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Chronology Of World War 1
PEACE NEGOTIATIONS
1916
Feb. 22-Col. Edward M. House, President Woodrow Wilson's
representative, and British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey initial
agreement on peace terms (never effected).
Dec. 12-Germany calls for peace negotiations.
Dec. 18-President Wilson sends note to all belligerents, asking them
to inform him confidentially of terms they would accept.
Dec. 26-In reply, Central Powers tell Wilson that any discussion should
be held among belligerents.
1917
Jan. 10-Allies, in notes to Wilson, offer relatively mild terms.
Jan. 22-President Wilson calls on both sides to accept "a peace
without victory."
February-May-Prince Sixte of Bourbon undertakes inconclusive peace talks
with Austro-Hungarian government.
July 19-German Reichstag adopts peace resolution.
Aug. 1-Pope Benedict XV appeals to all belligerents to accept compromise
peace.
Aug. 27-President Wilson stresses moral objections to negotiations with
aggressive governments.
September-Germans refuse to give pope guarantee on restoration of Belgium;
negotiations lapse.
Dec. 3-German-Russian armistice negotiations open at Brest-Litovsk.
1918
Jan. 5-British Prime Minister David Lloyd George says Allies are fighting
for just and lasting peace.
Jan. 8-President Wilson presents Fourteen Points.
Feb. 9-Central Powers and Ukraine sign peace treaty at Brest-Litovsk.
Feb. 18-German-Russian armistice is terminated after Leon Trotsky refuses
to sign peace treaty and unilaterally proclaims peace.
March 3-Bolsheviks sign Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, ceding much Russian
territory, and agree to evacuate Finland.
Aug. 27-Russia signs treaty in Berlin, renouncing claims to Estonia
and Livonia.
Sept. 14-Austria-Hungary sends note to belligerents, requesting exchange
of views; it is rejected.
Sept. 29-Bulgaria signs armistice; Gen. Erich F. W. Ludendorff asks
that armistice be arranged on western front without delay.
Oct. 4-Austria-Hungary sends note to United States, requesting armistice
on basis of Fourteen Points (including autonomy for peoples of empire)
; Germany, in similar note, also accepts Fourteen Points.
Oct. 7-Council of Regency in Warsaw proclaims Poland an independent
state.
Oct. 8-President Wilson, replying to German note, questions whether
it speaks merely for authorities that had thus far conducted the war.
Oct. 12-German note states that it speaks for government and people;
in reply, President Wilson sets four conditions for armistice.
Oct. 14-Turks appeal for armistice.
Oct. 18-United States informs Austria-Hungary that autonomy is no longer
a sufficient basis for peace.
Oct. 19-Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes assert sovereignty over South Slav
portions of Dual Monarchy.
Oct. 20-German note makes further concessions.
Oct. 23-President Wilson agrees to take up question of German armistice
with Allies.
Oct. 27-Austria-Hungary offers to accept armistice on almost any terms;
Germany advises United States that it awaits armistice proposals.
Oct. 28-Czechs remove imperial officials in Prague.
Oct. 30-Turks sign armistice, effective Oct. 31.
Nov. 1-Emperor Charles I releases Hungarians from vows of fealty.
Nov. 3-Austrians sign armistice at Villa Giusti, effective Nov. 4
Nov. 5-German government receives President Wilson's fourth note, stating
that Allies are prepared to receive German delegates.
Nov. 9-Chancellor Prince Max of Baden announces that William II and
his heirs have renounced German throne; Germany accepts Allies' armistice
terms, agreeing to cease hostilities and to evacuate France, Alsace-Lorraine,
Belgium, and Luxembourg in 14 days from signature of armistice, and
left bank of Rhine and bridgeheads at Mainz, Coblenz, and Cologne in
31 days.
Nov. 11-Germans sign armistice at Compiegne.
1919
Jan. 18-Peace conference opens in Paris.
Feb. 14-Draft Covenant of League of Nations is completed; President
Wilson, chief United States delegate, returns to United States to secure
support.
March 4-Thirty-eight United States senators find Covenant unacceptable.
March 14-President Wilson returns to Paris and begins work to secure
revision of Covenant.
April 24-Italian Premier Vittorio Orlando leaves conference over Fiume
issue.
May 6-Peace conference delegates approve treaty providing for German
cessions of territory (AlsaceLorraine to France, Polish Corridor to
Poland, plebiscites elsewhere) and reparations, creation of mandates
from former German colonies, occupation of Rhineland, and limitations
on German Army.
May 7-German delegates receive peace terms.
May 29-Germans present commentary on treaty; proposed changes are rejected
by Allies.
June 28-Allied and German delegates sign Treaty of Versailles; United
States, Great Britain, and France sign treaty of guaranty.
Sept. 10-Allied and Austrian delegates sign Treaty of St.-Germain-en-Laye;
Austria relinquishes claims to territory to be transferred to Italy,
Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, and Poland.
Nov. 19-Treaty of Versailles fails of ratification in United States
Senate.
Nov. 27-Allied and Bulgarian delegates sign Treaty of Neuilly; Yugoslavia
and Greece receive territory at Bulgarian expense.
1920
Jan. 10-Treaty of Versailles is in effect.
March 19-Treaty of Versailles fails of ratification in United States
Senate.
June 4-Hungarian and Allied delegates sign Treaty of Trianon; Hungary
cedes territory to Austria, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, and Yugoslavia.
Aug. 10-Turkish and Allied delegates sign Treaty of Sevres; because
of its harsh terms, it is not ratified by Turks.
1921
Aug. 24-United States signs a separate treaty of peace with Austria
at Vienna.
Aug. 25-United States signs a separate treaty of peace with Germany
at Berlin.
Aug. 29-United States signs a separate treaty of peace with Hungary
at Budapest.
1923
July 24-Allies and Turkey sign Treaty of Lausanne; Turks regain part
of eastern Thrace.
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