Principal Events of The Great War

This information on the national and international events comes mainly from an unlikely source: a commemorative book celebrating the Silver Jubilee of King George V in 1935 – ‘The Story of 25 Eventful Years in Pictures’ (Odhams Press, London). Interspersed are other notes linking the overall picture with local happenings.

4^th August 1914: German invasion of Belgium.  British Ultimatum to Germany.  War Declared.  Sir John Jellicoe assumes command of Grand Fleet in the North Sea.  Sir John French appointed to command Expeditionary Force

5^th August 1914: Earl Kitchener of Khartoum appointed Secretary of War

8^th August 1914: British Expeditionary Force lands in France

10^th August 1914: Liege occupied by Germans

10^th August 1914: France declares war on Austria-Hungary

12^th August 1914: Defence of the Realm Act passed

12^th August 1914: Britain declares war on Austria-Hungary

20^th August 1914: German occupation of Brussels

24^th August 1914: Fall of Namur

26^th August 1914: Destruction of Louvain

6^th September 1914: Battle of Marne / Mons (later known as First Battle of Ypres) begins

15^th September 1914: Battle of Aisne begins

24^th September 1914: Trench warfare begins

9^th October 1914: Fall of Antwerp

29^th October 1914: Turkey enters the War

29^th October 1914: Lord Fisher appointed First Sea Lord

5^th November 1914: Britain declares war on Turkey

14^th November 1914: Death of Earl Roberts at St Omar

17^th November 1914: Issue of £350,000,000 War Loan

23^rd November 1914: British squadron bombarded Zeebrugge

16^th December 1914: German bombardment of Hartlepool, Scarborough and Whitby

24^th December 1914: Air raid on Dover

25^th December 1914: Informal Christmas truce – hostilities resumed at midnight

19^th January 1915: Zeppelin bombs dropped on Yarmouth

2^nd February 1915: Turks defeated on the Suez Canal

11^th February 1915: British aeroplanes and seaplanes bombard Bruges and Ostend

18^th February 1915: German blockade of Great Britain begins

19^th February 1915: Bombardment of the Dardanelles begins

21^st February 1915: German aeroplane raid on Essex

10^th March 1915: British take Neuve Chapelle

20^th March 1915: Air raid on Deal

14^th April 1915: Air raid on Tyneside

16^th April 1915: Zeppelin raid on Lowestoft, Maldon, etc

18^th April 1915: British take Hill 60

23^rd April 1915: Rupert Brooks dies, aged 27

25^th April 1915: Allied forces land in Gallipoli

30^th April 1915: Zeppelin bombs on Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds

7^th May 1915: Lusitania torpedoed

10^th May 1915: German bombs on Southend

17^th May 1915: Zeppelin raid on Ramsgate

19^th May 1915: All racing suspended (except at Newmarket) for the duration of War

23^rd May 1915: Italy declares war on Austria

25^th May 1915: Coalition Ministry announced by Mr Asquith. Mr Lloyd George: Minister of Munitions

26^th May 1915: Triumph torpedoed

27^th May 1915: Zeppelin raid on Southend

31^st May 1915: Zeppelin raid on London

6^th June 1915: Zeppelin raid on East Coast

7^th June 1915: Zeppelin destroyed by Lieut. Warneford, R.N.

9^th June 1915: Ministry of Munitions established

14^th July 1915: National Registration Act passed

3^rd August 1915: King presents first colours to Welsh Guards

5^th August 1915: Fall of Warsaw

10^th August 1915: Air raid on East Coast

13^th August 1915: Another raid on East Coast

15^th August 1915: National Register taken throughout Great Britain

19^th August 1915: White Star liner Arabic torpedoed

20^th August 1915: Italy declares war on Turkey

4^th September 1915: The liner Hesperian torpedoed

7^th – 13^th September 1915: Zeppelin raids on East Coast

8^th September 1915: Air raid on London

19^th September 1915: Bulgaria mobilises

25^th September 1915: Beginning of Great Allied offensive on Western Front

5^th October 1915: Allied forces land in Salonika

11^th October 1915: Lord Derby, new Director of Recruiting

12^th October 1915: Nurse Cavell executed at Ghent

13^th October 1915: Zeppelin raid on London and Eastern Counties

14^th October 1915: Bulgarian armies attack Serbia

15^th October 1915: Great Britain declares war on Bulgaria

16^th October 1915: France declares war on Bulgaria

19^th October 1915: Italy declares war on Bulgaria

12^th December 1915: Lt.-Gen. Sir William Robertson appointed Chief of Imperial General Staff

15^th December 1915: Sir Douglas Haig succeeds Sir John French in France

19^th December 1915: Withdrawal begins from Anzac and Suvla Bay

5^th January 1916: Conscription Bill introduced

8^th January 1916: Evacuation of Gallipoli completed

11^th January 1916: Mr Herbert Samuel becomes Home Secretary

14^th January 1916: Lord Chelmsford made Viceroy of India

23^rd January 1916: Aeroplane raid on Kent

31^st January 1916: Zeppelin raid on East Coast. Six or seven Zeppelins over Midlands

10^th February 1916: Compulsory military service for single men aged 19-30

18^th February 1916: Germans in Cameroons surrender

20^th February 1916: Aeroplane raid on Kent

21^st February 1916: Battle of Verdun begun

2^nd March 1916: Military Service Act comes into operation

8^th March 1916: Germany declares war on Portugal

19^th March 1916: Seaplane raid. Deal, Dover, Margate and Ramsgate

27^th March 1916: In Paris, first War Conference of all the Allies

31^st March 1916: Bombs dropped over Blackmore

1^st April 1916: Zeppelin brought down in Thames estuary

14^th April 1916: British aeroplanes raid Constantinople

19^th April 1916: Field Marshall von der Goltz dies

29^th April 1916: Fall of Kut after resistance of 143 days. General Townshend surrenders with 9000 troops

21^st May 1916: Summer Time Act comes into operation

25^th May 1916: Royal Assent to Military Service Act No. 2

31^st May 1916: Naval battle off Jutland

5^th June 1916: Lord Kitchener drowned in H.M.S. Hampshire

5^th June 1916: General von Moltke dies

1^st July 1916: Anglo-French offensive on the Somme

6^th July 1916: Mr Lloyd George appointed Secretary of State for War

9^th July 1916: Mr E. S. Montagu appointed Minister of Munitions

26^th July 1916: Capt. Chas. Fryatt of G.E.R. Steamer Brussels sentenced to death by Germans.

30^th July 1916: Zeppelin raids on South-east Counties

9^th August 1916: Zeppelin raid. Eastern England

27^th August 1916: Rumania declares war on Austro-Hungary

28^th August 1916: Germany declares war on Rumania

30^th August 1916: Field Marshal von Hindenburg appointed Chief of German Staff

3^rd September 1916: Schutte-Lanz Airship brought down at Cuffley

15^th September 1916: First use of tanks

23^rd September 1916: Two Zeppelins brought down in Essex; at Great Burstead and Great Wigborough”

1^st October 1916: Zeppelin raid; one brought down at Potters Bar

29^th November 1916: Sir John Jellicoe appointed First Sea Lord and Admiral Sir D Beatty in command of the Grand Fleet

5^th December 1916: Mr Asquith resigns

7^th December 1916: Mr Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister

11^th December 1916: M Briand forms French War Ministry

1^st January 1917: Sir D Haig created a Field-Marshal

9^th January 1917: Allies reply to President Wilson’s Note

16^th January 1917: Death of Admiral George Dewey

3^rd February 1917: U.S. breaks relations with Germany

24^th February 1917: Gen Maude captures Kut-el-Amara

25^th February 1917: German retreat on the Ancre

28^th February 1917: British capture Gommecourt

8^th March 1917: Count Zeppelin dies aged 78

11^th March 1917: Gen. Maude captures Baghdad

17^th March 1917: British capture Bapaume

18^th March 1917: Ramsgate and Broadstairs shelled from the sea

26^th March 1917: British attack Turks at Gaza

29^th March 1917: General Foch takes over Command of the whole of the Allied Armies

5^th April 1917: U.S.A. declares war on Germany

7^th April 1917: Cuba declares war on Germany

9^th April 1917: British advance and capture Vimy Ridge

16^th April 1917: Food strikes in Germany

26^th April 1917: German naval raid on Ramsgate

12^th May 1917: Men between 41 and 50 accepted for the army

15^th May 1917: General Petain appointed Commander of Northern and North Eastern French Armies on Western Front

25^th May 1917: Aeroplanes raid Folkestone

7^th June 1917: British capture Messines-Wytschaete Ridge

13^th June 1917: Aeroplanes raid London

26^th June 1917: U.S. Troops in France

29^th June 1917: General Allenby appointed Commander in Palestine

7^th July 1917: Aeroplanes raid London and Margate; 97 killed, 193 injured

21^st July 1917: Russian retreat

28^th July 1917: Tank Corps formed

11^th August 1917: Rt. Hon. Arthur Henderson M.P. retires from War Cabinet

3^rd September 1917: Fall of Riga to Germans

14^th September 1917: German submarine shells Scarborough

17^th September 1917: 9d Loaf Order in force

1^st October 1917: Aeroplane raids on London

31^st October 1917: General Allenby captures Beersheba

6^th November 1917: Canadians capture Passchendaele

17^th November 1917: General Allenby enters Jaffa

17^th November 1917: Naval engagement in Heligoland Bight

18^th November 1917: General Maude dies

1^st December 1917: German East Africa cleared of German forces

10^th December 1917: General Allenby captures Jerusalem

15^th December 1917: Russo-German armistice for month’s truce signed at Brest-Litovsk

6^th February 1918: Representation of the People Bill receives Royal Assent

18^th February 1918: Hostilities between Germany and Russia re-commence

18^th February 1918: Lord Northcliffe appointed Director of Propaganda in enemy countries

21^st February 1918: British troops occupy Jericho

25^th February 1918: Rationing of meat, butter and margarine comes into force in London and Home Counties

13^th March 1918: Odessa occupied by Germans: Petrograd evacuated

18^th March 1918: Germans repulsed on Belgian front

21^st March 1918: Great German attack from Scarpe to Oise

22^nd March 1918: General Allenby crosses the Jordan

23^rd March 1918: Paris shelled by Big Bertha

16^th April 1918: General Foch appointed Generalissimo of the Allied Armies in France

23^rd April 1918: Successful Naval Raid on Zebrugge under Vice-Admiral Roger Keyes

7^th May 1918: Rumania signs “Peace of Bucharest”

3^rd June 1918: Postage rate raised to 1½d for letter, 1d for postcards

23^rd June 1918: General Austrian defeat

10^th July 1918: Mr J R Clynes appointed Food Controller

6^th August 1918: General Foch created Marshal of France

15^th August 1918: British troops cross the Ancre

30^th August 1918: British cross the Somme

20^th September 1918: General Allenby occupies Nazareth

26^th September 1918: Franco-American victory on the Meuse

27^th September 1918: British break the Hindenburg line at Cambrai

13^th October 1918: German retreat on a 100-mile front

30^th October 1918: Conference at Versailles of Allied Chiefs

31^st October 1918: Government Bill making women eligible for Parliament introduced in House of Commons

11^th November 1918: Armistice with Germany signed. Hostilities ceased at 11am