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Timeline | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 | 1918 | 1919
January : Large numbers of German civilians stage protests against food shortages and the war. Some of the dispute's leaders are sent to the front but this only helps the dissent to spread.
January 8 : President Wilson delivers his Fourteen Points speech to Congress.
March 3 : Germany and Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Russia hands over 25% of its territory, including some of its most productive agricultural and industrial land. Germany is now free to start moving troops to the Western Front where, for a short while, it will enjoy numerical superiority.
March 21 : Germany launches its 'Michael' offensive against British and French forces in the west, capturing thousands of British troops on the first day and pushing British forces back to the Crozat Canal. Paris comes under attack from Big Bertha, a 43-ton mobile howitzer.
March 23 : German forces attempt to capture Amiens, an important link in the French rail network.
March 26 : Marshal Ferdinand Foch is given 'coordinating authority' over all Allied troops on the Western Front. A quarter of a million American troops are now based in France and a further 250,000 will arrive every month until the end of the war.
April 5 : The German offensive is halted outside Amiens by a combined British and Australian force. Ludendorff calls off the Michael offensive.
April 14 : Marshal Foch becomes commander-in-chief of all Allied forces on the Western Front.
April 21 : Manfred von Richthofen - the 'Red Baron' - is shot down and killed over France. (See Dogfight - The mystery of the Red Baron.)
July 15 : Germany launches its last great offensive of the war. The Allies start amassing a major strike force in northern France to hit back.
August 8 : The Allies launch their Amiens offensive. The Germans sustain 27,000 casualties on the first day and are pushed back eight miles. Ludendorff calls this the 'Black Day' of the German army.
September 14 : Kaiser Karl of Austria-Hungary informs the German Kaiser Wilhelm that he wants to enter into peace negotiations with the Allies. By this stage, Karl's empire is starting to disintegrate.
September 19 : Battle of Megiddo signals the start of a renewed British offensive in Palestine and Syria, the second phase of Allenby's operations in the area.
September 28 : Bulgaria discusses armistice terms with the Allies. When Ludendorff learns of this, he suffers a seizure.
September 29 : The Allies break through the Hindenburg Line, Germany's last fixed line of defence on the Western Front.
September 30 : Bulgarian armistice.
October 1 : Ludendorff summons his senior officers to his headquarters at Spa and advises them that Germany must request a ceasefire without delay.
October 2 : General Allenby's forces enter Damascus.
October 4 : Germany and Austria-Hungary send peace notes to President Wilson requesting an armistice.
October 24-November 4 : The Italians defeat the Austro-Hungarians at the Battle of Vittorio Veneto.
October 29 : German sailors start a mutiny at Kiel, furious that they are being ordered to engage the British fleet when they know the war is already lost. When news of this mutiny spreads throughout Germany, it sparks off other insurrections.
October 30 : Turkish armistice.
November 3 : Austro-Hungarian armistice.
November 8 : Allies present their ceasefire terms to the Germans at Compiègne. If they accept, Germany will have to evacuate Belgium and France, surrender its fleet and pay compensation for the war. The Allies will continue to blockade Germany, disarm its troops and occupy the left bank of the Rhine. Revolution in Berlin. : November 9 : Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates and flees to Holland. Germany becomes a republic.
November 11 : Germany's representatives sign the Armistice at 5am and it comes into effect at 11am. The First World War is over.
December : German troops greeted as returning heroes as they march through Berlin.