The First World War

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December 16, 1914
Eastern Front In the Warsaw sector, the Russians end their retreat and stand on the Bzura-Ravka-Pilitza line, 30 miles from the city.
North Sea German battlecruisers bombard Hartlepool, Whitby and Scarborough. Warned of the raid by Room 40, Jellicoe’s Grand Fleet is at sea to intercept; the British commanders botch signals and bad weather minimizes visibility, so the Germans escape. Both sides have missed opportunities, to the disgust of both naval high commands. The British public is outraged, as the German violation of the Hague Agreement has caused 86 dead and 424 injured in Scarborough.

December 16, 1915
Albania Italian troops land at Avlona.

December 16, 1916
Western Front, Verdun The French take Bezonvaux and Hardaumont. They capture 11,000 prisoners and much materiel.
Eastern Front The Germans capture Russian positions between Kovel and Lutsk.
Rumanian Front The Russians retire northward in Dobruja. Bratianu forms a coalition government.
Mesopotamia The British bombard Turkish positions around Kut.

December 16, 1917
Italian Front The Italians regain some positions in the Brenta valley.

December 16, 1918
Hungary Mackensen surrenders his army to the Hungarian authorities at Budapest.

December 16, 1919
Baltic States German troops evacuate Lithuania.

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December 17, 1903
Technology The Wright brothers fly a heavier-than-air flying machine, the first airplane. They do not fly in public until 1907, so there is only the word of themselves and their friends to go on.

December 17, 1912 – January 13, 1913
Diplomatic Relations Representatives of the Great Powers sit in an informal conference in London to limit the Balkan war and prevent it escalating into a general war. They achieve some success.

December 17, 1914
Western Front The French begin attacks at Vimy Ridge. They have insufficient artillery and rain turns the battlefield into a morass. Gains measure less than a mile.
Eastern Front The Germans occupy Petrokov.
Caucasus The reinforced Turks recover Köprukoy and force the Russians back.

December 17, 1915
Eastern Front Austrian attacks along the Styrpa are repulsed.
Baltic Sea The cruiser Bremenand a torpedo boat are sunk by Russian mines. Russian mining has seriously disrupted German shipping and the Germans realize that to control the Baltic they must occupy the Baltic islands.
Diplomatic Relations The Greek government warns Bulgaria not to cross the frontier.
Persia The Russians drive Kurdish guerillas back into the mountains.
Cameroon The Allied advance resumes. Jang Mangas is attacked, leading to sharp fighting.

December 17, 1916
Western Front, Verdun The Germans recover Les Chambrettes.
Eastern Front Fighting continues around Tarnopol.
Mesopotamia Turkish cavalry raids are repulsed in the Kut sector.
Greece The government issues a warrant for the arrest of Venizelos.

December 17, 1917
Italian Front Austrian attacks are repulsed on the upper Brenta. The Germans break off attacks at Monte Grappa.
United States Returning from London, Colonel House presents a disquieting report to the President on his failure to persuade the Allied leaders to publicly announce liberal (progressive) goals for the war and the peace to follow. Wilson decides to prepare a statement of aims to force the issue.
Canada Borden’s Unionists are returned to office in a general election.

December 17, 1918
Russia Ukrainian troops occupy Kiev.

December 17, 1919
Russia The Soviets again take Kiev as the Whites are in full retreat to the Black Sea. Semyonov assumes leadership of the Siberian government.

December 17, 1920
Southwest Africa The League of Nations grants South Africa a mandate over the former German colony.
Pacific Australia is to administer formerly-German Nauru.

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December 18, 1912
Libya Italian troops capture Tarhuna from the Senusi. By the end of the year, they have secured the western coast of the Gulf of Sirte. They continue to expand their control of the coast until their entry into the war in 1915 forestalls a planned offensive into the Fezzan (the southwest).

December 18, 1914
Western Front The Indian Corps begins five days of attacks around Givenchy. The French exert pressure around Peronne.
Eastern Front In the Carpathians, the Austrians recover Lupkow Pass.
Baltic Sea The German cruiser Friedrich Karl is reported lost.
Egypt The pro-Ottoman Khedive Abbas Hilmi is deposed by the British while convalescing in Constantinople. The British proclaim his uncle Hussein Kamel as Khedive. Egypt is formally declared a British protectorate.
Britain The conviction of Ahlers is quashed.
Southwest Africa The Germans attack Portuguese troops at Naulila, Angola, killing 66.

December 18, 1915
Mesopotamia The British raid Turkish trenches at Kut.

December 18, 1916
Western Front, Verdun The French again take Les Chambrettes. The French offensive comes to a close.
Eastern Front The Russians restore their lines between Kovel and Lutsk.
United States Through the State Department, President Wilson releases a message he has worked on for weeks that calls on all the belligerents to reveal their terms for peace, asserts that all nations of whatever size want guarantees of security against aggression and advocates consideration of forming “a league of nations to insure peace and justice throughout the world.” Wilson does not offer himself as mediator, but says he would be available if wanted. His primary purpose at the moment is to keep alive the initiative offered by Bethmann-Hollweg.

December 18, 1917
Russia The Ukrainian Rada rejects the Bolshevik demand for free passage.
Italian Front The Austrians heavily attack Monte Asolone, near Monte Grappa, taking over 1000 prisoners.
Palestine The British clear the area south of Jerusalem.
Austrian Command Archduke Eugen is released from active service. The southwest front ceases to exist as a single command.

December 18, 1918
Baltic States German troops evacuate Dorpat. Soviet troops invade Livonia. Baltic Germans and Latvians form a Landwehr to fight Soviet attacks. In the following months, Latvians are gradually dismissed from this force.

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December 19, 1914
Western Front There are German counterattacks at Givenchy and Festubert.
Eastern Front A desperate sortie by the Przemysl garrison is repulsed.
Angola Encouraged by German activity, the Huila region rebels against the Portuguese.

December 19, 1915
Western Front There is intense artillery activity along the entire front. The Germans use phosgene gas for the first time in a battle north of Ypres, killing 120 British soldiers, but causing no panic and gaining no advantage, even though phosgene is ten times as toxic as chlorine.
Eastern Front German forces at Lake Miadzol, in the Dvinsk sector, suffer heavy losses.
Dardanelles A limited British attack at Cape Helles takes 200 yards of trench and helps cover the evacuation. Through a variety of ruses, such as rigging rifles in the front trenches to fire on their own and leaving empty tents standing, the British have successfully completed the preliminary evacuations, silently removing half the garrisons at Suvla Bay and Anzac Cove. 20,000 more men are taken off this night.

December 19, 1917
Italian Front An Austrian attack at the Piave delta is stopped.

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December 20, 1914
Western Front The Indian Corps faces furious German attacks. Three weeks of seesaw battles on the Flanders front have resulted in little gain or loss of ground. Joffre now launches 4th Army into an offensive in Champagne. His artillery includes only 80 heavy guns and gains are minor.
Eastern Front Fierce German attacks on the Bzura line make no headway. The Russians begin a counterattack to recover the Carpathian Passes.
Adriatic The French submarine Curie is sunk trying to penetrate the Austrian fleet anchorage at Pola. She is later raised and commissioned as the Austrian U-14.
Caucasus The Turks suffer a defeat near Lake Van.

December 20, 1915
Russian Command General Russki is invalided and relieved.
German Planning Believing that Britain is only kept in the war by a reliance on France, Falkenhayn decides to knock France, “Britain’s sword”, out of the war. He proposes to an enthusiastic Kaiser Wilhelm II that in the coming year the German army concentrate on a battle of attrition at Verdun, with the objective of compelling the French commanders “to throw in every man they have. If they do so, the forces of France will bleed to death – as there can be no question of a voluntary withdrawal – whether we reach our goal or not. If they do not do so, and we reach our objectives, the moral effect on France will be enormous.” He labels the policy “Gericht”, in effect a judgment imposing punishment. While returning by train to OHL, Falkenhayn outlines the offensive for the chief of staff of 5th Army to relay to Crown Prince Wilhelm, 5th Army commander in the Verdun sector. The Crown Prince is “disquieted” by what he hears.
Dardanelles During the early morning darkness, the last troops to leave Anzac Cove and Suvla Bay are ferried out to the ships. The British have mined the ammunition dumps and supplies left behind and as the last small boats carry the troops to safety, the mines go off, causing huge explosions and fires. The Turks open fire, but too late. The evacuations have occurred without the loss of a single life.
Macedonia Bulgarian and Greek troops clash at Koritsa.
Albania The Italian garrison at Durazzo prepares to receive the retreating Serbs.
Diplomatic Relations The German government disavows any agents in the United States.
South Africa General de Wet is released from prison on signing a pledge of loyalty.

December 20, 1916
Eastern Front There is severe fighting near Brody.
Rumanian Front Turkish troops occupy Isecca.
Egypt The Turks evacuate El Arish and fall back 20 miles to Magdhaba.
Mesopotamia After five days of consolidating his position, Maude sends troops to attempt a crossing of the Tigris, but without success. As winter rains set in, Maude pauses and digs in.

December 20, 1917
Italian Front Italian troops recapture part of Monte Asolone.
Diplomatic Relations Peace negotiations begin at Brest-Litovsk.
Central Powers Diplomacy Ludendorff informs Enver that Germany will be forced by the pressures of the war to restrict coal shipments to Turkey.
Russia The Lenin government establishes the Cheka, the Soviet secret police, under Felix Dzerzhinsky. Any opposition to the new regime is to be met with mass terror.
Australia Conscription is defeated in a second plebiscite, this time more heavily. The Australian forces in France will experience manpower difficulties during 1918.

December 20, 1918
Germany A conference at Berlin fixes January 19 as the date for elections for the National Assembly. The Independent Socialists and Spartakists refuse to participate in the Provisional Government.
Russia French troops land at Odessa.

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December 21, 1914
Western Front British troops arrive to reinforce the Indians at Givenchy.
Eastern Front There are further vain German attempts to force the Bzura.
War in the Air The first air raid on England takes place, a minor bombing of Dover. Kitchener responds by ordering an expansion of the Royal Flying Corps.
Adriatic U-12 hits the dreadnought Jean Bart with one torpedo. The battleship withdraws to Malta for extensive repairs. The French decide that sweeps into the Adriatic are not worth the risk and fall back on a distant blockade based on the Straits of Otranto.

December 21, 1915
Western Front French troops in the Vosges make a limited, successful attack at Hartmannsweilerkopf, taking 1300 prisoners.
British Command Sir William Robertson becomes Chief of the Imperial General Staff. His predecessor, Sir Archibald Murray, is sent to command in Egypt. Robertson is a convinced Westerner, agreeing with Haig that efforts should be focused on the Western Front.
Cameroon Jang Mangas falls after four days of fighting.

December 21, 1916
Eastern Front There is heavy fighting in the Dvinsk sector.
Rumanian Front A Russian counterattack in Dobruja drives the Bulgarians back at Lake Ibolota.
Egypt General Sir Archibald Murray, after months of preparations, has his Sinai force ready to advance to El Arish and beyond. The preparations have included building a railway for movement of supplies, completing a water pipeline to Romani, and assembling a Camel Transport Corps with Egyptian drivers. Leading the advance is Sir Philip Chetwode, who occupies El Arish without firing a shot.
War at Sea The raider Seeadler sails. Fully rigged, with an auxiliary engine, she sinks 16 ships of 30,099 tons before being wrecked in a storm at Mopeha, in French Polynesia, on August 2, 1917. She is the last sailing warship to see action.

December 21, 1917
Western Front There is stiff fighting at Hartmannsweilerkopf, Alsace.

December 21, 1918
Canada Two Canadian companies mutiny at Victoria rather than sail for Siberia. Sentences are commuted due to concerns over the legality of so deploying conscripts in a campaign only tangentially connected to the war.
Czechoslovakia Tomas Masaryk arrives in Prague.

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December 22, 1914
Western Front The Givenchy battle begins to die down, with the positions much as they were at the start of the action. The French make a little progress in an attack toward Noyon.
Eastern Front Another sortie from Przemysl fails.
Caucasus Enver launches 3rd Turkish Army toward Sarikamish. Izzet Pasha, commanding 3rd Army, is not keen on a winter campaign in the mountains, but he is overruled.
South Africa Maritz raids from Southwest Africa and defeats local loyalists.

December 22, 1915
Western Front The Germans regain some positions at Hartmannsweilerkopf.
Macedonia Some 120,000 Bulgarian troops take up positions along the Greek border.
Egypt Murray replaces Maxwell in command in Egypt.

December 22, 1916
Western Front, Verdun General Mangin, Nivelle’s ruthless right hand, leaves Suilly to take command of 6th Army. With the departure of Nivelle and Mangin, the 10-month Battle of Verdun comes to an end. The casualties in this bitter battle were approximately 542,000 French and 434,000 German. The lines are virtually where they were when the battle opened in February. The dreadful toll evokes the final futility of Verdun.
British Command The Royal Navy creates the post of 5th Sea Lord, in charge of naval aviation.
Adriatic Four Austrian destroyers attack the drifters of the Otranto Barrage during the night. French and Italian ships speeding to the rescue collide in the darkness and suffer extensive damage, allowing the Austrians to escape.

December 22, 1917
Western Front The Germans drive in British advanced posts along the Ypres-Staden railway.
Italian Front An Austrian attack carries hills near Valstagna.
North Sea Three British destroyers are sunk off the Dutch coast.

December 22, 1923
Germany Hjalmar Schacht is appointed president of the Reichsbank and begins taking measures to restore the German currency.

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December 23, 1914
Western Front Belgian troops cross the Yser and establish themselves on the right bank at Dixmude.
Eastern Front The Germans force a crossing of the Bzura at two points after several days of fighting. The Russians are compelled to raise the siege of Krakow.
Austrian Command Archduke Eugen replaces Potiorek as commander of Austrian forces in the Balkans.
Egypt Australian and New Zealand troops arrive in Cairo.
Caucasus Russian troops fall back before the Turkish offensive.
Germany The captain of the Yorck is sentenced to two years detention for the loss of his ship.

December 23, 1915
Mesopotamia A Turkish attack at Kut makes some penetrations, but they are driven out again. They decide on to limit themselves to blockading the city and starving the garrison into surrender.

December 23, 1916
Western Front There is action in Champagne.
Rumanian Front There is a fierce struggle for Moldavian frontier positions. Except for a garrison at Braila, the Russians from Dobruja, have withdrawn to Bessarabia.
Macedonia The British make some minor gains at Lake Doiran.
Egypt Apprised by air reconnaissance of a Turkish force at Magdhaba, Chetwode sends mounted brigades to the attack. Although not easily persuaded by a day-long fight, the Turks finally surrender practically their whole force of 3000. British forces also clear Mitla Pass and Abu Agheila along their southern flank.
Austria-Hungary Count Ottokar Czernin succeeds Baron Burian as Foreign Minister.

December 23, 1919
India The Government of India Act makes some concessions to Indian representation. The Congress rejects the Act, but moderates withdraw in response and unrest subsides.

December 23, 1920
Ireland Parliament passes the Government of Ireland Act, repealing the 1914 Home Rule Bill. The act partitions Ireland into the 6 northern (mostly Protestant) and 26 southern (mostly Catholic) counties, each with their own home rule. The war continues.

December 23, 1925
Arabia After a year-long siege, Abd-ul-Aziz ibn Saud takes the last Hashemite stronghold at Jidda and completes his conquest of Arabia. In 1931, the state will be officially renamed Saudi Arabia.

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December 24, 1914
War in the Air The British bomb airship sheds at Brussels. A German plane bombs Dover.
Western Front In Champagne, the French score a local success at Perthes-les-Hurlus. They score a similar success at Consenvoye on the Meuse.
Southwest Africa German troops cross the border into Portuguese Angola. This is only a local move, not an invasion.
Entente Diplomacy Britain recognizes the French protectorate over Morocco.

December 24, 1915
Eastern Front There is heavy fighting along the Styrpa.
Mediterranean The French liner Ville de Ciotat is torpedoed; 80 dead.
Diplomatic Relations Henry Ford abandons his peace cruise (begun December 4) due to illness. He blames the Jews for the mission’s failure.

December 24, 1916
Diplomatic Relations Britain informs the government of Norway that British coal shipments will cease unless Norwegian trade with Germany is halted. The Norwegians comply with the demand.

December 24, 1917
Italian Front The Italians regain some lost ground on the Brenta.
British Command Navy Controller Sir Eric Geddes, appointed by Lloyd George in May to curtail the power of First Sea Lord Jellicoe, achieves the prime minister’s long term goal – he abruptly and without any warning sends Jellicoe a brief note informing him of his dismissal as First Sea Lord. The startled admiral responds that he will begin leave immediately.
War in the Air The British send ten bombers from France on the first long-distance bomber raid, hitting Mannheim and Ludwigshafen.

December 24, 1918
Germany Communist sailors clash in Berlin with government troops and are defeated by the 25th.
Russia Czech Legion and White forces capture Perm.
Diplomatic Relations King Ferdinand of Rumania signs the decree uniting Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania with Rumania. Hungary protests. On the same day, Rumanian troops enter Cluj without resistance. The Allied command in the Balkans, at Rumanian request, soon approves an advance to the line of the western Carpathians.

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December 25, 1907
Austria-Hungary Jorg Lanz von Liebenfels, head of the mystical racist Order of New Templars, first raises a swastika banner at Burg Werfenstein.

December 25, 1914
Western Front An unofficial “Christmas Truce” prevails in many sectors on the British front. Soldiers trade goods in No-Man’s Land and engage in soccer matches. The High Commands on both sides are not amused and order that such things not occur again.
Eastern Front The Germans are forced to evacuate their bridgeheads over the Bzura. The Austrians in Galicia are defeated at Tarnow, ending their offensive.
Albania Italian troops occupy Valona.
Caucasus The Turkish offensive in Armenia reaches its limit as the Battle of Sarikamish begins. The Turks are already fatigued, cold and hungry. Another Turkish force attacks at Ardahan, attempting to cut communications to Sarikamish through Kars.
North Sea The British launch a seaplane raid on Cuxhaven. It is the first naval air action in history, in which attacking ships do not come within sight of their target. Damage is slight.

December 25, 1915
Egypt Another Senusi force is dispersed at Wadi Medwah near Mersa Matruh. The Senusi lose 300 dead for 13 British.
Persia A major rebel force is routed by the Russians near Teheran. The pro-Allied Prince Firman is nominated as Premier.
German East Africa The Mimi and Toutou surprise and capture the German gunboat Kingani on Lake Tanganyika.

December 25, 1916
German East Africa Northey and van Deventer begin a joint offensive.
Black Sea Further Russian minelaying off Varna completely closes that port. In addition, the heavy mine barriers off the Bosporus effectively prevent the Goeben from operating in the Black Sea.

December 25, 1917
Italian Front Heavy fighting continues on the Asiago Plateau for the crossings of the Brenta.
United States Wilson seizes control of the railroads.
Russia A large crowd of Sarts, sympathetic to the provisional government, attempts to free ex-Tsarist officers in Tashkent; they are fired on by Bolshevik troops and 100 killed. The local Muslims who refuse to submit are branded counter-revolutionaries and a Soviet force is sent to put down this dissent.

December 25, 1918
Germany Veterans found the Stahlhelm (Steel Helmet), agitating against the Allies and, later, against the Versailles Treaty and War Reparations.