World War I

See also Weapons (particularly for the use of tanks and poisonous gases).

Timeline

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand		28 June 1914
Austro–Hungary declares war on Serbia (after the latter declined to accept the former's demands in full)		28 July 1914
Russia declares "partial mobilisation" against Austro–Hungary, in support of Serbia		29 July 1914
Russia declares "general mobilisation" against Germany, after failing to receive an "appropriate" response over its partial mobilisation against Austro–Hungary		29 July 1914
Germany declares war on Russia		1 August 1914
Germany attacks Luxembourg		2 August 1914
Germany declares war on France, after failing to receive an "appropriate" response to its request that France remain neutral		3 August 1914
Germany declares war on Belgium, after Belgium refuses to permit German troops to cross its borders into France; Britain declares war on Germany, in support of Belgium (under the terms of the Treaty of London, 1839), and because of concern over German control of Belgium's channel ports		4 August 1914
Austro-Hungary invades Serbia		4 August 1914
Battle of Tannenberg: a decisive German victory over Russia		26–30 August 1914
First Battle of the Marne: a decisive Allied victory over Germany		5-12 September 1914
Gallipoli (a failed Allied attempt to invade the Ottoman Empire) begins		25 April 1915
Allied forces evacuate Gallipoli		9 Jan 1916
Battle of Jutland: WWI's only major naval battle, with no decisive conclusion		9 January 1916
Battle of Verdun (Germany's attempt to drive French troops out of their entrenched position on the eastern front) begins		21 February 1916
Battle of the Somme – launched in part to relieve the French under siege in Verdun – begins; 17,000 British troops are killed, and 34,000 injured, on the first day		1 July 1916
Battle of the Somme ends with an Allied victory, but at the cost of 600,000 casualties; the British Empire suffers the greatest number of casualties in its history		18 November 1916
Germany calls off the siege of Verdun, after what proved to be the deadliest battle of the war		20 December 1916
Battle of Arras: British troops attack German defences on the Western Front, making major gains on the first day, but the battle ends in stalemate after 5 weeks, with almost 160,000 British and about 125,000 German casualties		9 April – 16 May 1917
Passchendaele (3rd Battle of Ypres – an Allied attempt to force a German retreat from Flanders) begins		31 July 1917
Battle of Caporetto – Germany's effort to support ailing Austro–Hungary by making an example out of Italy – begins; Italian defenders flee for their lives in the face of a surprise poison gas attack		24 October 1917
Passchendaele (3rd Battle of Ypres – an Allied attempt to force a German retreat from Flanders) begins		10 November 1917
Germany calls off its advance into Italy (following the victory at Caporetto) as its supply lines become stretched		12 November 1917
Battle of Cambrai begins: British troops achieve early successes as they surprise German defensive positions by deploying 476 tanks across a 6–mile front		20 November 1917
Battle of Cambrai ends as German forces regain all the lost ground, by using the Stormtrooper assault tactics recently adopted successfully against Russia and Italy – despite the involvment of American forces for the first time		7 December 1917
Second Battle of the Marne: Germany's last major offensive on the Western Front is overwhelmed by a counterattack by French and American forces, including several hundred tanks, suffering severe casualties		15 July – 6 August 1918
Battle of Amiens: the Allies counter–attack; 31 combined divisions of British, French and American troops advance 7 miles on the first day alone; the battle ends four days later as German forces surrender en masse. This begins the Hundred Days Offensive that would lead to the end of hostilities, but at the cost of nearly 2 million casualties: 785,733 German and over a million Allied, including 127,000 Americans		8–12 August 1918
The war ends with an armistice signed on behalf of the Allies and Germany, in a carriage of Marshal Foch's private train in the Forest of Compiègne, in Picardy (signed between 05:12 and 05:20, to take effect at 11:00)		11 November 1918
Treaty of Versailles: ends WWI and establishes the League of Nations (exactly 5 years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand)		28 June 1919

People

British field marshal, leader of the Expeditionary Force that captured Palestine from the Turks in 1918		Edmund (later Viscount) Allenby
Vice–Admiral who caught the German fleet by surprise (after signals had been intercepted) and drew it towards the main British fleet under Jellicoe, at Jutland		Sir David Beatty
British nurse executed in Brussels by German troops in 1915 for helping British prisoners to escape		Edith Cavell
Austrian prince – heir presumptive to the throne of Austro–Hungary – whose assassination in Sarajevo in June 1914 led the Central Powers (Germany, Austro–Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria) to declare war on the Entente Powers (Russia, France and Great Britain) – the latter supporting Serbia – thus starting the First World War		Archduke Franz Ferdinand
French general chosen as supreme commander of the Allied armies, 1918; accepted Germany's request for an armistice 11 November 1918		Ferdinand Foch
Commander–in–Chief of the British Expeditionary Force for the first 18 months of the war, but fell out with Kitchener and was replaced by Douglas Haig; for the rest of the war he was Commander–in–Chief, Home Forces		Sir John French
Took command of Manfred von Richthofen's Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG 1) squadron April 1918, after the death in a flying accident of Wilhelm Reinhard who had taken command following Richthofen's death three months earlier		Hermann Göring
British Foreign Secretary at the outbreak of WWI: went into opposition and accepted a peerage following the collapse of Asquith's government in 1916		Sir Edward Grey
Commander–in–Chief of British forces on the Western Front from December 1915, when he replaced John French; criticised at the time, and nicknamed 'Butcher', for the two million British casualties under his command		Douglas Haig
Dutch "exotic dancer" and courtesan, real name Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, found guilty of spying for Germany and executed by the French 1917		Mata Hari
Commander of the British fleet at Jutland		Sir John Jellicoe
British Secretary of State for War, from 1914 until his death in June 1916 when HMS Hampshire was torpedoed off Orkney		Earl Kitchener
German Quartermaster General, and effectively deputy to Hindenburg, 1916–18; his memoirs promulgated the "stab–in–the–back myth" – claiming that German forces in WWI had been betrayed by the German public (others blamed the Socialists) – often cited as an important factor in Hitler's rise to power		Erich (von) Ludendorff
Commander of US Expeditionary Forces – nicknamed Black Jack; later had a series of medium–range ballistic missiles named after him		General John J. Pershing
Became a national hero in France for his role in the successful defence of Verdun, Feb to Dec 1918		Marshal Philippe Petain
Commander of Germany's 11th Chasing Squadron – known as his 'Flying Circus' – from January 1917 until his death in April 1918; officially credited with 80 air combat victories		Manfred von Richthofen
Commander of the German High Sea fleet at Jutland		Admiral Scheer
Founded the modern German navy; planned the U–boat campaign of WWI		Alfred von Tirpitz
The War that will End War was the title of a book, based on a series of newspaper articles (published in 1914) by		H. G. Wells
German foreign secretary, from November 1916 to August 1917: gave his name to a telegram that was sent in January 1917 to Germany's ambassador in Mexico, proposing a military alliance between Germany and Mexico in the event of the USA entering World War I against Germany; the telegram was intercepted and decoded by British intelligence, and helped to generate support for the US declaration of war on Germany in April 1917		Arthur Zimmermann

Other

Germany's allies:

Austro–Hungary

Turkey

Bulgaria

Nickname of the 42cm kurze Marinekanone (short marine canon) 14 L/12, or Minenwerfer–Gerät (mine launcher device) – a siege howitzer used by the German army during World War I – one of the largest artillery pieces ever fielded		Big Bertha
City (now in Belarus) that gave its name to the treaty signed there in March 1918, between Russia and Germany, that ended Russia's involvement in World War I		Brest–Litovsk
Nov–Dec 1917: British offensive that featured the first successful use of tanks		Cambrai
Forest in Picardy, northern France, where the Armistice between the Allies and Germany was signed on 11 November 1918, in a carriage of Marshal Foch's private train		Forest of Compiègne Compiegne
Colloquial name given to the memorial plaque issued to the next of kin of all service personnel killed in the war, or who died as a result of it		Dead man's penny
Mountain range in north–eastern Italy (then part of the Austro–Hungarian Empire): scene of intense fighting during WWI, when a system of via ferratas (protected climbing routes, utilising steel cables and ladders) was built, and (after restoration) is still in use today		Dolomites
Unsuccessful attempt by the Allied Powers (Britain and France) to weaken the Ottoman Empire, by taking control of the straits that provided a supply route to their ally Russia; begun in February 1915, the campaign was abandoned and the invasion force withdrawn in January 1916		Gallipoli (a.k.a. the Dardanelles)
Central target of a German naval bombardment on 6 December 1914, aimed at its shipyards; hit by 1150 shells, 117 killed (Whitby and Scarborough were also affected)		Hartlepool
Extensive line of defences in North–Eastern France, built winter 1916–17 (the original Siegfried Line was a part of it)		Hindenburg Line
The only major sea battle of WWI, and arguably the largest in history (31 May – 1 June, 1916; involved 250 ships – 151 British, 99 German)		Jutland
Known to the Germans as die Skagerrakschlacht (the Battle of the Skagerrak)
September 1915: British forces under Douglas Haig broke through German lines but were forced to retreat; described by Robert Graves in his autobiography		Loos
P&O flagship, torpedoed off Ireland in 1915 – leading to a significant increase in US public support for entering the War		Lusitania
Memorial to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who died in the vicinity of Ypres in World War I, and whose graves are unknown – unveiled in 1927, on the site of a historical fortification, and named after the town to which the road that passes through it leads		Menin Gate
First battle fought by British troops in WWI, during which they were (allegedly) protected by an angel		Mons
The Third Battle of Ypres (31 July to 10 Nov 1917) is better known as (after the village near Ypres around which it was centred; the battle ended when the Canadian Corps captured the village)		Passchendaele
English name for the strip of land separating East Prussia from the rest of Germany, granted to Poland after WWI		Polish Corridor
Natural harbour in Orkney, used as a major British naval base in World Wars I and II; the German fleet was scuttled there in 1919		Scapa Flow
Country that suffered most deaths, as a percentage of population (around 1 million, from a population of 4.5 million)		Serbia
Started 1 July 1916 with the bloodiest day in British military history (19,000 dead, 38,000 injured); continued to November and featured the first use of tanks		The Somme
Term coined by the writer Arthur Mee (in The King's England, a series of books published in the 1930s) to refer to the communities that lost no servicemen in WWI		Thankful villages
The longest battle of WWI, fought in north–east France, February to December 1916; approximately 750,000 casualties. Symbolises the horrors of war in Germany and France, as the Somme does in Britain; the saying "Ils ne passeront pas" (They shall not pass – commonly but wrongly attributed to Marshal Pétain) symbolised the defence of		Verdun
Treaty signed on 28 June 1919 (exactly 5 years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand) to end WWI and establish the League of Nations		Versailles
Ridge captured from the Germans by Canadian troops at the start of the Battle of Arras (9–12 April 1917)		Vimy Ridge
Original title of the newspaper produced by British soldiers in the trenches (specifically the 12th Battalion Sherwood Foresters), 1916–18 (other titles were used as the battalion moved to other parts of the Line)		Wipers Times

© Haydn Thompson 2017–24