World War One Timeline
Just because a country goes to war, it doesn't mean that life doesn't go on as usual in the arts, sciences and politics. Here's a brief timeline to show what was going on both on and off the Western Front.
1914
What Was Happening With the War?
- Archduke Ferdinand and wife assassinated in Sarajevo
- Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
- Germany declares war on Russia
- Great Britain declares war on Germany
- Japan declares war on Germany
- President Wilson proclaims American neutrality
- Germany fine-tunes chemical warfare weapons
- Battles of Liege, Mons, Ypres, Lodz
What Was Happening Elsewhere?
- Color motion picture process invented
- Tarzan of the Apes is published
- Charlie Chaplin creates The Little Tramp
- Panama Canal completed
- W. C. Handy composes St. Louis Blues
- Last known passenger pigeon dies
- Teletype machine invented
- U.S. Navy bombs Veracruz, Mexico
1915
What Was Happening With the War?
- RMS Lusitania and SS Arabic sunk in Atlantic
- Germany uses submarines to blockade Britain
- Germany creates remote control military tanks
- Germany develops fighter airplanes
- U.S. Coast Guard established
- U.S. makes loans to warring nations
- Battles of Dardanelles, Isonzo, Artois
What Was Happening Elsewhere?
- Birth of a Nation released
- Taxi cabs appear on streets
- Ford produces its one millionth automobile
- First transcontinental phone call made
- Spoon River Anthology published
- U.S. Marines sent to Haiti
- Perils of Pauline movie serials begin
1916
What Was Happening With the War?
- Tanks used for first time on the Western Front
- Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary
- Severe food shortages appear in Germany
- Germany uses plastic surgery to treat war wounds
- U.S. expands Army and National Guard
- Germany uses long-range bombers
- Battles of Verdun, Somme, Corfu, Jutland
What Was Happening Elsewhere?
- National Park Service founded
- First American birth control clinic opened
- First professional golf tournament held
- John J. Pershing chases Pancho Villa back to Mexico
- 24 states have "dry laws" prohibiting alcohol
- U.S. Marines sent to Santo Domingo
- President Woodrow Wilson reelected
1917
What Was Happening With the War?
- Wilson severs American relationship with Germany
- German-Mexican alliance against U.S. revealed
- Wilson declares war on Germany; America at war
- Congress passes Selective Service Act
- John J. Pershing appointed head of U.S. forces
- Congress passes War Revenue Act
- China declares war on Germany
- First ground-to-air radios developed
- Submarine detector invented
- Battles at Ypres, Aisne, Champagne
What Was Happening Elsewhere?
- First woman elected to U.S. Congress
- U.S. purchases Virgin Islands from Denmark
- Puerto Rico becomes a U.S. territory
- Prohibition Act sent to the states for ratification
- Revolution in Russia; Czar assassinated
- British support Jewish homeland in Palestine
- Finland declares independence from Russia
- "Jelly Roll" Morton publishes first songs
- George M. Cohan pens Over There
- Female factory workers adopt "bobbed hair"
- Suffrage picketers arrested at White House
1918
What Was Happening With the War?
- Browning invents first automatic rifle
- Russia signs peace treaty with Germany
- Battles of Aisne-Marne, Chateau-Thierry, Meuse-Argonne
- German fleet mutinies
- Manfred "Red Baron" von Richthofen shot down
- Lt. Douglas Campbell becomes first American "ace" pilot
- Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates and flees to Holland
- Armistice signed
- Wilson attends peace negotiations
What Was Happening Elsewhere?
- First scheduled airmail service offered
- "Fats" Waller composes first hit
- Spanish Influenza epidemic sweeps America
- U.S. divided into four time zones
- Daylight Savings Time goes into effect
- British women win fight for suffrage
- Willa Cather publishes My Antonia
- Czechoslovakia becomes an independent state
1919
What Was Happening With the War?
- Peace Treaty (Versailles) submitted to Congress
- Allies and Germany sign Treaty of Versailles
- U.S. Congress refuses to ratify Treaty of Versailles
- U.S. Army adopts shoulder patches
What Was Happening Elsewhere?
- President Wilson suffers debilitating stroke
- Prohibition ratified
- Charlie Chaplin creates United Artists movie studio
Artillery in France, 1918 (Kendrick Collection, TESHS)
Keeping the Home Fires Burning
Life on the Home Front During the Great War, 1917-1918
Detail from Red Cross poster, circa 1917 (Private Collection)