1864 W. H. R. Rivers born.
1865 Rudyard Kipling born.
1869 Laurence Binyon & Robert Ross born.
1870 Saki (H. H. Munro) born.
1872 Edward Marsh born.
1873 Ford Madox Ford (Ford Hermann Hueffer) born.
1878 Edward Thomas born.
1879 Paul Klee born.
1886 Siegfried Sassoon born.
1888 Julian Grenfell & F W Harvey born.
1890 Ivor Gurney & Isaac Rosenberg born.
1892 J. R. R. Tolkien, Richard Aldington & Rebecca West born.
1893 Noel Hodgson, Robert Nichols & Wilfred Owen born.
1895 Robert Graves, David Jones & C. H. Sorley born.
1896 Edmund Blunden born.

1914

• June 28 - Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.
• July - German government issues a "blank cheque" to Austria, offering support in a war against Serbia. Austria gives Serbia an ultimatum - Serbs accept all but two points. Austria refuses a compromise - war declared. Russia begins mobilisation to defend Serbian ally. Germany demands Russian demobilisation.
• July 29 - Austrians bomb Belgrade.

• August 2 - Siegfried Sassoon enlists.

• August 3 - Germany declares war on France and invades Belgium.
  Britain declares war on Germany, then Austria.
• August 7 - Russians invade East Prussia.
• August 12 - Austrians invade Serbia.
• August 14 - 25 - Battles of the Frontiers.
• August 16 - Germans take Liège.
• August 18 - Russians invade Galicia.
• August 23 - 24 - Battle of Krasnik.
  Battle of Mons.
• August 26 - 31 - Battle of Tannenberg.
• August 26 - 27 - Battle of Le Cateau.
• September - British and French troops halt German advance short of Paris, driving them back.
• September 5 - 10 - Battle of the Marne.
• September 9 - 14 - Battle of Masurian Lakes.
• September 14 - Falkenhayn succeeds Moltke in Germany.
• September 15 - Battle of the Aisne. First trenches appear.
• October - November - Britain declares war on Turkey.
• October 12 - November 17 - First Battle of Ypres.
• December 2 - Austrians occupy Belgrade.
• December 6 - The first German naval attack on the English mainland takes place. This resulted in loss of life as Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool were shelled by a total of 5 battlecrusiers (a 6th ship was in the group but laid mines off the north east coast to forestall Royal Navy giving chase, and took no active part in the bombardments).

Rupert Brooke : 1914 and Other Poems published.

Robert Nichols : Invocation published.

• February 9 - Ivor Gurney drafted into British Army and joins the 2nd 5th Gloucesters as Private #3895.

• February 19 - Allies bomb Dardenelles.
• March 10 - 13 - Battle of Neuve Chapelle.
• March 18 - Allied naval attack in Dardanelles.
• April 22 - May 25 - Second Battle of Ypres.

• April 23 - Death of Rupert Brooke.

• April 25 - Allies land at Helles and Anzac Cove.

• May Siegfried Sassoon commissioned Royal Welch Fusiliers.

• May 7 - Germans sink the Lusitania.
• May 16 - June 30 - Battle of Vimy.
• May 23 - Italy declares war on Austria.

• May 26 - Death of Julian Grenfell.

• June 23 - July 7 - First Battle of Isonzo.
• July 12 - 13 - British attack Helles.
• July 18 - August 3 - Second Battle of Isonzo.
• August - September - Warsaw evacuated by Russians. Battle of Tornopol. Vina taken by Germans. Tsar Nicholas II takes supreme control of Russian forces.
• August 6 - British land at Suvla.
• August 6 - 9 - Anzacs attack at Lone Pine.
• August 19 - Germans sink the Arabic.
• September 25 - October 6 - Second Battle of Champagne.
• September 25 - October 6 - Battle of Loos.

• October - Wilfred Owen enlists.

• October 13 - Death of C H Sorley.

• November 10 - December 2 - Fourth Battle of Isonzo.

Robert Graves : Over the Brazier published.

F W Harvey : A Gloucestershire Lad published.

Charles Hamilton Sorley : Marlborough and Other Poems published.

H G Wells : Mr Britling Sees it Through published.

• January 8 - 9 - Allies evacuate Gallipoli.
• February 21 - Battle of Verdun begins. First German offensive against Verdun.

• February 26 - Sassoon's To Victory (his first "war" poem) published in the Saturday Review.

• February 26 - Fall of Fort Douamont.
• March 6 - Second German offensive against Verdun.
• March 11 - 29 - Fifth Battle of Isonzo.
• March 22 - Russians take Przemsyl.
• April 9 - Third German offensive against Verdun.
• April 24 - 29 - Easter Rising in Dublin.
• April 25 - Germans bomb Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth.
• May 2 - 4 - Central Powers' Gorlice - Tarnow offensive.
• May 31 - June 1 - Naval Battle of Jutland.

• June - Owen commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in 5th Battalion, Manchester Regiment.

• June 4 - September 20 - Brusilov offensive against Ukraine.
• June 5 - Lord Kitchener drowns in sinking of HMS Hampshire.
• June 6 - Start of Arab Revolt in Hejaz.
• June 9 - Fall of Fort Vaux.
• June 10 - Arabs capture Mecca.
• June 22 - Austrians take Lemberg.

• June 30 - Sassoon awarded Military Cross.

• July 1 - Battle of the Somme begins.
• July 1 - 13 - Battle of Albert.
• July 23 - September 3 - Battle of Pozières.

• July - Sassoon sent to Oxford with "trench fever".

• August - Hindenburg and Ludendorff take command of German armed forces.
• August 5 - Germans enter Warsaw.
• August 6 - 17 - Sixth Battle of Isonzo.
• August 25 - Central Powers take Brest-Litovsk.
• September - British use early tanks on the Western Front.
• September - 14 - 16 - Seventh Battle of Isonzo.
• September - 15 - 22 - Battle of Flers-Courcette.
• September - 26 - 28 - Battle of Thiepval.
• October 10 - 12 - Eighth Battle of Izonzo.
• October 24 - French retake Douamont.
• November - Nivelle replaces Joffre as commander of the French forces.
• November - 1- 14 - Ninth Battle of Isonzo.
• November - 2 - French retake Vaux.
• November - 7 - British take Gaza. Woodrow Wilson re-elected U.S. President.
• December 6 - Central Powers capture Bucharest.
• December 7 - Lloyd George replaces Asquith as British Prime Minister.
• December 18 - French complete recapture of Verdun fortifications.

Henri Barbusse : Under Fire (English translation) published.

Robert Graves : Fairies and Fusiliers published.

Ivor Gurney : Severn and Somme published.

F. W. Harvey : Gloucestershire Friends published.

Robert Nichols : Ardours and Endurances published.

Siegfried Sassoon : The Old Huntsman and Other Poems published.

Edward Thomas : Poems published.

• January 31 - Germans declare unrestricted submarine warfare.
• February - Russian Revolution begins.
• March - British seize Baghdad and occupy Persia.
• March - April Germans retreat to Siegfried Line (Arras-Soisons) on Western Front.
• April 6 - USA declares War on Germany.
• April 9 - May 15 - Battle of Arras.
• April 9 - 14 - Battle of Vimy.

• April Sassoon injured by a sniper, returns to England.

• April 9 - Death of Edward Thomas.

• April 16 - 20 - Nivelle Offensive.
• April - May Nivelle replaced by Pétain.
• May 12 - June 8 - Tenth Battle of Isonzo.
• June 7 - 14 - Battle of Messines.

• June 25 - Wilfred Owen sent to Craiglockhart.

• July 1 - Start of Russian offensive.

• July 4 - Sassoon made his protest against continuation of the war.

• July 17 - Siegfried Sassoon sent to Craiglockhart.

• July 31 - Beginning of Third Ypres offensive.
• July 31 - August 2 - Battle of Pilckem.

• August 16 - Siegfried Sassoon & Wilfred Owen meet at Craiglockhart.

• August 16 - 18 - Battle of Langemarck.
• August 18 - September 15 - Eleventh Battle of Isonzo.

• September - Wilfred Owen's Anthem for Doomed Youth written.

• September 3 - Germans take Rija.
• September 20 - 25 - Battle of Menin Road.
• September 26 - October 3 - Battle of Polygon Wood.
• October 4 - Battle of Broodseinde.
• October 9 - Battle of Paelcapelle.
• October 12 - First Battle of Passchendaele.
• October 24 - November 12 - Battle of Caporetto (Twelfth Battle of Isonzo).
• October 26 - November 10 - Second Battle of Passchendaele.

• November 3 - Wilfred Owen discharged from Craiglockhart.

• November 7 - Bolsheviks seize power.
• November 16 - Clemenceau becomes Prime Minister of France.
• November 20 - December 7 - Battle of Cambrai.

• November 26 - Siegfried Sassoon discharged from Craiglockhart.

• December 9 - British forces under Allenby take Jerusalem.

Rupert Brooke : Collected Poems published.

Siegfried Sassoon : Counter-Attack and Other Poems published.

• January 8 - Woodrow Wilson proclaims "Fourteen Points" as a basis for a peace settlement.

• February Sassoon sent to Palestine with RWF.

• March - Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Central Powers ending Russian participation in the War.
• March 21 - Second Somme Offensive begins with German "Michael" offensive.
• March 21 - 23 - Battle of St. Quentin.
• March 24 - 25 - First Battle of Bapaume.
• March 28 - Fourth Battle of Arras.

• April 1 - Death of Isaac Rosenberg.

• April 9 - 29 - German "Georgette" offensive.
• May 27 - June 17 - German "Blücher-Yorck" offensive.
• June 9 - 13 - German "Gneisenau" offensive.

• July 13 - Sassoon accidentally shot in head - invalided back to England.

• July 18 - August 5 - Allied Aisne-Marne Counter-Offensive.
• August 8 - 11 - Battle of Amiens. Germans driven back to the Siegfried Line.
• August 12 - October 12 - Assault on Hindenburg Line.
• August 26 - 30 - Battle of Scarpe.

• August 31 - Wilfred Owen back in France.

• September - Hindenburg and Ludendorff call for an armistice.
• September 2 - 3 - Battle of Drocourt-Quéant Switch.
• September 12 - 16 - Battle of St. Mihiel.
• September 26 - Start of Franco-American Meuse-Argonne offensive.
• September 27 - October 1 - Battle of Canal du Nord.
• September 30 - Anglo-Arab occupation of Damascus.
• October - Armistice offered on the basis of the "Fourteen Points".

• October 4 - Death of Robert Ross.

• October 8 - 9 - Second Battle of Cambrai.
• October 12 - End of Assault on the Hindenburg Line.
• October 24 - November 4 - Battle of Vittorio Veneto.
• October 29 - German sailors mutiny.
• November 4 - Battle of the Sambre Canal.

• November 4 - Death of Wilfred Owen.

• November 11 - Armistice signed taking effect from 11 am.

Richard Aldington : Images of War published.

Ivor Gurney : War's Embers published.

C H Sorley : Letters published.

• January - Peace conference at Versailles.
• May - Demands presented to Germany.
• June - Germany signs Peace Treaty.
• September - Austria signs Treaty of St Germain-en-Laye.
• November - Bulgaria signs Treaty of Neuilly.

Wilfred Owen : Poems (ed. Siegfried Sassoon) published.

Edward Thomas : Collected Poems published.

• June - Hungary signs Treaty of Trianon.
• August - Turkey signs Treaty of Sèvres.

Isaac Rosenberg : Poems (ed. G. Bottomley) published.

Death of W H R Rivers.

1928

Edmund Blunden : Undertones of War published.

Siegfried Sassoon : Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man published.

1929

Richard Aldington : Death of a Hero published.

Robert Graves : Goodbye to All That published.