Welcome to the 1916 Timeline!
This timeline covers all the political and military events that occurred across Europe and the rest of the world during 1916. In this year the name Verdun will be burned into French and German military legend, whilst the USA will come ever closer to joining the war.
27/01/1916
President Wilson launches a nationwide whistle-stop campaign to generate support for Preparedness and the Continental Army with three speeches in New York.
31/01/1916
The U.S War College Division warns its civilian employees "to engage in no discussion whatever concerning the progress of the European War".
03/02/1916
President Wilson delivers his final speech of Preparedness in Saint Louis.
10/02/1916
British conscription law goes into effect.
21/02/1916
The Battle of Verdun begins as the Germans launch a massive attack against Verdun in what will become the longest battle of the war.
24/02/1916
Acting Secretary of War Hugh L. Scott asks United States War College Division if any plans exist in the event "of a complete rupture" with Germany.
09/03/1916
Pancho Villa's raid on Columbus, New Mexico.
15/03/1916
Pershing starts pursuit of Villa into Mexico.
24/03/1916
The French passenger ship, Sussex is torpedoed.
04/04/1916
The American naval and military attaches in Paris and London draft a plan for mobilizing US shipping to carry an American army to Europe, but their plan is ignored.
19/04/1916
President Wilson, publicly calls for the German's to stop their submarine policy of sinking all ships in enemy waters without warning.
24/04/1916
The Easter rebellion starts in Ireland.
27/04/1916
Field Marshal Lord Kitchener, the British Secretary of State for War, asks for American military participation in Europe.
29/04/1916
British forces surrender to Turkish forces at Kut in Mesopotamia.
Apr 1916
British forces in Mesopotamia begin advance on Baghdad.
04/05/1916
Germany renounces submarine policy.
15/05/1916
Canadians troops capture Vimy Ridge.
19/05/1916
Britain and France conclude Sykes-Picot agreement.
31/05/1916
Battle of Jutland begins between British and German naval forces.
May 1916
The Italians begin the Trentino Offensive.
01/06/1916
Having been the biggest naval battle in history, the battle of Jutland ends without a clear victor.
03/06/1916
The National Defense Act authorizes a five-year expansion of US Army, but at the same time drastically limits size and authority of US War Department General Staff.
04/06/1916
The Russians launch their Brusilov Offensive against Austro-Hungary in Carpathia.
05/06/1916
With British support (led by T.E. Lawrence), Hussein, grand sherif of Mecca, leads an Arab revolt against the Turks in the Hejaz.
Jun 1916
Trentino Offensive ends.
01/07/1916
Start of the Battle of the Somme, with the British military suffering its greatest number of casualties in a single day, 60,000.
29/07/1916
US marines land in Haiti.
30/07/1916
The Black Tom Island munitions plant is destroyed by an explosion. It is suspected that it was German sabotage.
Aug 1916
Romania enters the war on the Allies side.
31/08/1916
Germany suspends U-boat attacks.
15/09/1916
Tanks introduced for the first time on the Somme battlefield by the British.
20/09/1916
Russia's Brusilov offensive in Carpathia comes to an end, having nearly knocked Austria-Hungary out of the war.
15/10/1916
Germany resumes U-boat attacks under search and destroy rules.
07/11/1916
Woodrow Wilson is re-elected in the USA with a campaign slogan of "He kept us out of the war".
18/11/1916
Battle of the Somme ends.
28/11/1916
The First German airplane (as opposed to zeppelin) air-raid is conducted on Britain
29/11/1916
US occupation of Santa Domingo proclaimed.
07/12/1916
David Lloyd George replaces Asquith as British Prime Minister.
12/12/1916
Germany issues peace note suggesting a compromise peace.
18/12/1916
German attack on Verdun ends, with the French holding their positions, with great losses to both sides. US President Woodrow Wilson requests statements of war objectives from warring nations in peace note.
31/12/1916
Rasputin the self-avowed holy man and confidant to the Russian Tsarina, is murdered by relatives of the Tsar.
