World War I Centenary

1916: August 27 Even before the start of World War I Romania had been at odds with Austria-Hungary over disputed territory, in particular the

1916: July 1 In order to raise enough men to make a decisive attack against on the Western Front, Britain replaced voluntary service with

1916: June 4 As the Battle of Verdun dragged on, France asked its allies to launch offensives that would draw German resources away from the

1916: May 31 In May of 1916 the entire German High Seas Fleet had recently been dispatched to continue attacks on the British coast. What the

1916: April 24 Since the outbreak of war, Irish nationalist Sir Roger Casement had been reaching out to Germany to convince them to aid an Irish

1916: February 21 While the Western Front struggled under the harsh conditions of trench warfare, German Chief of Staff Erich von Falkenhayn argued

1915: November 22 Since 1914 British troops had been moving into modern-day Iraq in anticipation of a fight with Ottoman forces. The main goal was

1915: October 11 Both sides had been secretly attempting to recruit Bulgaria but it was only on October 11, 1915 that the country announced its

1915: June 23 Exactly one month after Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary following the Treaty of London agreement, the Italian army attacked the

1915: May 7 At the end of April 1915 in the United States, the British ocean liner Lusitania was being loaded with food, machinery and – secretly –

1915: May 2 The Gorlice-Tarnow offensive began in early May 1915 when a combined Austro-German force drove the Russian army out of the area

1915: April 26 Since the outbreak of war Italy had been preparing itself for potential fighting against France because it was part of the Triple

1915: April 22 In what would turn out to be the only major German offensive on the Western Front in 1915, Allied troops were left in shock when 150

1915: February 19 The Gallipoli campaign to take control of the narrow sea route that separated Europe from Asia in the north-west of what is now

1915: February 7 On February 7, 1915 German General Fritz von Below launched a surprise attack against the Russian army north of the Masurian Lakes

1915: February 4 Two years before their aggressive naval campaign would draw the United States into World War I, Germany declared the North Sea a

1915: January 19 Britain’s first casualties on home soil came on January 19, 1915 when three German zeppelins set out to drop bombs on the eastern

1914: December 25 During the Christmas period of 1914 British and German men were receiving gifts and letters from home. Spirits were momentarily

1914: December 8 What had began as a ‘European war’ was now being fought in the Ottoman Empire, Africa and East Asia and it was not much longer

1914: November 22 The ‘Race to the Sea’ that had begun in September on the Western Front came to a head at the city of Ypres. So far both sides had

1914: November 2 In the lead up to World War I the Ottoman Empire had lost a considerable amount of territory in both the Balkans and Libya

1914: September 6 As German troops marched on Paris, the French capital prepared itself for a siege. It was September 6, 1914 and the French

1914: August 23 Following the outbreak of war Britain and Japan, allies since 1902, came to an agreement: if Japan entered the war, targeting

1914: August 15 The first victory for the ‘Entente Powers’, the term given to the countries on the side of France, Britain and Russia, came from

1914: August 17 While the Germans and the French fought in the Battle of the Frontiers the conflict on the Eastern Front was also beginning in

1914: August 9 Just days after war had broken out in Europe, British and French troops stationed in Africa began to move on the German colonial