December 1916

December

• 01

  • Fighting in AthensOn 1 December 1916 Greek troops fired on the Entente landing party in Athens and French ships shelled the city. In the evening the king gave up six batteries.
  • Start of the Battle of the ArgeșOn 1 December 1916 General Prezan’s Romanian strike group hit the flank of the Danube Army near Bucharest. But the Germans captured the Romanian battle plan.
  • Romanian government moves to IașiIn late November and early December 1916 the ministries, court and Allied legations left Bucharest for Iași. Brătianu's cabinet left on 3 December.
  • Turnip winterOn 1 December 1916 the Reich government cut the potato allowance to a pound a day, and from January to three-quarters of a pound. The turnip winter began.
• 02

  • Trepov proclaims Russia's right to ConstantinopleOn 2 December 1916 Premier Alexander Trepov revealed in the Duma that the Allies had granted Russia Constantinople and the Straits. It was coolly received.
  • Massacre of Venizelists in AthensOn 2 December 1916, after the Entente landing force left, royalists in Athens attacked supporters of Venizelos. People were killed; a round-up began next day.
• 03

  • The Clémentel agreementOn 3 December 1916 London and Paris signed a shipping agreement. Britain promised France fixed tonnage, and a joint bureau was to charter neutral ships.
  • Bombardment of FunchalOn 3 December 1916 the German U-38 entered the Funchal roads on Madeira, sank three Allied ships and a barge, and then shelled the town with her deck gun.
• 04

  • Jellicoe becomes First Sea LordIn early December 1916 John Jellicoe replaced Henry Jackson at the head of the Royal Navy and set up an anti-submarine division at the Admiralty.
• 05

  • End of the Battle of the ArgeșOn 5 December 1916 King Ferdinand approved a general retreat east. The Romanians declared Bucharest an open city and chose to give it up without a fight.
  • Resignation of AsquithIn early December 1916 a dispute over the War Committee brought down Asquith's government. Beaten by Lloyd George and the Tories, he resigned on 5 December.
• 06

  • Key eventFall of BucharestOn 6 December 1916 Falkenhayn's and Mackensen's troops entered Bucharest unopposed. Ploiești fell the same day, and the cut-off Cerna Group laid down its arms.
  • Decree establishing the Provisional Council of StateOn 6 December 1916 Beseler and Kuk's decree on the Provisional Council of State was published. Its Polish members, named by the occupiers, were only to advise.
• 07

  • Key eventLloyd George becomes prime ministerOn 7 December 1916 David Lloyd George became Prime Minister. He relied on the Conservatives and Labour, while most Liberals backed Asquith.
• 08

  • Blockade of GreeceAt 8 a.m. on 8 December 1916 the Entente began a blockade of royalist Greece's coast, announced the day before, to last until amends were made for Athens.
  • Opening of the Murmansk railwayOn 8 December 1916 the Murmansk railway was officially opened. Built in under two years, partly by prisoners of war, it linked Petrograd with an ice-free port.
• 09

  • The War CabinetOn 9 December 1916 Lloyd George's five-man War Cabinet met. It replaced Asquith's War Committee and was the first cabinet to keep minutes.
• 11

  • Lloyd George's coalition governmentOn 11 December 1916 the press published Lloyd George's government. Grey left the Foreign Office for Balfour, Derby took the War Office and Carson the Admiralty.
  • End of the battle of the CrnaOn 11 December 1916 the Allies broke off their offensive in Macedonia. The last Serbian and Russian attacks on Hill 1050 in the Crna bend decided nothing.
  • Sinking of the battleship Regina MargheritaOn the night of 11–12 December 1916 the Italian battleship Regina Margherita struck mines leaving the Bay of Vlorë. About 675 men were killed.
• 12

  • Key eventGerman peace offerOn 12 December 1916 Germany and her allies proposed peace negotiations to the Entente. The note contained no terms, but plenty of boasting.
  • Nivelle becomes commander-in-chiefOn 12 December 1916 Briand reshaped his government and set up a five-man war committee. Nivelle replaced Joffre in command of the French armies in France.
• 13

  • Start of the British offensive on KutOn 13 December 1916 the British shelled the Turkish positions at Kut and at night moved towards the Shatt al-Hai. Maude began the offensive to retake the town.
  • Körber resignsOn 13 December 1916 Austrian Prime Minister Ernest von Körber resigned; Emperor Karl I accepted. They disagreed over parliament and concessions to Hungary.
  • Pokrovsky becomes Russian foreign ministerOn 13 December 1916 Nicholas II appointed the State Comptroller Nikolai Pokrovsky foreign minister. He was the last head of tsarist diplomacy.
• 14

  • The Entente's December ultimatum to GreeceOn 14 December 1916 four powers gave Greece 24 hours to agree to withdraw its troops from Thessaly. Refusal would mean hostility; the blockade went on.
• 15

  • Greece accepts the December ultimatumOn 15 December 1916 the government in Athens accepted the Entente ultimatum and began withdrawing troops from Thessaly to the Peloponnese. The blockade went on.
  • Britain recognises Hussein as King of the HejazIn December 1916 Britain, France and Russia recognised Sharif Hussein as King of the Hejaz, but not as King of the Arabs, as he styled himself.
  • Barbusse's Under Fire wins the Prix GoncourtOn 15 December 1916 the Prix Goncourt went to Henri Barbusse's Under Fire, a stark picture of a French squad in the trenches, by a volunteer from the front.
• 17

  • Arrest warrant for VenizelosOn 17 December 1916 Athens issued a warrant for the arrest of Venizelos for high treason. To royalists the Salonika government leader was just "the Traitor".
• 18

  • Key eventWilson's peace noteOn 18 December 1916 President Wilson asked all the belligerents to state on what terms they were ready to end the war. The Allies took offence.
  • Key eventEnd of the Battle of VerdunOn 18 December 1916 Zouaves retook Les Chambrettes farm, ending Mangin's December attack and the Battle of Verdun, under way since February, the war's longest.
• 19

  • Lloyd George's first speech as prime ministerOn 19 December 1916 Lloyd George rejected the German peace offer in the Commons and announced universal national service and an imperial conference.
  • Britain recognises the Venizelos governmentOn 19 December 1916 Lloyd George announced in the Commons that Britain would receive representatives of Venizelos's government. France followed London's lead.
• 20

  • Clam-Martinic becomes Austrian prime ministerOn 20 December 1916 Emperor Charles I appointed Count Heinrich Clam-Martinic, a Bohemian aristocrat from Franz Ferdinand's circle, prime minister of Austria.
• 21

  • British occupy El ArishAt dawn on 21 December 1916 Anzac horsemen surrounded El Arish in Sinai. The Turks had left the day before and the town was taken unopposed.
  • Seeadler sets sailOn 21 December 1916 Felix von Luckner's sailing ship Seeadler put to sea disguised as a Norwegian timber ship. She was the third raider sent out that winter.
• 22

  • New ministries in BritainOn 22 December 1916 the King gave assent to Acts creating British ministries of food, shipping, labour and pensions. Lord Devonport took charge of food.
  • Czernin becomes foreign ministerOn 22 December 1916 Emperor Charles I appointed Count Ottokar Czernin, formerly minister in Bucharest, foreign minister of Austria-Hungary in place of Burián.
• 23

  • Affair of MagdhabaOn 23 December 1916 Chauvel's mounted troops and the Camel Brigade took the Turkish redoubts at Magdhaba in Sinai and captured almost the entire garrison.
• 25

  • Nicholas II's order on PolandOn 25 December 1916 Tsar Nicholas II, in an order to the army and navy, listed among Russia's war aims the creation of a free Poland from all three partitions.
  • Anathema against VenizelosOn 25 December 1916 Archbishop Theoklitos of Athens cursed Venizelos on the Field of Ares. The crowd stoned a cairn meant as a monument to the "traitor".
• 26

  • Central Powers reply to Wilson's noteOn 26 December 1916 Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey, and on 30 December Bulgaria, answered Wilson. They proposed a conference but named no terms.
  • London conference on the peace notesOn 26–28 December 1916 British and French ministers met in London to discuss the reply to the peace notes, Salonika and the Nivelle plan.
  • Joffre becomes Marshal of FranceOn 26 December 1916 Joffre gave up the last of his authority over the army and was made Marshal of France, the first since 1870. It was a consolation prize.
• 27

  • Sinking of the battleship GauloisOn 27 December 1916 the German UB-47 torpedoed the French battleship Gaulois east of Kythira. The ship sank, but only four sailors were killed.
  • Anglo-French agreement on TogolandOn 27 December 1916 London and Paris agreed on the provisional administration of conquered Togoland, dividing it into two separate administrative zones.
• 30

  • Entente rejects the German peace offerOn 30 December 1916 ten Entente states rejected the Central Powers' offer in a joint note. They called it a war manoeuvre rather than a peace proposal.
  • Chinese labourers in FranceAt the end of 1916 the British, following the French, turned to labourers from China. By 1918 over 100,000 of them were working behind the front in France.
  • Key eventMurder of RasputinBefore dawn on 30 December 1916 aristocratic plotters in Petrograd killed Grigori Rasputin, the imperial couple's favourite, and sank his body in the Neva.
• 31

  • End of the Darfur campaignThe British chronology of the war takes 31 December 1916 as the end of the Sudanese campaign in Darfur. The former sultanate became a province of the Sudan.