February 1917

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.
  • Petrograd ConferenceOn 1 February 1917 a conference of Russia, Britain, France and Italy met in Petrograd. It was to agree the 1917 offensives and arms deliveries to Russia.
• 02

  • Portuguese land in FranceOn 2 February 1917 the 1st Brigade of the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps landed at Brest. The Portuguese went on to Flanders to train under British guidance.
• 03

  • Key eventUS breaks off relations with GermanyOn 3 February 1917 Wilson told Congress that the United States was breaking off diplomatic relations with Germany. Ambassador Bernstorff got his passports.
  • Fighting in the Siwa OasisOn 3 February 1917 British armoured cars attacked the Senussi camp at Girba. Sayyid Ahmad escaped, and on 5 February the British entered Siwa.
• 04

  • Talat Pasha becomes grand vizierOn 4 February 1917 Mehmed Talat, interior minister and chief organiser of the Armenian genocide, became grand vizier after Said Halim Pasha resigned.
• 08

  • End of the campaign against the SenussiOn 8 February 1917 an armoured car column returned from Siwa to Mersa Matruh. The war with the Senussi order on Egypt's western frontier was over.
• 13

  • Scandinavian states protestOn 13 February 1917 Sweden, Norway and Denmark handed Germany and Austria-Hungary identical notes of protest against unrestricted submarine warfare.
  • Arrest of Mata HariOn 13 February 1917 French police arrested the dancer Mata Hari in a Paris hotel on suspicion of spying for Germany and locked her up in Saint-Lazare.
• 14

  • House of Commons on war aimsOn 14 February 1917 Balfour declined to explain war aims in the Commons. London spoke cautiously of Alsace-Lorraine, though its allies went further.
• 16

  • British–Japanese agreement on the German islandsIn mid-February 1917 London secretly promised to back Japan's claims to Shantung and the islands north of the equator. In return Japan sent destroyers.
• 17

  • War government in AustraliaOn 17 February 1917 Billy Hughes announced a new government in which his former Labor comrades sat beside Liberals. The Nationalist Party was born.
• 23

  • British cross the Tigris at ShumranOn 23 February 1917 men of the Norfolks and Gurkhas crossed the Tigris at Shumran in pontoons, and sappers built a bridge for a whole division in eight hours.
• 24

  • British recover KutOn 24 February 1917 the Turks left Sannaiyat and Kut for Baghdad. On 25 February sailors from the gunboat Mantis raised the flag over the empty town.
• 25

  • Key eventGermans withdraw from the AncreOn 25 February 1917 the British took Serre and Pys on the Ancre, abandoned by the Germans, in the first stage of the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line.
  • Start of the pursuit to BaghdadOn 25 February 1917 Maude's troops and gunboats moved up the Tigris after the Turks retreating from Kut. At Imam Mahdi a Turkish rearguard held them up.
  • Sinking of the LaconiaOn 25 February 1917 U-50 sank the liner Laconia off Ireland. Twelve died, including two American women, and the US asked whether this was a cause for war.
  • Raid on Margate and BroadstairsOn the night of 25 February 1917 German torpedo boats from Flanders shelled seaside towns in Kent. According to the Admiralty a woman and a child were killed.
• 26

  • Wilson asks Congress to arm merchant shipsOn 26 February 1917 Wilson asked Congress for authority to arm American merchant ships. He called it armed neutrality, not a step towards war.
  • Calais conference on commandOn 26–27 February 1917 at Calais Lloyd George tried to place Haig's army under Nivelle's orders. It ended in a compromise for the spring offensive.
• 28

  • Publication of the Zimmermann TelegramOn the evening of 28 February 1917 the State Department gave the AP the text of the Zimmermann Telegram. Next day Germany's offer to Mexico was front-page news.