With war was raging overseas in Europe, two men would return home to England to serve in His Majesty’s forces.
Chronology of Main Events of the War for Liberty
Battles That Have Marked the Greatest Struggle in the World’s History
Four Years of Bitter Warfare Before the Defeat of Autocratic Attempts to Rule the World Could Be Assured- Progress of the Titanic Contest Practically as It Went On From Day to Day.
From June 28, 1914, when the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, and his wife, at Sarajevo, Bosnia, gave Emperor William of Germany his excuse for beginning war which he believed would result in his gaining practical control of the world through military domination, the main events of the struggle are told in the following chronicle:
JANUARY
| 1 – | British battleship Formidable sunk |
| 8 – | Roumania mobilizes 750,000 men; violent fighting in the Argonne |
| 11 – | Germans cross the Rawka, 13 miles from Warsaw |
| 24 – | British win naval battle in North sea |
| 29 – | Russian army invades Hungary; German efforts to cross Aisne repulsed |
FEBRUARY
| 1 – | British repel strong German attack near La Bassee |
| 2 – | Turks are defeated in attack on Suez Canal |
| 4 – | Russians capture Tarnow in Galicia |
| 8 – | Turks along Suez canal in full retreat; Turkish land defenses at the Dardanelles shelled by British torpedo boats |
| 11 – | Germans evacuate Lodz |
| 12 – | Germans drive Russians from positions in East Prussia, taking 26,000 prisoners |
| 14 – | Russians report capture of fortifications at Smolnik |
| 16 – | Germans capture Plock and Bielsk in Poland; French capture two miles of German trenches in Champagne district |
| 17 – | Germans report they have taken 50,000 Russian prisoners in Masurian lake district |
| 18 – | German blockade of English and French coasts put into effect |
| 19-20 | British and French fleets bombard Dardanelles forts |
| 21 – | American steamer Evelyn sunk by mine in North sea |
| 22 – | German war office announces capture of 100,000 Russian prisoners in engagements in Masurian lake region; American steamer Carib sunk by mine in North sea |
| 23 – | Jack Bridgeman enlists in the British Army |
| 28 – | Dardanelles entrance forts capitulate to English and French |
MARCH
| 4 – | Landing of allied troops on both sides of Dardanelles straits reported; German U-1 sunk by French destroyers |
| 10 – | Battle of Neuve Chapelle begins |
| 14 – | German cruiser Dresden sunk in Pacific by English |
| 18 – | British battleships Irresistible and Ocean and French battleship Bouvet sunk in Dardanelles strait |
| 22 – | Fort of Przemysl surrenders to Russians |
| 23 – | Allies land troops on Gallipoli peninsula |
| 25 – | Russians victorious over Austrians in Carpathians |
APRIL
| 8 – | German auxillary cruiser, Prins Eitel Friedrich, interned at Newport News, VA |
| 16 – | Italy has 1,200,000 men moblized under arms; Austrians report complete defeat of Russians in Carpathian campaign |
| 23 – | Germans force way across Ypres canal and take 100,000 prisoners |
MAY
| 7 – | Liner Lusitania torpedoed and sunk by German submarine off the coast of Ireland with the loss of more than 1,000 lives, 102 Americans die |
| 9 – | French advance two and one-half miles against German forces north of Arras, taking 2,000 prisoners |
| 23 – | Italy declares war on Austria |
JUNE
| 3 – | Germans recapture Przemysl with Austrian help |
| 18 – | British suffer defeat north of La Bassee Canal |
| 28 – | Italians enter Austrian territory south of Riva on western shore of Lake Garda |
JULY
| 3 – | Tolmino falls into Italian hands |
| 9 – | British make gains north of Ypres and French retake trenches in the Vosges |
| 13 – | Germans defeated in the Argonne |
| 29 – | Warsaw evacuated; Lublin captured by Austrians |
AUGUST
| 4 – | Germans occupy Warsaw |
| 14 – | Austrians and Germans concentrate 400,000 soldiers on Serbian frontier |
| 21 – | Italy declares war on Turkey |
SEPTEMBER
| 1 – | Ambassador Bernstorff announces Germans will sink no more liners without warning |
| 4 – | German submarine torpedoes liner Hesperian |
| 9 – | Germans make air raid on London, killing 20 persons and wounding 100 others; United States asks Austria to recall Ambassador Dumba |
| 20 – | Germans begin drive on Serbia to open route to Turkey |
| 22 – | Russian army, retreating from Vilna, escapes German encircling movement |
| 25-30 | Battle of Champagne, resulting in great advance for allied armies and causing Kaiser Wilhelm to rush to the west front; German counter-attacks repulsed |
OCTOBER
| 5 – | Russia and Bulgaria sever diplomatic relations; Russian, French, British, Italian and Serbian diplomatic representatives ask for passports in Sofia |
| 10 – | General Mackensen’s forces take Belgrade |
| 12 – | Edith Cavell executed by Germans |
| 13 – | Bulgaria declares war on Serbia |
| 15 – | Great Britain declares war on Bulgaria |
| 16 – | France declares war on Bulgaria |
| 19 – | Russia and Italy declare war on Bulgaria |
| 27 – | Germans join Bulgarians in northeastern Serbia and open way to Constantinople |
| 30 – | Germans defeated at Mitau |
NOVEMBER
| 9 – | Italian liner Ancona torpedoed |
| 17 – | George S. Kirk returns to England aboard the RMS Cameronia |
DECEMBER
| 1 – | British retreat from near Bagdad |
| 4 – | Ford “peace party” sails for Europe |
| 8-9 | Allies defeated in Macedonia |
| 15 – | Sir John Douglas Haig succeeds Sir John French as chief of English armies on west front |
Historical events timeline transcribed from The Hilton Record, December 23, 1918, Page 2.
Addition of World War I Veterans by Tammy M. Mullen
With Our Boys 