THE FIRST WORLD WAR: A DOCUMENTARY RECORD

Series One: European War 1914-1919, the War Reserve Collection (WRA-WRE) from Cambridge University Library

Part 1: The Card Catalogue and Manuscript Listings

Chronology

JUNE 1914

28 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip

Third reading of Plural Voting Bill in the British Parliament.

JULY 1914

3 Germany pledges support for action against Serbia

23 Austria-Hungary ultimatum issued to Serbia

28 Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia

Buckingham Palace Conference fails to reach a compromise on the exclusion of Ulster from the Home Rule Bill

AUGUST 1914

1 Germany declares war on Russia

2 Moltke appointed Commander of German Field Armies

Mons despatch in The Times

3 Germany declares war on France

4 UK declares war on Germany

Germany declares war on Belgium

Germany invades Belgium

Sir John French appointed Commander of British Expeditionary Force

Council Meeting of the British Red Cross Society at St James’s Palace

7 Devonshire House becomes centre of British Red Cross activities

7-16 British Expeditionary Force lands in France

18 First Red Cross Commission under Sir Alfred Keogh leaves for Belgium

21 Ludendorff appointed Chief of Staff of German Eighth Army

22 Hindenburg appointed Commander of German Eighth Army

23 Japan declares war on Germany
Battle of Mons

24 Main German Armies enter France

War Refugees’ Committee founded by Lady Lugard, Mrs Lyttelton and Viscount Gladstone

26-30 Battle of Tannenberg

Start of First East African Campaign

Declaration of US neutrality

Lord Northcliffe begins pro-conscription campaign.

Press censorship introduced in Britain under the Defence of the Realm Act.

British Red Cross Fund raises £16 million through The Times

SEPTEMBER 1914

2 First Conference organised by Charles Masterman to establish the principles on which to base the British propaganda effort

5-10 First Battle of the Marne – German invasion halted

6-15 Battle of the Masurian Lakes

7 Second Conference organised by Charles Masterman to consider British propaganda effort. With foreign Office support Masterman sets up War Propaganda Bureau at Wellington House. US branch directed by Sir Gilbert Parker

8-12 Battle of Lemberg

15 First trenches are dug on the Western Front

17 Start of the “Race to the Sea”

OCTOBER 1914

9 No 2 Motor Ambulance Convoy lands at Boulogne, the first complete British unit of its type sent to France

12 Start of First Battle of Ypres (continues until 11 November)

21 Free Red Cross Supplement in The Times

Allied conquest of German Southwest Africa

NOVEMBER 1914

1 Battle of Coronel

2 Russia declares war on Turkey

6 UK and France declare war on Turkey

11 Germans launch Russian offensive

DECEMBER 1914

2 Austro-Hungarians capture Belgrade

8 Battle of the Falkland Islands

11 Serbians recapture Belgrade

26 German Government takes over control and allocation of food supplies

UK Government declares all foodstuffs on the high seas destined for enemy parts to be considered as contraband

JANUARY 1915

3 Germans make first use of gas-filled shells

19 First German airship raid on England

24 Battle of Dogger Bank

Dame Katherine Furse takes charge of newly established Voluntary Aid Detachments of Military Nurses

FEBRUARY 1915

8-22 Winter Battle of Masuria

Start of first period of intensive German submarine warfare (continues until September)

Start of Allied campaign in Mesopotamia along the River Tigris (continues until November)

Allied bombard Turkish forts at entrance to the Dardanelles

Zeppelins bomb Yarmouth

Germans impose submarine blockade on the British Isles

Women’s Volunteer Reserve established

MARCH 1915

9-10 Battle of Aubers Ridge

10-13 Battle of Neuve La Chapelle

17 UK - `Treasury Agreement´ negotiated between the Government and the Trade Unions

18 Allies attempt naval attack on the Dardanelles

APRIL 1915

22 Start of Second Battle of Ypres (continues until 27 May)

German poison gas attack at Ypres

25 Start of Allied landing operations at Gallipoli (continues until 9 January 1916)

26 Italy and Allies agree Treaty of London

MAY 1915

2-4 Battle of Gorlice-Tarnow

4 Start of Second Battle of Artois (continues until 18 June)

7 Sinking of the Lusitania

15-25 Battle of Festubert

23 Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary

25 Asquith forms Coalition Government in Britain

JUNE 1915

15 Pétain appointed Commander of French Armies

23 Start of the Battle of the Isonzo (continues until 7 July)

Start of Main Allied campaign in Cameroon (continues until January1916)

Anti-German riots in the East End of London

JULY 1915

15 UK – National Registration Act requires registration of men eligible for military service

17 Mass demonstration in London by Women’s Social and Political Union

UK – Ministry of Munitions formed with David Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions

Miners strike in South Wales

AUGUST 1915

25 Italy declares war on Turkey

26 Italy declares war on Germany

SEPTEMBER 1915

5 Czar Nicholas II takes command of Russian Armies

25 Start of French Offensive in the Champagne district (continues until 6 October)

Start of Third Battle of Artois (continues until 14 October)

Start of Battle of Loos (continues until 4 November)

OCTOBER 1915

3 Allied troops begin disembarking at Salonika

7 Austro-Hungarians invade Serbia (continues until 20 November)

12 British nurse, Edith Cavell, executed by Germans in Belgium for aiding the escape of Allied prisoners of war

14 Bulgaria joins Central Powers

Agreement between British Film Industry and War Office reached over the production of propaganda films

NOVEMBER 1915

10 UK – Privy Council authorises requisition of ships for carriage of foodstuffs

30 France, UK, Russia and Japan sign Pact of London

UK – Naval and Military War Pensions Act

DECEMBER 1915

3 Joffre appointed Commander of French Armies

5 Start of Siege of Kut (continues until 29 April 1916)

19 Haig becomes Commander of British Expeditionary Force

23 UK – Rent Restrictions Act introduces rent controls as a wartime measure

Robertson appointed Chief of Imperial General Staff

JANUARY 1916

Conscription introduced in Britain. House of Commons passes First Military Service Bill.

FEBRUARY 1916

21 Start of Battle of Verdun (continues until 18 December)

MARCH 1916

Beginning of second period of intensive German submarine warfare (continues until April)

APRIL 1916

4 Brusilov appointed Commander of Russian Southern Armies

24-29 Easter Rising in Dublin

26 Berlin agreement to transfer sick prisoners to Switzerland

First convoy of Women Voluntary Aid Detachment drivers arrives in France and takes over from a men’s unit at Étretat. Other units soon followed

UK – Second Military Service Bill passed: compulsory military service extended to married men

MAY 1916

31 Start of the Battle of Jutland (continues until 1 June)

By May 1916 the British Parliamentary Recruiting Committee had printed over 34 million leaflets and some five and a half million pamphlets

JUNE 1916

1 Germans set up War Food Office. Failure to organise civilian food situation and poor harvests lead to a deteriorating situation

4 Start of Brusilov offensive (continues until 10 October)

5 UK minister of war, Kitchener, killed when HMS Hampshire is sunk

6 Start of Arab Revolt in the Hejaz

JULY 1916

1 Start of the Battle of the Somme (continues until 19 November)

Lloyd George becomes Secretary for War

AUGUST 1916

6-17 Sixth Battle of the Isonzo

29 Hindenberg becomes Commander of German Field Armies with Ludendorff as Quartermaster General

SEPTEMBER 1916

4 Allies capture Dar Es Salaam in German East Africa

24 British aeroplanes bomb Krupp works at Essen

Central Powers invade Rumania (continues until December)

Tanks used by the British for the first time on the Somme

OCTOBER 1916

Germans forcibly deport over 60,000 Belgian workers to Germany (continues until February 1917)

NOVEMBER 1916

7 Woodrow Wilson is re-elected President of the USA

21 Death of Austro-Hungarian Emperor, Franz Josef

25 German Army establishes Air Forces as a separate military division

DECEMBER 1916

7 Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister of the UK

12 Lloyd George creates War Cabinet

Nivelle is appointed Commander of French Northern and Northeastern Armies

JANUARY 1917

1 Robert Donald, editor of the Daily Chronicle, appointed to investigate the entire question of British Propaganda. First Donald Report produced its findings later in January 1917

19 Zimmermann Telegram

Sporadic fighting in the Carpathian Mountains (continues until February)

FEBRUARY 1917

1 Germans recommence unrestricted submarine warfare

9 John Buchan appointed Director of the new Department of Information

24 Start of British offensive to retake Kut and capture Baghdad (continues until 11 March)

Bread riots in New York

British Government introduces bread rationing

MARCH 1917

15 Czar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates

APRIL 1917

6 USA enters the war on Allied side

16-29 Chemin des Dames offensive on Western Front

24 Start of Battle of Doiran (continues until 22 May)

29 Pétain appointed Chief of French General Staff

USA – Liberty Loan Act authorizes issue of war bonds. USA makes first loan of 200 million dollars to UK

Corn Production Act

Strikes in Berlin and other German cities

Battle of Arras and bitter fighting for Vimy Ridge

MAY 1917

10 Pershing appointed Commander of American Expeditionary Forces

15 Foch appointed Chief of French General Staff

25 UK – Commission of Enquiry appointed to investigate into recent industrial unrest and the Whitley Councils established to report on ‘Relations between Employers and Employees’

Strike by Parisian seamstresses

JUNE 1917

18 Start of Kerensky offensive (continues until 13 July)

Brusilov appointed Commander of Russian Armies

First wave of influenza epidemic

Allenby takes command in Palestine

JULY 1917

31 Start of Third Battle of Ypres (continues until 10 November)

AUGUST 1917

21 UK – Ministry of Reconstruction established

British National War Aims Committee arranges a staggering 3192 meetings from August through to October. The NWAC used posters, postcard and other pictorial propaganda much as the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee had done. Greater emphasis was placed upon the use of pamphlets, including material for foreign audiences produced by Wellington House

SEPTEMBER 1917

3 Germans capture Riga

OCTOBER 1917

12 Battle of Passchendaele

24 Start of Battle of Caporetto (continues until 10 November)

NOVEMBER 1917

2 Balfour Declaration for a National Homeland for the Jews in Palestine

7 Bolsheviks overthrow the provisional government in Russia

16 Clemenceau becomes Prime Minister of France

20 Start of Battle of Cambrai (continues until 8 December)

Failure of German Zeppelin mass raid on London

British take Gaza

DECEMBER 1917

3 Bolshevik government in Russia signs armistice with Germany

11 British capture Jerusalem

Start of Lettow – Vorbeck’s long retreat (continues until 25 November 1918)

Second Donald Report re-examines the entire system for British Official propaganda

JANUARY 1918

28 Bolsheviks found the Red Army in Soviet Russia

Woodrow Wilson, US President, publishes fourteen points as a basis for peace negotiations

Industrial unrest in major Austrian cities

FEBRUARY 1918

Representation of the People Act creates universal male and limited female suffrage in Britain. Only women aged over 30 can vote. Women entitled to become MPs. Northcliffe appointed Director of Propaganda in Enemy countries

MARCH 1918

3 Russia and Central Powers sign the Treaty of Brest – Litovsk

21 Start of German Spring offensive on Western Front (continues until 18 July)

23 Germans start shelling Paris (continues until 15 August)

Ministry of Information created under Lord Beaverbrook. Beaverbrook and Northcliffe assume full control over Britain’s propaganda machinery

APRIL 1918

1 Formation of the Royal Air Force

2 US troops enter war on Western Front

14 Foch appointed Commander of Allied Forces

23 Zeebrugge Raid on German advance base for U-boats and destroyers

MAY 1918

Rumania and Central Powers sign the Peace of Bucharest

JULY 1918

18 Start of Allied counter-offensive on Western Front (continues until 10 November)

Second Battle of the Marne

AUGUST 1918

8 Allied tank offensive at Amiens. “The black day of the German Army”

UK – Education Act passed
Trade Boards Act passed
Maternity and Child Welfare Act passed

SEPTEMBER 1918

14-29 Allied offensive makes gains against Bulgaria

19 Start of British offensive resulting in the capture Damascus, Beirut and Aleppo (continues until 25 October)

30 Armistice concluded between Allies and Bulgaria

Fourth Battle of Ypres

Germany Army on the Western Front pulls back to the Hindenburg line

Japanese troops enter eastern Siberia

OCTOBER 1918

3 Prince Max von Baden appointed Chancellor of Germany

3-4 Germans offer peace based on Wilson’s Fourteen Points

24 Start of Battle of Vittorio Veneto (continues until 2 November)

27 Austria-Hungary asks Italy for an armistice

Ludendorff resigns command

28 Mutiny of German sailors at Kiel

Turkey surrenders

NOVEMBER 1918

5 Foch given overall responsibility for Allied strategy

9 German Kaiser abdicates. Revolution in Berlin, Proclamation of a Republic. Provisional government formed by SPD chairman Friedrich Ebert

11 Armistice between Allies and Germany takes effect

Armistice with Austria-Hungary

Peak of influenza epidemic

DECEMBER 1918

Lloyd George wins British General Election and heads Coalition Government (with 478 Coalition MPs returned, the vast majority being Conservatives). Seventy Sinn Fein MPs refuse to take their seats

JANUARY 1919

5-11 Spartacist Revolt in Germany

Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht are murdered by Freikorps military police

Spartacist uprising defeated

18 Peace Conference begins at Versailles

Engineers strike at Clyde and Belfast (continues until February)

Irish Free State proclaimed

FEBRUARY 1919

Opening of the first Weimar Assembly. Friedrich Ebert elected President. Philip Scheidermann becomes the first Chancellor

UK National Industrial Conference established

Sanky Commission appointed to investigate into the printing industry

MARCH 1919

Demobilisation disturbances in London and in Rhyl, North Wales

MAY 1919

7 Allied peace terms are handed to Germany

Allies intervene in Russian Civil War (from May to October)

JUNE 1919

2 Allied peace terms are handed to Austria

3 UK – Ministry of Health established

21 German Fleet scuppered at Scapa Flow

28 Versailles Treaty signed

General Strike in Glasgow

JULY 1919

31 UK – Housing and Town Planning Act provides subsidies to local authorities for municipal housing schemes

AUGUST 1919

11 The Weimar Constitution comes into force

15 UK – Police Act passed

Sinn Fein declared an illegal organisation

Police strike and rioting in Liverpool

SEPTEMBER 1919

10 Treaty of Saint-Germain is signed with Austria

Railway strike in Britain

OCTOBER 1919

Meetings of the British War Cabinet discontinued. Curzon replaces Balfour as Foreign Secretary

NOVEMBER 1919

Treaty of Neuilly is signed with Bulgaria

DECEMBER 1919

23 UK – Sex Disqualification Removal Act opens all professions, except the Church, to women.

Viscountess Astor becomes first woman MP to take her seat in the British Parliament

<back