Germany
Germany in the First World War →Tag
(889)1917
January
- 11
- Central Powers' note on responsibility for the warOn 11 January 1917 Germany and Austria-Hungary answered the Entente's refusal in notes to the neutrals, blaming their enemies for the continuing war.
- German-Turkish treaty in BerlinOn 11 January 1917 Germany and Turkey signed a package of ten legal agreements in Berlin. Based on equality, they were to replace the abolished capitulations.
February
- 01
- Unrestricted submarine warfare beginsOn 1 February 1917 German submarines began sinking ships without warning around the British Isles. Neutral shipowners kept their ships in port.
- Norway changes its submarine rulesOn the eve of unrestricted submarine warfare Norway eased its ban on foreign submarines entering its waters. It was the price of a settlement with Germany.
March
- 14
- Main German retreat to the Hindenburg Line beginsOn 14 March 1917 the British noticed the Germans leaving their trenches in St Pierre Vaast Wood. The main retreat to the Hindenburg Line was beginning.
- China breaks off relations with GermanyOn 14 March 1917 China broke off relations with Germany in protest against submarine warfare. The German minister Paul von Hintze was given his passports.
- 17
- British take BapaumeOn 17 March 1917 the Australians entered burning Bapaume, goal of the Somme battle. The Germans gave it up without a fight, falling back to the Hindenburg Line.
- French take RoyeOn 17 March 1917 the French advance guard entered Roye, ruined by the Germans. About 800 inhabitants whom the occupiers had not deported awaited the troops.
April
- 09
- Key eventBattle of Arras (1917) beginsOn Easter Monday, 9 April 1917, the British and Canadians attacked at Arras. In one day they advanced 5 km and took thousands of prisoners.
- Key eventAssault on Vimy RidgeOn 9 April 1917, in a snowstorm, four Canadian divisions attacked Vimy Ridge. By evening they held almost all of it except the highest point, Hill 145.
- 16
- Key eventNivelle offensive beginsAt 6 a.m. on 16 April 1917 the French attacked on the Chemin des Dames. Meant to break through in two days, by evening they were stuck below the ridge.
- Lenin returns to PetrogradOn 16 April 1917 Lenin arrived at the Finland Station in Petrograd. He had crossed Germany with Berlin's consent in a carriage called "sealed".
May
- 03
- Key eventThird Battle of the Scarpe beginsAt 3.45 a.m. on 3 May 1917, still in darkness, three British armies struck again at Arras. They failed almost everywhere. Only the Canadians succeeded.
- Key eventBattle of Bullecourt beginsOn 3 May 1917 the Australians broke into the Hindenburg Line east of Bullecourt. The 6th Brigade held the breach, but the British 62nd Division's attack failed.
- 04
- French retake CraonneOn 4 May 1917 the French 36th Division took the ruins of Craonne and broke onto the Californie plateau, one of the last successes of the Nivelle offensive.
- Third Battle of the Scarpe endsOn 4 May 1917 the British pulled the last troops out of the failed Scarpe attack. In Paris Haig and the French agreed the time for a breakthrough had passed.
- 17
- End of the Battle of BullecourtOn 17 May 1917 Londoners of the 58th Division took the last of the ruins of Bullecourt. The two-week fight cost the Australians and British over 14,000 men.
- Honduras breaks off relations with GermanyOn 17 May 1917 Honduran President Francisco Bertrand broke off relations with Germany by decree and declared a state of siege. He offered the US co-operation.
June
July
- 19
- Reichstag peace resolutionOn 19 July 1917 the Reichstag, with Social Democrat, Centre and Progressive votes, called for a peace of understanding without forced annexations.
- The counter-offensive in Eastern Galicia beginsOn 19 July 1917 the Germans struck the Russian Eleventh Army near Złoczów. Within hours they broke through all its lines, and Russian soldiers began to flee.
- 22
- Battle of Mărăști beginsOn 22 July 1917 Averescu's Romanian Second Army opened fire on German positions in Vrancea. It was Romania's first offensive in six months.
- Key eventSiam declares war on Germany and Austria-HungaryOn 22 July 1917 King Vajiravudh declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. At dawn the Siamese interned the Germans and seized nine German ships.
- Key eventArrest of PiłsudskiOn the night of 21–22 July 1917 the Germans arrested Józef Piłsudski and Kazimierz Sosnkowski in Warsaw. The Commandant spent over a year in Magdeburg.
August
- 01
- End of the Battle of MărăștiOn 1 August 1917 Averescu called off the failed assaults on Măgura Cașinului. The Battle of Mărăști was over, and the Romanians prepared for defence.
- Benedict XV's peace noteIn a note dated 1 August 1917 Benedict XV proposed disarmament, arbitration and the return of occupied lands. He called the war a "useless slaughter".
- 02
- End of the Battle of Pilckem RidgeOn 2 August 1917 downpours halted the first attack at Ypres. Gough postponed further attacks, and British losses exceeded 30,000 men.
- Mutiny in the German fleetOn 2 August 1917 about 600 sailors of the battleship Prinzregent Luitpold went ashore without leave at Wilhelmshaven, demanding the release of arrested men.
September
- 03
- End of the Battle of MărășeștiOn 3 September 1917 Eben and Grigorescu ordered attacks halted and positions dug in. That evening Ecaterina Teodoroiu, the heroine of the Jiu, fell at Muncelu.
- The Germans take RigaOn 3 September 1917 Hutier's troops entered Riga, abandoned by the Russians. Baltic Germans greeted them with flowers; Petrograd feared a march on the capital.
- Air raid on ChathamOn the night of 3 September 1917 Gothas bombed Chatham. Two bombs hit a naval barracks hall where several hundred men were sleeping. About 130 sailors died.
- 05
- End of the Battle of RigaOn 5 September 1917 fighting at Riga ended. The Russian Twelfth Army escaped encirclement to Wenden; Ludendorff halted the Eighth Army and sent divisions away.
- Execution of Reichpietsch and KöbisOn 5 September 1917 at the Wahn range near Cologne the sailors Max Reichpietsch and Albin Köbis, leaders of the peace movement in the fleet, were shot.
- 11
- First repatriated prisoners from SwitzerlandOn 11 September 1917, according to a British chronology, the first group of prisoners sent home from internment in Switzerland reached England.
- Disappearance of Georges GuynemerOn 11 September 1917 Captain Georges Guynemer, a French ace with 53 victories, went missing over Poelkapelle. His body and aircraft were never found.
- 12
- End of the Eleventh Battle of the IsonzoOn 12 September 1917 the last great Italian assault on Monte San Gabriele failed. That day the Austrians got orders for a joint offensive with the Germans.
- Key eventPatent on the Regency CouncilOn 12 September 1917 Germany and Austria-Hungary issued a patent giving power in the Kingdom of Poland to a three-man Regency Council, under occupiers' control.
- 21
- The Bernstorff affairOn 21 September 1917 Lansing released a cable in which Ambassador Bernstorff asked Berlin for $50,000 to influence Congress. Washington was in uproar.
- Costa Rica breaks off relations with GermanyOn 21 September 1917 Federico Tinoco's government, not recognised by Washington, broke off relations with Germany, hoping to win over Wilson.
October
- 15
- Regency Council is appointedOn 15 October 1917 Berlin and Vienna approved the regents of the Kingdom of Poland, Archbishop Kakowski, Prince Lubomirski and Józef Ostrowski.
- Key eventExecution of Mata HariOn 15 October 1917 Mata Hari, a Dutch dancer convicted of spying for Germany, was shot at Vincennes. The evidence of her guilt is disputed to this day.
- 26
- Key eventBrazil declares war on GermanyOn 26 October 1917 the Brazilian Congress recognised that Germany had imposed a state of war on Brazil. The immediate cause was the sinking of the Macau.
- Key eventStart of the Second Battle of PasschendaeleOn 26 October 1917 the Canadians attacked the Passchendaele ridge in rain. After hard fighting they took the Bellevue spur, where the New Zealanders had failed.
November
- 01
- End of the Battle of La MalmaisonOn the night of 1–2 November 1917 the Germans quietly left the Chemin des Dames for the Ailette. The French found empty trenches up to Craonne.
- Hertling becomes ChancellorOn 1 November 1917 the Kaiser dismissed Georg Michaelis and appointed the 74-year-old Bavarian premier Georg von Hertling, a Centre politician, Chancellor.
December
- 03
- End of the Battle of CambraiOn 3 December 1917 the Germans took La Vacquerie and the Marcoing canal bend, and Haig ordered the Bourlon Wood salient abandoned for Flesquières Ridge.
- Armistice negotiations open at Brest-LitovskOn 3 December 1917 at Brest-Litovsk Adolph Joffe's Bolshevik delegation sat down to armistice talks with the Central Powers' officers under Gen. Hoffmann.
- 15
- Key eventArmistice of Brest-LitovskOn 15 December 1917 at Brest-Litovsk Soviet Russia and the Central Powers signed an armistice from the Baltic to the Black Sea, taking Russia out of the war.
- End of the Second Offensive Battle of VerdunOn 15 December 1917, by French nomenclature, the Second Offensive Battle of Verdun ended. By autumn the fighting was only for positions on the right bank.