PARALLEL RECORD OF WAR EVENTS WITHIN THE LEADING COUNTRIES INVOLVED DURING 1914-1918

1915

United States
Great Britain
WESTERN FRONT
Belgium-France
Germany
Austria-Hungary
BALKAN THEATER
Balkans-Turkey-Italy
Russia
Naval Warfare
German Colonies
January .

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Jan. 8. Britain replies to American note on detention of neutral ships. 

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Jan. 14. French driven across Aisne River, east of Soissons, after a week's battle. 

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Jan. 4. French capture heights west of Sennheim and village of Steinbach, Alsace. 

Jan. 2. Russians invade Hungary at four points. .

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Jan. 6. Russia defeats Turks at Sarikamysh, annihilating one whole army corps. 

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Jan. 16. British takes Swakopmund, German West Africa, from the Teutons.

Jan. 25. German armored cruiser Bluecher sunk in North Sea by British squadron in running fight with German fleet.

February

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Feb. 11. America warns Great Britain and Germany not to abuse flag nor to attack United States ships.

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Feb. 16. America protests against German threatened "blockade" of British Isles.

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Feb. 21. American steamship Evelyn sunk by mine.

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Feb. 23. American steamer Carib sunk by mine in North Sea. 

Feb. 2. Great Britain Places all food on contraband list.

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Feb. 4. Colonel Kemp and Boer command of rebels surrender to British forces.

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Feb. 24. Germans add Orkney and Shetland Islands to the war zone.

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Feb. 27. South African union forces, under General Botha, invade German West Africa. 

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Feb. 8. Beginning of battle in East Prussia, ending in Russian defeat.

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Feb. 12. Germans force retirement of Russians in Lotzen district.

Feb. 15. Germans drive Russians out of Pitkupoenen, East Prussia.

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Feb. 18. Germany rejects American protest against threatened sinking of neutral shipping in "war zone" around Great Britain.

Feb. 20. Russians withdraw from Augustowe.

Feb. 22. Von Hindenburg attacked the Russians in the region of the Mazurian Lakes, crushed in their right wing at Gumbinnen and their left at Lyck, and then, converging on their center, virtually destroyed the Russian East Prussian army. taking more than one hundred thousand prisoners and nearly all of their guns, ammunition and equipment. The way for the German advance into Courland was clear.

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Feb. 5. German attack with one hundred thousand men and one hundred batteries of artillery to break through Russian lines at Borjimow fails.

Feb. 10. Deadliest fighting in world's history reported by Petrograd to be taking place in the Carpathians between Austro-German forces and Russians.

Russians abandon Czernowitz, capital of Bukowina. 

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Feb. 3. Anglo-French fleet destroys four forts in the Dardanelles.

Feb. 4. Turks north of Suez routed by British.

Three concerned in murder of Archduke Francis Ferdinand executed.

Feb. 5. Turkish force of 12,000 defeated by British at Suez.

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Feb. 20. Allied fleets bombard Turkish forts in the Dardanelles.

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Feb. 27. Allies destroy Fort Intepe in Dardanelles. 

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Feb. 17. Russia officially admits capture by Germans of Nadworna and gains in northern Poland. 

 
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March 10. Prinz Eitel Friedrich, German auxiliary cruiser, puts into Newport News and announces sinking of American ship William P. Frye.

March. 1. Great Britain declares virtual blockade of German coast.

March 8. Great Britain bars cotton from Germany. 

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March 10. The British take the offensive toward Lille and capture Neuve Chapelle, just north of La Bassee. Nearly the entire British force was employed in this great effort. 

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March 20. Berlin admits Memel, Prussian fort on Baltic, is occupied by Russians. 

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March 22. Przemysl, Austrian fortress in Galicia, surrenders to the Russians.

March 25. Russia begins terrific battle in the Carpathians capturing heights at Lupkow Pass and fifty-seven hundred Austrian prisoners. 

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March 2. Russians take Khopa, Turkish port on Black Sea.

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March 18. Russians take Black Sea port, Archawa.

British battleships Irresistible and Ocean and French battleship Bouvet sunk in Dardanelles.

March 23. Allied troops landed at Gallipoli, Dardanelles. 

March 1. Germans admit defeat by Russians at Przasnysz. .

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March 28. Germans torpedo British steamer Falabo off South Wales, one hundred and twelve passengers being lost.

April

April 5. America demands reparation from Germany for sinking of the William P. Frye.

April 7. German armed cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich interned.

April 12. German ambassador, in note to State Department, Washington, calls upon American people to stop export of arms to Allies.

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April 21. American reply to Von Bernstorff's proposed embargo of arms sent to Berlin. 

  Early in April there was fierce fighting in the St. Mihiel salient, where the Crown Prince time and again had been foiled in his attempts to isolate Verdun. The French took the crest of the hill at Les Eparges, depriving the Germans of a position of great strategic importance which dominated the valley of the Woevre. Fighting raged almost continuously around the Hartsmannsweiler Kopf, which is said to have changed hands some seventy times since the war began.

April 22. Germans won "gas" battle near Ypres. 

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April 9. Germany agrees to compensate owners for sinking of the William P. Frye.

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April 8. Russians capture Smolnik, east of Lupkow Pass, and cut Austrian line. 

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April 25. Allied forces landed on both shores of the Dardanelles. 

   
May

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May 13. President Wilson sends stern note to Germany demanding reparation for loss of American lives on Lusitania and insisting that submarine attacks on merchant vessels carrying non-combatants stop at once.

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May 31. German reply to American note on Lusitania seeks delay by asking for information about status of Cunarder, alleging ship was armed, carried ammunition and Canadian reservists; Washington regards answer as most unsatisfactory. 

      May 2. Von Mackensen achieves a crushing victory against Russians In West Galicia, thirty thousand prisoners being taken.

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May 21. Great battle in western Galicia. Germans gain against the Russian center, but both wings of the Teuton army thrown back.

May 2. French evacuate Rum Kaleh, Dardanelles.

British occupy Maidos, near the Narrows, and Ephesus, Smyrna.

May 4. Turks, after two days' fighting, severely defeated by Russians in Khorl-Dalmon region, Caucasus, thirty-five hundred dead.

Triple Alliance treaty renounced by Italy.

May 12. British battleship Goliath torpedoed and sunk by Turks in Dardanelles, five hundred lives being lost. British submarine penetrates the Straits and sinks three Turkish ships.

May 22. Italy declares war on Austria.

May 24. Italians invade Austria, occupying Caporetto, the heights between the Judrio and the Isonzo, and the towns of Cormions, Cervignano and Terzo.

May 25. Italians north of Trieste capture several small towns.

May 26. Italy declares blockade of Austria.

May 27. British battleship Triumph sunk by Turks in Dardanelles, fifty-four lives being lost; Turkish gunboat also destroyed.

May 28. Great Britain loses battleship Majestic in Dardanelles, forty-five lives being lost.

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May 8. Germans announce capture of Libau, Russian Baltic port. 

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May 7. British liner Lusitania sunk by German submarine off Kinsale, Ireland, more than one thousand persons, including about one hundred Americans being lost.

June

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June 9. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigns.

June 10. President Wilson sends another note to Germany, demanding reparation for Lusitania victims and pledge not to repeat attacks on merchantmen without observing international rules. 

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June 15. Twenty-three French aeroplanes drop two hundred and eighty-five bombs into Karlsruhe, capital of the Grand Duchy of Baden. 

June 2. Austro- German forces recapture Przemysl.

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June 14. Gen. von Mackensen attacks over fortv-three-mile front, capturing Russian positions from Czerniawa, northwest of Mosciska to Lienawa, and taking sixteen thousand six hundred prisoners.

June 15. South of the Lemberg Railway in Galicia the Austro-German force storms the Russian positions on the entire front, driving the Russians across Sadowa, Wisznia and Rudki.

June 21. Austro-Germans capture Rawa Ruska, thirty-two miles northwest of Lemberg, driving Russians back.

June 22. Austro-German forces occupy Lemberg.

June 29. German forces hitherto operating in Galicia cross the Russian frontier and advance northward in Poland. 

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June 3. British advance in Mesopotamia, thirty-three miles north of Karns.

British occupy Amara, Asiatic Turkey, capturing more than two thousand

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June 10. Italians capture Monfalcone, sixteen miles from Trieste.

June 11. Servian troops invade Albania, occupying Elbassan and pushing on in the direction of Durazzo on the Adriatic coast.

June 13. Italians capture Monte Zugna in the Trentinos, four miles northeast of Ala and within sight of Trent. 

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June 18. Austro-German troops occupy, says Vienna, the Russian town of Tarnogrod. 

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June 29. Dominion liner Armenian sunk by Germans, eleven Americans being lost,

June 30. Russians win Baltic naval battle with German fleet, the latter losing one ship and two battleships being damaged in attack on Windau.

July

July 5. Sayville, N. Y., wireless plant, German-owned, taken under control by the Navy Department.

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July 22. Third Lusitania note sent to Berlin. 

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July 5. German Southwest Africa surrendered to British forces under Gen. Botha after a five months' campaign. 

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July 19. Italians report that they have pierced the Austrian front of the Isonzo in three places.

Turkish redoubt and line of trenches at Dardanelles surrender to British. 

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July 14. City of Przasnysz in northern Poland captured, Russian lines near Suwalki stormed,

July 19. Great battle, involving six million men and nine hundred-mile battle line, begun in Russian Poland.

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July 31. Austrians occupy Lublin.

Germans capture Mitau, capital of the Russian province of Courland. 

 
August Aug. 4. British notes on blockade made public.       .

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Aug. 7. New allied army landed in Gallipoli.

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Aug. 25. Russian troops occupy Konarzy Mountains, Caucasus, after hard fighting. 

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Aug. 5. Germans capture Warsaw. Most of Russian army escapes.

Germans occupy Warsaw and Ivangorod.

Aug. 18. Fortress of Kovno captured by Germans and over four hundred cannon and much war material taken, Berlin reports.

Aug. 19. Russian fortress of Novogeorgievsk captured with twenty thousand men and seven hundred cannon.

Aug. 26. Germans occupy Brest-Litovsk, important Russian fortress. 

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Aug. 14. British transport Royal Edward sunk by German submarine in Ægean Sea, nearly one thousand troops and crew being reported lost.

September

Sept. 1. Germany agrees to sink no more liners without warning, von Bernstorff notifies State Department

Sept. 10. Recall of Dr. Dumba. Austrian ambassador, demanded by President Wilson. 

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Sept. 25. Long-expected drive by Entente Allies is begun in Western theater of war. German first-line trenches captured at Hooge Vermelles, Loos, Souchez, Perthes, in general offensive from North Sea to Verdun, twenty thousand unwounded prisoners taken.

Sept. 28. British smash second German line at Loos and push on towards Lens.

Sept. 29. French continue advances on the slopes of the Tahure hill, in the vicinity of that village, and north of Massiges, in Champagne. 

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Sept. 22. Bulgaria orders mobilization of her army.

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Sept. 29. British defeat big Turkish force on the River Tigris in Mesopotamia. 

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Sept. 8. Czar takes over supreme command of Russian armies from Grand Duke Nicholas.

Sept. 19. Vilna occupied by the Germans. 

 
October

Oct. 4. Loan of $500,000,000 to French and British governments completed. 

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Oct. 15. Great Britain declares war on Bulgaria. 

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Oct. 16. France declares war on Bulgaria.

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Oct. 27. Viviani ministry resigned.

Oct. 28. French cabinet reorganized, with Aristide Briand as premier. 

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Oct. 6. French and British troops landed at Salonika, Greece.

Oct. 7. Austro-German invasion of Servia begins, crossings being made over Drina, Save and the Danube.

Oct. 9. Germans occupy Belgrade.

Oct. 10. Bulgarians invade Servia.

Germans capture Semendria and push Servians south.

Greece refuses to aid Servia.

Bulgaria officially declares war on Servia.

Oct. 15. Bulgarians attack Servia throughout the frontier and capture heights.

Oct . 18. Allies land at Enos, in Bulgaria, near Dedeaghatch, and capture Strumitza, near Servian border.

Oct. 19. Bulgarians capture Vranya, on Salonika-Nish Railway; Austrians take Obrenovatz.

Italy declares war against Bulgaria and an Italian fleet sails for the Ægean. 

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Oct. 19. Manifesto by czar announces Russia draw her sword against Bulgaria. 

 
November

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Nov. 8. Lansing sends note to Great Britain declaring blockade illegal. 

Nov. 2. Asquith defends policies in House of Commons.       .

Nov. 6. Berlin reports capture of Nish by Bulgarians.

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Nov. 16. Bulgarian forces capture Krusevo and advance east to within six miles of Perlepe.

Nov. 17. Bulgarians reported to have captured Perlepe.

Germans capture Novipazar, Servia, and claim capture of eighty thousand prisoners in campaign.

Nov. 30. Bulgaria declares campaign against Servia is closed. 

Nov. 2. Russians compel Von Hindenburg to retreat in Dvinsk region. .

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Nov. 9. The Ancona torpedoed in the Mediterranean.

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Nov. 17. British hospital ship Anglia sunk by a mine in the English Channel.

December

Dec. 1. American Ambassador Penfield renews demand that Austria explain torpedoing Italian steamer Ancona.

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Dec. 30. Austrian note on Ancona yields in part, punishing submarine commander and admitting principle of safety of passengers. 

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Dec. 15. Gen. Sir Douglas Haig appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British armies in France and Belgium, succeeding Field Marshal Sir John French. 

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Dec. 1. British army approaching Bagdad is driven back by Turks and forced to retire to Kut-el-Amara.

Dec. 5. Bulgarians reported to have occupied Monastir.

Dec. 7. Anglo-French army in Balkans retires toward base at Salonika, Greece.

Dec. 9. Teutons clear Servia of all en enemies.

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Dec. 19. British withdraw Anzac army, estimated at one hundred thousand men, from the Gallipoli; still hold tip of peninsula.

Dec. 29. Russians capture Kasban, Persia. 

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Dec. 30. British passenger steamer Persia sunk without warning in the Mediterranean, American consul R. M. McNeely being drowned , with more than two hundred others.

1914
1916
1917
1918
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