back in Poland.
Oct. 28-Dec. 5.	De Wet's rebellion in British South Africa.
Nov. 1.	German naval victory off the coast of Chile.
Nov. 3-5.	Russia, France, and Great Britain declare war on Turkey.
Nov. 7.	Kiaochow captured by the Japanese and British.
Nov. 10-Dec. 14.	Austrian invasion of Serbia.
Nov. 10.	German cruiser Enulen destroyed in Indian Ocean.
Nov. 21.	Basra, on Persian Gulf, occupied by British.
Dec. 8.	British naval victory off the Falkland Islands.
Dec. 16.	German warships bombard towns on east coast of England.
Dec. 17.	Egypt proclaimed a British protectorate, under a sultan.
Dec. 24.	First German air raid on England.

1915

Jan. 1-Feb. 15.	Russians attempt to cross the Carpathians.
Jan. 24.	Naval skirmish off Dogger Bank, in North Sea.
Jan. 25Feb. 12.	Russians again invade East Prussia, but are defeated in the battle of the Masurian Lakes.
Jan. 28.	American merchantman William P. Frye sunk by German cruiser.
Feb. 4.	Germany's proclamation of "war zone" around the British Isles after Feb. 18.
Feb. 10.	United States note holding German government to a \"strict accountability\" for destruction of American lives or vessels.
Feb. 19.	Anglo-French squadron bombards Dardanelles forts.
Mar. 1.	Announcement of British blockade of Germany.
Mar. 10.	British capture Neuve Chapelle, in northern France.
Mar. 17.	Russians capture Przemysl, in Galicia.
Apr. 17—May 17.	Battle of Ypres. First use of poison gas.
Apr. 25.	Allied troops land on the Gallipoli peninsula.
Apr. 30.	Germans invade the Baltic provinces of Russia.
May 1.	American steamship Oulf light sunk by German submarine; two American lost.
May 2.	Battle of the Dunajec. Russians defeated by the Germans and Austrians and forced to retire from the Carpathians.
May 7.	British liner Lusilania sunk by German submarine (1134 lives lost, 114 being Americans).
May 9-June.	Battle of Artois, or Festubert (in France, north of Arras). Small gains by the Allies.
May 13.	American note protests against submarine policy culminating in the sinking of the husitania. Other notes June 9, July 21; German replies, May 28, July 8, Sept. 1.
May 23.	Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary.
May 25.	American steamship Nebraskan attacked by submarine.
June 3.	Przemysl retaken by Germans and Austrians.
June 9.	Monfalcone occupied by Italians.
June 22.	The Austro-Germans recapture Lemberg, in Galicia.
July 2.	Naval action between Russians and Germans in the Baltic. July 15. Conquest of German Southwest. Africa completed.
July 14—Sept. 18.	German conquest of Russian Poland ; capture of Warsaw (Aug. 4), Kovno (Aug. 17), Brest-Litovsk (Aug. 25), Vilna (Sept. 18).
Aug. 19.	British liner Arable sunk by submarines (44 victims, 2 Americans).
Aug. 21.	Italy declares war on Turkey.
Sept. 1.	The German ambassador, von Bernstorff, gives assurance that German submarines will sink no more liners without warning.
Sept. 8.	United States demands recall of Austro-Hungarian ambassador, Dr. Dumba.
Sept. 25-Oct.	French offensive in Champagne fails to break through German lines.
Sept. 27.	Small British progress at Loos, near Lens.
Oct. 4.	Russian ultimatum to Bulgaria.
Oct. 5.	Allied forces land at Saloniki at the invitation of the Greek government.
Oct. 5.	German government regrets and disavows sinking of_ Arabic and is prepared to pay indemnities.
Oct. 6—Dec. 2.	Austro-German-Bulgarian conquest of Serbia; fall of Bel-grade (Oct. 9), Nish (Nov. 1), Monastir (Dec. 2).
Oct. 13.	Germans execute the English nurse, Edith Cavell, for aiding Belgians to escape from Belgium.
Oct. 14.	Bulgaria declares war on Serbia.
Oct. 15—19.	Great Britain, France, Russia, and Italy declare war against Bulgaria.
Nov. 10—Apr.	Russian forces advance into Persia as a result of pro-German activities there.
Dec. 1.	British under General Townshend retreat from near Bagdad to Kut-el-Amara.
Dec. 3.	United States government demands recall of Captain Boy-Ed and Captain von Papen, attaches of the German embassy.
Dec. 6.	Germans capture Ipek, in Montenegro.
Dec. 15.	Sir Douglas Haig succeeds Sir John French in command of the British army in France.
Dec. 19.	British forces withdraw from parts of Gallipoli peninsula.

1916

Jan. 8.	Evacuation of Gallipoli completed by the British.
Jan. 13.	Fall of Cettinje, capital of Montenegro.
Feb. 10.	Germany notifies neutral powers that armed merchant ships will be treated as warships and will be sunk without warning.
Feb. 15.	Secretary Lansing states that by international law commercial vessels have right to carry arms in self-defense.

1917

June 7.	British blow up Messines Ridge, south of Ypres, and capture 7500 German prisoners.
June 10.	Italian offensive in Trentino.
June 12.	King Constantine of Greece forced to abdicate.
June 17.	Portuguese troops on west front.
June 26.	First American troops reach France.
June 29.	Greece enters war against Germany and her allies. Allenby takes command in Palestine.
July 1.	Russian army led in person by Kerensky, the minister of war, begins an offensive in Galicia, ending in disastrous retreat (July 19-Aug. 3).
July 20.	Kerensky succeeds Prince Lvoff as premier of Russia.
July 31-Nov. 6.	Battle of Flanders (Passchendaele Ridge); British successes.
Aug. 15.	Peace proposals of Pope Benedict published (dated Aug. 1). United States replies Aug. 27; Germany and Austria, Sept. 21.
Aug. 15.	Canadians capture Hill 70, dominating Lens.
Aug. 19-24.	New Italian drive on the Isonzo front.
Aug. 20-24.	French attacks at Verdun recapture high ground lost in 1916.
Sept. 4.	Riga captured by Germans.
Sept. 8.	Luxburg dispatches ("Spurlos versenkt") published by United States.
Sept. 15.	Russia proclaimed a republic.
Oct. 17.	Russians defeated in a naval engagement in the Gulf of Riga.
Oct. 26.	Brazil declares war on Germany.
Oct. 24-Dec.	Great German-Austrian invasion of Italy.
Oct. 27.	Fall of Cividale;
Oct. 28.	fall of Gorizia;
Oct. 29.	fall of Udine;
Oct. 31.	Italians reach the Tagliamento in the retreat;
Nov. 4.	British troops reach Italy;
Nov. 9.	Italian line withdrawn to the Piave and there established.
Nov 2.	Germans retreat from the Chemin des Dames, in France.
Nov 3.	First class of Americans with German soldiers.
Nov 4.	British troops reach Italy.
Nov 7.	Overthrow of Kerensky and provisional government of Russia by the Bolsheviki.
Nov 9.	Italians on the Piave.
Nov 9.	British capture Gaza.
Nov 9.	Versailles Supreme War Council established.
Nov. 13.	Clemenceau succeeds Rihot as French premier.
Nov. 20-Dec. 13.	Battle of Cambrai.
Nov.29.	First plenary session of the Interallied Conference in Paris. Sixteen nations represented. Colonel P. NI. House, chairman of American delegation.
Dec. 3.	Conquest of German East Africa completed.
Dec. 6.	United States destroyer Jacob Jones sunk by submarine, with loss of over 60 American men.
Dec. 6.	Rumania agrees to armistice with Germany.
Dec. 7.	United States declares war on Austria-Hungary.
Dec. 9.	Jerusalem captured by British.
Dec. 22.	Peace negotiations opened at Brest-Litovsk between Bolshevik government and Central Powers.
Dec. 28.	President Wilson takes over the control of railroads.

1918

Jan. 8.	President Wilson sets forth peace program of the United States.
Jan. 18.	Russian Constituent Assembly meets in Petrograd.
Jan. 19.	The Bolsheviki dissolve the Russian Assembly.
Jan. 28.	Revolution begins in Finland; fighting between "White Guards" and "Red Guards."
Jan. 28-29.	Big German air raid on London.
Jan. 30.	German air raid on Paris.
Feb. 1.	Germany and Austria-Hungary recognize the Ukrainian Republic.
Feb. 3.	American troops officially announced to be on the Lorraine front near Toul.
Feb. 5.	British transport Tuscan in with 2179 American troops on board torpedoed and sunk; 211 American soldiers lost.
Feb. 9.	Ukrainia makes peace with Germany.
Feb. 10.	The Bolsheviki order demobilization of the Russian army. Formal announcement that Russia was no longer a participant in the war.
Feb. 14.	Bolo Pasha condemned for treason against France; executed Apr. 16.
Feb. 17.	Cossack General Kaledines commits suicide. Collapse of Cossack revolt against the Bolsheviki.
Feb. 18-Mar. 3.	Russo-German armistice declared at an end by Germany; war resumed. Germans occupy Dvinsk,Minsk, and other cities.
Feb. 21.	German troops land in Finland.
Feb. 21.	British cilia ure Jericho.
Feb. 23.	Turkish troops drive back the Russians in the northeast (Trebizond taken Feb. 26, Erzermn Mar. 14).
Mar. 2.	German and Ukrainian troops defeat the Bolsheviki near Kief in Ukrainian.
Mar. 3.	Bolsheviki sign peace treaty with Germany at Brest-Litovsk. Ratified by Soviet Congress at Moscow, Mar. 15.
Mar. 7.	Finland and Germany sign a treaty of peace.
Mar. 10.	Announcement that American troops are occupying trenches at four different points on French soil.
Mar. 11.	Great Gerrnan air raid on Paris, by more than fifty planes.
Mar. 13.	German troops occupy Odessa on Black Sea.
Mar. 21–Apr. 1.	First German drive of the year, on 50-mile front, extending to Montdidier.
Apr. 5.	British and Japanese armies landed at Vladivostok.
Apr.9–18.	Second German drive, on a 30-mile front between Ypres and Arras.
Apr. 14.	Foch commander in chief.
May 6.	Rumania signs peace treaty with the Central Powers.
May 7.	Nicaragua declares war on Germany and her allies.
May 9-10.	British naval force attempts to block Ostend harbor.
May 14.	Caucasus proclaims itself an independent state; but the Turks overrun the southern part, and take Baku Sept. 19.
May 24.	Costa Rica declares war on the Central Powers.
May 25–June.	German submarines appear off American coast and sink 19 coast-wise vessels, including Porto Rican liner Carolina, with loss of 16 lives.
May 27–June 1.	Third German drive, capturing the Chemin des Dames and reaching the Marne River east of Chilteau-Thierry. American marines and French in Chilteau-Thierry sector.
May 28.	American forces near Montdidier capture village of Cantigny and hold it against numerous counter-attacks.
May 31.	United States transport President Lincoln, sunk by U-boat while on her way to the United States ; 23 lives lost.
June 9–16.	Fourth German drive, on 20-mile front east of Montdidier, makes only small gains.
June 10.	Italian naval forces sink one Austrian dreadnought and damage another in the Adriatic.
June 11.	American marines take 8011 prisoners in Bellew Wood.
June 14.	Turkish troops occupy Tabriz, Persia.
June 15.	Official announcement that there are 800,000 American troops in France.
June 15-July 6.	Austrian offensive against Italy fails with heavy losses.
June 21.	Official statement that American forces hold 39 miles of French front in six sectors.
July 10.	Italians and French take Herat in Albania.
July 13.	Czecho-Slovak troops occupy Irkutsk in Siberia.
July 15-18.	Anglo-American forces occupy strategic positions on the Murman Coast in northwestern Russia.
July 15-18.	Fifth German drive extends three miles south of the Marne, but east of Rheims makes no gain.
July 16.	Ex-Tsar Nicholas executed by Bolshevik.
July 18-Aug. 4.	Second battle of the Marne, beginning with Foch's counter, offensive between Soissons and Château-Thierry. French and Americans drive the Germans back from the Marne nearly to the Aisne.
July 27.	American troops arrive on the Italian front.
July 31.	President Wilson takes over telegraph and telephone systems.
Aug. 2.	Allies occupy Archangel in northern Russia.
Aug. 8-Sept.	Allies attack successfully near Montdidier, and continue the drive until the Germans are back at the Hindenburg Line giving up practically all the ground they had gained this year.
Aug. 15.	American troops land in eastern Siberia.
Sept. 3.	The United States recognizes the Czecho-Slovak government.
Sept. 12-13.	Americans take the St. Mihiel salient near Metz.
Sept.15.	Allied army under General D'Esperey begins campaign against Bulgarians.
Sept. 16.	President Wilson receives an Austrian proposal for a peace conference, and refuses it.
Sept. 22.	Great victory of British and Arabs over Turks in Palestine.
Sept. 26.	Americans begin a drive in the Meuse valley.
Sept. 30.	Bulgaria withdraws from the war.
Oct. 1.	St. Quentin (on the Hindenburg Line) taken by the French.
Oct 1.	Damascus captured by the British.
Oct 3.	King Ferdinand of Bulgaria abdicates.
Oct 3.	Lens taken by the British.
Oct 4.	Germany asks President Wilson for an armistice and peace negotiations; other notes Oct. 12, 20, etc. similar notes from Austria-Hungary Oct. 7, and from Turkey Oct. 12. Wilson replies Oct. 8, 14, 18, 23.
Oct 7.	Beirut taken by a French fleet.
Oct 8.	Cambrai taken by the British.
Oct 13.	Laon taken by the French.
Oct 17	Ostend taken by the Belgians.
Oct 17	Lille taken by the British.
Oct. 24-Nov. 4.	Allied forces (chiefly Italians) under General Diaz win a great victory on the Italian front.
Oct. 26.	Aleppo taken by the British.
Oct. 31.	Turkey surrenders.
Nov. 1.	Serbian troops enter Belgrade after regaining nearly all of Serbia.
Nov. 3.	Trieste and Trent occupied by Italian forces.
Nov. 4.	Surrender of Austria-Hungary.
Nov. 5.	President Wilson notifies Germany that General Foch has been authorized by the United States and the Allies to communicate the terms of an armistice.
Nov. 6.	Mutiny of German sailors at Kiel; followed by mutinies, revolts, and revolutions at other German cities.
Nov. 7.	Americans take Sedan.
Nov. 9.	British take Maubeuge.
Nov. 9.	Abdication of the German emperor William II and the crown prince; they flee to Holland Nov. 10.
Nov. 11.	Armistice signed.