THE GREAT WAR – 1914

 

 

June 28^th                    Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo

 

July 28^th                     Austria declares war on Serbia

 

Aug 1^st                       Germany declares war on Russia

 

Aug 2^nd                       Moltke appointed commander of German Armies

 

Aug 3^rd                       Germany declares war on France

 

Aug 4^th                        Germany invades Belgium

 

Aug 4^th                        Britain declares war on Germany

 

Aug 4^th                        Sir John French appointed commander of the B.E.F

 

Aug 7^th – 16^th              B.E.F. lands in France

 

Aug 21^st                      Ludendorff apptd. Chief of Staff of the 8^th Army

 

Aug 22^nd                     Hindenburg appointed commander of the 8^th Army

 

Aug 23^rd                      Battle of Mons

 

Aug 24^th                      Main German army enter France

 

Aug 28^th – 30^th            Battle of Tannenberg

 

Aug – Nov                  1^st campaign in East Africa

 

Sept 5^th – 10^th              1^st battle of Marne – German invasion halted

 

Sept 6^th – 15^th              Battle of Masurian Lakes

 

Sept 9^th – 12^th              Battle of Lemberg

 

11^th Sept                      Battle of the Aisne

 

Sept 14^th                      Moltke resigns, succeeded by Falkenhayn

 

Sept 15^th                      1^st trenches dug

 

Mid Sept                     Laurence Binyon wrote the poem “For the Fallen”

 

Sept 17^th/Oct 18^th        Race to the sea

 

21^st Sept                      Poem “For the Fallen” was published in “The                                                                       Times” newspaper

 

Oct                              Allied army conquest of German S.W. Africa

 

Nov 1^st                         Battle of Coronel

 

Nov 2^nd                        Russia declares war on Turkey

 

Nov 6^th                         Britain and France declare war on Turkey

 

Nov 11^th – early Dec.   Germans push Russia further East

 

Dec 2^nd                         Austro-Hungarians capture Belgrade

 

Dec 8^th                          Battle of Falkland Islands

 

Dec 11^th                        Serbians recapture Belgrade

 

Dec 25^th                        Christmas Truce in some parts of the front

 

 

Note!

 

Red text indicates British involvement

 

Black text indicates other theatres of war