12 August

Great War events that took place on 12 August.

1914 (Wednesday)

Western Front	Belgium: Germans seize Huy (Meuse), but are checked at Haelen and Dinant.
Southern Front	Bosnia: Serbians and Montenegrins vainly attack Vishegrad.
Political	▶ Great Britain declares war on Austria-Hungary.	▶ Turkey: Reported purchase of the German cruisers Goeben and Breslau.

1915 (Thursday)

Home Front	Zeppelin air raid on East Suffolk and Essex begins.
Eastern Front	▶ Russians evacuate Sokolov, Syedlets, Lukow (east of Warsaw); material evacuated from Riga.	▶ Austro-German armies in touch west of Brest-Litovsk and form unbroken line. Germans driven back beyond Aa, south-west of Mitau.	▶ Russians capture Kovarsk and Toviamy (west-south-west of Dvinsk).
Southern Front	▶ Italians leaving Turkey.	▶ Serbians retaliate for Austrian bombardment of Belgrade by bombarding Semlin and Panchevo.
Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres	Russian left wing re-occupies Alashgerd (Armenia).
Naval and Overseas Operations	▶ Naval engagement between German and Russian fleets near Oesel (Riga).	▶ French cruiser shells and destroys German munition factory at Jaffa.
Political	▶ 10,000,000 francs in gold deposited in one week in Banque de France.	▶ USA reply to Austria affirms export of munitions of war not against laws of neutrality.	▶ King Albert made Colonel-in-Chief of 5th Dragoon Guards.

Sources: Various material contemporary with the war have been used to compile The Great War On This Day and its associated Compendium.

On This Day pages are styled as timelines and have been transcribed from two out-of-copyright sources: Chronology of the War (1918-1920), and History of the Great War – Principle Events 1914-1918 (1922). The spelling of place-names is a particularly convoluted subject. Some names were spelt differently depending on source, others have changed over time for various political or geographical reasons. In general, spelling of place names are original to British use at the time of, and shortly after, the war. Some typos have been altered or corrected for consistency. Similar events between these sources have been amalgamated; as a result the date and wording may differ to their original texts.

Compendium entries form the central hub of (a) An index-like collection of places, people, ships, battles, political events, etc., and (b) Words and phrases of the Armed Forces of Great Britain during the Great War. The majority of these have been transcribed from Chronology of the War (1918-1920) and Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases (1925) respectively, the later which is reflected in the language used and some may seem derogatory by today's standards.

Images come from scans or photographs of original sources, Wikimedia Commons, and the Imperial War Museum's online collections under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence. Attribution is given separately to the latter and does not come under the general licence of this site. Please be aware that some images, although very few, may depict distressing scenes.

Advisory note: The information in these sources may not accurately represent updated histories, present-day spellings, or geographical borders. It is also written from a British perspective, and words such as "enemy" are used extensively. For further details and a full list of sources, click here.

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