World War One timeline 1916



11. Greek island of Corfu occupied by French.
13. Cettinje, capital of Montenegro, occupied by Austrians.
27. Wilson launches nationwide whistle-stop campaign to generate support for Preparedness and the Continental Army
with three speeches in New York.
29-31. German Zeppelins bomb Paris and towns in England.
31. War College Division warns its civilian employees "to engage in no discussion whatever concerning the progress of the European War".


 3. Wilson delivers final speech of Preparedness campaign in Saint Louis.
10. British conscription law goes into effect.
19. Kamerun, German colony in Africa, conquered by British forces.
21. Beginning of the ten month Battle of Verdun. Germans take Haumont.
24. Acting Secretary of War Hugh L. Scott asks United States War College Division if any plans exist in the event "of a
complete rupture" with Germany.
25. Fort Douaumont falls to Germans in Verdun battle.


 9. Germany declares war on Portugal on the latter's refusal to give up seized ships.
 9. Pancho Villa's raid on Columbus, New Mexico.
15. Austria-Hungary at war with Portugal.
24. Sussex, French cross-channel steamer, with many Americans aboard, sunk by submarine off Dieppe.
31.  Melancourt taken by Germans in Verdun Battle.


 4. American naval and military attaches in Paris and London draft plan for mobilizing US shipping to carry an American
army to Europe, but their plan is ignored (this plan did not survive, but is referred to in a memorandum of 14        November 1916, Record of the Joint Army and Navy Board)
19. President Wilson publicly warns Germany not to pursue submarine policy.
20. Russian troops landed at Marseilles for service on French front.
24. Irish rebellion begins in Dublin. Republic declared. Patrick Pearse announced as first President.
27. Marshal Lord Kitchener, British Secretary of State for War, asking for American military participation in Europe.
30. Irish rebellion ends with unconditional surrender of Pearse and other leaders, who are tried by court-martial and


 4. Germany renounces submarine policy N "Sussex Pledge"
 8. Cymrio, White Star liner, torpedoed off Irish coast.
14. Italian positions penetrated by Austrians.
15. Vimy Ridge gained by British.
19. Britain and France conclude the Sykes-Picot Agreement
22. French airmen successfully destroyed five of six German balloons using Le Prieur rockets on their Nieuport fighters.
26. Bulgarians invade Greece and occupy forts on the Struma.
31. Jutland naval battle; British and German fleets engaged; heavy losses on both sides.


 3. National Defence Act authorizes five-year expansion of US Army, but at the same time drastically limits size and
authority of US War Department General Staff
 4. Beginning of the Brusilov offensive against Austria-Hungary
 6. Germans capture Fort Vaux in Verdun attack.
21.  Allies demand Greek demobilization.
27. King Constantine orders demobilization of Greek army.


 1. Battle of the Somme opens; British suffer approximately 60,000 casualties on the first day
14. British penetrate German second line, using cavalry.
15. Longueval captured by British.
22. US Navy requested Aluminium Co. of America to develop a suitable alloy for fabrication into Zeppelin-type girders.
25. Pozieres occupied by British.
29. US Marines land in Haiti
30. Black Tom Island munitions plant destroyed; German sabotage suspected
30. British and French advance between Delville Wood and the Somme.


 3. French recapture Fleury.
22.  President Wilson signed Navy appropriation bill, which included $3,500,000 for naval aviation.
27. Rumania declares war on Austria-Hungary.
28. Italy at war with Germany.
28. Germany at war with Rumania.
31. Germany suspends submarine assaults
31. Bulgaria at war with Rumania. Turkey at war with Rumania.


 2. Bulgarian forces invade Romania along the Dobrudja frontier.
2-3. First German Zeppelin shot down by RFC aircraft over Britain; five Zeppelins were brought down over Britain during
13. Italians defeat Austrians on the Carso.
15. Tanks introduced on the Somme battlefield by the British capturing Flers, Courcelette, and other Germans positions on Western front.
26. Combles and Thiepval captured by British and French.
29. Rumanians begin retreat from Transylvania.


15. Germany resumes U-boat attacks under search and destroy rules
24. Fort Douaumont recaptured by French.


 2. Fort Vaux evacuated by Germans.
7-9. Wilson wins re-election, which was in doubt until the California returns
13. British advance along the Ancre.
21. Britannic, mammoth British hospital ship, sunk by mine in Aegean Sea.
22. Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary, dies. Succeeded by Charles I.
23. German warships bombard English coast.
28. Rumanian government is transferred to Jassy.
28. First airplane raid on London, by a German seaplane.
29. US occupation of Santa Domingo proclaimed


 1. Allied troops enter Athens to insist upon surrender of Greek arms and munitions.
 5. Asquith resigns as Prime Minister; replaced by Lloyd George
 6. Bucharest, capital of Romania, captured by Austro-Germans.
 7. David Lloyd George succeeds Asquith as Prime Minister.
12. Germans issue peace note suggesting compromise peace
15. French complete recapture of ground taken by Germans in Verdun battle.
18. Wilson requests statement of war objectives from warring nations in peace note; British offended by implication that their war aims are no more moral than Germany's
20. US Army Balloon School established at Fort Omaha, Nebraska.
26. Germany replies to President's note and suggests a peace conference.
30. French government on behalf of Entente Allies replies to President Wilson's note and refuses to discuss peace till
Germany agrees to give restitution, reparation and guarantees.