1918: 第一次世界大戦 and Primul Război Mondial (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Montenegro, New Zealand, Portugal, Turkey, United Kingdom, USA)

8th January - Woodrow Wilson outlines his Fourteen Points in a speech to the United States Congress.

The Fourteen Points of Woodrow Wilson were a statement of principles for peace that Wilson regarded as the only possible basis of an enduring peace. They included the self-determination of the nations, the liberation of occupied territories and the formation of a general association of nations. The Central Powers soon refused the Fourteen Points and the Entente countries were anyway skeptical of the applicability of the Wilsonian idealism, but Woodrow Wilson was still awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize for his peace-making efforts.

25th January - The Ukrainian People's Republic declares its independence from Russia.

1st February - Beginning of the Cattaro Mutiny

The SMS Sankt Georg was an armoured cruiser of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. On 1st February 1918 the Cattaro Mutiny began on this ship, that was later joined by sailors from around 40 other Austro-Hungarian ships in the Cattaro naval base. The sailors had grown weary of the war and the long periods of inactivity and demanded a better treatment, political change and an imminent peace, but already on 3rd February the mutiny was suppressed. The SMS Sankt Georg was decommissioned after the mutiny and awarded to Britain as a war prize after the war. In 1920 it was scrapped.

9th February - The Ukrainian People's Republic and the Central Powers sign the "Brotfrieden" (peace for bread), which secured food-supply support for the Austro-Hungarian and the German Empire in return for providing military protection for the Ukrainian People's Republic.

10th February - Leon Trotsky stops the peace negotiations in Brest-Litovsk. The Central Powers answer with a quite successful offensive against Russia, which forces Trotsky to continue the negotiations on the 26th February.

3rd March - Russia and the Central Powers sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended Russia's participation in World War I. The treaty, which was extraordinarily harsh, also renounced all Russian territorial claims in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bessarabia (which became a part of Romania), Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine. Doing so Russia hoped to get some relief from further invasion to protect the "success" of the revolution.

21st March - Beginning of Operation Michael, the first major German military offensive as part of the Spring Offensive of 1918 on the Western Front

30th March - Around 12000 Azerbaijanis are killed by Armenian and Bolshevik forces during the March Events until the 2nd April.

1st April - Formation of the Royal Air Force

Although the air plane was both quite young when World War I broke out, it played an important role during the war. The main tasks of the aircrafts were recce flights, air combats and sometimes also the bombing of enemy positions or cities. On 1st April 1918 the United Kingdom became the first country in the World with an independent air force, when the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service were merged to create the Royal Air Force. Earlier the Royal Flying Corps was under army and the Royal Naval Air Service under navy control. At that time it was also the World's largest air force.

6th April - The city of Van comes again under Ottoman rule.

In 1915 the city of Van was one of the few places where Armenians with the support of the Imperial Russian Army fought against the Ottoman Empire's armed forces during the Armenian Genocide. The city was afterwards under Armenian control, but the Russian Revolution of 1917 changed the situation in the region. In April 1918 the Ottoman Army started to attack again and on 6th April Van was again under Ottoman control.

9th April - Beginning of the Battle of the Lys

The Battle of the Lys, which is also known as Operation Georgette or Fourth Battle of Flanders, was the second part of the German Spring Offensive. It was fought between the 9th and 29th April. In the battle the German Empire tried to capture Ypres, but that failed and the battle ended with an Entente victory.

7th May - Romania and the Central Powers sign the Peace Treaty of Bucharest.

22nd May - Beginning of the Battle of Sardarabad, which stopped the Ottoman advance into Armenia and which is also considered to have prevented the complete destruction of the Armenian nation

27th May - Beginning of the Third Battle of the Aisne, the again unsuccessful third part of the German Spring Offensive

4th June - The Ottoman Empire and the newly independent countries Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia sign the Treaty of Batum, which grants big territorial gains to the Ottoman Empire.

10th June - The SMS Szent István, the most modern Austro-Hungarian battleship, is sunk during an attempt to break through Otranto Barrage, which prohibited the Austro-Hungarian Navy from leaving the Adriatic Sea.

15th June - Beginning of the Second Battle of the Piave River, the last Austro-Hungarian attempt to defeat Italy, but which instead resulted in a decisive Italian victory

3rd July - The Ottoman Sultan Mehmed V dies.

15th July - Beginning of the Second Battle of the Marne, the last part of the German Spring Offensive

16th July - The Russian Imperial Romanov family is executed on the night of the 16th July.

8th August - Beginning of the Battle of Amiens and the Hundred Days Offensive

The Battle of Amiens was fought by the British Empire, France and the USA against the German Empire between the 8th and the 12th August 1918. The battle ended with a decisive Allied victory. It is notable for its effects on both sides' morale and the war's tempo. After the Battle of Amiens the Entente saw a rapid series of victories against the German Empire, which are now known as Hundred Days Offensive. This became the beginning of the end of the Western Front. Erich Ludendorff later described the 8th August as "the black day of the German Army".

John Monash was an Australian civil engineer and military
commander of World War I. He was a meticulous planner and
brilliant tactician and among others planned the Battle of Amiens.

26th August - Beginning of the Battle of Baku, which ended with an Ottoman-Azerbaijani victory and thus concluded the Caucasus Campaign

15th September - As part of the Vardar Offensive French, Greek and Serbian forces begin their Breakthrough at Dobro Pole leading to a collapse of the Macedonian Front.

19th September - Beginning of the Battle of Megiddo, the last battle of the war in the Middle East that would later lead to a complete collapse of the Ottoman front

29th September - Bulgaria and the Allied Powers sign the Armistice of Salonica.

1st October - The British capture Damascus.

10th October - RMS Leinster is sunk by a German submarine.

RMS Leinster was an Irish ship that was used for Royal Mail service. On 10th October 1918, when she was on her way between Ireland and Wales, she was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine. Over 500 people lost their lives. Still today this is the greatest single loss of life in the Irish Sea.

24th October - Beginning of the Battle of Vittorio Veneto

The Battle of Vittorio Veneto was fought between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy between the 24th October and the 3rd November 1918. It ended with a disastrous Austro-Hungarian defeat and thus marked the end of the war on the Italian Front, secured the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and sealed the end of the Italian unification.

29th October - Beginning of the Mutinies in Wilhelmshaven and Kiel

The German Fleet was nearly not used during World War I and when the war was actually already lost, the imperial naval command planned a final battle against the Royal Navy in the English Channel. The preparations triggered a mutiny among the affected sailors in Wilhemshaven, which was actually suppressed shortly after, but when the commander believed that he was again master of his crews, another mutiny broke out in Kiel. The Kiel Mutiny turned into a revolution and soon spred across Germany.

30th October - The Ottoman Empire and the Allied Powers sign the Armistice of Mudros.

1st November - As a main event of the Allied Liberation of Albania, Montenegro and Albania Belgrade comes again under Serbian control.

3rd November - The Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Allied Powers sign the Armistice of Villa Giusti.

9th November - Philipp Scheidemann proclaims the German Republic.

The German Revolution that began in Kiel soon swept away the monarchy in Germany. On 9th November the abdication of the Emperor was declared and Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed the German Republic from one of the balconies of the Reichstag building. Scheidemann proclaimed the republic just a few hours before a planned proclamation of a Soviet Republic by Karl Liebknecht, which would later lead to some leftist uprisings. One day later an interim government was formed, which planned the elections for a constituent National Assembly. In 1919 the Weimar Republic arose from this event, which was the first modern democratic republic in Germany.

10th November - Romania re-enters the war.

11th November - The German Empire and the Allied Powers sign the Armistice of Compiègne.

At least since the Battle of Amiens everyone in the higher ranks of the German military knew that there was no chance left for a German victory. Erich Ludendorff, although he later changed his mind, demanded a request to be given to the Entente for an immediate ceasefire already on the 29th September, but still it needed the German Revolution to bring an end to the war. A German delegation headed by Matthias Erzberger finally signed an armistice at Compiègne on the 11th November 1918. Although they formally protested at the harshness of Allied terms, they were in no position to refuse to sign. Among others the Allies demanded the termination of hostilities on the Western Front, the immediate evacuation of the occupied territories, the surrender of military materiel, the release of Allied prisoners of war and the renunciation of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The fact that the republicans signed the armistice later created the stab-in-the-back myth (Dolchstoßlegende), a notion that the German Army did not lose World War I on the battlefield but was instead betrayed by the civilians on the home front and the republicans who overthrew the monarchy in the German Revolution.

After over four years of fighting the war was finally over. More than 15million people lost their lives, big parts of Europe were destroyed and new countries arose. To find a new order for the continent the Allied powers came together in Paris in 1919, but the peace was short-lived and just twenty years later an even more horrible war began.

1917: Первая мировая война and World War I (Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, Faroe Islands, France, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Monaco, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Thailand, United Kingdom)

Originally posted on 11th October 2018

12th January - Big Protests in Hamburg due to the bad situation of the civilian population in the German Steckrübenwinter (Turnip Winter)

16th January - The secret Zimmermann Telegram is issued from the German Foreign Office that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico in the case that the USA declared war on the Central Powers and that promised Mexico the recovery of various lost former territories. The British intercepted the telegram and later decoded it.

1st February - Resumption of the unrestricted submarine warfare by the German Empire

The Resumption of the unrestricted submarine warfare impressively shows how the war also affected a neutral territory, the Faroe Islands. Already short after the declaration of war there were shortages in supply on the Faroe Islands, as the belligerents put up naval blockades. In these times of dearth the Faroese started to experiment around to get the most necessary goods. For example they used roe to extend rye flour or blubber as lamp oil and fuel for motorboats. On 1st February 1917 the German Empire declared the waters around the British Islands as war zone, which also stretched to the southern part of the Faroe Islands, and announced to dump all boats in the zone by submarines, but full of hope the Faroese still sent out their fishing boats. The tragedy occurred on the 23rd and 24th May 1917, when a German submarine dumped altogether eight Faroese boats. 

21st February - Beginning of the Toplica Uprising

The Toplica Uprising was a Serb rebellion in 1917 carried out by Serbian guerrillas in the Toplica District in the eastern part of the Kingdom of Serbia against the Bulgarian occupation force. Serbia was occupied since October 1915, but when Romania entered the war in August 1916, new hope awakened among the Serbian population. Some armed themselves and took to the forests. Even a secret resistance organisation was founded. On 21st February the rebellion broke out and the Serbs started to liberate some cities. On 15th March the Bulgarians started a counter-attack with Austro-Hungarian support and although some rebels survived and escaped, the order was fully restored by the 25th March. During the rebellion several thousand people were killed including civilians. It was the only rebellion in the territories occupied by the armies of the Central Powers during World War I.

8th March - Beginning of the February Revolution

In the early 20th century Russia was coined by the conservative and authoritarian government of Tsar Nicholas II and a growing proletariat in the cities, but at the beginning of World War I the country was still caught by a wave of nationalism. Heavy military setbacks and the horrible situation of the civilian population at home however changed the people's mind. Soon this would also led to a loss of confidence in the regime, as the Tsar was made responsible for all the problems. Beginning in February 1917 there were big strikes and demonstrations in Saint Petersburg. On 8th March (or 23rd February according to the Julian calendar used then in Russia), International Women's Day, small demonstrations turned into economic and political gatherings. A few days later factories and other enterprises had to be closed down, as too many workers were demonstrating. The Tsar hoped that the available soldiers would quell the riots, but when he actually ordered the army to suppress them, many soldiers began to mutiny. After he figured out his desperate situation, he abdicated on 15th March. One day later a Provisional Government was established. Already four days earlier the socialists had formed the Petrograd Soviet. In the following time these two bodies competed for power over Russia. Thus they created a factual dual power.

11th March - Bagdad is captured by the British.

19th March - As part of the Operation Alberich, which began on the 9th February, the German Empire had withdrawn to new positions on the shorter and more easily defended Hindenburg Line on the Western Front.

6th April - The USA enter World War I alongside the Entente.

Although they had already supplied the Entente countries earlier, the USA officially remained neutral during World War I until their declaration of war on Germany on 6th April 1917. Reasons for the entry included the resumption of the unrestricted submarine warfare and Zimmermann Telegram. The USA were an independent power and did not officially join the Entente, but they closely cooperated militarily. American soldiers arrived in large numbers on the Western Front in the summer of 1918. 110,000 of them died and never came back home.

9th April - Beginning of the Battle of Arras

9th April - Beginning of the Battle of Vimy Ridge

The Battle of Vimy Ridge was fought in 1917 between the German Empire and the British Empire and is a part of the Battle of Arras. It was the first battle in which the four divisions of Canadian Expeditionary Force fought together and became a symbol of Canadian national achievement. It ended with a victory of the British Empire. 

11th April - The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD), which later played an important role in the Weimar Republic, is founded.

16th April - Beginning of the Battle of Chemin des Dames

The Battle of Chemin des Dames, also known as Second Battle of the Aisne, was fought between the German Empire and France in April and May 1917. The battle began as part of a meticulously planned Franco-British offensive, but had to be abandoned after many French divisions mutinied. It ended with a tactical victory of the German Empire. Prince Louis II of Monaco, who volunteered to serve in the French Army in August 1914, took part in the battle.

22nd April - Beginning of the Second Battle of Doiran

After Bulgaria's entry into the war the Balkan theatre saw successful campaigns of rapid movement in 1915 and 1916, but soon the conflict degraded into a state of trench warfare. The Second Battle of Doiran was fought between Bulgaria and the United Kingdom in April and May 1917. It ended with a Bulgarian victory and thus thwarted an Allied breakthrough at the Balkan front.

12th May - Beginning of the Tenth Battle of the Isonzo

4th June - The Polish military contingent known as Blue Army is created in France to fight alongside the Entente. After fighting on the Western Front it was later moved to Poland to fight for the return of Poland's independence.

7th June - Beginning of the Battle of Messines Ridge

The Battle of Messines Ridge was fought near the village of Messines in West Flanders in June 1917. The battle resulted in a British victory and the recapturing of the Messines Ridge. During the battle Irish soldiers, supporting and opposing the ideas of the Easter Rising, fought together.

29th June - Greece enters the war alongside the Entente.

1st July - Although big parts of the population and the soldiers were against a further participation in the war, Alexander Kerensky, Minister of War in the Provisional Government, decided to start a new offensive against the Central Powers, the Kerensky Offensive. After an initial success the offensive ended on 19th July with a military catastrophe, which further weakened the Provisional Government.

14th July - The German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg resigns.

20th July - The Corfu Declaration is signed.

After Serbia was occupied by the Central Powers, Corfu became the new seat of the Serbian government in exile. On 20th July 1917 Croatian, Serbian and Slovenian politicians in exile with the support of France and the United Kingdom signed there the Corfu Declaration, which enabled the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes after the war.

22nd July - Thailand enters World War I alongside the Entente.

Thailand, back then known as Siam, is possibly one of the least well-known participants in World War I, although an Expeditionary Force was sent to France to fight on the Western Front, which began operations in the middle of September 1918. Siam was the only state in Southeast Asia to enter the conflict entirely of its own free will and as an equal of the European powers. During the war 19 soldiers of Siam died. After it Siam became a founding member of the League of Nations.

22nd July - Beginning of the Battle of Mărăști

When Romania entered World War I alongside the Entente in 1916, there were soon some victories of the Romanian forces aided by Russia against the Central Powers, but when the Central Powers started to fight back, big parts of Romania were occupied by the end of 1916. The three battles of Mărăști, Mărășești and Oituz, which were fought between July and August 1917 and which all ended with Romanian successes, left the remaining Romanian territories unoccupied and seemed like a relief, but the situation once again took a turn for the worse for Romania in November 1917, when Russia's involvement in the war ended with the October Revolution.

31st July - Beginning of the Battle of Passchendaele

The Battle of Passchendaele, which is also known as Third Battle of Ypres or Dritte Flandernschlacht in German, was fought by Belgium, the British Empire and France against the German Empire between the 31st July and the 10th November 1917. The battle ended, when Canadian troops captured the village of Passchendaele. The quite big gains of territory for the Allies were bought with horrible losses and thus the battle became another symbol of the absurdity and brutality of the war. The Tyne Cot Cemetery, the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the World, is located on the former battleground.

14th August - China enters the war alongside the Entente.

17th August - Beginning of the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo

3rd September - Riga is captured by the Germans.

At the beginning of World War I the Latvian territory was a part of the Russian Empire and had a direct border with the German Empire. Already in August 1914 Liepaja and the Užava Lighthouse were attacked by German troops, but just in May 1915 the war reached the whole of Latvia leading to many Latvians leaving their region. Also much of the region's industry was evacuated to Russia and was lost forever. In September 1917 Riga was captured by German troops. After the Russian Revolution parts of Latvia were given to the Germans according to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, who quickly established an occupational regime which ruled between March and November 1918. After the end of World War I the Latvian War of Independence was fought, which ended with the recognition of the Latvian Republic by Soviet Russia in 1920.

24th October - Beginning of the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo

The region around Kobarid was located near the Isonzo Front and was hard fought between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy. After a long trench warfare the Battle of Kobarid, fought in October and November 1917, resulted in a victory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the collapse of the Italian Second Army. The battle is also known as the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, Battle of Caporetto (Italian name of Kobarid) or Battle of Karfreit (German name of Kobarid).

26th October - Brazil enters World War I alongside the Entente.

31st October - Beginning of the Battle of Beersheba in Ottoman Syria, which ended with a British victory and thus paved the way for the Battle of Jerusalem

2nd November - The Balfour Declaration is issued by the British government.

The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government on 2nd November 1917. With it the British government announced their support for the Zionist aim of establishing a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, which was then still under Ottoman rule. Thus the British hoped to mobilise new resources.

7th November - Beginning of the October Revolution

In the unstable time of the dual power Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik Party, returned with German help from his exile in Switzerland to Russia. His return was enabled by the democratisation of politics after the February Revolution and the legalisation of formerly banned political parties. One of his main political aims as formulated in his April Theses was the accession to power by the soviets. At the beginning Lenin's Bolsheviks formed a minority in the both big cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg, but in the following months various events led to a strengthening of their power. The October Revolution finally began on 7th November (or 25th October according to Julian calendar), which saw the overthrow of the Provisional Government and the accession to power by the Soviets. This event would later mark the beginning of the spread of communism in the 20th century and would create the Soviet Union as new global power, but for the moment it laid the foundation for the Russian Civil War.

17th November - Beginning of the Battle of Jerusalem

The Battle of Jerusalem was a part of the British Sinai and Palestine Campaign against the Ottoman Empire. The battle started on 17th November 1917 and already on the 9th December Jerusalem surrendered to the British, although fightings continued until the 30th December. When General Edmund Allenby entered the Old City on 11th December, he was the first Christian in many centuries to control the holy city. The capture of Jerusalem was a great morale boost for the British Empire and led to a loss of prestige for the Ottoman Empire in the Arabic World. After the battle the British established a new strategically strong fortified line.

20th November - Beginning of the Battle of Cambrai

4th December - Russia and the German Empire sign a ceasefire agreement. One day later a ceasefire agreement with all Central Powers followed.

9th December - Romania and the Central Powers sign the Armistice of Focșani.

15th December - Russia and the Central Powers sign an armistice.

22nd December - Beginning of peace negotiations between Russia and the Central Powers in Brest-Litovsk

1916: Première Guerre Mondiale and Erster Weltkrieg (Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Montenegro, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, Turkey)

Originally posted on 11th September 2018

5th January - Beginning of the Montenegrin Campaign of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

After the Kingdom of Serbia was defeated by the Central Powers and after the remnants of the Serbian army had withdrawn through Montenegro and Albania to Italy and later to Corfu, the Austro-Hungarian Empire also turned towards Montenegro. At the end of the Montenegrin Campaign, that was fought between the 5th and the 17th January 1916, Montenegro was defeated and occupied by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The Battle of Mojkovac was fought on 6th and 7th January and is probably the most famous battle of the campaign. Although the Montenegrin army won the battle, this could not prevent the final defeat, but still gave the Serbian army more time for their retreat.

10th January - Beginning of the Erzurum Offensive

The Erzurum Offensive was a winter offensive of the Imperial Russian Army against the Ottoman Empire. It took place in January and February 1916 and ended with the conquest of the strategic city Erzurum on 16th February.

24th January - Afghanistan and the German Empire sign a friendship and trade agreement.

In 1915 the diplomatic Niedermayer-Hentig Expedition was sent to Afghanistan by the German and the Ottoman Empire. Its purpose was to encourage Afghanistan to declare full independence from the British Empire, enter World War I on the side of the Central Powers and attack British India. Although the Russian Empire and the United Kingdom tried to intercept the mission, it reached Kabul in September 1915. The mission failed in its main task of rallying Afghanistan, but a friendship treaty between Afghanistan and the German Empire was signed in January 1916.

27th January - The United Kingdom introduces the military conscription for all unmarried men between 18 and 41.

21st February - Beginning of the Battle of Verdun

The Battle of Verdun began on 21st February 1916, when the German army attacked the French defences of the Fortified Region of Verdun. Despite initial German success the French forces recaptured much of the lost territory in August and December. When the battle was finally over on 18th December 1916, it had become the longest battle on the Western Front of World War I and one of the most costly battles in human history. In both France and Germany Verdun became a symbol of the futility of the war. Beginning in the 1960s it has also become a symbol of the Franco-German reconciliation.

1st March - Beginning of the Fifth Battle of the Isonzo

8th or 12th March - An avalanche buries a Prisoners of War camp on the Vršič pass.

During World War I approximately 12000 Russians were transported by the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the Vršič pass as Prisoners of War. There they were forced to build a road over the pass so that the reaching of the new front line in the Isonzo Valley would become easier. Several thousand young Russian prisoners died building this road. The prisoners also built a wooden Russian Chapel to honour their fallen countrymen.

9th March - Portugal enters World War I alongside the Entente.

At the beginning of World War I Portugal remained officially neutral, but already shortly after there were hostile engagements between Portugal and the German Empire due to the German campaign in Angola and the submarine warfare which sought to blockade the United Kingdom, the most important market for Portuguese products. On 9th March 1916 the German Empire declared war on Portugal followed by Portugal's reciprocal declaration. Around 12000 Portuguese troops died during World War I. After the war the German Empire was forced to cede the port of Kionga to Portugal.

24th April - Beginning of the Easter Rising against British rule in Ireland, which was quelled six days later

29th April - End of the Siege of Kut Al Amara

The Siege of Kut Al Amara took place between the 7th December 1915 and the 29th April 1916, when a British-Indian garrison was besieged by the Ottoman Army in the town of Kut in modern day Iraq. The siege happened, as Allied troops had to retreat after the Battle of Ctesiphon and as General Townshend decided to stay in Kut instead of moving forward to Basra. The Ottoman army was supported by the German general and military historian Baron von der Goltz. After some efforts to relieve the city had failed, the Allied surrendered after 147 days of siege. The surviving soldiers became prisoners and were forced to march to Aleppo. The British went back on the offensive in December 1916 and retook Kut on the 23rd February 1917.

16th May - Due to the foreseen defeat of the Ottoman Empire, France and the United Kingdom divide the Middle East into spheres of influence with the Sykes-Picot Agreement.

31st May - Beginning of the Battle of Jutland

The Battle of Jutland was fought between the 31st May and 1st June 1916 near the coast of Denmark's Jutland Peninsula. It was the largest naval battle and the only major encounter between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during World War I. It formed a part of a larger German strategy to break the British blockade against Germany and to allow German naval vessels to access the Atlantic. Fourteen British and eleven German ships were sunk with a great loss of life. But although more ships and sailors were lost on British side, they were able to prevent the German plans. In German it is known as Skagerrakschlacht (Battle of Skagerrak).

4th June - Beginning of the Brusilov Offensive

The Brusilov Offensive was a Russian offensive against the Central Powers between June and September 1916. Although many soldiers lost the lives, it was one of the most successful Allied offensives of World War I.

5th June - Death of Lord Kitchener

Herbert Kitchener became Secretary of State for War in 1914 and then already foresee a long war. He organised the largest volunteer army that Britain had seen and oversaw a significant expansion of materials production to fight on the Western Front. On 5th June 1916 Kitchener was on the HMS Hampshire to attend negotiations in Russia, when it struck a German mine.

10th June - Hussein ibn Ali al-Hashimi, the Sharif and Emir of Mecca, officially initiates the Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule.

1st July - Beginning of the Battle of the Somme

The Battle of the Somme was fought between the 1st July and the 18th November 1916 by the German Empire against France and the United Kingdom. The battle started with a large-scale offensive of the Triple Entente and ended without a big achievement. It was the largest battle on the Western Front of the World War I and one of the bloodiest battles in human history. At the Somme the British used tanks for the first time in a battle.

19th July - Beginning of the Battle of Fromelles

The Battle of Fromelles was fought on the 19th and 20th July 1916 between troops of the German Empire and the British Empire. It was subsidiary to the Battle of the Somme and resulted in a German victory, as preparations for the attack were rushed, the troops involved lacked experience in trench warfare and the power of the German defence was underestimated. The attack was the debut of the First Australian Imperial Force on the Western Front. Later it was described as the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history.

4th August - Beginning of the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo

The Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, also known as Battle of Gorizia, was the most successful of the twelve battles of the Isonzo for the Italians. It resulted in the Italian conquest of Gorizia, but also saw many Italian casualties.

27th August - Romania enters World War I alongside the Entente.

8th September - Beginning of the Battle of Tabora

The Battle of Tabora was fought in September 1916 between forces from the Belgian Congo and German East Africa. During the battle the Belgian forces conquered Tabora, Kigoma and the Tanganjikabahn railway. The victory left much of the Ruanda-Urundi territory under Belgian military occupation.

13th September - Beginning of the Allied Monastir Offensive in modern day Macedonia, which was intended to lead to a Bulgarian defeat, but which just stabilised the Macedonian Front after the Allied capture of Monastir

14th September - Beginning of the Seventh Battle of the Isonzo

9th October - Beginning of the Eighth Battle of the Isonzo

31st October - Beginning of the Ninth Battle of the Isonzo

5th November - The Regency Kingdom of Poland is founded on former Russian territory as puppet state of the Central Powers.

21st November - Death of Emperor Franz Joseph I

12th December - The Central Powers sent a peace offer to the Entente, but it is rejected.