The Great War – Europe and the Middle East 1914–1919

Timeline

Layers

German Empire (Germany from Nov 1918) · Occupied by Germany (Western Front) · Occupied by Germany (East and Balkans) · Austria-Hungary: Austrian lands · Austria-Hungary: Kingdom of Hungary (with Croatia) · Austria-Hungary: Bosnia-Herzegovina · Occupied by Austria-Hungary · Ottoman Empire · Ottoman Empire: Arab provinces · Occupied by the Ottomans and their allies · Bulgaria · Occupied by Bulgaria · France · Occupied by France · British Empire (UK and Ireland) · British Egypt, Cyprus and Kuwait · Occupied by Britain · Russian Empire (Russian Republic from 1917) · Russian Empire: Grand Duchy of Finland · Russian Empire: Caucasus · Occupied by Russia · Italy · Occupied by Italy · Serbia (Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from Dec 1918) · Occupied by Serbia / Yugoslavia · Montenegro · Belgium · Occupied by Belgium · Occupied by the United States · Romania · Occupied by Romania · Greece · Greece – Venizelist Provisional Government (1916–17) · Occupied by Greece · Portugal · Allied (multinational) occupation · Neutral countries · Luxembourg (neutral) · Albania · Soviet Russia and Soviet republics · Anti-Bolshevik (White) Russia · Finland · Estonia · Latvia · Lithuania · Poland · Ukraine (People’s Republic, Hetmanate, Directorate) · West Ukrainian People’s Republic · Czechoslovakia · German-Austria (Austria) · Hungary · State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (Oct–Dec 1918) · Transcaucasian Commissariat / Federation · Georgia · Armenia · Azerbaijan · Mountain Republic of the North Caucasus · Hejaz (Arab Revolt) · Arab government in Damascus · Other local governments and insurgents

Events

• 28 Jun 1914, Protocol of Corfu: Albania's International Control Commission and the Epirotes sign the Protocol of Corfu, granting Northern Epirus (Gjirokastër and Korçë districts) autonomy under nominal Albanian sovereignty.
• 28 Jun 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo: Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb member of Young Bosnia, shot the heir to the Habsburg throne and his wife Sophie near the Latin Bridge. The assassins had been armed and smuggled across the border with help from the Serbian secret society Unification or Death ("Black Hand"). The killings opened the J…
• 28 Jun 1914, Duma law separates the Kholm governorate from Congress Poland: The law confirmed on 23 Jun O.S. (6 Jul N.S.) 1912 detached the eastern uezds of the Lublin and Siedlce governorates (Kholm/Chełm, Hrubieszów, Tomaszów, Biłgoraj-east, Zamość-east, Krasnystaw-east, Włodawa, Biała, Konstantynów) as the Kholm governorate, directly under the Kiev governor-general; it t…
• 28 Jun 1914, Treaty of Bucharest gives Southern Dobruja to Romania: After the Second Balkan War Bulgaria ceded the Turtucaia (Tutrakan) – Ekrene (Kranevo) quadrilateral, about 7,600 km² with Silistra, Dobrich (Bazargic) and Balchik, to Romania. The line was demarcated in autumn 1913 and roughly follows today's outer boundary of Silistra and Dobrich provinces.
• 28 Jun 1914, Powers award the NE Aegean islands to Greece: The Great Powers assign Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Lemnos and the other Aegean islands held by Greece since 1912 to Greece, but Imbros, Tenedos and Castellorizo to the Ottoman Empire, which refuses to accept the award.
• 28 Jun 1914, Serbian–Ottoman peace treaty signed: Serbia and the Ottoman Empire sign peace in Constantinople, formally ending the First Balkan War between them and confirming the transfer of Kosovo, the Sanjak and Vardar Macedonia.
• 28 Jun 1914, Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus proclaimed: Greek-backed autonomists proclaim the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus at Gjirokastër as the Greek army evacuates the region assigned to Albania by the Florence protocol.
• 5 Jul 1914, Germany's 'blank cheque' to Austria-Hungary: Wilhelm II received the Austro-Hungarian envoy Count Hoyos's message at Potsdam on 5 July, and on 6 July Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg confirmed that Germany would back whatever action Vienna took against Serbia, even at the risk of war with Russia.
• 23 Jul 1914, Austria-Hungary delivers a 48-hour ultimatum to Serbia: Minister Giesl handed the Serbian government an ultimatum drafted to be unacceptable. Serbia's reply of 25 July accepted most demands but refused Austro-Hungarian participation in the investigation on Serbian soil; Giesl broke off relations and left Belgrade the same evening, as both states mobilise…
• 28 Jul 1914, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia: Franz Joseph signed the declaration at Bad Ischl and Foreign Minister Berchtold sent it by telegram to the Serbian government, which had moved to Niš. Austro-Hungarian monitors on the Danube shelled Belgrade that night. It was the first declaration of war of the conflict.
• 30 Jul 1914, Russia orders general mobilisation: Nicholas II approved general mobilisation on 30 July (17 July O.S.), made public on 31 July. Austria-Hungary ordered general mobilisation on 31 July, and Germany proclaimed a "state of imminent danger of war" and sent ultimatums to St Petersburg and Paris.
• 1 Aug 1914, Germany declares war on Russia: When Russia did not halt its mobilisation, Germany declared war; Ambassador Pourtalès handed the note to Foreign Minister Sazonov in St Petersburg that evening. Germany and France both ordered general mobilisation the same day.
• 2 Aug 1914, German troops occupy neutral Luxembourg: German troops crossed into the Grand Duchy, whose neutrality had been guaranteed by the 1867 Treaty of London, to secure its railways for the advance into France. Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde protested but stayed; Luxembourg remained under German occupation until November 1918.
• 4 Aug 1914, Switzerland mobilises and declares its neutrality: Switzerland mobilised on 1 August, elected Ulrich Wille general on 3 August and notified the powers of its armed neutrality on 4 August. Italy (2–3 Aug), the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Spain also declared neutrality; all but Italy stayed neutral throughout the war.
• 4 Aug 1914, German armies invade Belgium at Gemmenich: On the morning of 4 August German cavalry and infantry crossed the Belgian frontier near Gemmenich and advanced on the Meuse crossings at Visé and the fortress of Liège. Belgium appealed to the guarantor powers of its neutrality.
• 4 Aug 1914, Britain declares war on Germany: Britain demanded that Germany respect Belgian neutrality; when the ultimatum expired at 23:00 London time, the United Kingdom and its Empire were at war with Germany. The British Expeditionary Force began crossing to France on 9 August.
• 5 Aug 1914, Montenegro declares war on Austria-Hungary: King Nikola's Montenegro joined Serbia against Austria-Hungary (some sources give 6–7 August) and declared war on Germany on 8 August. The Montenegrin army fought on the Drina and around Mount Lovćen until it was overrun in January 1916.
• 10 Aug 1914, Goeben and Breslau escape into the Dardanelles: Pursued across the Mediterranean by the Royal Navy, the German battlecruiser Goeben and light cruiser Breslau were let into the Straits. They were nominally sold to the Ottoman navy as Yavuz Sultan Selim and Midilli while keeping their German crews under Admiral Souchon.
• 15 Aug 1914, Battle of Cer: Serbia repels the first Austro-Hungarian invasion: Serbian forces under Stepa Stepanović defeated Potiorek's invading army on Cer mountain west of Šabac; by 24 August the Austro-Hungarians had withdrawn across the Drina. It is often called the first Allied victory of the war.
• 20 Aug 1914, Battle of the Frontiers: French offensives fail in Lorraine and the Ardennes: French offensives under Plan XVII were thrown back at Morhange–Sarrebourg (20 Aug) and in the Ardennes (21–23 Aug), while the Fifth Army was beaten at Charleroi (21–23 Aug). On 22 August alone some 27,000 French soldiers were killed, the deadliest day in French military history.
• 20 Aug 1914, German army enters Brussels: With the Belgian army and government withdrawn to Antwerp, von Kluck's First Army marched through Brussels. Most of Belgium was to remain under German occupation (the General Government of Belgium) until November 1918.
• 23 Aug 1914, Battle of Mons: In its first major battle the British Expeditionary Force held the Mons–Condé canal for a day against von Kluck's First Army, then joined the general Allied retreat. It fought a further delaying action at Le Cateau on 26 August.
• 25 Aug 1914, Sack of Louvain: German troops burned much of the university town, including its library of some 230,000 volumes, killed 248 civilians and deported about 1,500 people to Germany. With the massacre at Dinant (674 dead, 23 Aug) it became a symbol of the roughly 6,500 civilians killed in Belgium and France in August–Oc…
• 26 Aug 1914, Battle of Tannenberg: The German Eighth Army encircled Samsonov's Russian Second Army between Allenstein and Neidenburg; about 92,000 Russians were captured and Samsonov shot himself. The Germans named the victory after the village of Tannenberg (Stębark) to recall the Teutonic defeat of 1410.
• 3 Sep 1914, Russians take Lemberg: After defeating the Austro-Hungarian armies on the Zolota Lypa and Hnyla Lypa, Russian troops entered Lemberg (Lviv), the capital of Galicia. The Battle of Galicia (23 Aug–11 Sep) cost Austria-Hungary some 300,000–400,000 men and drove it back to the San and the Carpathians.
• 5 Sep 1914, First Battle of the Marne halts the German advance: French and British forces struck the exposed flank of von Kluck's First Army from the Ourcq and pushed into the gap between the German First and Second Armies. On 9 September the Germans began retreating to the Aisne; the plan for a quick victory in the West had failed.
• 7 Sep 1914, First Battle of the Masurian Lakes: Reinforced from the West, the German Eighth Army drove Rennenkampf's First Army out of most of East Prussia, although the Russians escaped encirclement.
• 13 Sep 1914, First Battle of the Aisne: the armies dig in: The retreating Germans entrenched on the heights north of the Aisne along the Chemin des Dames, and Allied frontal attacks failed. Both sides then tried to outflank each other northwards in the "Race to the Sea".
• 28 Sep 1914, Siege and fall of Antwerp: German heavy artillery broke the forts of the Antwerp fortress; the Belgian field army escaped westwards on 6–9 October and the city surrendered on 10 October. Hundreds of thousands of Belgians fled, up to a million of them into the neutral Netherlands.
• 16 Oct 1914, Battle of the Yser: Belgians flood the front: The Belgian army, with French marines at Diksmuide, held the Yser against the German Fourth Army. Opening the sluices at Nieuwpoort from 27 October flooded the polders and stopped the attack; a strip of Belgium around Veurne and De Panne stayed unoccupied for the rest of the war.
• 27 Oct 1914, Greek army re-enters Northern Epirus: With Allied consent the Greek V Corps occupied southern Albania (Gjirokastër, Korçë, Himarë) except Vlorë; Greece organised it as the prefectures of Argyrokastro and Korytsa in 1916.
• 29 Oct 1914, Ottoman fleet raids Russian Black Sea ports: Without a declaration of war, ships under Admiral Souchon, including Yavuz (Goeben), shelled Sevastopol, Odessa, Feodosia and Novorossiysk. The raid, approved by War Minister Enver Pasha, brought the Ottoman Empire into the war on the side of the Central Powers.
• 2 Nov 1914, Bergmann offensive: Russians cross into Ottoman Armenia: Russian I Caucasian Corps advances into the Pasin valley to Koprukoy (7 Nov) while other columns occupy Bayazit, Diyadin and the Eleskirt valley. Hasan Izzet's counter-attack (7-19 Nov) pushes Bergmann back to the Sanamer-Ardos-Horasan line, about 25 km inside Ottoman territory.
• 2 Nov 1914, Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire: Russia declared war on 2 November (20 October O.S.) and its Caucasus Army crossed into eastern Anatolia (Bergmann offensive). Serbia and Montenegro followed in early December.
• 5 Nov 1914, Britain and France declare war on the Ottoman Empire; Cyprus annexed: Britain and France declared war on the Ottoman Empire, and Britain annexed Cyprus, which it had administered since 1878. The Ottoman Sultan declared war on the Entente on 11 November.
• 5 Nov 1914, Britain annexes Cyprus: On the outbreak of war with the Ottoman Empire Britain annexes Cyprus, administered by it under Ottoman sovereignty since the Cyprus Convention of 1878.
• 11 Nov 1914, Battle of Lodz: German counter-stroke from Thorn; the Russians abandon Lodz on 6 Dec.
• 16 Nov 1914, Battle of the Kolubara; Serbs retake Belgrade: Potiorek's third invasion took Valjevo and entered Belgrade on 2 December, but a Serbian counter-offensive under Živojin Mišić from 3 December routed the overstretched Austro-Hungarian armies. The Serbs re-entered Belgrade on 15 December; a typhus epidemic then ravaged Serbia.
• 22 Nov 1914, British and Indian troops take Basra: Indian Expeditionary Force D landed at Fao on 6 November to protect Anglo-Persian oil installations and occupied Basra on 22 November, opening the Mesopotamian campaign.
• 18 Dec 1914, British protectorate over Egypt: Britain ends Ottoman suzerainty over Egypt, deposes Khedive Abbas Hilmi II and proclaims a protectorate under Sultan Hussein Kamel; Sinai to the 1906 Rafah–Taba line is included.
• 22 Dec 1914, Battle of Sarikamish: Enver Pasha's winter offensive through the mountains to encircle the Russian Caucasus Army ended in disaster: the Ottoman Third Army lost most of its strength, many men to frost and disease. The defeat left eastern Anatolia open to Russian advances.
• 24 Dec 1914, Christmas truce: Unofficial truces break out along parts of the British front in Flanders (Ploegsteert, Fromelles, Wulverghem).
• 26 Dec 1914, Italy occupies Vlorë: After seizing Saseno island on 30 Oct 1914, Italian troops (11th Bersaglieri) landed unopposed at Vlorë.
• 19 Jan 1915, Hartmannswillerkopf (Vieil Armand): The Vosges summit changes hands repeatedly through 1915; about 25,000 men die on the "man-eater mountain".
• 3 Feb 1915, Ottoman attack on the Suez Canal: Jemal Pasha's Fourth Army crossed Sinai and tried to cross the Canal near Tussum-Serapeum south of Ismailia; the attack was repulsed and the force withdrew to Beersheba.
• 7 Feb 1915, Winter Battle in Masuria: German 8th and 10th Armies clear East Prussia and destroy the Russian XX Corps in the Augustow forest.
• 17 Feb 1915, A-H retake Czernowitz: Pflanzer-Baltin's army recovers Bukovina.
• 18 Mar 1915, Allied naval attack on the Dardanelles fails: British and French battleships tried to force the Narrows; mines laid by the minelayer Nusret sank Bouvet, Irresistible and Ocean. The failure led to the decision to land troops on the Gallipoli peninsula.
• 22 Mar 1915, Przemyśl surrenders to the Russians: After a first siege (Sept–Oct 1914) and a second from November, the starving Austro-Hungarian fortress surrendered with about 117,000 men. Austro-German forces retook it on 3 June 1915.
• 27 Mar 1915, Russians retake Artvin: Lyakhov's Batum detachment, which had cleared the coast to Hopa (Feb) and the Arhavi river (Mar), retakes Artvin from Acar and Laz irregulars.
• 12 Apr 1915, Battle of Shaiba: Suleyman Askeri's Ottoman and tribal force attacked the British camp at Shaiba west of Basra and was defeated, ending the threat to Basra.
• 20 Apr 1915, Armenian defence of Van: As massacres began in the surrounding province, Armenians of Van's walled city and Aygestan resisted Ottoman forces under Governor Djevdet Bey from 20 April. The Ottomans withdrew on the night of 16–17 May, when Russian troops and Armenian volunteers arrived; the Russians evacuated the region again…
• 22 Apr 1915, Second Battle of Ypres: first mass use of poison gas: On 22 April German troops released chlorine from cylinders on a 6 km front near Langemarck, routing French colonial and territorial troops; Canadian units held the flank. The Ypres salient was reduced but held.
• 24 Apr 1915, Armenian leaders arrested in Constantinople: On the night of 24 April Ottoman authorities arrested some 235–270 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople; most were deported to Ayaş and Çankırı and later killed. The date is commemorated as the beginning of the Armenian Genocide: in 1915–1916 deportations and massacres kill…
• 25 Apr 1915, Allied landings at Gallipoli: British, Australian, New Zealand and French troops landed at Cape Helles and at Anzac Cove, with a French diversion at Kumkale on the Asian shore. Ottoman forces, among them Mustafa Kemal's 19th Division, held the heights and the campaign became a trench deadlock.
• 26 Apr 1915, Secret Treaty of London brings Italy to the Entente: Britain, France and Russia promised Italy Trentino and South Tyrol to the Brenner, Trieste, Gorizia, Istria, northern Dalmatia, Vlorë and a share of Ottoman and colonial spoils if it entered the war within a month. Italy renounced the Triple Alliance on 4 May.
• 2 May 1915, Gorlice–Tarnów breakthrough: After a heavy bombardment Mackensen's German Eleventh Army and the Austro-Hungarian Fourth Army broke the Russian front between Gorlice and Tarnów. Przemyśl was retaken on 3 June and Lemberg on 22 June, starting the Russian Great Retreat.
• 7 May 1915, Lusitania sunk off the Old Head of Kinsale: The German submarine U-20 torpedoed the Cunard liner off southern Ireland; 1,198 people died, including 128 Americans. The sinking turned US opinion against Germany, which curtailed attacks on passenger ships later in 1915.
• 8 May 1915, Germans take Libau: The German raid into Courland and Lithuania captures the port of Libau.
• 23 May 1915, Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary: After the interventionist agitation of the 'radiant days of May', Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary with effect from 24 May, and fighting began on the Isonzo and in the Alps. War on Germany followed only on 28 August 1916.
• 1 Jun 1915, Serbia and Montenegro occupy northern and central Albania: Serbian troops (from 29 May) crushed the central Albanian insurgency and occupied Elbasan and Tirana, relieving Essad Pasha in Durrës; Montenegro occupied Shkodër on 27 Jun 1915.
• 3 Jun 1915, Townshend takes Amara: After the 'Regatta' up the Tigris from Qurna, Townshend's flotilla occupied Amara almost without resistance.
• 23 Jun 1915, First four Battles of the Isonzo: Cadorna's offensives against Austro-Hungarian positions on the Karst plateau and around Gorizia gained little ground at the cost of well over 150,000 Italian casualties in 1915. Twelve battles were fought on the Isonzo front by late 1917.
• 10 Jul 1915, Battle of Malazgirt: Abdul Kerim Pasa's group of eight divisions defeats IV Caucasian Corps W of Malazgirt; the Russians evacuate Malazgirt (26 Jul), Van (4 Aug) and the Eleskirt plain, followed by tens of thousands of Armenian refugees.
• 20 Jul 1915, Battle of the Linge: French chasseurs attack the Linge–Barrenkopf ridge above Munster; German positions largely hold.
• 24 Jul 1915, Nasiriyah captured: Gorringe's column took Nasiriyah on the Euphrates after heavy fighting, securing the western flank of the Basra vilayet.
• 5 Aug 1915, Germans enter Warsaw: Russian forces evacuated Warsaw and German troops of Prince Leopold of Bavaria's Ninth Army entered on 5 August. Russian Poland was divided into a German General Government (Warsaw) and an Austro-Hungarian one (Lublin).
• 6 Aug 1915, Suvla landing and the August offensive: IX Corps lands at Suvla Bay while ANZAC attacks Sari Bair; Chunuk Bair is taken on 8 Aug and lost on 10 Aug to Mustafa Kemal's counter-attack. Suvla and Anzac are joined into one front.
• 6 Sep 1915, Bulgaria joins the Central Powers: Bulgaria signed a treaty of alliance with Germany and a military convention with Germany and Austria-Hungary, which promised it Serbian Macedonia; a separate agreement with the Ottoman Empire ceded it land along the Maritsa. Bulgaria ordered general mobilisation on 21–22 September.
• 19 Sep 1915, Germans take Vilna; the Great Retreat ends: German troops entered Vilna on 18–19 September. By early October the front stabilised from the Gulf of Riga along the Dvina to Dvinsk, west of Minsk, through the Pripet Marshes to Tarnopol and the Romanian border; Lithuania and Courland came under the German military administration Ober Ost.
• 25 Sep 1915, Battle of Loos and Second Battle of Champagne: In the Allied autumn offensive, the British First Army attacked at Loos, using chlorine gas for the first time, while the French attacked in Champagne (25 Sep–6 Nov). Initial gains were soon contained, at heavy cost.
• 26 Sep 1915, Great Retreat ends: Lutsk retaken 26-28 Sep; the front stabilises from Riga via Dvinsk, Smorgon, Baranovichi, Pinsk and the Styr to the Strypa and the Dniester.
• 28 Sep 1915, Battle of Es Sinn: Kut taken: Townshend outflanked Nureddin's position at Es Sinn and entered Kut al-Amara; cavalry pursued up the Tigris to Aziziyah.
• 5 Oct 1915, Allied troops land at Salonika: At the invitation of Prime Minister Venizelos, British and French troops began landing at the neutral Greek port to help Serbia; King Constantine dismissed Venizelos the same day. The Allied Army of the Orient held the Macedonian front until 1918.
• 6 Oct 1915, Central Powers invade Serbia; Belgrade falls: Mackensen's German and Austro-Hungarian armies crossed the Sava and Danube on 6–7 October and took Belgrade on 9 October. Serbia was now attacked from the north and, days later, from the east.
• 14 Oct 1915, Bulgaria declares war on Serbia: Bulgarian armies struck into eastern Serbia and Macedonia, cutting Serbia off from the Allies at Salonika; Niš fell on 5 November. Britain declared war on Bulgaria on 15 October and France on 16 October. (Bulgaria used the Julian calendar until April 1916.)
• 18 Oct 1915, Third and Fourth Battles of the Isonzo: Italian attacks on the Gorizia bridgehead (Oslavia, Podgora) and San Michele gained almost nothing; Gorizia was heavily shelled.
• 22 Nov 1915, Battle of Ctesiphon: Townshend's attack on the Ottoman lines 25 km south of Baghdad failed; he retreated to Kut.
• 23 Nov 1915, Senussi campaign in the Western Desert: Ottoman-backed Senussi forces drove the Egyptian garrisons from Sollum and Sidi Barrani; the Western Frontier Force won at Agagia (26 Feb 1916) and retook Sollum on 14 Mar.
• 25 Nov 1915, Serbian army retreats across the Albanian mountains: Facing encirclement in Kosovo, the Serbian High Command ordered a retreat on 25 November through the mountains of Montenegro and Albania to the Adriatic. Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians died of cold, hunger and disease; the ailing Marshal Putnik was carried over the mountains in a sedan…
• 19 Dec 1915, Allies evacuate Gallipoli: Anzac and Suvla were evacuated on the nights of 19–20 December and Cape Helles on 8–9 January 1916, almost without loss. The campaign had cost each side roughly a quarter of a million casualties.
• 28 Dec 1915, France occupies Castellorizo: French forces occupied the island of Castellorizo off Anatolia, held until 1921.
• 8 Jan 1916, Montenegro overrun: Austro-Hungarian forces stormed Mount Lovćen (8–11 January) and entered Cetinje on 13 January; the Montenegrin army capitulated on 25 January. King Nikola went into exile in Italy and France.
• 11 Jan 1916, French occupy Corfu: France occupied Corfu to receive the evacuated Serbian army; the Serbian government sat there until 1918.
• 16 Feb 1916, Russians capture Erzurum: Yudenich's Caucasus Army stormed the fortress ring of Erzurum in a winter offensive, taking the key city of eastern Anatolia. Trebizond followed on 18 April and Erzincan on 25 July 1916.
• 21 Feb 1916, Battle of Verdun: The German Fifth Army attacked on the right bank of the Meuse, taking Fort Douaumont on 25 February and Fort Vaux on 7 June. French counter-offensives retook Douaumont on 24 October and most lost ground by December; the battle cost some 700,000 casualties, about 300,000 of them dead.
• 9 Mar 1916, Germany declares war on Portugal: Portugal, Britain's ally, had requisitioned some 70 German ships interned in its ports on 23 February. Germany declared war on 9 March and Austria-Hungary on 15 March; the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps reached the Western Front in early 1917.
• 18 Mar 1916, Lake Naroch offensive: Russian attack north and south of Lake Naroch fails with heavy losses (18-30 Mar).
• 1 Apr 1916, Austro-Bulgarian demarcation in occupied Serbia: A German-mediated agreement fixed the A-H/Bulgarian line on the Great Morava and in Kosovo: Bulgaria left Elbasan and Đakovica, Austria-Hungary left Priština and Prizren.
• 18 Apr 1916, Fall of Trebizond: After the Kara-dere battle (14-16 Apr) the Turks evacuate Trebizond; Lyakhov's troops enter on 18 Apr and occupy Platana. Trebizond becomes the main Russian supply port.
• 23 Apr 1916, Katia and Oghratina raid: Kress von Kressenstein's raiding force surprised yeomanry at Katia and Oghratina east of Romani; the British railway advance continued.
• 24 Apr 1916, Easter Rising in Dublin: Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army seized the General Post Office and other buildings and proclaimed an Irish Republic. British troops crushed the rising within six days; the execution of 15 leaders in May (and of Roger Casement in August) turned Irish opinion towards Sinn Féin.
• 29 Apr 1916, British garrison of Kut surrenders: After a siege of almost five months and failed relief attempts, Townshend surrendered with about 13,000 British and Indian troops; thousands died on the march into captivity and in camps. It was one of Britain's worst defeats of the war.
• 15 May 1916, Austro-Hungarian "punitive expedition" in Trentino: Conrad's Strafexpedition broke through Italian lines on the Asiago plateau, threatening to reach the Venetian plain. Italian reserves and the Brusilov offensive in the East forced the Austro-Hungarians to halt and partly withdraw in June.
• 16 May 1916, Sykes–Picot Agreement: A secret Anglo-French understanding, negotiated by Mark Sykes and François Georges-Picot with Russian assent and concluded by an exchange of letters between Sir Edward Grey and Paul Cambon, divided the Ottoman Arab provinces into British and French zones of control or influence, with Palestine under…
• 26 May 1916, Fort Rupel handed to the Bulgarians: The Greek garrison surrendered Fort Rupel on the Struma to German-Bulgarian troops without resistance.
• 31 May 1916, Battle of Jutland: The British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet fought the largest naval battle of the war off Jutland. Britain lost 14 ships and over 6,000 men, Germany 11 ships and about 2,550 men, but the German fleet did not challenge British command of the North Sea again.
• 4 Jun 1916, Brusilov offensive: General Brusilov's Southwestern Front attacked on a broad front without long preparation, taking Lutsk within days and Czernowitz on 17–18 June and capturing some 400,000 prisoners. It crippled the Austro-Hungarian army but Russian losses were also huge.
• 10 Jun 1916, Arab Revolt proclaimed in Mecca: Sharif Hussein ibn Ali launched the revolt against Ottoman rule, with British support. Jeddah surrendered on 16 June and the Mecca garrison by 9 July, but Medina held out under Fakhri Pasha until January 1919.
• 1 Jul 1916, Battle of the Somme: The British and French attack astride the Somme began with 57,470 British casualties, 19,240 of them killed, on the first day. Tanks were used for the first time at Flers–Courcelette on 15 September; by November the Allies had advanced about 10 km at a cost of over a million casualties on both sides…
• 2 Jul 1916, Battles of Bayburt and Erzincan: Yudenich's summer offensive breaks Vehip Pasa's Third Army: Bayburt (16 Jul), Gumushane (18 Jul), Ardasa (20 Jul) and Erzincan (25 Jul) are taken.
• 27 Jul 1916, Yanbu taken by the Sharifians: Yanbu, the port of Medina, was taken with Royal Navy support and became Faisal's base.
• 1 Aug 1916, Massacres of Armenian deportees at Deir ez-Zor: Deir ez-Zor on the Euphrates was the end point of many deportation routes. After governor Ali Suad Bey was replaced by Salih Zeki in mid-1916, tens of thousands of deportees gathered there were massacred in the desert along the Khabur and Euphrates, most in August–September 1916.
• 4 Aug 1916, Battle of Romani: The German-Ottoman attempt to reach the Canal was defeated at Romani; after Bir el Abd (9-12 Aug) the Ottomans fell back towards El Arish.
• 6 Aug 1916, Sixth Battle of the Isonzo: Gorizia taken: The Italians stormed Sabotino and San Michele and entered Gorizia on 8-9 August, then pushed across the Doberdò plateau to the Vallone.
• 27 Aug 1916, Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary: Having signed an alliance with the Entente on 17 August promising it Transylvania, the Banat and Bukovina, Romania declared war on the evening of 27 August (14 August O.S.) and invaded Transylvania that night. Germany declared war on Romania on 28 August, the Ottoman Empire on 30 August and Bulgaria…
• 28 Aug 1916, Italy declares war on Germany: Fifteen months after entering the war against Austria-Hungary, Italy declared war on Germany as well.
• 30 Aug 1916, National Defence coup in Salonika: Pro-Venizelist officers seized power in Salonika. Venizelos arrived on 9 October and formed a Provisional Government of National Defence, which entered the war on the Allied side, splitting Greece in the "National Schism".
• 15 Sep 1916, Tanks at Flers-Courcelette: First use of tanks in battle; Flers, Martinpuich and Courcelette are taken.
• 22 Sep 1916, Taif surrenders: Ghalib Pasha's Ottoman garrison in Taif surrendered to Abdullah after a three-month siege.
• 5 Nov 1916, Act of 5 November: Kingdom of Poland proclaimed: Germany and Austria-Hungary proclaimed an "independent" Kingdom of Poland in occupied Russian Poland, with undefined borders and no king, hoping to raise a Polish army. A Regency Council was installed in 1917.
• 19 Nov 1916, Allies retake Monastir: Serbian, French and Russian troops of the Army of the Orient entered Monastir (Bitola) after the Kajmakčalan and Crna Bend battles, the first Serbian town liberated.
• 21 Nov 1916, Death of Emperor Franz Joseph: After reigning for 68 years, Franz Joseph died at Schönbrunn aged 86. His great-nephew Karl I succeeded him and in 1917 made secret peace approaches through his brother-in-law Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma.
• 6 Dec 1916, Central Powers take Bucharest: After the Battle of the Argeș (1–3 December), Mackensen's armies entered Bucharest; the Romanian government and court had withdrawn to Iași. By January 1917 the front stabilised along the Siret with Russian help.
• 21 Dec 1916, El Arish occupied; Battle of Magdhaba: The Ottomans abandoned El Arish (occupied 21 Dec); the Anzac Mounted Division destroyed the garrison of Magdhaba on 23 Dec.
• 5 Jan 1917, Christmas battles at Riga: Russian and Latvian Rifle attack in the Tirul marsh (5-11 Jan) gains 3-5 km; most regained by the Germans in late January.
• 24 Jan 1917, Wejh captured: Faisal's army and a Royal Navy landing party took Wejh; the Ottomans gave up their advance on Mecca and fell back on Medina.
• 1 Feb 1917, Germany resumes unrestricted submarine warfare: Decided at Pless on 9 January and announced on 31 January, the campaign made all shipping in the war zone around Britain, France and Italy liable to be sunk without warning. It led the United States to break off relations on 3 February.
• 17 Feb 1917, French and Italians link up at Ersekë: A French column from Korçë met the Italians at Ersekë, creating a continuous Allied front from the Adriatic to the Aegean.
• 24 Feb 1917, Toplica uprising: Serbian insurgents rose against the Bulgarian occupation in the Toplica and Jablanica districts (Prokuplje, Kuršumlija, Lebane); crushed by Bulgarian and A-H troops in March.

211 more events in the text version.