Read A world undone: the story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918 Online
Authors: G. J. Meyer
Tags: #Military History
1918
January 8: | | Woodrow Wilson presents Fourteen Points peace program to Congress. | |
March 3: | | Russians accept German peace terms at Brest-Litovsk. | |
March 21: | | Germans launch Operation Michael on Western Front. | |
March 28: | | General Pershing invites Foch to use U.S. troops against German offensive. | |
April 9: | | Germans launch Operation Georgette. | |
April 14: | | Ferdinand Foch is named General in Chief of the Allied Armies. | |
May 27: | | Germans launch offensive at the Chemin des Dames and the River Aisne. | |
June 9: | | Germans attack at the River Matz. | |
July 15: | | Germans open final offensive in Champagne along the River Marne. | |
July 18: | | British and French counterattack to begin the Second Battle of the Marne, forcing German withdrawal. | |
August 8: | | British launch Amiens offensive, “the Black Day of the German Army.” | |
August 21: | | Germans begin withdrawal back to Hindenburg Line. | |
September 8: | | Germans begin withdrawal from St. Mihiel salient. | |
September 15: | | Allied Army of the Orient moves out of Salonika against Bulgaria. | |
September 16: | | Americans launch Meuse-Argonne offensive north of Verdun. | |
September 30: | | Bulgaria agrees to an armistice—in effect a surrender. | |
October 1: | | Allied forces enter Damascus. | |
October 14: | | Italian offensive launches Battle of Vittorio Veneto. | |
October 26: | | Erich Ludendorff resigns as Quartermaster General of the German Army. | |
October 29: | | German sailors mutiny at Kiel naval base. | |
October 30: | | New Turkish government agrees to armistice. | |
November 4: | | Austro-Hungarian government agrees to armistice. | |
November 8: | | German delegation meets with Allied leaders in Compiègne to discuss armistice terms. | |
November 9: | | Kaiser Wilhelm II, having abdicated, goes into exile in Holland. | |
November 11: | | Armistice terms accepted by Germans become effective at eleven | |
Major Characters
Albert I.
King of Belgium; commander of Belgian forces during the war
Alexandra.
Tsarina of Russia; wife of Nicholas II
Alexeyev, Mikhail.
Chief of staff to Nicholas II; commander in chief of Russian armies following the tsar’s abdication
Asquith, Herbert Henry.
British prime minister, 1908–16
Balfour, Arthur.
British Conservative leader; succeeded Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty in May 1915; succeeded Grey as foreign secretary December 1916
Below, Otto von.
German general holding major commands on the Eastern, Western, and Italian Fronts and in the Balkans
Berchtold, Leopold von.
Austro-Hungarian foreign minister, 1912–15
Bernstorff, Johann von.
German ambassador to the U.S. 1908–17
Bethmann Hollweg, Theobold von.
Chancellor of Germany, 1909–17
Bonar Law, Andrew.
British Conservative and Unionist leader; chancellor of the exchequer, 1916–18
Briand, Aristide.
French politician; succeeded Viviani as premier, October 1915; headed government until March 1917
Bruchmüller, Georg.
German artillerist; originator of brilliantly innovative offensive tactics
Brusilov, Alexei.
Russian army and army group commander; leader of the 1916 offensive that bears his name
Bülow, Karl von.
Commander of German Second Army at the start of the war
Byng, Julian.
Commander of British Third Army in 1917 and 1918
Cadorna, Luigi.
Chief of general staff of the Italian army, July 1914– November 1917
Caillaux, Joseph.
Leader of French political opposition in 1914; arrested by Clemenceau government in 1918
Carden, Sackville.
British admiral; commander of Royal Navy forces involved in the start of the Dardanelles offensive
Castelnau, Noël-Edouard de.
French army and army group commander
Churchill, Winston.
Britain’s First Lord of the Admiralty, 1911–15; minister of munitions, 1917–18
Clemenceau, Georges.
“The Tiger”; French premier from November 1917
Conrad von Hötzendorf, Franz.
Austro-Hungarian field marshal; army chief of staff to March 1917
Currie, Arthur.
Commander of Canadian army corps on the Western Front, 1917–18
De Robeck, John.
British admiral; second commander of Royal Navy forces at the Dardanelles
Driant, Émile.
French politician, writer, and lieutenant colonel; killed in opening fighting at Verdun
Enver Pasha.
Turkish general; leading member of the Young Turks; minister of war 1914–18, commanding troops in the Caucasus and Middle East
Evert, Alexei.
Commander of Russia’s Western Army Group from September 1915
Falkenhayn, Erich von.
Prussian war minister, 1913–15; army chief of staff, September 1914–August 1916
Fisher, John.
British admiral; first sea lord, October 1914–May 1915
Foch, Ferdinand.
French general; appointed Allied supreme commander, April 1918
Franchet d’Esperey, Louis.
French army and army group commander on the Western Front and, from mid-1918, in Salonika and the Balkans
Franz Ferdinand.
Archduke; heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary; assassinated in Sarajevo, June 28, 1915
Franz Joseph.
Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, 1848–1916
French, John.
Commander of British Expeditionary Force, August 1914– December 1915
Gallieni, Joseph.
French general; key figure in First Battle of the Marne; minister of war, 1915–16
George V.
King of Great Britain
Gough, Hubert.
British division, corps, and army commander; removed after defeat of his Fifth Army in the German offensive of 1918
Grey, Edward.
British foreign secretary, 1905–16
Gröner, Wilhelm.
German staff officer and administrator; succeeded Ludendorff as Hindenburg’s chief of staff, October 1918
Haig, Douglas.
Senior general with British Expeditionary Force from August 1914; commander in chief from December 1915
Hamilton, Ian.
British general; commander of Entente forces at Gallipoli, March–October 1915
Hertling, Georg von.
German chancellor, November 1917–October 1918
Hindenburg, Paul von Beneckendorff und von.
German field marshal; army chief of staff from August 1916
Hoffmann, Max.
Key German military planner and leader on the Eastern Front
Holtzendorff, Henning von.
Chief of staff of the German navy, 1915–18
Horne, Henry.
Commander of British First Army, 1916–18
House, “Colonel” Edward.
American president Woodrow Wilson’s principal adviser on foreign affairs
Hutier, Oskar von.
German corps and army commander on Eastern Front, 1915–17; introduced innovative offensive tactics that came to bear his name; commander of Eighteenth Army on the Western Front, 1918
Jagow, Gottlieb von.
German foreign minister to March 1917
Jellicoe, John.
Commander of Britain’s High Seas Fleet, 1914–16; first sea lord, 1916–17
Joffre, Joseph.
Chief of French general staff, 1911–16
Karl I.
Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary from 1916
Kemal, Mustafa.
Turkish division commander at Gallipoli; later served in the Caucasus and Middle East
Kerensky, Alexander.
Russian social democratic leader; prime minister, July–November 1917
Kitchener, Horatio.
British war minister, August 1914–June 1916
Kluck, Alexander von.
Commander of the German First Army at the start of the war
Kühlmann, Richard von.
German foreign minister, August 1917–July 1918
Lanrezac, Charles.
Commander of the French Fifth Army at the start of the war
Lansing, Robert.
U.S. secretary of state, 1915–20
Lawrence, T. E.
“Lawrence of Arabia”; planner and leader of Arab revolt, 1917–18
Leman, Gérard.
Commander of Belgian defenders at Liège, 1914
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich.
Leader of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Communist Party; head of the government from late 1917
Lichnowsky, Karl Max.
German ambassador to Britain
Lloyd George, David.
British chancellor of the exchequer, 1908–15; minister of munitions, 1915–16; war minister, 1916; prime minister from December 1916
Ludendorff, Erich.
German general; chief of staff to Hindenburg, August 1914–August 1916; quartermaster general of the German army, 1916–18; effectively dictator of Germany from mid–1917
Mackensen, August von.
German field marshal holding important commands on the Eastern Front, 1914–18
Mangin, Charles.
French general; prominent at Charleroi, Verdun, the Chemin des Dames, and the Second Battle of the Marne
Marwitz, Georg von der.
Commander of the German Second Army at Cambrai in 1917 and in the 1918 offensive
Max of Baden, Prince.
German chancellor, October–November 1918
Michaelis, Georg.
German chancellor, July–October 1917
Millerand, Alexandre.
French minister of war, August 1914–October 1915
Milner, Alfred.
Member of Lloyd George’s War Council, 1916–18; minister of war from April 1918.
Moltke, Helmuth von.
Chief of staff of German army, 1906–September 1914
Monash, John.
Commander of Australian Army Corps on the Western Front from May 1918
Nicholas, Grand Duke.
Cousin of Nicholas II; Russian general; commander in chief, August 1914–September 1915; then served in the Caucasus
Nicholas II.
Tsar of Russia, 1894–1917; executed, 1918
Nivelle, Robert.
Commander in chief of the French armies, December 1916–May 1917
Painlevé, Paul.
French minister of war from March 1917; premier, September–November 1917
Paléologue, Maurice.
French ambassador to Russia, 1914–17
Pasic, Nikola.
Prime Minister of Serbia
Pershing, John J.
Commander in chief of the American Expeditionary Force from May 1917
Pétain, Henri-Philippe.
French general; army commander in chief from May 1917
Plumer, Herbert.
British corps and army commander, responsible for sector around Ypres
Poincaré, Raymond.
President of France, 1913–20
Polivanov, Alexei.
Russian general; succeeded Sukhomlinov as war minister, June 1915; dismissed, March 1916
Pourtalès, Friedrich von.
German ambassador to Russia
Prittwitz, Max von.
Commander of German Eighth Army in August 1914
Putnik, Radomir.
Serbian field marshal, war minister, and army chief of staff until 1916
Rasputin, Grigori.
Russian monk, mystic, and intimate of the tsar’s family
Rawlinson, Henry.
British general, serving primarily as commander of the Fourth Army
Rennenkampf, Pavel von.
Commander of Russian First Army at Tannenberg, August 1914
Robertson, William.
British general; chief of the imperial general staff, December 1915–March 1918
Rupprecht, Crown Prince.
Heir to the throne of Bavaria; commander of a German army from August 1914; of an army group from July 1916
Samsonov, Alexander.
Commander of Russian Second Army at Tannenberg, August 1914
Sanders, Otto Liman von.
German general, commander of Turkish defenses at Gallipoli
Sarrail, Maurice.
Commander of French Third Army, 1914–15; Army of the Orient at Salonika, 1916–17
Sazonov, Sergei.
Russian foreign minister, 1910–16