istoryworld
Events relating to france
With her troops already poised to attack, Germany declares war on France
A small British Expeditionary Force is rushed across the Channel to Boulogne
France declares war on the empire of Austria-Hungary
A Germany army crosses the river Marne in an advance towards Paris
A French army halts the German advance, just 30 miles from Paris
After a four-day battle, the French drive the German forces back over the river Marne
The Germans adopt a defensive position at the river Aisne in northern France, in the first sign of the trench warfare that will characterize the entire war in the west
from September - the German and French armies, attempting to outflank each other, engage in a race to the sea
British troops are driven to the western front in London Transport double-deckers
Britain and France declare war on the Ottoman empire
from November - with the battle lines stablized to the coast, the German and Allied armies settle in for years of gruesome trench warfare
Manuel de Falla's ballet El Amor Brujo, including the 'Ritual Fire Dance', is performed in Paris
Radiotelephone messages are transmitted from Arlington in Virginia to the Eiffel Tower in Paris
Two German Zeppelin airships bomb Paris, causing 23 deaths
The French aviator Roland Garros fires a machine gun through the propeller in his fighter plane, using metal plates to deflect any bullets that hit the propeller
The British use chlorine gas for the first time in an attack on Loos, but in places it is blown back over the British lines when the wind changes
Britain and France sign the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement, dividing up spheres of influence in the Middle East
In his Course in General Linguistics Ferdinand de Saussure provides the basis for the broader development of structuralism
Claude Monet begins the great cyclorama of water-lilies, Nympheas, that he donates to the French nation
The author H.H. Munro ('Saki') is killed by a sniper's bullet on a battlefield in France
A German thrust against the French begins the year-long battle of Verdun
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
An Allied advance in the valley of the Somme launches a four-month battle with very heavy casualties
Eleven British tanks go into pioneering but ineffective action at the battle of the Somme
Philippe Pétain becomes a French national hero for his successful defence of Verdun
