World War I

1914–1918 global conflict

40 dated entries naming World War I, drawn from 20 separate years between 1208 CE and 2021 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as First World War, WW1, World War 1 in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

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13th century

1208November 11 – Otto IV is elected by the German nobles as king of Germany at Frankfurt. He is engaged to Beatrice and travels to Milan where he receives the Iron Crown and the title of King of Italy, which continues until the end of World War I in 1918.source
1278August 26 – Battle on the Marchfeld: German-Hungarian forces (some 9,000 men) led by Kings Rudolf I of Germany in alliance with Ladislaus IV of Hungary ("the Cuman"), defeat and kill Ottokar II, ruler of Bohemia. The battle ends the power struggle between Rudolf and Ottokar over the fate of Central Europe. Rudolf's House of Habsburg will continue to rule Austria and other captured territories until the end of World War I in 1918.source

15th century

1422September 27 – The Teutonic Knights sign the Treaty of Melno with the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, after the brief Gollub War. The Prussian–Lithuanian border established by the treaty remains unchanged, until World War I.source

19th century

1854June 26 – Robert Borden, Canadian lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Canada, leader in World War I (died 1937)source

20th century

1901February 15 – Giuseppe Zanardelli forms a new government with Giovanni Giolitti as Interior minister, that would last until 3 November 1903. Giolitti, who was considered to be the true leader of the cabinet, would dominate Italian politics until World War I, a period known as the Giolittian Era in which Italy experienced an industrial expansion, the rise of organised labour and the emergence of an active Catholic political movement.source
1912February 29 – Serbia and Bulgaria secretly sign a treaty of alliance for a term of eight years, with each pledging to come to the defence of the other during war. The treaty would eventually be dishonored in World War I.source
1914Only two of the ten Class MJ 2-6-6-0 Mallet compound locomotives ordered from German manufacturer Maffei before the outbreak of World War I disrupts further delivery.source
1914June 28 – Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria: Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip, 19, assassinates Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Duchess Sophie, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, triggering the July Crisis overnight and eventually World War I. Anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo and Zagreb break out.source
1914June 28 – Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg in Sarajevo. The assassination led directly to the First World War when Austria-Hungary subsequently issued an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia, which was partially rejected. Austria-Hungary then declared war.source
1914August 3 – At the outbreak of World War I, the government, led by the conservative Antonio Salandra, declares that Italy would not commit its troops, maintaining that the Triple Alliance had only a defensive stance and Austria-Hungary had been the aggressor. In reality, both Salandra and the minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonino Paternò Castello, begin to probe which side would grant the best reward for Italy's entrance in the war and to fulfil Italy’s irredentist claims. Although the majority of the cabinet (including former Prime Minister Giolitti) is firmly against intervention, numerous intellectuals, including Socialists such as Ivanoe Bonomi and Leonida Bissolati declare in favour of intervention. One of the most prominent and popular Italian nationalist supporters of the war was Gabriele d'Annunzio who helped sway the Italian public to support intervention in the war.source
1914August 4 – World War I: German invasion of Belgium – At 08:02 (local time) Imperial German Army troops enter Belgium, bringing the July Crisis to a climax. At 23:00 (GMT) the British entry into World War I takes place when King George V in London declares war on Germany for this violation of Belgian neutrality (protected by the Treaty of London (1839)) and especially to defend France. This means a declaration of war by the whole British Empire against the German Empire. The United States declares neutrality.source
19141 November – World War I: Battle of Coronelsource
1914November 15 – Mussolini founds the newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia ("The People of Italy") advocating militarism and irredentism. The paper was subsidized by the French and industrialists on the pretext of influencing Italy to join the Entente Powers and became the foundation for the Fascist movement in Italy after World War I. Mussolini is expelled from the PSI on November 24.source
1914November 28 – World War I: Following a war-induced closure in July, the New York Stock Exchange re-opens for bond trading.source
1914December 24 – World War I: An unofficial and temporary Christmas truce begins between British and German soldiers on the Western Front.source
191510 March – World War I: German submarine U-12 is hunted down by Royal Navy destroyers HMS Ariel, HMS Acheron and HMS Attack off the Firth of Forth and sunk with the loss of 19 of her crew, 10 being saved.source
1915June 23 – July 7 – The First Battle of the Isonzo between the Armies of Italy and Austria-Hungary on the Italian Front in World War I. The aim of the Italian Army, under the command of Luigi Cadorna, was to drive the Austrians away from its defensive positions along the Soča (Isonzo) and on the nearby mountains.source
1916Portugal enters the First World War.source
1916Due to the outbreak of World War I, the 1916 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, is cancelled.source
1916December 1 – An armed confrontation in Athens between the Kingdom of Greece and the Allied Powers, arising from a dispute over Greece's neutrality in World War I, followed by reprisals and riots against Greek supporters of the Allies marking the height of the National Schism.source
1917Due to World War I the Italian population declined by 234,978 peoplesource
1917February 24 – World War I: United States ambassador to the United Kingdom, Walter H. Page, is shown the intercepted Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany offers to give Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico back to Mexico if Mexico declares war on the United States.source
1918Due to World War I and the Spanish flu the Italian population declined by 612,937 peoplesource
191815 May – World War I: Imperial German Navy submarine SM U-90 shells the Royal Navy wireless station on Hirta in St Kilda.source
1918May 21–29 - The Ottoman World War I defeat at the Battle of Sardarabad is seen as saving the Armenian nation from destruction.source
1918June – First meeting between the Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann and the son of the Sharif of Mecca Hashemite Prince Faisal, who led the Arab forces in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, which takes place in Faisal's headquarters in Aqaba in an attempt to establish favourable relations between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East.source
1918November 3 – Armistice of Villa Giusti ends warfare between Italy and Austria-Hungary on the Italian Front during World War I. The armistice was signed in the Villa Giusti, outside of Padua in the Veneto, northern Italy, and was to take effect 24 hours later. The occupation of all Tyrol, including Innsbruck, was completed in the following days.source
1918November 11 – End of WWI: Armistice of 11 November 1918 – Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies, between 5:12 AM and 5:20 AM, in the "Compiègne Wagon", Marshal Foch's railroad car, in the Forest of Compiègne in France. It becomes official on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. At 10:59 U.S. soldier Henry Gunther becomes (probably) the last killed in action.source
1918November 11 – World War I ends: Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside Compiègne in France.source
1919June 28 – The Treaty of Versailles is signed, formally ending World War I, five years to the day since the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. John Maynard Keynes, who has been present at the conference and is unhappy with the terms of the treaty, brings out his own analysis later in the year, entitled The Economic Consequences of the Peace.source
1920September 17 – The Victory Medal, a commemorative military medal of Japan awarded to mark service during the First World War, is established by Imperial Edict.source
1920November 28 – FIDAC (French: Fédération Interalliée des Anciens Combattants, English: The Interallied Federation of War Veterans Organisations) is established in Paris at the initiative of veterans from World War I, predominantly pacifists, joined by associations of veterans from France, the United Kingdom, United States, Belgium, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Italy and Serbia.source
1923The Royal Navy battlecruiser HMS New Zealand, funded by the New Zealand government as a gift to Britain before World War I, is broken up for scrapsource
192311 January – French and Belgian troops enter the Ruhr in the Occupation of the Ruhr because of Germany’s refusal to pay war reparations, causing strikes and a severe economic crisis.source
192716 September - President Paul von Hindenburg repudiates German responsibility for the Great Warsource
1929November 24 – Georges Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France, leader during World War I (born 1841)source
1951July 23 – Marshal Philippe Pétain, former Prime Minister and Head of State of France, Chief of State of Vichy France during World War II, hero commander of World War I who led the French Army to victory at the nine-month-long Battle of Verdun, for which he was called "the Lion of Verdun", dies while serving a sentence of life-imprisonment on the island of Île-d'Yeu at 95 years old.source

21st century

2010October 3 – Germany makes final reparation payment for World War I.source
2014July 28 – 100-year anniversary of World War I's commencement (Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia).source
2021April 24 – U.S. president Joe Biden becomes the first U.S. president to formally recognize the Ottoman killings of Armenians during World War I as genocide.source