December 15

The Battle of Kolubara concludes with a Serbian victory as Austro-Hungarian forces withdraw.

A German Zeppelin flies over the east coast of England. This is the first sighting of a hostile aircraft over the British Isles.

December 13

The Battle of Limanowa concludes with Austro-Hungarian forces stalling the Russian offensive.

Lieutenant Norman Holbrook VC

The British submarine B11, in the Dardenelles, torpedoes the Turkish battleship Mesudiye. This ship was anchored near Chanak as a stationary guard ship.

Lieutenant Norman Douglas Holbrook, commander of the B11, is subsequently (22 December) awarded the VC.

December 2

Austro-Hungarian troops occupy Belgrade, in the Battle of Kolubara.

December 1

General Joffre

King George V visits base hospitals in France containing British, Indian and German wounded. He also visits the British Field Headquarters and the fighting line. The King invests General Joffre with the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath.

On the Eastern Front, the Battle of Limanowa commences in the Carpathian mountains. The Russians begin an offensive and try to advance towards the Hungarian plains.

The death of Rear-Admiral Mahan USN, the writer on the influence of sea power in history, is announced.

The 26th Brigade Royal Field Artillery remains refitting and resting in the billeting are to the west of Strazeele. It remains here until 23 December.

November 1 - Battle of Coronel

The Battle of Coronel takes place off the coast of Chile. German naval forces led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee defeat a Royal Navy squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock. Neither admiral expects to meet the other in full force. Once the two meet, Cradock understood his orders were to fight to the end.

Spee has an easy victory, destroying two British cruisers (HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth) for just three men injured. The total loss of British lives is 1,570, including Rear-Admiral Cradock.

Coronel is the first British naval defeat for more than a century. But the action also cost von Spee half his supply of ammunition, which was impossible to replace.

Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock

The First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, subsequently wrote of Cradock, "Admiral Cradock was an experienced and fearless officer, and we are of opinion that feeling he could not bring the enemy immediately to action as long as he kept with the Canopus, he decided to attack them with his fast ships alone, in the belief that even if he himself were destroyed in the action, he would inflict damage upon them which in the circumstances would be irreparable, and lead to their certain subsequent destruction. This was not an unreasonable hope; and though the Admiralty have no responsibility for Admiral Cradock's decision they consider that it was inspired by the highest devotion, and in harmony with the spirit and traditions of the British Navy."

Shock at the British losses results in more ships being sent to the South Atlantic which in due course avenged Coronel on 8 December. You can read more about the Battle of Coronel on the BBC Website.

Austria-Hungary invades Serbia intending to conquer the nation responsible for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This attempt ends in failure.

The 26th Brigade, RFA remains in action near Zillebeke.

September 29 - The "Angels of Mons"

Arthur Machen

The London Evening News publishes "The Bowmen" by Arthur Machen. The article was inspired by accounts that Machen had read of the fighting at Mons and an idea he had had soon after the battle. Machen set his story at the time of the retreat from the Battle of Mons and described phantom bowmen from the Battle of Agincourt summoned by a soldier calling on St. George, destroying a German host. The story is believed by many and forms the basis of one of the most enduring myths of the First World War.

German and French forces reach a stalemate in the Battle of Albert. Hostilities continue as trench warfare, whilst the remaining gap in the front line starts the so-called "Race to the Sea".


The 26th Brigade RFA remains in position, with no firing taking place.

On the Eastern Front, the Russians clash with German and Austro-Hungarian forces in the Battle of the Vistula River (also known as the Battle of Warsaw). The battle continues until the end of October.

September 24

The siege of Przemysl begins with Russian forces surrounding the fortress town held by Austro-Hungarian forces. The siege proves to be the longest of the war, the garrison managing to hold out until 22 March 1915.

The siege of Przemysl

The 26th Brigade RFA remains in position with both batteries engaged all day and shelled by heavy howitzers.

September 17

Lord Kitchener announces that rather more than six regular divisions (each 18,600 strong) and two cavalry division (each 10,000 strong) of British troops are in the fighting line. Kitchener expresses the hope that the New Army of 500,000 men will be ready to take the field in the spring of 1915.

Austro-Hungarian forces retreating from the advancing Russians are assisted by the newly-formed German 9th Army.

The 26th Brigade RAF remain in position. The war diary records, "Enemy made an attack in morning ... 118 withdrawn to north east of Tour de Paissy. About 3pm Enemy attacked from direction of Cerny. Both batteries searching north of Cerny."

September 16

In the Cameroons, HMS Dwarf is rammed by the German merchant ship Nachtigal, which is wrecked. The Captain of HMS Dwarf claims the wreck as his prize bounty. You can read a newspaper account of this incident here. (Note the newspaper give the wrong date for the action as 16 December 1914). You can also read the original entry in the ship's log here.

HMS Dwarf

At 4.30am, 118 battery of the 26th Brigade RFA remains in the same position but entrenched. 117 also entrenched near Les Creutes. The war diary records, "Engaged with enemy's artillery all day".

Punch publishes another Bernard Partridge cartoon as a tribute to the Russian victory in Galicia (see 11 September). Here Russia is depicted as trampling over a defeated Austria-Hungary. 

September 11

The Russians secure a victory against Austria Hungary at the Battle of Rawa. Causalties on both sides number more than half a million.

The Battle of Rawa (3-11 September)

Troops from the Australian Expeditionary Force capture Rabaul, on German New Guinea. The Australian losses are six dead and four wounded, the first Australian military casualties of the First World War.

In France, the Allies are reported to have advanced over 37 miles in four days.

The 26th Brigade RFA marches with the 1st Brigade as Divisional Advance Guard to Trugny.

September 7

Austria-Hungary's second invasion of Serbia begins with the Battle of Drina.

Austria-Hungary's second invasion of Serbia begins today (and see 12 August)

The British Pacific Ocean communication cable is severed by a German Naval squadron under the command of Vice Admiral von Spee.

From 6am the 26th Brigade RFA is in action north of Puiseau. At 10.15am it marches with the 1st Brigade to Le Frenois, near Choisy.

August 26 - Le Cateau

British dead at Le Cateau

The Allied retreat continues. At the Battle of Cateau - a successful rearguard action - the engagement allows the BEF to continue their withdrawal.

Edward Croft, with the RFA, marches from Dompierre to Fesmy.

German Togoland surrenders to the British.

Austria-Hungary declares war on Japan.

SMS Magdeburg

The German cruiser SMS Magdeburg runs aground off the Estonian coast and is captured by the Russians.

They recover three intact German code books, one of which is passed to the British.

This code book is used by the Admiralty's Room 40 to identify movements of German warships.



The German transatlantic liner, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, now acting as an auxiliary cruiser, is sunk by HMS Highflyer.


Punch publishes another Bernard Partridge cartoon. Clearly influenced by recent events in Louvain and Antwerp (depicted in the background), the theme is now much more sinister. Here the Kaiser is depicted as being wholly evil. Punch is using these cartoons for propaganda purposes, to maintain civilian morale.

THE TRIUMPH OF "CULTURE"

August 22 - The BEF's First Shots of the War

The "First Shot" Memorial near Mons

The first British shots of the First World War were fired today. These were the first by a British soldier on the continent of Europe in action against an enemy since Waterloo.

Ahead of the main body of the BEF, cavalry troops were ordered to seek and locate the German Army. On 22 August, the 2nd Cavalry Brigade were patrolling north and east of Mons. In "C" Squadron of the 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards, the leading patrols set an ambush beside the Maisieres to Casteau road.

At about 7am one of the scouts reported the enemy coming down the road, and No. 1 Troop was ordered to charge. No 4 Troop, following, was ordered to dismount and fire. As Corporal Edward  Thomas later recalled, "I could see a German cavalry officer some 400 yards away ... Immediately I saw him I took aim, pulled the trigger and automatically, almost as it seemed instantaneously, he fell to the ground."


The German Cuirassiers were outnumbered and they fell back, pursued along the Brussels road. Captain Charles Beck Hornby, commanding No 1 Troop, was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, probably the first gallantry award given to a member of the Army in the First World War. (Captain Hornby also had the distinction of probably killing the first German in the war, albeit by sabre rather than by shot.)

Edward Croft, with the 26th Brigade RFA, marched from Boue to Cartignies and again billeted in the 1st Brigade (Guards) area.

In the Battle of the Frontiers, France suffers its greatest loss of life to date, with 27,000 of her soldiers killed.

Austria-Hungary declares war on Belgium.

August 12 - Bravo, Belgium!

Britain and France declare war on Austria-Hungary.

Serbia is invaded by Austria-Hungary.

The First Austria-Hungarian invasion of Serbia begins today

The Battle of Haelen, between Liege and Brussels, ends as a tactical victory for the Belgians.

German troops marching through Liege

Following the transfer of her coal supplies to the SMS Konigsberg, the SS City of Winchester is sunk (see also August 6). 

The German cruisers, Goeben and Breslau, which formed the German Mediterranean Division, enter the Dardanelles having evaded ships of the French and British navies since the outbreak of war. You can read more on the pursuit of the Goeben.

SMS Goeben

Punch publishes one of the most famous cartoons of the First World War, and an all-time classic. Drawn by F. H. Townsend, it illustrates brilliantly Belgium's plucky defence of her country. Germany is depicted as a villainous old bully, armed with his big stick and string of sausages; whilst Belgium is the defiant youngster (a version of David, to Germany's Goliath), guarding his territory, and bringing out all our sympathy for our valiant ally. The ideas drawn in this cartoon have been used and borrowed endlessly. In July 1933, Punch copied this cartoon with little Austria before the same farm gate, and a bullying Hitler waving the same old stick. But they forgot the sausages.

BRAVO, BELGIUM!

August 3

King Albert

Germany declares war on France, and German troops enter Belgium. King Albert sends a "supreme appeal" to King George V regarding Belgium's neutrality.


In the Reichstag, Bethmann-Hollweg declared that, "The wrong we are committing we will endeavour to make good as soon as our military goal is reached."

German troops cross the Russian border, occupying Bedzin, Kalisz and Czestochowa.

In Britain, the decision for war begins to focus over Belgian neutrality. Until now, there was no clear majority in the Cabinet for war. There was no formal treaty of alliance with France or Russia. But Belgian neutrality raised a complication, for Belgian neutrality was guaranteed by Britain under the Treaty of London (1839). Therefore an ultimatum was sent from London to Berlin demanding an assurance that Germany will respect Belgian neutrality, due to expire at 11pm on 4 August.

In the House of Commons, Sir Edward Grey explained the Government's position regarding Belgian neutrality, "Last week I stated that we were working for peace not only for this country, but to preserve the peace of Europe... It now appears from the news I have received to-day - which has come quite recently, and I am not yet quite sure how far it has reached me in an accurate form - that an ultimatum has been given to Belgium by Germany, the object of which was to offer Belgium friendly relations with Germany on condition that she would facilitate the passage of German troops through Belgium ... We were sounded in the course of last week as to whether if a guarantee were given that, after the war, Belgium integrity would be preserved that would content us. We replied that we could not bargain away whatever interests or obligations we had in Belgian neutrality.

"We have an interest in the independence of Belgium which is wider than that which we may have in the literal operation of the guarantee. It is found in the answer to the question whether under the circumstances of the case, this country, endowed as it is with influence and power, would quietly stand by and witness the perpetration of the direst crime that ever stained the pages of history, and thus become participators in the sin.

"We are going to suffer, I am afraid, terribly in this war whether we are in it or whether we stand aside. Foreign trade is going to stop, not because the trade routes are closed, but because there is no trade at the other end... I do not believe for a moment, that at the end of this war, even if we stood aside and remained aside, we should be in a position, a material position, to use our force decisively to undo what had happened in the course of the war, to prevent the whole of the West of Europe opposite to us - if that had been the result of the war - falling under the domination of a single Power."

Sir Edward Grey

In his memoirs, Sir Edward Grey contrasted the issues raised by the German invasion of Luxembourg and Belgium. The difference was that the Great Powers agreed a collective guarantee for the integrity and independence [of Luxembourg], but had bound themselves separately to defend the integrity of Belgium.

As Grey explained, "It was thus made clear that what Luxembourg had was a collective guarantee; that no one of the signatory Powers had an obligation to defend Luxembourg, unless all the signatory Powers did so; that no other Power had an obligation to act separately and without the others. This made our position quite clear; the violation of Luxembourg entailed no obligation on us to take action. We could, if we wished, make the German invasion of Luxembourg a reason for going to war, but it was not an obligation; it was a question whether the interest of Britain, not its honour, required us to act. ... [this] brought into strong relief the binding character of the guarantee of Belgium. ...

Mr Gladstone

"What we had before us was the action of Mr Gladstone's Government in 1870 ... about our obligation to Belgium. Mr Gladstone characteristically guarded himself against any unqualified admission that treaty guarantees should always in all conditions bind us to go to war in defence of them, but threw into the scale of British obligation to defend Belgium a tremendous assertion that this was required by a policy and a morality that were independent of time or circumstances. ... For, if her neutrality were violated, and the violation submitted to by Belgium and acquiesced in by her guarantors, her independence was gone for ever. She must become a satellite and serf of the great neighbour who had used her as he pleased. It would have been proved that she had a master, and had no friends able or willing to help her. ... As it became more and more certain that the German Army was going to invade Belgium, the Cabinet began all to face the same way ..."

August 2

Corporal Jules-Andre Peugeot

German military patrols cross the French frontier for the first time since 1871. At Joncherey, Corporal Jules-Andre Peugeot becomes the first French victim of the war, a war which was to claim more than a million more French lives.

In Britain, full naval mobilisation was put into effect. Assurances were given to France that if German warships attacked French shipping in the North Sea or the English Channel, the Royal Navy would assist.

At 7pm, Germany delivered a 12 hour ultimatum to Belgium insisting that German troops must be given free passage through Belgium. This was contrary to the Treaty of London (1839) where the Great Powers (Austria, Britain, France, Prussia and Russia) agreed that Belgium should be an independent and perpetually neutral country.

July 31

Signatures on the Treaty of London (1839)

Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia, confident that Germany will support her.

Germany prepares to declare war on Russia, but asks France to declare it would remain neutral in the event of a war between Germany and Russia. Bound by her treaty with Russia, France refuses and prepares to mobilise.

Britain asks France and Germany to respect Belgian neutrality, which is protected by the Treaty of London, signed in 1839 by the Great Powers. France pledges to do so; Germany makes no reply.

In his memoirs, Sir Edward Grey describes this action as taking "a diplomatic step that contemplated the contingency of war." He went on, "The step now taken in London was in close accord with the attitude of Mr Gladstone's Government in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. On that occasion both France and Germany agreed to respect Belgian neutrality. This time France agreed, Germany evaded the request for an assurance."

Sir Edward Grey

Grey reflected, "It seemed to me that Germany had precipitated war. My reading of the situation at the time was that Austria had gone recklessly ahead against Serbia, believing that the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina would be repeated; that she could humiliate Serbia and that Russia would, as in 1909, recoil before the "shining armour" of Germany and that there would be no great war. When Austria found that the parallel of 1909 was not to be repeated and that things were serious, she began to try to get out of it. Germany then precipitated war and told Austria that, as an Ally, she could not get out. ... no Great Power could submit to a second humiliation such as ... Russia had suffered in 1909. It was precisely because Russia had recoiled in 1909 that she was sure not to abdicate her Slav role now."

Further steps: 29 July

Czar Nicholas II

On this day the Russians began a partial mobilisation of their army; nevertheless even at this stage the Czar appealed to the Kaiser to, "try and avoid such a calamity as a European war". The Kaiser also contacted the Czar stating, "I am exerting my utmost influence to induce the Austrians ... to arrive at a satisfactory understanding with you."

Encouraged by this, the Czar attempted to cancel the partial mobilisation, but his Foreign Minister, Sergius Sazonoff, and the Chief of the Russian General Staff, persuaded him that this was not possible.

The Austrians bombarded Belgrade by monitors

Punch publishes an interesting cartoon on the increasing tension in Europe. Drawn by Leonard Raven-Hill, it shows Austria-Hungary (note the eagle is two-headed) bemused by plucky Serbia's attitude and suspects it is due to Russian support (represented by the bear hiding behind the rock).

July 28 - Austria-Hungary declares war

Franz Conrad von Hotzendorf

At 11am Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, confident of Germany's support.

Remarkably this could not lead to an immediate full-scale invasion. On 26 July Franz Conrad von Hotzendorf, Chief of the General Staff, had told Count Berchtold that this would be impossible for a number of weeks.

Even more remarkably, earlier that morning, the Kaiser had read for the first time the full text of the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum and the Serbian response. The Kaiser could see no reason for any declaration of war, commenting, "A great moral victory for Vienna; but with it every reason for war is removed."

This untimely incident remained secret until after the war. 

The Kaiser

Unfortunately it was too late, since Austria-Hungary's
declaration of war took place an hour or so later.

July 27 - Further steps

General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien

On the basis of Serbia's reply to the ultimatum, Czar Nicholas proposes the opening of negotiations with Austria-Hungary. This proposal is rejected by Vienna.

On the same day, Sir Edward Grey tried to convene a conference between Britain, Germany, France and Italy "for the purpose of discovering an issue which would prevent complications". The proposal was vetoed by Germany on the grounds that such a conference was not "practicable".

The British War Office instructs General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien to guard vulnerable points in southern Britain.

John Burns, the President of the Board of Trade, recorded in his diary, "Why four great powers should fight over Serbia no fellow can understand."

John Burns

He felt war must be averted by "all the means in our power", and that it was his especial duty to "dissociate myself and the principles I hold, and the trusteeship for the working classes which I carry" from such as crime as any declaration of war will be.