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

> Interactive animated map on Moving Polygons by chrisjager, 28 Jun 1914 – 31 Dec 1919: 34 keyframes, 60 layers, 331 events.

- Map: https://www.movingpolygons.com/map/chrisjager/the-great-war-europe-and-the-middle-east-19141919
- Article: [The Great War, 1914–1919: Every Front and the Fall of Four Empires](https://www.movingpolygons.com/blog/the-great-war-1914-1919)
- Embed: `<iframe src="https://www.movingpolygons.com/embed/chrisjager/the-great-war-europe-and-the-middle-east-19141919" width="800" height="600" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>`
- Last updated: 2026-10-05

## About this map

Who held which land, from the shots in Sarajevo (28 June 1914) to the end of 1919, in 34 keyframes. Central Powers are warm colours (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria), the Allies cool colours, and countries are grey while neutral; pale tints mark land occupied by a foreign army (German-occupied Belgium, Russian-occupied Galicia, British-occupied Mesopotamia …). Every front is followed — the Western Front, the Eastern Front and the Great Retreat, the Isonzo and the Piave, Serbia and Salonika, Romania, Gallipoli, the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, Palestine and the Arab Revolt — and then the collapse of four empires: Brest-Litovsk, the armistices, the new states from Finland to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the Allied Rhineland, the Polish, Baltic, Hungarian and Russian wars and the treaties of 1919. Russia is shown west of the Urals; Persia and the Arabian interior are not shaded. Borders: Natural Earth units cut by historical lines from OpenHistoricalMap (CC0), treaty texts and official histories; front lines are approximate (about 2–10 km, more in deserts and in the Russian Civil War).

## Timeline

The map animates between these keyframes.

| Date | What the map shows |
| --- | --- |
| 28 Jun 1914 | 1914 · Sarajevo: Europe on the eve of war |
| 4 Aug 1914 | 1914 · Germany invades Belgium; Britain at war |
| 20 Aug 1914 | 1914 · Brussels falls; Russians in East Prussia |
| 5 Sep 1914 | 1914 · Germans on the Marne; Russians in Lemberg |
| 30 Sep 1914 | 1914 · Stalemate on the Aisne; Przemyśl besieged |
| 5 Nov 1914 | 1914 · Ottoman Empire at war; Yser & Ypres |
| 31 Dec 1914 | 1914 · First winter in the trenches; Serbia holds |
| 22 Mar 1915 | 1915 · Przemyśl falls to Russia |
| 24 May 1915 | 1915 · Italy enters; Gorlice–Tarnów breakthrough |
| 5 Aug 1915 | 1915 · Warsaw falls; deadlock at Gallipoli |
| 1 Oct 1915 | 1915 · Great Retreat ends; Bulgaria mobilises |
| 15 Dec 1915 | 1915 · Serbia overrun; Salonika front |
| 27 Feb 1916 | 1916 · Verdun; Montenegro & Albania fall; Erzurum |
| 30 Jun 1916 | 1916 · Brusilov; Arab Revolt; eve of the Somme |
| 15 Sep 1916 | 1916 · Romania in Transylvania; Somme; Kavala |
| 15 Jan 1917 | 1917 · Romania overrun to the Siret; Monastir |
| 20 Mar 1917 | 1917 · Hindenburg Line; Baghdad; Tsar abdicates |
| 5 Aug 1917 | 1917 · Kerensky offensive fails; Greece at war |
| 20 Oct 1917 | 1917 · Riga and the Baltic islands fall |
| 15 Dec 1917 | 1917 · Piave; Jerusalem; armistice in the East |
| 3 Mar 1918 | 1918 · Treaty of Brest-Litovsk |
| 8 May 1918 | 1918 · Treaty of Bucharest; Ukraine occupied |
| 17 Jul 1918 | 1918 · German high-water mark in the West |
| 16 Sep 1918 | 1918 · St-Mihiel; Baku falls; Dobro Pole |
| 1 Oct 1918 | 1918 · Bulgaria out of the war; Damascus falls |
| 31 Oct 1918 | 1918 · Mudros; Austria-Hungary falls apart |
| 11 Nov 1918 | 1918 · Armistice in the West |
| 15 Dec 1918 | 1918 · Allies on the Rhine; Kingdom of SCS |
| 15 Feb 1919 | 1919 · Red Army in Kiev & Riga; Greater Poland |
| 15 May 1919 | 1919 · Romanians on the Tisza; Greeks at Smyrna |
| 28 Jun 1919 | 1919 · Treaty of Versailles signed |
| 31 Aug 1919 | 1919 · Romanians in Budapest; Denikin in Kiev |
| 18 Oct 1919 | 1919 · Denikin at Orel; Yudenich nears Petrograd |
| 31 Dec 1919 | 1919 · Europe at the end of 1919 |

## Layers

| Layer | First shown | Last keyframe |
| --- | --- | --- |
| German Empire (Germany from Nov 1918) | 28 Jun 1914 | 31 Aug 1919 |
| Occupied by Germany (Western Front) | 4 Aug 1914 | 15 Dec 1918 |
| Occupied by Germany (East and Balkans) | 4 Aug 1914 | 31 Dec 1919 |
| Austria-Hungary: Austrian lands | 28 Jun 1914 | 15 Dec 1918 |
| Austria-Hungary: Kingdom of Hungary (with Croatia) | 28 Jun 1914 | 15 Dec 1918 |
| Austria-Hungary: Bosnia-Herzegovina | 28 Jun 1914 | 31 Oct 1918 |
| Occupied by Austria-Hungary | 20 Aug 1914 | 11 Nov 1918 |
| Ottoman Empire | 28 Jun 1914 | 31 Aug 1919 |
| Ottoman Empire: Arab provinces | 28 Jun 1914 | 15 Feb 1919 |
| Occupied by the Ottomans and their allies | 31 Dec 1914 | 15 Dec 1918 |
| Bulgaria | 28 Jun 1914 | 18 Oct 1919 |
| Occupied by Bulgaria | 15 Dec 1915 | 31 Oct 1918 |
| France | 28 Jun 1914 | 15 Dec 1918 |
| Occupied by France | 20 Aug 1914 | 31 Dec 1919 |
| British Empire (UK and Ireland) | 28 Jun 1914 | 15 May 1919 |
| British Egypt, Cyprus and Kuwait | 28 Jun 1914 | 20 Mar 1917 |
| Occupied by Britain | 28 Jun 1914 | 31 Dec 1919 |
| Russian Empire (Russian Republic from 1917) | 28 Jun 1914 | 15 Dec 1917 |
| Russian Empire: Grand Duchy of Finland | 28 Jun 1914 | 15 Dec 1917 |
| Russian Empire: Caucasus | 28 Jun 1914 | 15 Dec 1917 |
| Occupied by Russia | 20 Aug 1914 | 15 Dec 1917 |
| Italy | 28 Jun 1914 | 11 Nov 1918 |
| Occupied by Italy | 28 Jun 1914 | 18 Oct 1919 |
| Serbia (Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from Dec 1918) | 28 Jun 1914 | 18 Oct 1919 |
| Occupied by Serbia / Yugoslavia | 20 Aug 1914 | 31 Aug 1919 |
| Montenegro | 28 Jun 1914 | 27 Feb 1916 |
| Belgium | 28 Jun 1914 | 15 Dec 1918 |
| Occupied by Belgium | 15 Dec 1918 | 15 Dec 1918 |
| Occupied by the United States | 15 Dec 1918 | 15 Dec 1918 |
| Romania | 28 Jun 1914 | 31 Aug 1919 |
| Occupied by Romania | 15 Sep 1916 | 31 Dec 1919 |
| Greece | 28 Jun 1914 | 15 Dec 1918 |
| Greece – Venizelist Provisional Government (1916–17) | 15 Jan 1917 | 5 Aug 1917 |
| Occupied by Greece | 28 Jun 1914 | 31 Aug 1919 |
| Portugal | 28 Jun 1914 | 30 Jun 1916 |
| Allied (multinational) occupation | 22 Mar 1915 | 18 Oct 1919 |
| Neutral countries | 28 Jun 1914 | 8 May 1918 |
| Luxembourg (neutral) | 28 Jun 1914 | 15 Dec 1918 |
| Albania | 28 Jun 1914 | 30 Jun 1916 |
| Soviet Russia and Soviet republics | 15 Dec 1917 | 31 Dec 1919 |
| Anti-Bolshevik (White) Russia | 15 Dec 1917 | 31 Dec 1919 |
| Finland | 15 Dec 1917 | 31 Aug 1919 |
| Estonia | 15 Dec 1918 | 31 Aug 1919 |
| Latvia | 15 Dec 1918 | 31 Dec 1919 |
| Lithuania | 15 Dec 1918 | 31 Dec 1919 |
| Poland | 31 Oct 1918 | 31 Dec 1919 |
| Ukraine (People’s Republic, Hetmanate, Directorate) | 3 Mar 1918 | 31 Dec 1919 |
| West Ukrainian People’s Republic | 11 Nov 1918 | 31 Dec 1919 |
| Czechoslovakia | 31 Oct 1918 | 31 Aug 1919 |
| German-Austria (Austria) | 31 Oct 1918 | 31 Aug 1919 |
| Hungary | 31 Oct 1918 | 31 Dec 1919 |
| State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (Oct–Dec 1918) | 31 Oct 1918 | 15 Dec 1918 |
| Transcaucasian Commissariat / Federation | 15 Dec 1917 | 17 Jul 1918 |
| Georgia | 17 Jul 1918 | 15 May 1919 |
| Armenia | 17 Jul 1918 | 31 Aug 1919 |
| Azerbaijan | 17 Jul 1918 | 31 Aug 1919 |
| Mountain Republic of the North Caucasus | 15 Dec 1917 | 28 Jun 1919 |
| Hejaz (Arab Revolt) | 30 Jun 1916 | 15 Feb 1919 |
| Arab government in Damascus | 1 Oct 1918 | 31 Dec 1919 |
| Other local governments and insurgents | 15 Feb 1919 | 18 Oct 1919 |

## 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 July Crisis.
- **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 took effect in 1913. This is why Tomaszów Lubelski and Hrubieszów were not "Vistula land" in 1914.
- **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 mobilised.
- **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–October 1914.
- **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 in the summer of 1915, followed by most of its Armenians.
- **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 killed an estimated 600,000 to 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians.
- **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 chair.
- **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 international administration. The Bolsheviks published it in November 1917.
- **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 on 1 September.
- **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.
- **8 Mar 1917, February Revolution in Petrograd**: Strikes and bread demonstrations on International Women's Day, 8 March (23 February O.S.), grew into a general strike; on 12 March the garrison mutinied. A Provisional Committee of the Duma and the Petrograd Soviet took power in the capital.
- **11 Mar 1917, British take Baghdad**: After retaking Kut in February, General Maude's Anglo-Indian army entered Baghdad. His proclamation of 19 March declared that the British came 'not as conquerors but as liberators'.
- **15 Mar 1917, Russian Revolution reaches the Caucasus front**: After the Tsar's abdication the Special Transcaucasian Committee (Ozakom) governs Transcaucasia and the occupied Ottoman provinces; the front falls quiet and Mus is evacuated in May 1917.
- **15 Mar 1917, Nicholas II abdicates at Pskov**: In his train at Pskov, the Tsar abdicated on 15 March (2 March O.S.) for himself and his son in favour of his brother Michael, who declined the next day, ending 304 years of Romanov rule. A Provisional Government under Prince Lvov shared power with the Petrograd Soviet.
- **16 Mar 1917, Germans withdraw to the Hindenburg Line**: In Operation Alberich the Germans abandoned the Noyon salient, destroying villages, roads and wells as they fell back up to 40 km to the prepared Siegfriedstellung between Arras and the Aisne. The shorter line freed more than a dozen divisions.
- **26 Mar 1917, First and Second Battles of Gaza**: Two British attacks on Gaza (26 Mar and 17-19 Apr 1917) failed; a six-month stalemate on the Gaza-Beersheba line followed.
- **9 Apr 1917, Battle of Arras and Vimy Ridge**: British and Dominion forces attacked east of Arras; the Canadian Corps captured Vimy Ridge on 9–12 April. After early gains the offensive, meant to support Nivelle's attack, bogged down with heavy losses.
- **16 Apr 1917, Nivelle offensive on the Chemin des Dames**: General Nivelle's promised breakthrough on the Aisne failed against strong German defences, with some 130,000 French casualties in the first ten days. Nivelle was replaced by Pétain on 15 May.
- **16 Apr 1917, Lenin returns to Petrograd**: Allowed by Germany to cross its territory in a sealed train from Zurich, Lenin arrived at the Finland Station on 16 April (3 April O.S.). His 'April Theses' called for no support to the Provisional Government and 'all power to the Soviets'.
- **3 May 1917, Mutinies in the French army**: After the failed Nivelle offensive, units in dozens of divisions, concentrated in the Aisne sector around Soissons, refused to attack while remaining in the line. Pétain restored order with better leave and rations, limited offensives and courts-martial (several hundred death sentences, of which about 50 were carried out).
- **12 May 1917, Tenth Battle of the Isonzo**: The Italians took Kuk and Vodice north of Gorizia and Jamiano and the coast to the Timavo; an Austro-Hungarian counter-attack on 4 June retook Flondar and Medeazza.
- **3 Jun 1917, Italian protectorate over Albania**: General Ferrero proclaimed at Gjirokastër the independence of Albania under Italian protection; Italian troops advanced into Greek Epirus (Ioannina) until early September.
- **7 Jun 1917, Battle of Messines**: Nineteen large British mines were detonated under the German positions on the Messines ridge at 03:10 on 7 June. The ridge was taken in a few days, preparing the main Ypres offensive.
- **26 Jun 1917, First US troops land at Saint-Nazaire**: The United States had declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917 in Washington, outside this map. The first convoy of the American Expeditionary Forces (1st Division) landed at Saint-Nazaire on 26 June; by November 1918 some two million US soldiers had reached France.
- **29 Jun 1917, Greece joins the Allies**: Under Allied pressure King Constantine left Greece on 14 June, leaving the throne to his son Alexander. Venizelos returned to Athens as prime minister and on 29 June (16 June O.S.) broke relations with the Central Powers; sources date the formal state of war between 27 June and 2 July.
- **1 Jul 1917, Kerensky offensive and its collapse**: The Russian Southwestern Front attacked towards Lemberg on 1 July (18 June O.S.) and Kornilov's Eighth Army took Halicz and Kalush, but morale collapsed. The German counter-attack from 19 July retook Tarnopol on 25 July and Czernowitz on 3 August.
- **6 Jul 1917, Arab forces take Aqaba**: Arab irregulars under Auda abu Tayi and Sharif Nasir, accompanied by T. E. Lawrence, destroyed an Ottoman battalion at Aba el Lissan on 2 July and took the port of Aqaba from the landward side. Aqaba became the base of Faisal's Northern Army.
- **31 Jul 1917, Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele)**: Haig's offensive to break out of the Ypres salient towards the Belgian coast became a slog through mud; Canadian troops finally took the ruins of Passchendaele village on 6–10 November. Casualties on both sides together are estimated at about half a million.
- **6 Aug 1917, Battle of Mărășești**: Romanian and Russian troops stopped Mackensen's offensive aimed at knocking Romania out of the war, following the Romanian success at Mărăști (22 July–1 August). The front on the Siret held until the armistice.
- **17 Aug 1917, Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo: Bainsizza**: The Italian 2nd Army crossed the Isonzo, took most of the Bainsizza plateau and Monte Santo (24 Aug); San Gabriele held out.
- **1 Sep 1917, Germans take Riga**: General von Hutier's Eighth Army crossed the Dvina at Üxküll on 1 September after a short, intense bombardment and entered Riga on 3 September. The fall of Riga fed General Kornilov's attempt to move troops on Petrograd a week later.
- **9 Sep 1917, French take Pogradec**: A French attack between Lakes Ohrid and Maliq captured Pogradec from Bulgarian, A-H and German troops.
- **28 Sep 1917, Second Battle of Ramadi**: The 15th Indian Division trapped and captured the Ottoman garrison of Ramadi on the Euphrates.
- **12 Oct 1917, Operation Albion: Germans seize the Baltic islands**: In an amphibious operation German forces occupied Ösel (Saaremaa), Moon (Muhu) and Dagö (Hiiumaa), controlling the entrance to the Gulf of Riga. The Russian battleship Slava was scuttled after the battle of Moon Sound.
- **24 Oct 1917, Battle of Caporetto**: An Austro-German offensive with gas and infiltration tactics broke through at Caporetto (Kobarid); the Italian army retreated to the Piave, losing some 265,000 prisoners. Cadorna was replaced by Diaz, and British and French divisions were sent to Italy.
- **31 Oct 1917, Battle of Beersheba**: Allenby's army turned the Ottoman Gaza line by taking Beersheba and its wells, capped by the charge of the Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade. Gaza fell on 7 November.
- **2 Nov 1917, Balfour Declaration**: In a letter to Lord Rothschild, Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour stated that the British government viewed with favour 'the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people', provided nothing prejudiced the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities.
- **7 Nov 1917, October Revolution: the Bolsheviks seize power**: On 7 November (25 October O.S.) the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet took over the capital; the Winter Palace fell in the early hours of 8 November. The Congress of Soviets approved a government under Lenin and the Decree on Peace; fighting in Moscow lasted until 15 November.
- **20 Nov 1917, Battle of Cambrai**: Some 470 British tanks broke into the Hindenburg Line; church bells were rung in Britain for the first time in the war. A German counter-attack on 30 November regained most of the lost ground.
- **28 Nov 1917, Transcaucasian Commissariat formed**: Transcaucasian parties form a Commissariat in Tiflis that refuses to recognise the Bolshevik government; national Armenian and Georgian corps replace the dissolving Russian army.
- **6 Dec 1917, Finland declares independence**: The Finnish parliament approved the Senate's declaration of independence on 6 December. Soviet Russia recognised it on 31 December 1917 (4 January 1918).
- **9 Dec 1917, Armistice of Focșani**: With its Russian ally leaving the war, Romania signed an armistice with the Central Powers, leaving the front on the Siret and Mărășești line.
- **9 Dec 1917, Jerusalem surrenders to the British**: The Ottoman garrison withdrew and the mayor surrendered the city on 9 December; Allenby entered on foot through the Jaffa Gate on 11 December.
- **15 Dec 1917, Armistice of Brest-Litovsk**: Soviet Russia and the Central Powers signed an armistice at German eastern headquarters in the Brest-Litovsk fortress, in force from 17 December. Peace talks opened there on 22 December.
- **15 Dec 1917, Kaledin retakes Rostov**: Don Cossack forces of Ataman Kaledin, with the officers of the nascent Volunteer Army, drive the Bolsheviks out of Rostov-on-Don (2 Dec O.S.).
- **18 Dec 1917, Armistice of Erzincan**: The Ottoman Third Army and the Transcaucasian Commissariat sign an armistice at Erzincan, ending hostilities on the Caucasus front.
- **19 Jan 1918, Bolsheviks disperse the Constituent Assembly**: The elected Constituent Assembly, in which the Socialist Revolutionaries were the largest party, met in the Tauride Palace on 18 January (5 January O.S.). The Bolsheviks closed it the next day, ending Russia's brief parliamentary experiment.
- **22 Jan 1918, Fourth Universal: Ukraine declares independence**: The Central Rada's Fourth Universal, dated 22 January 1918 (9 January O.S.), declared the Ukrainian People's Republic fully independent. Bolshevik forces took Kiev on 8–9 February.
- **25 Jan 1918, Battle of Tafilah**: Zeid's Sharifian force routed an Ottoman column at Tafilah (taken 15-16 Jan); the Ottomans retook the town on 6 Mar.
- **26 Jan 1918, Romanian troops enter Chișinău**: The Romanian 11th Division takes Chișinău (13 Jan O.S.) against Rumcherod/Soviet forces; Bender follows on 7 Feb, Bălți on 5 Feb, Izmail on 6 Feb.
- **27 Jan 1918, Finnish Civil War; Whites take Tampere**: The Red Guards seized Helsinki on 27–28 January as the White government's troops under Mannerheim disarmed Russian garrisons in Ostrobothnia. The Whites stormed Tampere on 6 April after the bloodiest battle of the war; the war ended on 15 May with a White victory and some 36,000 dead in all, many in prison camps.
- **28 Jan 1918, Battle of the Three Mountains**: Italian counter-attack on the eastern Asiago plateau recovered Col del Rosso, Col d'Echele and Monte Valbella.
- **31 Jan 1918, Reds take Orenburg**: Soviet forces under Kobozev and Blyukher capture Orenburg; Ataman Dutov withdraws to the Turgai steppe.
- **9 Feb 1918, Bread Peace: Central Powers sign peace with Ukraine**: At Brest-Litovsk the Central Powers recognised the Ukrainian People's Republic, which promised them grain, and granted it the Kholm region. German and Austro-Hungarian armies then occupied Ukraine in February–April.
- **12 Feb 1918, Ottoman reoccupation of eastern Anatolia**: Vehip Pasa's Third Army retakes Erzincan (13 Feb), Trebizond (24 Feb), Rize (2 Mar), Erzurum (12 Mar) and Van (early Apr) from the Armenian corps and reaches the 1914 frontier.
- **16 Feb 1918, Lithuania declares independence**: The Council of Lithuania, meeting under German occupation in Vilnius, proclaimed an independent Lithuanian state. Germany recognised it on 23 March 1918 as bound to the Reich.
- **18 Feb 1918, Operation Faustschlag: German advance into Russia**: After Trotsky's 'neither war nor peace' walk-out, the Central Powers resumed hostilities. Almost unopposed, German troops took Dvinsk (18 Feb), Minsk (21 Feb), Pskov (24 Feb), Reval (25 Feb) and Kiev (1–2 Mar), forcing Lenin to accept harsher peace terms.
- **22 Feb 1918, Volunteer Army's Ice March**: Kornilov's Volunteer Army leaves Rostov for the Kuban; Kornilov is killed before Yekaterinodar (13 Apr) and Denikin leads the army back to the Don.
- **24 Feb 1918, Estonia declares independence**: Between the Bolshevik withdrawal and the German arrival, the Estonian Salvation Committee proclaimed independence in Tallinn (it had been read in Pärnu the evening before). German troops entered Tallinn on 25 February.
- **3 Mar 1918, Treaty of Brest-Litovsk**: Soviet Russia gave up Poland, Lithuania and Courland, evacuated Estonia, Livonia, Finland and Ukraine, and ceded Kars, Ardahan and Batum to the Ottoman Empire, losing about a third of the former empire's population. Germany renounced the treaty in the Armistice of 11 November and the Soviets annulled it on 13 November 1918.
- **5 Mar 1918, Preliminary peace of Buftea**: Romania accepts the Central Powers' preliminary terms (cession of Dobruja, Carpathian passes). The Averescu–Rakovsky protocol with the Odessa Soviets is signed the same day.
- **6 Mar 1918, British land at Murmansk**: Royal Marines land at Murmansk with the consent of the Murmansk Soviet to guard Allied stores against the Germans and Finnish Whites.
- **21 Mar 1918, Operation Michael: the German Spring Offensive**: Using divisions freed from the East, Ludendorff attacked the British Fifth and Third Armies on a broad front around Saint-Quentin. The Germans advanced up to 60 km, the largest gain in the West since 1914, but failed to take Amiens or split the Allies.
- **21 Mar 1918, Transjordan raids on Amman and Es Salt**: Two British raids across the Jordan (Amman 27-30 Mar, Es Salt 30 Apr-4 May) were repulsed; only the Jordan bridgeheads were kept.
- **26 Mar 1918, Khan al-Baghdadi**: A mobile column encircled and captured some 5,000 Ottomans on the Euphrates; Ana was raided on 28 Mar.
- **9 Apr 1918, Bessarabia votes for union with Romania**: With Romanian troops in the country, the Sfatul Țării voted on 9 April (27 March O.S.) by 86 votes to 3, with 36 abstentions, for conditional union with Romania.
- **9 Apr 1918, Operation Georgette: German offensive on the Lys**: The Germans broke through on the Lys, overrunning the Portuguese 2nd Division near La Couture on the first day, and took Armentières and Mount Kemmel. Haig issued his "backs to the wall" order; the offensive was halted short of Hazebrouck and the Channel ports.
- **13 Apr 1918, Germans take Helsinki**: The German Baltic Division under von der Goltz, landed at Hanko on 3 Apr, captures Helsinki.
- **14 Apr 1918, Ottomans take Batum**: The Ottoman 37th Division with Laz and Acar irregulars attacks Batum; the fortress surrenders the same day and the Georgian corps falls back to the Choloki.
- **29 Apr 1918, Hetman Skoropadsky's coup in Kiev**: With German backing, General Pavlo Skoropadsky overthrew the Central Rada and proclaimed the Hetmanate (Ukrainian State), a conservative regime dependent on the German and Austro-Hungarian occupation forces.
- **7 May 1918, Treaty of Bucharest**: Signed at Cotroceni Palace by the Marghiloman government (after the preliminary Peace of Buftea of 5 March), it gave Southern Dobruja and part of the north to Bulgaria, the rest of Dobruja to Central Powers administration, Carpathian border strips to Austria-Hungary and Romanian oil to Germany on long leases. King Ferdinand never ratified it and Romania re-entered the war on 10 November 1918.
- **8 May 1918, Germans take Rostov-on-Don**: German 20th Reserve Division occupies Rostov; the OHL halts the advance; Korenevo armistice line with Soviet Russia (4 May).
- **21 May 1918, Battle of Sardarabad**: Armenian troops and volunteers halted the Ottoman advance on Erivan at Sardarabad, while further battles were fought at Bash Abaran and Karakilisa. The battles preserved an Armenian state around Erivan and Lake Sevan.
- **26 May 1918, Georgia declares independence**: The short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, proclaimed on 22 April, broke up under Ottoman pressure; Georgia declared independence in Tiflis under German protection.
- **27 May 1918, Operation Blücher–Yorck: Germans reach the Marne again**: A surprise attack on the Chemin des Dames advanced some 50 km to the Marne at Château-Thierry, 90 km from Paris. US troops helped stop the advance at Château-Thierry and Belleau Wood in early June.
- **30 May 1918, Battle of Skra-di-Legen**: Greek divisions with French support stormed the Bulgarian salient of Skra west of the Vardar.
- **4 Jun 1918, Treaty of Batum**: The Ottoman Empire signed separate peace treaties with Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenia was left with only some 10,000–12,000 km² around Erivan and Lake Sevan; Batum, Kars and Ardahan went to the Ottomans.
- **8 Jun 1918, Czechoslovak Legion takes Samara; Komuch government formed**: The Czechoslovak Legion, in revolt against the Bolsheviks since late May along the Trans-Siberian Railway, took Samara, where members of the dispersed Constituent Assembly formed an anti-Bolshevik government (Komuch). Its forces took Kazan on 7 August but lost it on 10 September.
- **15 Jun 1918, Second Battle of the Piave**: Austria-Hungary's last great offensive crossed the Piave at the Montello and near the coast, but Italian counter-attacks and flooding forced the Austro-Hungarians back across the river with some 120,000 casualties.
- **25 Jun 1918, Second Kuban Campaign**: The Volunteer Army takes Torgovaya, cutting the North Caucasus from central Russia; Tikhoretskaya falls 14 Jul, Yekaterinodar 16 Aug.
- **27 Jun 1918, Battle of Goychay**: The Ottoman-Azerbaijani Army of Islam (Nuri Pasa) defeats the Baku Red Army; the Turks take Kurdamir on 10 Jul and advance on Baku.
- **6 Jul 1918, Yaroslavl rising**: Boris Savinkov's Union for the Defence of the Motherland and Freedom (Col. Perkhurov) holds Yaroslavl for two weeks until Red artillery forces its surrender.
- **11 Jul 1918, Kingdom of Lithuania**: The Taryba elects Wilhelm of Urach as King Mindaugas II (revoked 2 Nov).
- **15 Jul 1918, Second Battle of the Marne**: Ludendorff's last offensive crossed the Marne on both sides of Reims, but on 18 July French, American, British and Italian forces counter-attacked into the flank of the salient near Soissons. The Germans withdrew to the Vesle; the initiative passed to the Allies for good.
- **15 Jul 1918, Georgians occupy the Sochi district and Tuapse**: General Mazniashvili's troops, having secured Abkhazia against the Bolsheviks, occupy Sochi and by mid-July Tuapse; Georgia annexes the Sochi district on 18 Sep 1918.
- **2 Aug 1918, Allied intervention forces land at Arkhangelsk**: British, French and later American troops landed at Arkhangelsk as a local anti-Bolshevik coup took the city, adding to the British force at Murmansk (since March 1918). They supported the Northern Region government until the British evacuated Arkhangelsk on 27 September 1919.
- **7 Aug 1918, Kappel takes Kazan**: The People's Army and Czechoslovaks capture Kazan and part of the imperial gold reserve; the Reds retake the city on 10 Sep.
- **8 Aug 1918, Battle of Amiens: the "black day of the German army"**: Australian, Canadian, British and French forces with over 500 tanks advanced up to 12 km on the first day; many German troops surrendered. Ludendorff called 8 August the "black day"; the Allied Hundred Days offensive followed.
- **8 Aug 1918, Mudawwara station stormed**: The Imperial Camel Corps took the Hejaz railway station at Mudawwara, cutting Medina off for good.
- **8 Aug 1918, Izhevsk–Votkinsk rising**: Workers of the Izhevsk and Votkinsk arms plants rise against the Bolsheviks and hold most of Udmurtia until November.
- **22 Aug 1918, Deadly second wave of the influenza pandemic appears at Brest**: A far more lethal wave of the 1918 influenza broke out almost simultaneously in the troop ports of Brest (from about 22 August), Freetown and Boston. Over the next months it killed millions in Europe and worldwide; it was called "Spanish flu" because uncensored Spanish newspapers had reported the milder spring wave from late May.
- **12 Sep 1918, Battle of Saint-Mihiel**: In its first large independent operation, the US First Army under Pershing, with French support, eliminated the Saint-Mihiel salient that the Germans had held since 1914, taking about 15,000 prisoners.
- **15 Sep 1918, Ottoman Army of Islam takes Baku**: After the small British Dunsterforce evacuated the city on the night of 14 September, Ottoman and Azerbaijani forces entered Baku, which became the capital of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. In the following days thousands of Armenian inhabitants were killed.
- **15 Sep 1918, Battle of Dobro Pole: breakthrough on the Macedonian front**: Serbian and French troops stormed the Bulgarian mountain positions at Dobro Pole, while British and Greek attacks at Doiran (18–19 Sep) were repulsed. The Bulgarian front collapsed; Allied troops reached Skopje on 29 September and mutinous Bulgarian soldiers marched on Sofia.
- **19 Sep 1918, Battle of Megiddo**: Allenby's infantry broke the Ottoman line on the coastal plain and his cavalry rode through to Nazareth and the Jordan valley, destroying the Ottoman Seventh and Eighth Armies. Haifa, Amman and Deraa fell in the following days.
- **26 Sep 1918, Meuse–Argonne offensive**: The largest American operation of the war, with over a million US soldiers, pushed through the Argonne forest and the Meuse heights towards the railway hub of Sedan. It cost some 26,000 American dead.
- **29 Sep 1918, Bulgaria signs the Armistice of Salonica**: Bulgarian delegates signed an armistice with General Franchet d'Espèrey, effective at noon on 30 September. Bulgaria demobilised, evacuated occupied Greek and Serbian territory and allowed Allied troops through its territory; Tsar Ferdinand abdicated on 3 October.
- **1 Oct 1918, Damascus falls to Australian and Arab forces**: Australian Light Horse passed through the city early on 1 October, and Faisal's Arab forces and T. E. Lawrence arrived the same day, where an Arab administration had already raised the Hejaz flag. Faisal set up an Arab government under Allied military occupation (OETA East).
- **4 Oct 1918, Germany asks Wilson for an armistice based on the Fourteen Points**: Prince Max of Baden's government asked President Wilson for an armistice and peace on the basis of the Fourteen Points, set out by Wilson in Washington on 8 January 1918. The exchange of notes that followed led to the armistice terms of November.
- **24 Oct 1918, Battle of Vittorio Veneto**: Italian, British and French forces attacked on the Monte Grappa and across the Piave; the Austro-Hungarian army, dissolving along national lines, broke on 29–30 October. Italy took several hundred thousand prisoners before the armistice came into force on 4 November.
- **26 Oct 1918, Aleppo taken; Haritan affair**: Sharifian forces took Aleppo on the night of 25/26 Oct; Indian cavalry clashed with Mustafa Kemal's rearguard at Haritan.
- **28 Oct 1918, Czechoslovakia proclaimed in Prague**: The Czech National Committee took over administration in Prague and proclaimed an independent Czechoslovak state. On 30 October Slovak leaders meeting in Martin declared for union with the Czechs.
- **29 Oct 1918, State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs proclaimed**: The Croatian Sabor in Zagreb broke all ties with Austria-Hungary and joined the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, governed by the National Council. On 31 October Emperor Karl handed it the Austro-Hungarian fleet at Pola.
- **30 Oct 1918, Armistice of Mudros**: Ottoman Navy Minister Rauf Bey and British Admiral Calthorpe signed the armistice aboard HMS Agamemnon in Mudros harbour on Lemnos, effective at noon on 31 October. It opened the Straits to the Allies and allowed them to occupy strategic points.
- **30 Oct 1918, Ottoman Sixth Army surrenders at Sharqat**: After the Battle of Sharqat Ismail Hakki surrendered the Sixth Army on the Tigris; Kirkuk had been retaken on 25 Oct.
- **31 Oct 1918, Aster Revolution in Budapest**: Soldiers and crowds wearing asters brought Count Mihály Károlyi to power; former prime minister István Tisza was killed the same day. Hungary ended the union with Austria and was proclaimed a people's republic on 16 November.
- **1 Nov 1918, West Ukrainian People's Republic proclaimed; fighting for Lwów**: Ukrainian troops seized Lviv on 1 November and proclaimed the West Ukrainian People's Republic. Polish defenders, many of them young volunteers, held part of the city until relief came, and the Ukrainians withdrew on 22 November, starting the Polish–Ukrainian War.
- **3 Nov 1918, Armistice of Villa Giusti**: Austria-Hungary signed an armistice with the Allies at Villa Giusti near Padua, effective at 15:00 on 4 November. It allowed Italy to occupy the lands promised in the Treaty of London up to the Brenner.
- **3 Nov 1918, Kiel mutiny**: Sailors of the High Seas Fleet who had refused to sail on a last sortie joined workers in mass demonstrations; by 4 November they controlled Kiel. Workers' and soldiers' councils spread across Germany within days.
- **3 Nov 1918, Italians land in Montenegro**: Italian troops occupied Bar (Antivari) and Ulcinj; Allied warships entered Kotor on 10 Nov.
- **9 Nov 1918, Republic proclaimed in Berlin**: Prince Max of Baden announced the Kaiser's abdication and handed the chancellorship to Friedrich Ebert; Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed a German republic from the Reichstag, and Karl Liebknecht a socialist republic from the City Palace.
- **10 Nov 1918, Wilhelm II crosses into the Netherlands**: Leaving army headquarters at Spa, the Kaiser crossed the Dutch border at Eijsden and was granted asylum; he signed his formal abdication at Amerongen on 28 November and later lived at Doorn.
- **10 Nov 1918, Romania re-enters the war**: Romania declares war again on the eve of the Compiègne armistice; French troops cross the Danube at Giurgiu, Mackensen's army starts evacuating on 12 Nov.
- **11 Nov 1918, Armistice of Compiègne ends the fighting in the West**: German delegates signed the armistice in Marshal Foch's railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne near Rethondes at about 05:10; it came into force at 11:00. Germany had to evacuate occupied territory and Alsace-Lorraine, the left bank of the Rhine and bridgeheads, and surrender its fleet and much war material.
- **11 Nov 1918, Piłsudski takes command in Warsaw**: Released from German detention in Magdeburg, Józef Piłsudski arrived in Warsaw on 10 November; on 11 November the Regency Council gave him command of the Polish armed forces as German troops were disarmed. 11 November is celebrated as Polish Independence Day.
- **11 Nov 1918, Emperor Karl renounces participation in government**: At Schönbrunn Karl gave up 'all participation in affairs of state' in Austria without formally abdicating; he did the same for Hungary at Eckartsau on 13 November. He went into exile in Switzerland in March 1919.
- **13 Nov 1918, Belgrade Military Convention with Hungary**: Allied and Hungarian representatives signed an armistice convention setting a demarcation line in southern Hungary and Transylvania, beyond which Allied (Serbian and Romanian) troops could advance.
- **13 Nov 1918, Allied fleet anchors off Constantinople**: An Allied fleet of some 60 ships sailed through the Dardanelles and anchored off Constantinople, beginning the Allied occupation of the Ottoman capital, which was formalised in March 1920.
- **14 Nov 1918, Directorate uprising against the Hetman**: The UNR Directorate rose at Bila Tserkva (14–16 Nov), defeated the Hetman's troops at Motovylivka (18 Nov) and entered Kyiv on 14 Dec 1918 after Skoropadsky abdicated.
- **17 Nov 1918, British occupy Baku**: General Thomson's force (about 1000 men initially) lands at Baku and proclaims martial law; the British stay until 24 Aug 1919.
- **17 Nov 1918, Germans evacuate Belgium, Luxembourg and Alsace-Lorraine**: French troops enter Mulhouse (17 Nov), Metz (19 Nov) and Strasbourg (22 Nov); US troops enter Luxembourg (21 Nov); King Albert enters Brussels (22 Nov).
- **18 Nov 1918, Latvia declares independence**: The People's Council proclaimed the Republic of Latvia in the Riga city theatre, with Kārlis Ulmanis as prime minister, while German troops still occupied the country.
- **18 Nov 1918, Kolchak becomes Supreme Ruler**: A coup in Omsk overthrows the Ufa Directory; Admiral Kolchak becomes Supreme Ruler of the Russian State.
- **25 Nov 1918, Red Army enters Pskov**: After the German withdrawal the Red Army enters Pskov and advances into Estonia and Latvia.
- **28 Nov 1918, Bukovina votes for union with Romania**: The General Congress of Bukovina in Czernowitz, held after Romanian troops had entered the city on 11 November, voted for union with Romania; Ukrainian representatives, who had claimed northern Bukovina, boycotted it.
- **1 Dec 1918, Alba Iulia assembly declares the union of Transylvania with Romania**: A national assembly of Transylvanian, Banat and eastern Hungarian Romanians proclaimed union with Romania; the Transylvanian Saxons endorsed it in January 1919. Romanian troops advanced to the demarcation line and beyond during the winter.
- **1 Dec 1918, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes proclaimed**: Prince Regent Alexander accepted the address of a delegation of the National Council of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and proclaimed its union with Serbia (including Montenegro and Vojvodina) as one kingdom.
- **1 Dec 1918, South-West Caucasian Republic at Kars**: A Muslim national government in Kars, supported by the withdrawing Ottoman Ninth Army, claims Kars, Batum, Akhaltsikhe, Akhalkalaki, Sharur and Nakhichevan; British troops arrest its leaders on 19 Apr 1919.
- **6 Dec 1918, Allied armies occupy the Rhineland**: British cavalry entered Cologne on 6 December; American, British and French divisions crossed the Rhine on 13 December into the bridgeheads of Cologne, Koblenz and Mainz. Belgian troops occupied the northern Rhineland around Aachen.
- **10 Dec 1918, Red Army enters Minsk**: Following the German withdrawal the Western Army entered Minsk; the SSR Byelorussia was proclaimed on 1 Jan 1919 and merged into the Lithuanian-Byelorussian SSR on 27 Feb 1919.
- **17 Dec 1918, French land at Mersin**: French troops with the Armenian Legion land at Mersin and occupy Cilicia (Tarsus, Adana) as part of OETA North.
- **18 Dec 1918, French intervention at Odessa**: French, Greek and Polish troops landed at Odessa and later garrisoned Mykolaiv and Kherson; after Hryhoriiv took Kherson and Mykolaiv the Allies evacuated Odessa on 6 Apr 1919.
- **24 Dec 1918, Pichon line imposed on Hungary**: Lt-Col. Vix delivers (23 Dec) the Allied demarcation line along the Danube, Ipeľ, Rimavská Sobota and the Uh; Czechoslovak troops occupy Košice (29 Dec) and Bratislava (1–2 Jan 1919).
- **24 Dec 1918, Kolchak takes Perm**: The Siberian Army takes Kungur (21 Dec) and Perm (24–25 Dec) — the "Perm catastrophe" of the Red 3rd Army.
- **27 Dec 1918, Greater Poland Uprising**: After Paderewski's arrival in Poznań, fighting broke out between Polish insurgents and German troops; by mid-January 1919 the Poles held most of the province of Posen. The Armistice of Trier extension of 16 February 1919 fixed a demarcation line.
- **1919, Italians occupy Knin**: After clashes with the Serbian army, Italian troops occupied Knin; the whole Dalmatian armistice zone was under Italian control by 20 Feb 1919 (Governor Adm. Millo).
- **3 Jan 1919, Red Army takes Riga**: Latvian Red Riflemen and the Red Army entered Riga, where Pēteris Stučka's Soviet Latvian government took power; the Ulmanis government withdrew to Liepāja. Vilnius fell to the Red Army on 5 January.
- **3 Jan 1919, Red Army takes Kharkiv**: The Soviet Ukrainian Front invaded from the neutral zone in December and took Kharkiv; the Ukrainian SSR government moved there.
- **5 Jan 1919, Spartacist uprising in Berlin**: Revolutionary workers and the new Communist Party occupied newspaper offices and railway stations; the Ebert government used army units and Freikorps to crush the rising. Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were murdered by Freikorps officers on 15 January.
- **7 Jan 1919, Christmas Uprising in Montenegro**: Supporters of King Nikola ("Greens") rose against the union around Cetinje; the revolt was suppressed by Serbian troops.
- **10 Jan 1919, Medina surrenders**: Fakhri Pasha's garrison of Medina, besieged since 1916, capitulated on 9-10 Jan 1919.
- **11 Jan 1919, British occupy Deir ez-Zor**: A British force from Mesopotamia occupied Deir ez-Zor, displacing the Arab government's governor.
- **18 Jan 1919, Paris Peace Conference opens**: Delegations of some 30 Allied and associated states met at the French Foreign Ministry on the Quai d'Orsay; the defeated powers and Russia were not represented. Decisions were taken mainly by the "Big Four": Wilson, Lloyd George, Clemenceau and Orlando.
- **19 Jan 1919, Khotyn uprising**: Ukrainian and Bolshevik-supported insurgents seized Khotyn and northern Bessarabian villages; Romanian troops suppressed the rising and many inhabitants fled across the Dniester.
- **21 Jan 1919, First Dáil meets in Dublin; Irish War of Independence begins**: Sinn Féin MPs elected in December 1918 met at the Mansion House as Dáil Éireann and adopted a Declaration of Independence. The same day Irish Volunteers killed two policemen at Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary, the first shots of the Irish War of Independence.
- **22 Jan 1919, Reds take Orenburg and Uralsk**: Soviet forces take Orenburg (22 Jan) and Uralsk (24 Jan) from the Orenburg and Ural Cossacks.
- **5 Feb 1919, Red Army takes Kiev**: Soviet forces took Kiev from Petliura's Directorate, which withdrew westward to Vinnytsia and later Kamianets-Podilskyi; a Ukrainian Soviet government was installed.
- **5 Feb 1919, Denikin clears the North Caucasus**: The Red 11th Army disintegrates; the Volunteers take Grozny (5 Feb) and Vladikavkaz (10 Feb) and drive the Georgians out of Sochi (6 Feb).
- **6 Feb 1919, German National Assembly meets at Weimar**: The assembly elected on 19 January, the first German election in which women voted, met in the Weimar National Theatre, away from unrest in Berlin. It elected Friedrich Ebert president on 11 February.
- **6 Feb 1919, Volunteer Army takes Sochi and Gagra**: Denikin's troops drive the Georgians from the Sochi district to the Bzyb; after the Georgian counter-attack of 12 Apr 1919 the British fix the line on the Psou.
- **14 Feb 1919, First Polish–Soviet clashes**: Polish units let through by the Germans met the Red Army at Masty on the Neman and at Bereza Kartuska (13–16 Feb 1919).
- **16 Feb 1919, Vovchukhy operation**: The Ukrainian Galician Army cut the Przemyśl–Lviv railway near Vovchukhy; the Barthélemy mission imposed a short truce and the Poles reopened the corridor on 18 Mar 1919.
- **3 Mar 1919, German–Latvian offensive in Courland**: The Iron Division, Landeswehr and Latvian units advanced from the Venta, taking Tukums (15 Mar) and Jelgava (18 Mar) and reaching the Lielupe.
- **9 Mar 1919, Egyptian revolution of 1919**: The arrest and deportation to Malta of nationalist leader Saad Zaghlul on 8 March set off strikes, demonstrations and attacks on railways across Egypt. British troops restored control at the cost of hundreds of Egyptian lives, and Zaghlul was released in April.
- **11 Mar 1919, Veshenskaya rising**: Upper Don Cossacks rise against Red terror and de-Cossackisation, holding out behind the Red lines until relieved by the Don Army.
- **13 Mar 1919, Kolchak's spring offensive takes Ufa**: Admiral Kolchak's Western Army took Ufa and advanced towards the Volga, the high point of the White offensive from Siberia. The Red Army's counter-offensive retook Ufa on 9 June 1919.
- **21 Mar 1919, Hungarian Soviet Republic**: After the Károlyi government resigned in protest at an Allied demand for a further withdrawal, Social Democrats and Communists under Béla Kun proclaimed a Soviet republic. It fought Czechoslovakia and Romania, and collapsed on 1 August as Romanian troops approached Budapest.
- **28 Mar 1919, Italians land at Antalya**: An Italian expeditionary corps from Rhodes lands at Antalya, followed by garrisons at Alanya, Marmaris, Fethiye, Bodrum, Kusadasi (Scala Nuova), Soke and a detachment at Konya.
- **6 Apr 1919, Soviets enter Odessa**: Hryhoriiv's division entered Odessa after the French evacuation; the Red Army overran Crimea in April (Crimean SSR 6 May).
- **7 Apr 1919, Bavarian Soviet Republic**: Following the assassination of Kurt Eisner on 21 February, a council republic was proclaimed in Munich and then taken over by Communists. Army units and Freikorps took Munich on 1–3 May, killing several hundred people.
- **19 Apr 1919, Poles take Vilnius**: Polish cavalry and infantry captured Vilnius from the Red Army in a surprise attack. The city became a long-running dispute between Poland and Lithuania.
- **19 Apr 1919, British break up the Kars government**: British troops from Batum surround the parliament of the South-West Caucasian Republic and deport its leaders; Kars passes to Armenian administration (governor Korganian) and northern Ardahan and Artvin to Georgia.
- **21 Apr 1919, Finnish Aunus expedition**: Finnish volunteers take Olonets and advance towards Petrozavodsk; a Soviet landing at Vidlitsa (27 Jun) forces them back across the border.
- **28 Apr 1919, Covenant of the League of Nations adopted**: A plenary session of the Peace Conference adopted the Covenant, which became Part I of the Treaty of Versailles and the other peace treaties. The League, seated in Geneva, came into being on 10 January 1920.
- **29 Apr 1919, Yugoslav attack and Carinthian counter-offensive**: A Yugoslav offensive in Carinthia was thrown back: the Carinthians took Völkermarkt (2 May), Bleiburg and Eisenkappel (5 May) and Dravograd and reached the old border.
- **3 May 1919, Armenian annexation and loss of Nakhichevan**: Armenia annexes Nakhichevan and Sharur (3 May) and occupies them in May-June, but a Muslim revolt backed by Azerbaijan and Turkish officers expels the Armenians in late July 1919.
- **7 May 1919, Hryhoriiv uprising**: Otaman Hryhoriiv turned against the Bolsheviks and seized much of central and southern Ukraine (Yelysavethrad, Kremenchuk, Cherkasy, Uman) before being defeated at the end of May.
- **13 May 1919, Northern Corps attacks Petrograd**: Rodzyanko's Northern Corps breaks through at Narva, takes Gdov (15 May), Yamburg (17 May) and, with the Estonians, Pskov (25 May).
- **14 May 1919, Polish offensive in Galicia and Volhynia**: Haller's army and Polish forces broke the Lviv front: Sambir, Drohobych, Stryi and Stanislaviv (26 May) fell; the UHA was pushed into the triangle between the Dniester and the Zbruch.
- **15 May 1919, Greek army lands at Smyrna**: Authorised by the Allied leaders in Paris, Greek troops landed at Smyrna; shooting and killings of Turkish soldiers and civilians accompanied the landing. The occupation spread over western Anatolia and spurred Turkish resistance.
- **15 May 1919, Mughan Soviet Republic proclaimed**: After Bolsheviks depose the Russian settlers' Mughan administration (25 Apr), a Soviet republic is proclaimed at Lankaran; Azerbaijani troops end it in June-July 1919.
- **19 May 1919, Mustafa Kemal lands at Samsun**: Sent as inspector of the Ninth Army, Mustafa Kemal landed at Samsun and began organising national resistance. The date is commemorated in Turkey as the start of the War of Independence.
- **22 May 1919, Riga retaken from the Bolsheviks**: The Baltic German Landeswehr and German Freikorps under von der Goltz, with Latvian units, took Riga; a period of reprisals followed. German forces then turned against the Estonians and Latvians in the north.
- **23 May 1919, Sheikh Mahmud's revolt in Sulaymaniyah**: Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji expelled British officials and proclaimed himself ruler of Kurdistan; he was defeated at Darband-i Bazian in June.
- **25 May 1919, Battle of Turabah**: Ibn Saud's Ikhwan destroyed Abdullah's Hashemite army at Turabah on the Hejaz-Najd border.
- **27 May 1919, Bender uprising**: A Bolshevik-organised rising in Tighina (Bender) was crushed by Romanian troops the same day.
- **1 Jun 1919, Separatist "Rhenish Republic" and "Free Palatinate"**: Hans Adam Dorten proclaims a Rhenish Republic at Wiesbaden and Eberhard Haas an autonomous Palatinate at Speyer, both with French backing; neither survives more than days.
- **9 Jun 1919, Reds retake Ufa**: Frunze's Southern Group takes Ufa; the Red Army retakes Perm on 1 Jul and crosses the Urals (Chelyabinsk 24 Jul).
- **13 Jun 1919, Clemenceau note fixes Hungary's borders**: The Peace Conference communicates Hungary's future borders with Czechoslovakia and Romania and orders the Hungarian withdrawal from Slovakia.
- **21 Jun 1919, German fleet scuttled at Scapa Flow**: Believing the peace talks had failed, Admiral von Reuter ordered the interned German ships to be scuttled; 52 of 74 sank. Nine German sailors were killed.
- **25 Jun 1919, AFSR takes Kharkiv**: Denikin's Volunteer Army took Kharkiv (24–25 Jun) and Yekaterinoslav (28–30 Jun); Crimea was retaken after the Koktebel landing (18 Jun).
- **28 Jun 1919, Treaty of Versailles signed**: Signed in the Hall of Mirrors five years to the day after Sarajevo. Germany lost Alsace-Lorraine, most of Posen and West Prussia, Memel and its colonies; Danzig became a free city, the Saar went under the League and plebiscites were set for Schleswig, East Prussia and Upper Silesia. The Rhineland was occupied, the army limited to 100,000 men and Germany accepted liability for war damage; the treaty came into force on 10 January 1920.
- **30 Jun 1919, Whites take Tsaritsyn; Denikin orders the march on Moscow**: Wrangel's Caucasian Army took Tsaritsyn on 30 June, and Kharkov had fallen to the Volunteer Army on 25 June. On 3 July in Tsaritsyn Denikin issued his 'Moscow directive' for a general advance on the Soviet capital.
- **11 Jul 1919, Siege of Uralsk lifted**: Chapaev's 25th Division relieves the Uralsk garrison besieged by the Ural Cossacks since April; Chapaev is killed at Lbishchensk on 5 Sep.
- **23 Jul 1919, Erzurum Congress**: Delegates of the eastern provinces meet under Mustafa Kemal at Erzurum and reject any Armenian or foreign mandate over eastern Anatolia.
- **3 Aug 1919, Romanian army enters Timișoara**: After the Serbian evacuation of the eastern Banat (28 Jun – 3 Aug), Romanian troops enter Timișoara.
- **4 Aug 1919, Romanian army enters Budapest**: After defeating the Hungarian Red Army's Tisza offensive and crossing the river, Romanian troops entered Budapest on 3–4 August, days after the fall of Béla Kun. They occupied the capital until mid-November 1919.
- **8 Aug 1919, Polish army takes Minsk**: Polish forces took Minsk from the Red Army; the front in Belarus then stabilised along the Berezina until 1920.
- **10 Aug 1919, Mamontov's raid**: The 4th Don Cavalry Corps breaks through the Red front and raids Tambov, Kozlov, Yelets and Voronezh before rejoining the Whites.
- **11 Aug 1919, Weimar Constitution signed**: Adopted by the National Assembly at Weimar on 31 July, the constitution of the German Reich was signed by President Ebert at Schwarzburg in Thuringia on 11 August and came into force on 14 August 1919.
- **14 Aug 1919, Red August counter-offensive**: Shorin's group attacks towards Tsaritsyn and the Don, Selivachev's group towards Kupyansk and Kharkiv; both are halted by early September.
- **22 Aug 1919, Karabakh Armenians accept Azerbaijani rule**: The Seventh Congress of Karabakh Armenians provisionally accepts the authority of the Azerbaijani governor-general Sultanov pending the Peace Conference.
- **23 Aug 1919, Sejny uprising**: Polish POW insurgents seized Sejny and briefly Lazdijai; the Lithuanians withdrew behind the Foch line (26–27 Jul 1919) by 7 Sep.
- **23 Aug 1919, AFSR takes Odessa**: A White landing supported by the British fleet captured Odessa on 23–24 Aug 1919.
- **24 Aug 1919, British leave Baku**: The last British troops leave Baku; British forces remain in Batum only.
- **31 Aug 1919, Denikin's army enters Kiev**: Ukrainian Galician Army troops entered Kiev on 30 August, but units of Denikin's Armed Forces of South Russia arrived on 31 August and forced them out. The Whites held Kiev until December.
- **4 Sep 1919, Sivas Congress**: A national congress under Mustafa Kemal unified the resistance societies and confirmed the Erzurum resolutions, rejecting any mandate or partition and challenging the Istanbul government.
- **10 Sep 1919, Treaty of Saint-Germain with Austria**: Signed in the château of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Austria recognised the independence of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, ceded South Tyrol, Trieste and Istria to Italy and was forbidden to unite with Germany without League consent. It came into force on 16 July 1920.
- **12 Sep 1919, D'Annunzio seizes Fiume**: The poet Gabriele D'Annunzio led some 2,600 Italian nationalist volunteers and mutinous soldiers from Ronchi into Fiume, whose status the Peace Conference had not settled. His regency held the city until December 1920.
- **15 Sep 1919, Anglo-French agreement on Syria**: Lloyd George and Clemenceau agreed that British troops would leave Syria and Cilicia from 1 Nov 1919, the French replacing them in the west and the Arab government in the east.
- **27 Sep 1919, Allies leave Arkhangelsk**: The last Allied troops evacuate Arkhangelsk (Murmansk 12 Oct), leaving General Miller's Northern Army on its own.
- **28 Sep 1919, Luxembourg referendum**: Luxembourgers vote to keep Grand Duchess Charlotte and the monarchy and favour an economic union with France.
- **4 Oct 1919, Romanians evacuate Transdanubia**: Romanian troops leave Győr and Veszprém (3–4 Oct) and Székesfehérvár (12 Oct).
- **8 Oct 1919, Bermondt attacks Riga**: The West Russian Volunteer Army of Bermondt-Avalov seized the left-bank suburbs of Riga; Latvian forces with Estonian and British naval support drove it back on 11 Nov.
- **13 Oct 1919, Denikin takes Orel, his closest point to Moscow**: The Volunteer Army's Kornilov division took Orel, 360 km from Moscow, on 13–14 October. A Red shock group led by the Latvian Rifle Division retook Orel on 20 October, Budyonny's cavalry took Voronezh on 24 October, and the White armies began a long retreat.
- **15 Oct 1919, Inter-Allied administration of Western Thrace**: General Charpy took over Western Thrace from the Bulgarian administration (military control 10 Oct, civil administration 15 Oct 1919).
- **16 Oct 1919, Yudenich reaches the outskirts of Petrograd**: The North-Western Army took Gatchina on 16 October, Krasnoye Selo on 17 October and the Pulkovo heights by 20 October. Trotsky organised the city's defence and the Red counter-offensive from 21 October drove Yudenich back to Estonia.
- **24 Oct 1919, Budyonny retakes Voronezh**: Budyonny's cavalry corps retakes Voronezh; Kastornoye falls on 15 Nov and Kursk on 17 Nov.
- **30 Oct 1919, French relieve the British at Maras, Urfa and Antep**: Under the Lloyd George-Clemenceau agreement British garrisons in Maras, Urfa and Antep hand over to French troops, extending French control beyond Cilicia.
- **3 Nov 1919, Milne Line communicated**: The Allied line limiting the Greek zone of Smyrna (Aymaz-dag N of Ayvalik - Tatarkoy - Keselli - Sart - Bademlik - Umurlu - Selcuk) is communicated to the Ottoman War Ministry.
- **4 Nov 1919, Azerbaijani offensive in Zangezur repulsed**: An Azerbaijani offensive on Goris is defeated by Armenian forces of Shahmazian and Nzhdeh; Zangezur remains Armenian.
- **26 Nov 1919, British withdraw from OETA East**: The last British troops left inland Syria; the Arab government in Damascus was left alone to face the French.
- **27 Nov 1919, Treaty of Neuilly with Bulgaria**: Signed at the town hall of Neuilly-sur-Seine. Bulgaria ceded Western Thrace, losing its access to the Aegean, and Strumica, Tsaribrod and Bosilegrad to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and was limited to an army of 20,000. It came into force on 9 August 1920.
- **27 Nov 1919, Treaty of Neuilly**: Bulgaria cedes Western Thrace to the Allies and Strumica, Tsaribrod, Bosilegrad and the Timok villages to the Kingdom of SCS, and confirms Southern Dobruja as Romanian. The treaty enters into force on 9 August 1920.
- **8 Dec 1919, Allied Supreme Council defines Poland's provisional eastern border (Curzon Line)**: The Supreme Council's declaration in Paris set a line, broadly along the Bug, up to which Poland could establish its administration; Eastern Galicia was left aside. It became known as the Curzon Line after the British Foreign Secretary's note of July 1920.
- **8 Dec 1919, Curzon line declared**: The Allied Supreme Council defined a provisional eastern limit for Polish administration along the Bug and the Grodno area (the later "Curzon line").
- **11 Dec 1919, Deir ez-Zor seized by Arab irregulars**: Ramadan al-Shallash's tribal forces took Deir ez-Zor; the British garrison withdrew to the Iraqi border.
- **12 Dec 1919, Red Army retakes Kharkov and Kiev**: The Red counter-offensive retook Kharkov on 12 December and Kiev on 16 December as Denikin's armies retreated towards the Don and the Crimea.
- **16 Dec 1919, Red Army retakes Kyiv**: The AFSR retreat accelerated: Kharkiv 12 Dec, Kyiv 16 Dec, Yekaterinoslav 30 Dec.
- **31 Dec 1919, Estonia and Soviet Russia sign an armistice at Tartu**: The armistice was signed on the evening of 31 December and came into force on 3 January 1920. The Treaty of Tartu of 2 February 1920 recognised Estonian independence.
- **17 Jan 1920, Poland takes over Pomerelia and west Posen**: After Versailles entered into force (10 Jan 1920) German troops handed over the remaining Posen districts and Pomerelia (outside scope, noted for the end-state).