1914 June 28: Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, are assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia. June 29: Secretary of the Austro-Hungarian Legation at Belgrade sends dispatch to Vienna accusing Serbian complicity in the assassination. July 20: Austria-Hungary sends troops to the Serbian frontier. July 25: Serbia orders mobilisation of troops. Russia arranges for troops to be stationed on Russo-Austrian frontier. July 28: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. July 29: Great Britain warns Germany that it cannot remain neutral. Austrians bombard Serbian capital Belgrade. German troops advance to the French border. August 1: French military mobilisation ordered. Germany declares war on Russia. Italy announces neutrality. Belgium announces neutrality. August 3: Germany declares war on France. Great Britain gives order for troops to mobilise. August 4: Germany declares war on Belgium. United States declares neutrality. Great Britain gives Austria-Hungary ultimatum to stand down from hostilities. When Austria-Hungary doesn't comply a state of war is declared at 11.00pm August 6: Royal Navy cruiser HMS Amphion is sunk by German mines in the North Sea, causing the death of 150 men and the first British casualties of war. August 7: First members of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) land in France. August 11: 'Your King and Country Need You' slogan is published, calling for the first 100,000 men to enlist for Kitchener's New Army. Demand is met within two weeks. August 13: The first squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps arrive in France. August 20: Brussels evacuated and occupied by Germans. August 25: The Royal Flying Corps claim their first 'kill' as three aircraft from 2nd Squadron force down a German reconnaissance plane. August 26: The Battle of Le Cateau. BEF suffers 7,812 casualties and is forced to retreat. September 6: The First Battle of Marne checks German advance at the cost of 13,000 British, 250,000 French and 250,000 German casualties. October 14- November 22: First Battle of Ypres. October 16: The British Indian Expeditionary Force sails from Bombay to the Persian Gulf in preparation for the invasion of Mesopotamia. October 29: Turkey enters the war. November 22: Trenches are established along the entire Western Front. November 23: The British enter Basra, securing oil supplies in the Middle East needed to supply most of the Royal Navy. December 8: The Battle of the Falkland Islands. A Royal navy task force sinks three German cruisers that were victorious at the Battle of Coronel in November. Only the SMS Dresden escapes. December 16: The German First High Sea fleet bombards Hartlepool, Whitby and Scarborough, killing 137 civilians and proving that the British mainland is susceptible to attack. December 21: German air attack against Britain took place. This one against Dover was delivered by an aeroplane, but the major form of attack was to be through zeppelin airships. 1915 January 19: In the first airborne attack on British soil, Zeppelins bomb Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn, killing five civilians. February 18: Blockade of Britain by German U-boats begins. All vessels are considered viable targets, including those from neutral countries. February 19: Allied naval bombardment of the Dardanelles and Gallipoli begins. March 10: The British Offensive at Neuve Chapelle begins. Allied losses amount to 12,800 in two days. Some of the blame falls on the poor quality and lack of British shells, initiating the 'Shell Crisis'. April 22: Second Battle of Ypres begins. First use of poison gas by Germany. April 25: Allied landing at Gallipoli - 70,000 British, Commonwealth and French troops are under heavy fire. On 'Y' Beach, 1,200 out of a force of 1,500 men are casualties. May 2: Austro-German offensive on Galicia begins. May 7: German U-boat torpedoes British liner Lusitania with the loss of American lives, creating a US-German diplomatic crisis. May 23: Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary. May 25: The 'Shell Crisis' exposes the failings of the British Government in supporting front line troops. Discontent over rising casualty figures grows and a coalition government is formed as Prime Minister Asquith struggles to maintain control of the House of Commons. May 31: The first Zeppelin raid on London kills seven and injures 35. British morale is shaken as Germany demonstrates it can attack the capital at will. June 4: The Third and final Battle of Krithia begins at Gallipoli as Allies attempt to push inland from their beach heads. British losses amount to 6,000 men. June 21: British troops reach the Euphrates in Mesopotamia, and reoccupy Aden. June 30: German troops use flame throwers for the first time against the British lines at Hooge, Ypres. August 4: Germans annex Warsaw. August 6: Allies land two divisions at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli. They opt not to take the strategic heights overlooking the beaches and are eventually pinned to the coast by Turkish troops. August 16: A U-boat bombards Whitehaven, proving that Britain's maritime defences can be breached by German submarines. August 21: The Battle of Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli, is the final British offensive in the Dardanelles. They are repelled and lose 5,000 men. September 25: The Great Allied Offensive focuses on Loos and Champagne. At the Battle of Loos the British gas for the first time but the wind blows this over their own troops resulting in 2632 casualties - only seven are killed. September 27: British and Canadian regiments take Hill 70 at Loos and break the German line, but lack of reserves to exploit the breach results in limited success. The Canadians alone receive over 9,000 casualties. October 5: Under German pressure to open up military rail links to Constantinople and the Middle East, the Austro- Hungarians step up their campaign against the Serbians. Anglo-French forces land at Salonika to counter allied German expansion in the Balkans. October 12: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by German firing squad for helping POWs escape from Belgium to Holland. She becomes a popular martyr and British heroine. October 31: Steel helmets introduced on the British Front. November 22: Battle of Ctesiphon, 25 miles south of Baghdad. Allies inflict heavy casualties on the Turkish, but are forced to retire to Kut due to lack of supplies. The Turkish soldiers give chase and besiege the town. December 15: Sir Douglas Haig replaces Sir John French as Commander in Chief of the British Expeditionary Force. December 20: Allies complete the evacuation of 83,000 troops from Suvla bay and ANZAC Cove in Gallipoli. Not one soldier or sailor is killed in the withdrawal and the Turkish are unaware of the evacuation taking place. 1916 January 4: The Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad is the first attempt to relieve the besieged British in Kut, Mesopotamia. The Turkish finally withdraw but the British casualties number 4,000, a situation exasperated by the poor medical facilities. January 8: Allied evacuation of Helles marks the end of the Gallipoli campaign. January 24: Introducing conscription, the British Government passes the Military Service Act, to become law on 25 May. February 21: The Battle of Verdun starts with a German offensive against the Mort-Homme Ridge. The German plan is to bleed the French dry of men and resources. The battle lasts 10 months and over a million men become casualties. March 9: Germany declares war on Portugal. Six days later, Austria follows suit. April 5: The Battle of Kut. The third and final Allied attempt to relieve Kut flounders in the mud along the Tigris, with 23,000 Allied casualties. April 29: Besieged garrison at Kut in Mesopotamia surrenders after 143 days and 3,000 British and 6,000 Indian troops go into captivity. The majority of these die of disease and starvation in the prison camps. May 31 - June 1: The Battle of Jutland, the biggest naval battle in history. The German High Seas Fleet is forced to retire despite inflicting heavier losses on the Royal Navy (14 ships and 6,100 men), but the German fleet remains irreparably damaged for the rest of the war. June 4: The Russian Brusilov Offensive begins on the Eastern Front. It nearly cripples Austria-Hungary out of the war. June 5: TE Lawrence aids Hussein, Grand Sherif of Mecca, in the Arab revolt against the Turks in Hejaz. Lord Kitchener sails for Russia on board HMS Hampshire. The ship is mined off Orkney and Kitchener is lost along with 643 other crewmen and general staff. June 8: Voluntary Enlistment in Britain is replaced by Compulsion. July 1: The Battle of the Somme sees 750,000 Allied soldiers unleashed along a 25 mile front. By the end of the day nearly 60,000 are dead, wounded or missing for very little gain. It is the worst single day's fighting in British military history. July 14: The Battle of Bazentin Ridge marks the end of the first Somme offensive. The British break the German line but fail to deploy the cavalry fast enough to take full advantage. Some 9,000 men are lost. July 23: The Battle of Pozières Ridge marks the second Somme offensive. Close to the highest point of the Somme battlefield, Pozières dominates the surrounding countryside. The action to take the village costs 17,000 Allied casualties, the majority of whom are Australian. August 26: Under General Smuts, Britain enters the Morogoro Campaign in East Africa. The Germans lead a deadly guerilla campaign, but disease kills 30 men for every on that dies in combat. August 28: Italy declares war on Germany September 2: The first Zeppelin is shot down over Britain.