World War 1 Timeline

[Jay Edward (deceased)]

August, 1914
 1   Outbreak of World War I; German declaration of war on Russia
 4   Wilson proclaims US neutrality
14   Battle of the Frontiers begins
26   Opening of the Battle of Tannenberg

September, 1914
 5    Opening of the First Battle of the Marne
14    Opening of the First Battle of the Aisne; start of trench warfare

December, 1914
 8    Battle of the Falkland Islands
21    First German air raid on Britain

January, 1915
18    Japan's Twenty-One Demands on China

February, 1915
 4    Germany announces "war zone" in British waters
19    British begin naval action against the Dardanelles

March, 1915
 1  American citizen dies in sinking of first passenger ship, the British liner, Falaba
Capt. George Van Horn Moseley of War College Division suggests a plan for universal military training to Chief of Staff
11  Britain announces blockade of German ports

April, 1915
22   Second Battle of Ypres begins
25   British landing on Gallipoli Peninsula
26   France, Russia, Italy and Britain conclude secret Treaty of London

May, 1915
 2   Opening of great Austro-German offensive in Galicia (Gorlice-Tarnow)
 7   Lusitanian sunk by German U-boat off Irish coast
 9   Opening of the Second Battle of Artois on western front
23   Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary
25   Asquith reorganizes his liberal ministry as a coalition

June, 1915
29   First of twelve battles of the Isonzo begins on the Italian front

July, 1915
21   Wilson sends notes to Secretary of War Garrison and Secretary of Navy Daniels directing them to draft a defense program

August, 1915
19   Two Americans die in sinking of Arabic off Ireland
21   The Washington Post carries story that General Staff is
       planning to send a force of 1 million soldiers overseas
24   Baltimore Sun carries story that General Staff is planning to send a force of 1 million soldiers overseas
       War College Division denies allegations in Washington Post and Baltimore Sun
       American General Staff, in response to request from Secretary of War Lindley M. Garrison, devotes much of the year to preparing the "Statement of a Proper Military Policy for the United States"

September, 1915
22   Opening of Second Battle of Champagne on western front

October, 1915
3-5  Anglo-French force lands at Salonika, Greece

December, 1915
 4    Henry Ford's peace ship, Oskar II, begins voyage to Europe
15   Haig becomes Commander-in-Chief of British Expeditionary Force

January, 1916
27   Wilson launches nationwide whistle-stop campaign to generate support for Preparedness and the Continental Army with three speeches in New York
31   War College Division warns its civilian employees "to engage in no discussion whatever concerning the progress of the European War"

February, 1916
 3   Wilson delivers final speech of Preparedness campaign in Saint Louis
21   Beginning of ten month Battle of Verdun
24   Acting Secretary of War Hugh L. Scott asks United States War College Division if any plans exist in the event "of a complete rupture" with Germany

March, 1916
 9    Pancho Villa's raid on Columbus, New Mexico
15   Pershing starts pursuit of Villa into Mexico
24   French passenger ship, Sussex, torpedoed

April, 1916
 4   American naval and military attaches in Paris and London
      draft plan for mobilizing US shipping to carry an American army to Europe, but their plan is ignored (this plan did not
      survive, but is referred to in a memorandum of 14 November 1916, Record of the Joint Army and Navy Board)
24   Rebellion begins in Ireland on Easter Monday
27  Marshal Lord Kitchener, British Secretary of State for War, asking for American military participation in Europe

May, 1916
 4    Germany renounces submarine policy�"Sussex Pledge"
19   Britain and France conclude the Sykes-Picot Agreement
31   Opening of Battle of Jutland

June, 1916
 3    National Defense Act authorizes five-year expansion of US Army, but at the same time drastically limits size and authority of US War Department General Staff
 4   Beginning of the Brusilov offensive against Austria-Hungary

July, 1916
 1    Battle of the Somme opens; British suffer approximately 60,000 casualties on the first day
29   US Marines land in Haiti
30   Black Tom Island munitions plant destroyed; German sabotage suspected

August, 1916
31   Germany suspends submarine assaults

September, 1916
15   Tanks introduced on the Somme battlefield by the British

October, 1916
15   Germany resumes U-boat attacks under search and destroy rules

November, 1916
7-9  Wilson wins reelection, which was in doubt until the
       California returns
28   First Germany airplane raid on London
29   US occupation of Santa Domingo proclaimed

December, 1916
 5   Asquith resigns as Prime Minister; replaced by Lloyd George
12   Germans issue peace note suggesting compromise peace
18   Wilson requests statement of war objectives from warring nations in peace note; British offended by implication that their war aims are no more moral than Germany's

January, 1917
 9    German leaders decide to launch unrestricted U-boat warfare
10   Allies state war objectives in response to Wilson's peace note of 18 December
31  Germany announces resumption of unrestricted U-boat warfare

February, 1917
 1   Germany resumes unrestricted U-boat warfare
 3   US severs relations with Germany
 5   British General Staff estimates that no more than 250,00 American soldiers could be in Europe even after a year
13  Chief of British Imperial General Staff Sir William Roberston expresses grave doubts about American fighting capabilities
24  Great Britain releases Zimmermann Note to US
26  Wilson requests authority from Congress to arm US merchant ships

March, 1917
 1  Zimmermann Note released to press by State Department; Armed Ship Bill passes House
 4   Senate adjourns without passing Armed Ship Bill; "Little
     group of willful men" successfully filibuster
11   British capture Baghdad
12   Wilson announces arming of merchant ships by executive order
15  Culmination of "February Revolution"; Nicholas II abdicates
20  Wilson's Cabinet votes unanimously for war
29  War College Division issues report:  Calls for large force of between 500,000 and 1,000,000 -- and optimistically estimates that at least ten months would be required to ship a force of 500,000 to Europe once it was raised and trained putting the earliest effects of US involvement in mid- to late-1918; openly plans to send US force overseas, but argues against offensives through Macedonia or Holland; repeats opposition to sending an untrained American army overseas; Wilson publicly calls for a national army to be "raised and maintained exclusively by selective draft"

April, 1917
     German submarine campaign exacts heaviest damage of war:  881,027 gross tons, 500,000 of which are British
 2   Wilson delivers war address to Congress at 8:32 pm
 6   US declares war on Germany
10  Sir William Robertson advocates to Haig the dispatch of immediate American expeditionary force "to get some Americans killed and so get the country to take a real interest in the war"
16  Lenin arrives in Russia
 
May, 1917
18   Selective Service Act signed by Wilson
28   Pershing leaves New York harbor for France aboard Baltic

June, 1917
 7   General Staff issues plan to ship American forces at a rate of 120,000 per month beginning in August; this rate of dispatch would not be realized until April 1918
14  Wilson, in his Flag Day Address, declares that the initial American Expeditionary Force will be followed by more soldier as quickly as possible, and that these soldiers will not be held in the US for training
15  Espionage Act
26  First US troops (1st Division) arrive in France

July, 1917
 2   Pershing makes first request for a US army of 1,000,000
11  Pershing suggests that figure of 1,000,000 is only initial
      size, and a total force of 3,000,000 should be the goal
31  Passchendaele offensive (Third Battle of Ypres) opens in
     Flanders

September, 1917
 1   Pershing establishes his general headquarters at Chaumont

October, 1917
 3   War Revenue Act; graduated income tax authorized
24   Austro-German breakthrough at Caporetto on Italian front

November, 1917
 7  Bolsheviks seize power in Russia
 Allied Supreme War Council created at Rapollo, Italy
20   British launch surprise tank attack at Cambrai

December, 1917
 7   United States and Austria-Hungary at war
 9   Jerusalem captured by British
22   Central Powers and Soviets open peace negotiations at Brest-Litovsk

January, 1918
 8   Wilson's Fourteen Points speech to joint session of Congress

February, 1918
11   Wilson's Four Principles speech to joint session of Congress

March, 1918
 3   Soviet Russia and Central Powers make peace with Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
21   Germans launch first of their great 1918 assaults against British (Battle of Picardy)
26   Doullens Agreement gives General Foch "co-ordinating
       authority" over the western front

April, 1918
 9   Germans launch second assault of their 1918 offensive (Battle of the Lys) in British sector of Armentieres
14   Foch appointed Commander-in-Chief of Allied forces on western front

May, 1918
16   Sedition Act; amendment to Espionage Act of 1917
25   German U-boats make their first appearance in US waters
27   Third phase of 1918 German offensive (Third Battle of the
       Aisne) begins in French sector along Chemin des Dames
28   28th Regiment of US 1st Division goes into action at town of Cantigny

June, 1918
 6   2nd Division captures Bouresches and southern part of Belleau Wood
 9   Opening of fourth phase of 1918 German offensive (Battle of the Matz) in French sector between Noyon and Montdider

July, 1918
 2   Allied Supreme War Council supports intervention in Siberia
 6   Wilson agrees to American intervention in Siberia
15   Opening of last phase of German offensive (Second Battle of the Marne)
18   Allied counterattack seizes strategical initiative from
       Germans; nine US divisions participate

August, 1918
 3   Large-scale Allied intervention begins at Vladivostok
 8   Battle of Amiens opens; Ludendorf's "Black Day" for German army
10  1st US Army organized under Pershing

September, 1918
 4    American troops land at Archangel in North Russia
12   United States launches St. Mihiel offensive
19   Opening of British offensive in Palestine (Battle of Megiddo)
26   Meuse-Argonne offensive opens; greatest offensive of war for US forces
29   Bulgaria signs armistice

October, 1918
3-4  Germans and Austrians send notes to Wilson requesting an armistice
12   Pershing forms 2nd Army under command of General Bullard
21   Germany ceases unrestricted U-boat warfare

November, 1918
 3   Mutiny of the German fleet at Kiel
 5   Congressional elections result in Republican control of Congress
11   Armistice goes into effect at 11 AM, the eleventh day of the eleventh
       month
18   Wilson announces that he will attend peace conference personally

December, 1918
13   Wilson aboard the liner George Washington arrives at Brest, France

January, 1919
 5   Sparticist (Communist) revolt begins in Berlin
18   Peace negotiations start at Paris
25   Peace conference accepts principle of League of Nations

February, 1919
 6   Germany National Assembly meets at Weimar
14   Draft Convenant of League of Nations completed
24   Wilson arrives at Boston aboard George Washington
28   Lodge starts campaign against League of Nations

March, 1919
 4   Founding of Comintern (Third International) at Moscow
13   Admiral Kolchak begins his offensive against Bolsheviks in
       Russian Civil War
14   Wilson returns to Paris after a month's absence

April, 1919
 3    Wilson becomes sick with influenza
 7    Allies evacuate Odessa
23   Wilson appeals directly to Italians in an effort to gain their support for his views on peace settlement
24   Italian Premier Orlando walks out of peace conference over Fiume issue

May, 1919
 6   Peace conference disposes of Germany's colonies
 7   Treaty of Versailles submitted to German delegation

June, 1919
21   German High Seas Fleet scuttled at Scapa Flow
28   Treaty of Versailles signed in Hall of Mirrors at Versailles

[gitano]

George Santayana said: “Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it”. I wish it were not true.
 
Thanks for the history lesson. I probably learned more from that post than I did in a semester of US History in high school.
 
Paul