1 January
Battle of Artois and Champagne in France begins.
3 February
The Turkish army launches an unsuccessful attack against British controlled Suez Canal; used to ferry troops from India, Australia and New Zealand to the Western Front.
18 February
Germany begins a U-Boat campaign, attacking merchant and passenger shipping around the British Isles.
22 April
The Armenian Genocide begins: 250 Armenian intellectuals are rounded up and arrested in Turkey.
22 May
Forced deportations of Armenians for the next two years lead to the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians due to starvation, thirst and murder by Turkish troops
22 April–22 May
The Second Battle of Ypres begins””the first use of poison gas by the German Army on the Western Front resulting in 58 000 British casualties and 38 000 German casualties.
25 April
70 000 Allied troops, including 15 000 Australians and New Zealanders, land at Gallipoli Peninsula near Constantinople. The aim is to unblock the Dardanelles Straits, between Gallipoli and Constantinople, to gain access to Russia through the Black Sea. The Gallipoli Campaign ends in failure as the Turks succeed in defending the peninsula.
7 May
Germans sink the British liner Lusitania.
4 August
Germans capture Warsaw.
3 October
Anglo-French army lands at Salonika, Greece.
19 December
Months of fighting between Turkish and Allied troops leads to a deadlock. The Turks successfully prevented a breakthrough, inflicting 250 000 casualties on the British forces. The British Navy begins the evacuation of 83 000 soldiers from the Gallipoli Peninsula.
Sir Douglas Haig replaces Sir John French as commander of the British expeditionary Force in Europe.
