WWI Timeline
Evie's War covers the years from early 1914 to late 1918. The timeline below provides a glimpse of the broader scaffolding on which the story is hung. It includes events pertinent to Evie's experience of the war, and hence focuses in the main on the war fought on the Western Front in Belgium and northern France.
1914
28 June
28 July
1 August
3 August
4 August
7 August
12 August
16 August
20 August
21 August
23 August
29 August
30 August
5–9 September
10 September
12–15 September
22 Sept–late Nov
27 Sept–10 Oct
1–4 October
12 Oct–2 Nov
13 October
16 October
19 October
5 November
3 December
10 December
15 December
16 December
24–25 December
1915
19 January
31 January
3 February
4 February
16 February
18 February
26 February
10–13 March
18 March
28 March
17–22 April
22 April–25 May
25 April
7 May
9 May
15 May
23 May
31 May
7 June
16 June
18 June
1 August
6 August
5 September
25 September
26 September
12 October
19 December
21 December
1916
27 January
16 February
21 February
21 February
1 March
31 March
11 April
24 April
15 May
25 May
31 May–1 June
5 June
10 June
1 July
19–20 July
23 July
15–22 September
23 September
26–28 September
1 Oct–11 Nov
24 October
13–18 November
20 November
13 November
18 November
28 November
7 December
18 December
22 December
1917
19 January
31 January
3 February
17 February
25 February
26 February
8 March
12 March
15 March
2 April
5 April
6 April
9–14 April
16 April
16 April
April
18 May
27 May
7–14 June
13 June
25 June
7 July
12 July
31 July–6 Nov
15 August
20 August
1 September
4 September
20 September
4 October
12 October
26 October
6 November
7 November
11 November
20 Nov–3 Dec
7 December
15 December
1918
21 March
21 March–5 April
26 March
9–29 April
24 April
16 April
23 April
27 May–3 June
30 May
9-13 June
Mid 1918
4 July
15 July–5 August
17 July
8 August
20 August
29 August
September
12 September
27 September
28 September
29 September
1–4 October
5 October
14–19 October
25 October
1 November
3 November
4 November
9 November
11 November
16 November
24 November
31 July, 1919
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to Austrian throne, assassinated in Sarajevo
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
Germany declares war on Russia
Germany declares war on France and invades neutral Belgium
Britain declares war on Germany. Six million men are mobilised across Europe by the day’s end
First British troops (120,000 trained men of Britain’s standing army, the BEF) land in France; French suffer worst single-day casualties (27,000 killed) in their history
Great Britain and France declare war on Austria-Hungary
Main body of BEF lands in France
Brussels occupied by German forces
Battle of the Ardennes begins; French unable to withstand superior artillery and training of the German army; casualties heavy
Battle of Mons; first encounter between British and German forces. BEF is outnumbered two to one and suffers heavy casualties before retreating
French army pushed back at the Battle of Guise, retreating to the Oise. By the end of August the French and German armies had suffered 300,000 casualties
New Zealand troops occupy German Samoa
Battle of the Marne: with the German army only 30 miles from Paris, the British and French forces put up a desperate attack and push the Germans back to Chemin des Dames ridge
The Germans began to ‘dig in’ on Chemin des Dames ridge, the entrenchments gradually spreading the length of the Western Front from Belgium to Switzerland, a distance of 450 miles.
Battle of the Aisne
The ‘race to the sea’; battles of Picardy, Albert, Artois, Le Bassée, Arras, Messines, Yser, Armentieres, Ypres, Langemarck, Gheluvelt and Nonneboschen
German army takes Antwerp by siege
First Battle of Arras
Battle of Messines
First sighting of German submarines in the English Channel
New Zealand Expeditionary Force leaves New Zealand, heading for France
First battle of Ypres: British, French and Belgian armies suffer heavy losses but the Germans fail to break through. Ill-trained German schoolboys advance against the more experienced BEF in what is later called by Germans ‘the Massacre of the Innocents’. Battle continues until 22 November
Britain and France declare war on the Ottoman Empire
NZEF arrives in Egypt, having been diverted en route
French attacks in the Artois and Champagne regions fail due to mud and lack of artillery
German airship sighted off British Coast
Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool bombarded by German battle cruisers, resulting in first British civilian casualties
Men in the trenches in Flanders call a truce and exchange gifts with one another in No Man’s Land. Such fraternisation is subsequently forbidden by Allied commanders, with orders that violators will be shot
Germans begin an aerial bombing campaign against England using Zeppelins
Poison gas used for the first time by the Germans against the Russians
Turkish troops launch an attack on Suez Canal, defeated by NZ Expeditionary Force
Germany declares waters around Britain a war zone in which ships can be sunk without warning
Second French offensive in Champagne is defeated by mud and lack of heavy artillery
German submarine blockade of Great Britain begins
Liquid fire first used by Germans on the Western Front
Battle of Neuve Chapelle; British and Indian troops take their first objective but fail to capitalise on the breach in the German lines. Both sides suffer more than 10,000 casualties
Naval attack in the Dardenelles
First passenger ship, S.S. Falaba, sunk by German submarine
Battle of Hill 60 launched with first British use of mines beneath German trenches
Second battle of Ypres; Germans use chlorine gas for the first time; British and Canadian troops plug the gap left by retreating gassed French African divisions; Ypres remains in Allied hands but Hill 60 is recaptured by Germans
Allied troops land on the Gallipoli Peninsula; 15,000 Australians and New Zealanders are part of the 70,000-strong landing force
Passenger liner S.S. Lusitania torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat; 1200 of 2000 passengers drowned
Abortive French and Allied attacks at Vimy Ridge, Neuve Chapelle, Fromelles and Le Bassée
British attack at Festubert sees an advance of just 1000 yards at a cost of 16,000 casualties
Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary
First aerial bombing of London kills 28 civilians
German airship L.Z-37 is destroyed in the air by an R.N.A.S. aircraft
The French make a second attempt to seize Vimy Ridge and it again changes hands twice, at a cost of 100,000 French and 60,000 German casualties
Second Battle of Artois ends
The Fokker Scourge begins as the Germans achieve aerial supremacy over the Western Front using captured French technology allowing a machine gun to be fired through the spinning propeller; Allied aerial technology takes a year to catch up
In the Dardenelles, British and Allied forces attack at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles and are beaten back by Turkish reinforcements led by Mustafa Kemal
Czar Nicholas II takes command of the Russian Army in an attempt to boost morale; the once six million strong army has already suffered 1.4 million casualties with a further 750,00 men captured
Allied Autumn Offensive launched on the Western Front at Loos (ends 8 October), Artois (ends 15 October) and Champagne (ends 6 November)
On their third attempt French forces secure Vimy Ridge
Edith Cavell shot in Brussels following a German Court Martial
Sir Douglas Haig becomes Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in France
Allied withdrawal from Gallipoli complete; 66,000 Turkish, 28,000 British, 7000 Australians, 2000 New Zealanders and 10,000 French soldiers are dead with a further 200,000 Allied casualties. 83,000 survivors are evacuated
First conscription Act passed in the UK
War Office takes over responsibility for anti-aircraft defence of London from the Admiralty
Germans attack the Fortress of Verdun, making rapid gains along the river Meuse; however the attack is slowed by mud and French reinforcements. The assault will last ten months
German naval attacks extended to merchant shipping
German submarine campaign begins
German airship raid on England
New Zealand troops begin to arrive in France from Egypt
Belgian coast barrage begun by British navy
Italians halt Austrian advance at Trentino
Universal conscription for men aged between 19 and 40 comes into force in Britain
Naval battle off Jutland, neither side making a decisive victory though both claim it
Lord Kitchener drowned by a mine in the North Sea
Compulsory Military Service Bill passed in New Zealand
Battle of the Somme begins with casualties of more than 60,000 British troops in the first day. The four month offensive would gain six miles and cost more than one million lives. Significant battles include Albert, Gommencourt salient, Bazentin, High Wood, Delville Wood, Pozieres, Guillemont, Ginchy, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Thiepval, Le Transloy, Ancre
Battle of Fromelles. A feint to distract attention from the Somme, Australian and British troops assault in broad daylight under heavy fire; over 5500 Australian troops wounded and more than 2000 killed in a bloody initiation to the Western Front
Battle of Pozieres Ridge
First use of tanks by the British at Flers-Courcelette
Airship raid on England causes serious casualties
Battle of Thiepval sees British success followed by heavy rain which turns the battlefields to a sea of mud, halting further advances
Battle of Ancre Heights
French forces on the offensive at Verdun (ends 18 December)
Battle of the Ancre
Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary dies aged 86; he is succeeded by Archduke Charles who wants to take his country out of the war
Surprise attacks see the Allies capture Beaumont-Hamel and Beaucourt in the northern Somme
Snowfall ends the 1916 Somme Offensive; casualties stand at more than 1.2 million men
First German daylight aeroplane raid on London
Lloyd George succeeds Asquith as Prime Minister of Britain
President Woodrow Wilson continues efforts to organise a peace conference
Ministry of Food formed in Britain to address food shortages caused by the German blockade
German Government negotiates with Mexico to form an alliance against the United States
Germans resume ‘unrestricted’ submarine warfare around the UK, aiming to starve Britain into submission
USA severs diplomatic relations with Germany
Revolutionary unrest in sections of the Russian army
German forces on the Ancre withdraw to the Hindenburg Line
Anglo-French conference in Calais
Russian civilians protest food shortages in Petrograd
Russian Revolution begins; Russian soldiers mutiny and join the revolution
German forces in the Somme begin a strategic withdrawal to the Hindenburg (Siegfried) Line
President Woodrow Wilson tells US Congress “the world must be made safe for democracy”
German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line complete
United States of America declares war on Germany
Battle of Arras; Canadian, Australian and British troops make a 3.5 mile advance in snow, the Canadians recapturing Vimy ridge. Once again, failure to capitalise on initial success halts the advance; Allies suffer 150,000 casualties and Germans 100,000
French Nivelle Offensive is launched but a poorly co-ordinated creeping barrage combined with German aerial reconnaissance results in heavy losses of over 100,000 men; Nivelle is replaced by General Petain as Commander-in-Chief
Vladimir Lenin arrives back in Russia following 12 years of exile in Switzerland
British airmen suffer a 50% casualty rate; average life expectancy is three weeks
US Congress passes Selective Service Act; the draft will enlarge the standing army of 145,000 to 4 million men
Sections of the French army mutiny; Commander-in-Chief Petain cracks down then suspends all offensives while he endeavours to improve morale. With the French in disarray the main burden of the Western Front falls on British and Allied forces
Battle of Messines, preceded by nineteen mines under the German Front line at Wyteschaete Ridge; 10,000 Germans are killed instantly and the British storm the ridge
German daylight air raid on London causes 158 deaths and 425 casualties
First American troops arrive in France
German air raids on Margate and London
First mustard gas attack by Germans near Ypres
Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) begins; Allied forces sustain over 300,000 casualties. Battles include Pilckem Ridge, Langemarck, Menin Road Ridge, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcapelle and Passchendaele
Battle of Hill 70
French launch Second Offensive Battle of Verdun
The Russian army retreats before the German 8th Army’s storm troop attack
Germany begins night air raids on London
Menin Road attack costs the Allied forces 22,000 casualties for a 1000 yard gain
Battle of Broodseinde, II ANZAC Corps. The Ypres offensive culminates around the village of Passchendaele where New Zealand and Australian soldiers die in their thousands attempting to advance across a sea of liquid mud, for a total gain of 100 yards
Second attempt to take Passchendaele fails, this time costing thousands of Canadians lives
Passchendaele is finally captured by Allied (Canadian) forces, bringing the Third Battle of Ypres to a close at a cost of around one million men
Russian Revolution; Bolsheviks under Lenin call for an armistice on all fronts
Ludendorff tells German High Command at Mons that he is willing to sacrifice a further million German men to achieve victory before the Americans arrive in Europe
Battle of Cambrai begins favourably, assisted by tanks, but German counter-attacks see most first-day gains subsequently lost
USA declares war on Austria-Hungary
Soviet Russia signs an armistice with Germany, allowing forty-four German Divisions to be transferred to the Western Front
German Spring Offensive launched on the Western Front in an attempt to break the deadlock before US forces are fully engaged in the war
Second Battle of the Somme; the thinly stretched British army is quickly over-run and the German Offensive looks likely to succeed
Ferdinand Foch is appointed Allied Supreme Commander at a strategic conference held at Doullens in Northern France
Second German Offensive, including battles of Estaires, Messines, Hazebrouck, Bailleul, Kemmel Ridge, Bethune, Scherpenberg; ground gained by the Allied forces in the previous year, including Passchendaele Ridge, is lost to the advancing German army; arrival of British, French and Australian reinforcements halt the German momentum; Germans suffer 330,000 casualties and lack further reserves
German Advance halted at Villers-Bretonneux
St Omer bombed by German aircraft
British forces storm the harbour at Zeebrugge
Third German Offensive: on Day One the Germans gain more ground than either side has made on the Western Front since 1914 – ten miles – encouraging Ludendorff to make an all-out push towards Paris. This proves too much for his exhausted troops
Germans 80 miles from Paris; American Third Division halt their advance at Chateau-Thierry
Fourth German Offensive of 1918, Noyon-Montdidier; French and American troops, supported by tanks, halt the advance
Soldiers from all sides begin to succumb to a deadly strain of influenza; the epidemic becomes worldwide, ultimately leading to 20 million deaths
Battle of Le Hamel, won for the Allies by Australian 4th Division supported by US infantry and tanks
The final German offensive of the war; Second 1918 Battle of the Marne. French, British, American and Italian troops push the Germans back, regaining Soissons on 2 August
Bolsheviks murder Czar Nicholas and his family; impact of civil war in Russia is exacerbated by disease and starvation
Allied 100 Days Offensive launched at Amiens and Montdidier; later in the month at Noyon, Albert, Bapaume, Arras, Scarpe, Mont-St.Quentin and finally, on 2 September, at Drocourt-Quéant. 8 August is later referred to by General Ludendorff as the “Black Day of the German Army”; 13,000 German prisoners are taken during a seven-mile advance
French army takes 8,000 German prisoners at Noyon and captures the Aisne Heights
Germans begin to withdraw on the Western Front
Diversionary Allied assaults launched along the Hindenburg Line, starting at Havrincourt; each success boosting Allied morale
First stand-alone US attack at St Mihiel, supported by a co-ordinated air attack involving nearly 1500 Allied aircraft; 15,000 German prisoners are captured
British, Australian and US units break through a 20 mile sector of the Hindenburg Line between Cambrai and St. Quentin
Allied Flanders Advance launched at Ypres (Fifth Battle of Ypres). Faced by the prospect of defeat, General Ludendorff suffers a nervous collapse
Unbeknownst to the Allies, Generals Ludendorff and Hindenburg recommend to the Kaiser that the war be ended
Allies advance on all sectors of Western Front
The Allies break through the last of the Hindenburg Line
Second Battle of Belgium sees the Allies retake Menin, Coutrai, Roeselare, Ostend, Bruges, Zeebrugge and the French towns of Lille and Douai
Generals Foch, Haig, Petain and Pershing meet at Senlis, France to discuss armistice demands
Battle of Valenciennes
Austria-Hungary, the last of Germany’s allies still in the war, signs an armistice with Italy
New Zealand troops liberate Le Quesnoy without heavy artillery
The Kaiser’s Imperial Government collapses and he seeks refuge in the Netherlands
Armistice signed at 5.10am at Compiegne, effective from 11am; 2000 casualties occur during the morning prior to signing
Allied troops begin march to Germany
British and US troops reach German frontier
At the Palace of Versailles a German delegation signs the Treaty formally ending the war.