istoryworld
Events relating to the first world war
Italy revokes the Triple Alliance of 1882 that aligned her with Germany and Austria-Hungary
The British passenger liner Lusitania is sunk by a U-boat, with the loss of 1000 civilian lives
A German Zeppelin airship makes the first bombing raid on London
from December - the 225-horsepower Eagle, the first of many Rolls-Royce aero-engines, is used to power British bombers
Feb 26 - a French troopship La Provence is torpedoed by a U-boat off Cape Matapan and sinks with the loss of nearly 1000 lives
Conscription is introduced in Britain for men aged between 18 and 40
A German U-boat sinks the Channel steamer Sussex, with the loss of many civilian lives
The emperor Francis Joseph dies after 66 years on the thrones of Austria and Hungary, to be succeeded by his great-nephew Charles I
Herbert Asquith resigns in the face of a political coup against him, and is replaced as UK prime minister by Lloyd George
Philippe Pétain becomes a French national hero for his successful defence of Verdun
Wartime scarcity causes sugar rationing to be imposed in Britain, to be followed soon by meat and butter and related products
Anti-German feeling causes the British royal family to adopt the name Windsor instead of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha
Crowds demonstrating in Petrograd are fired on after tsar Nicholas II sanctions the use of force
An uprising in Petrograd brings the Peter and Paul fortress into the hands of the rebels
Trotsky hurries back to Russia from exile in the United States
German U-boats sink 430 Allied and neutral merchant ships in this month alone
Trotsky, released from prison, stages a coup to win Bolshevik control of the Petrograd Soviet
Women are enlisted into Britain's army (Women's Auxiliary Corps) and navy (Women's Royal Naval Service)
Women are enlisted in Britain's air force, in the newly formed WRAF (Women's Royal Air Force)
Friedrich Ebert, leader of the Social Democrats, becomes the first chancellor of the newly proclaimed German republic
Hitler returns to Munich and in the prevailing mood of post-defeat resentment begins to take an interest in extremist politics
Delegates to the Paris peace conference unanimously establish the League of Nations
German sailors scuttle every one of the fifty warships held by the British in Scapa Flow
The sultan of Turkey signs the Treaty of Sèvres with the Allies but it is rejected by the new nationalist government
The body of an Unknown Warrior, selected at random from British war graves, is buried at the entrance to Westminster Abbey
