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1916
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JANUARY
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Women's National Land Service founded.
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25th
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Conscription in Britain introduced for single men.
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FEBRUARY
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Women's Forage Corps founded.
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21st to December
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The Battle of Verdun commences.
A morbid tactic was invented by the Germans . They
decided that a French city was to be attacked that had great
symbolic meaning and historic value for France knowing that
the French would do anything to prevent the Germans from
conquering such a town, without looking at losses.
the plan was that by the use of continuous day and night
artillery the French army would be bled white.
The inventor of this sinister plan was Falkenhayn and the
place he chose was Verdun.
What happened at Verdun can never be adequately described
- it was to scar the French psyche forever.
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29th
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Start of second campaign of the
German unrestricted submarine warfare.
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The Royal Navy
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MARCH 1916
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Sinking of the Sussex by the German Navy.
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APRIL 1916
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24th
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Germany calls off unrestricted U boat sinkings and
ordered to work in accordance to international Prize Law.
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24th
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The Easter Uprising in Ireland.
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29th
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Kut falls to Turkish forces.
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Appalling mental and
physical war injuries were suffered on all sides of the
fighting.
The name of this poor man
is not known -
but we honour him - and all the others.
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MAY 1916
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16th
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Conscription in Britain introduced for married men.
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25th
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Gotha raid on Folkestone.
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31st to June 1st
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Battle of Jutland.
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JUNE 1916.
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In June 1916 Churchill left the army and went back to
Parliament as a private member because the politicians in
Parliament were disagreeing about almost everything, and he
knew how disastrous that was when fighting a war.
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4th
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HMS Hampshire sunk by a mine off the Orkney Islands.
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Alexi Brusilov, Commander of the Russian Army on the
Southern front, pushed back the Austrian Army 60 miles.
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5th
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Lord Kitchener drowned.
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Grand Sherif Hussein of Mecca launches the Arab Revolt.
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13th
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Zeppelin SL 11 shot down at Cuffley.
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28th
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Assassination of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand at Sarjevo.
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JULY 1916
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Zeppelin Airship Bombs
London.
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London County Council Ambulance Corps staffed entirely by
women.
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1st to November 18th
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The Battle of the Somme commences.
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23rd
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AUGUST 1916
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The hideous suffering by
horses during the first world war
was the equal or worse
to that suffered by the soldiers on both sides.
There was not a thing the ordinary British 'Tommy' -
or German soldier - could do about it.
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1st
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2nd
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Peace meetings are held in 35 German cities.
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3rd
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Women Despatch
Riders
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4th
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5th
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English composer George Butterworth killed.
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SEPTEMBER 1916
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3rd
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Zeppelin raids on London kill 2 and injure 13 persons.
One airship shot down.
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OCTOBER 1916
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24th
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Second Battle of Verdun begins.
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8th
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Germans help French
soldiers trapped in mud.
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31st
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British casualties for the last three months are 350,000.
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NOVEMBER 1916
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29th
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Somme dead to date:- Allies 500,000. Germans 650,000 -
for not a mile of territory.
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DECEMBER 1916
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6th
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Bucharest falls to the Central Powers.
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7th
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Germans reported to have deported one million Poles for
forced labour.
Asquith resigns as Prime Minister. Lloyd George becomes
Prime Minister
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David Lloyd George (Left)
becomes Prime Minister.
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8th
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Battle of the Falkland Islands.
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11th
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Ministry of Labour formed.
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16th
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German Air Attacks on North Eastern Britain.
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15th
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Death toll at Verdun to date. 364,000 Allies and 338,000
Germans - for no progress.
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21st
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Began 3 days of German Sea Plane Air attacks on Dover.
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22nd
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Ministries of Food, Pensions, and Shipping founded.
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25th
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Royal Naval Auxiliary Sea Planes raid Cuxhaven Zeppelin
sheds.
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31st
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Battle of Verdun (began on February 21st) ends with the
French losing 377,000 dead and the Germans 337,000 - a total
loss of life of 714,000 men - and not an inch of ground had
been given by either side.
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1916 was a year of killing. The battle of Verdun was to forever
scar the French nation. For the British, the Somme was to be
likewise. The volunteers spirit of patriotism died in 1916 as a
consequence of the appalling casualty figures and failure to make any
progress. Conscription came into force for the very first time since
the press gangs.
The Russian General Brusilov launched a successful offensive
against the Germans but in the end was forced back; but not before he
had broken the spirit of the Austro-Hungarian army. Russian and
Austria-Hungary were fatally weakened as a result and both nations
eventually collapsed as a consequence of this conflict.
The Battle of Jutland produced no clear naval victory but no-one
at the time foresaw that the German surface fleet would never seek
combat again.
In the Middle East, the army that marched on Baghdad were forced
to surrender at Kut, and June saw the Arabs rise in revolt against
the Turks.
It is important to remember that heavy censorship of news took
place throughout them, and therefore knowledge of many of these
events was not available until long after they happened - or until
after the wars had ended. Morevover, the experiences of the soldiers
were so terrible, that of the the few who returned, none spoke of
them for many many years.
Explanatory notes are given against some of these dates, but to
read about particular battles or political events please go to
Bibliography
The purpose of
these pages is to tell the story of Churchill's life - not to give a
detailed account of the wars he was involved in, for that is a vast
subject.
