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1913
The protection of Australian waters has formed an essential part of the nation’s approach to strategic defence since colonial times. A strong navy was needed not just to deter potential threats by foreign powers, but also to protect the extensive shipping routes and trade centres upon which Australia’s economy depended from pirates and raiders. -
1914
In Sari Sighlar Bay, south of the town of Cannakele in the Dardanelles, the British submarine B11 torpedoed and sank the Turkish battleship Messudieh in difficult conditions. The commander of the B11, Lieutenant Norman Douglas Holbrook, was awarded the Victoria Cross and the members of his crew received other bravery awards. A German naval officer remarked to the American vice-consul at Cannakale, Mr Engert, that it (the sinking) had been ‘a mighty clever piece of work’. -
1915
Winston Churchill telegraphed the commander of British naval forces in the Aegean Sea, Vice-Admiral S H Carden, asking if the Dardanelles could be forced by naval action alone. Carden replied that the straits could not be rushed but might be forced by ‘extended operations’ -
1916
On the night of 8–9 January, 17,000 British soldiers were evacuated from Helles, bringing the three-week evacuation, and the Gallipoli campaign, to a close. In just over a week, 35,000 soldiers, 3,689 horses and mules, 127 guns, 328 vehicles, and 1,600 tons of stores had been taken off Helles. Approximately 508 horses and mules were slaughtered or left behind. -
1917
In 1917 Britain sought a sixth Australian division for active service. Australia had to provide 7000 men per month to meet this request. Volunteer recruitment continued to lag and on 20 December 1917 Prime Minister Hughes put a second referendum to the Australian people. The referendum asked: -
1918
Germany's all-out gamble for victory begins upon the launch of the first of a series of successive spring offensives on the Western Front. The Saint Michael Offensive, named after Germany's patron saint, begins after a five-hour 6,000-gun artillery bombardment as 65 divisions from the German 2nd, 17th and 18th Armies attack the British 3rd and 5th Armies along a 60-mile front in the Somme. At first it seems destined to succeed as the thinly stretched British 5th Army is quickly overrun and wreck -
1919
At the Palace of Versailles in France, a German delegation signs the Treaty formally ending the war. Its 230 pages contain terms that have little in common with Wilson's Fourteen Points as the Germans had hoped. Germans back home react with mass demonstrations against the perceived harshness, especially clauses that assess sole blame for the war on Germany. -
1920
groups attempt but fail to overthrow Germany's democratic government during the Kapp Putsch. -
1921
The Reparations Commission announces Germany must pay the Allies $28 billion over 42 years, via annual payments of cash and goods such as coal and timber -
1922
Germany and Soviet Russia conclude the Treaty of Rapallo allowing for economic collaboration. Secret clauses in the treaty provide for German military activities prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles, including weapons manufacturing, to be done in Soviet Russia. -
1923
After Germany falls behind on its war reparation payments, French and Belgian troops occupy the Ruhr industrial region inside Germany. Workers there react by walking off the job. In a defiant show of support, the German government sends money to the out-of-work protestors. However, this soon leads to ruinous inflation and devaluation of the German deutsche mark--eventually four billion to the dollar--as the government prints an unlimited amount of money to satisfy its needs. -
1924
After World War I was announced to be over, Australia as a nation was eager to leave the hardships of war behind them. Several introductions to the domestic household that was meant to improve the quality of life such as the automobile and the wireless (radios) were changing the way people lived and shaped the industry around it. -
1925
the first inflight moive -
1926
chinese us and british war ships atack nanking -
1927
nahas pasha becomes leader of wafd party -
1928
amelia earhart becomes the first female to fly across the atlantic ocean -
1929
in 1929 wall STREET crashes -
1930
in 1930 the great depreion started -
1931
in 1931 the japanese invaded manchuria -
1932
The United States Post Office Department issues a set of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth.