Anniversaries – Page 5 – First World War Centenary News Archive

February 21, 2016 CN Editorial Team

Centenary Anniversary: Battle of Verdun

21st February 1916: The Battle of Verdun was a major engagement between the armies of France and the German Empire.

February 25, 2016 CN Editorial Team

Centenary Anniversary: French lose biggest Verdun fort

25th February 1916: French forces defending Verdun suffered a disaster when Fort Douaumont fell to German troops without a fight.

March 18, 2016 CN Editorial Team

Centenary Anniversary: Russia attacks at Lake Naroch

18th March 1916: Russia launched a disastrous Eastern Front offensive at Lake Naroch, in an attempt to divert German attention from Verdun.

May 19, 2016 CN Editorial Team

Centenary Anniversary: Sykes-Picot Agreement on Middle East

May 1916: Britain and France concluded a secret deal for dividing the Middle East between them after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

May 31, 2016 CN Editorial Team

Centenary Anniversary: Battle of Jutland

31st May 1916: The British and German fleets fought the biggest naval battle of the First World War off the coast of Denmark.

June 4, 2016 CN Editorial Team

Centenary Anniversary: Brusilov Offensive

4th June 1916: General Aleksei Brusilov launched one of Russia’s most successful attacks of the Great War, advancing against Austro-Hungarian forces in Western Ukraine.

June 5, 2016 CN Editorial Team

Centenary Anniversary: Britain’s War Minister Lord Kitchener killed at sea

5th June 1916: Field Marshal Lord Kitchener was among 737 men lost when the British cruiser, HMS Hampshire, struck a mine off the Orkney Islands.

July 1, 2016 CN Editorial Team

Centenary Anniversary: The Battle of the Somme

1st July 1916: The Battle of the Somme saw French and British led forces launch an offensive against the German Army.

August 29, 2016 CN Editorial Team

Centenary Anniversary: Hindenburg & Ludendorff become supreme German commanders

29th August 1916: Field Marshal Hindenburg and General Ludendorff took over command of the German Army, dominating Germany’s military leadership for the rest of the First World War.

October 25, 2016 CN Editorial Team

Centenary Anniversary: France recaptures Fort Douaumont

24th October 1916: French colonial troops fighting at the Battle of Verdun enter Fort Douaumont, ending an eight-month German occupation of the biggest of the Verdun fortresses.