France declares war on the empire of Austria-Hungary

Britain declares war on the empire of Austria-Hungary

A Germany army reaches and enters the Belgian capital, Brussels

The British Expeditionary Force fights a rearguard action to escape encirclement by the Germans at Mons

A German army encircles and almost annihilates a larger Russian force at Tannenberg

A Germany army crosses the river Marne in an advance towards Paris

A French army halts the German advance, just 30 miles from Paris

After a four-day battle, the French drive the German forces back over the river Marne

The Germans adopt a defensive position at the river Aisne in northern France, in the first sign of the trench warfare that will characterize the entire war in the west

from September - the German and French armies, attempting to outflank each other, engage in a race to the sea

British planes, taking off from Dunkirk, bomb Cologne railway station and destroy Germany's latest Zeppelin in its great shed at Düsseldorf

from October - there are heavy casualties on both sides, and a small advantage to the Allies, in the fighting round Ypres during the 'race to the sea'

British troops are driven to the western front in London Transport double-deckers

H.G. Wells publishes The War that will end War, offering an optimistic prediction of the present conflict leading to a future world state

Russia declares war on the Ottoman empire

Britain and France declare war on the Ottoman empire

from November - with the battle lines stablized to the coast, the German and Allied armies settle in for years of gruesome trench warfare

German planes cross the Channel and bomb Dover

Roger Casement travels to Germany to persuade Irish prisoners of war to change sides and invade Ireland

Manuel de Falla's ballet El Amor Brujo, including the 'Ritual Fire Dance', is performed in Paris

Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag, by George Asaf and Felix Powell, rapidly becomes one of the most popular songs of the day

Somerset Maugham publishes his semi-autobiographical novel Of Human Bondage

Canadian army surgeon John McCrae writes 'In Flanders Fields' after a friend is killed in the trenches

Radiotelephone messages are transmitted from Arlington in Virginia to the Eiffel Tower in Paris

Franz Kafka publishes Metamorphosis, the tale of a travelling salesman who wakes up to find himself transformed into an insect