A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF MAJOR EVENTS IN THE GREAT WAR
End of the War
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 Dardenelles
March, 1915
1 American citizen dies in sinking of first passenger ship, the
British liner, Falaba
Capt. George Van Horn Moseley of War College Divison 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 Lusitania 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 policyŃ"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 250,000
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 soldiers
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