19 August
Jul
August
Sep
Great War events that took place on 19 August.
1914 (Wednesday)
| Western Front | ▶ Belgium: Germans reach Dinant-Neufchateau line and occupy Louvain. | ▶ Belgians, defeated at Aerschot, fall back towards Antwerp. | ▶ Alsace: French re-enter Mülhausen and push on in Lorraine. |
| Eastern Front | Poland: Austrians' advance checked near Kyeltsi. | ||
| Southern Front | End of Battle of the Jadar; defeat of Austrians. | ||
| Political | Kaiser's alleged order for the destruction of "General French's contemptible little army".[a] |
1915 (Thursday)
| Western Front | Germans retake trenches on Ablain-Angres road. | |||
| Eastern Front | ▶ Fall of Novo Georgievsk. Russians driven back between Augustovo and Osovyets (Northern Centre). | ▶ Germans progress beyond the Niemen east of Tykocin. | ▶ Mackensen reaches Piszcza and gains ground towards Brest-Litovsk. | |
| Asiatic and Egyptian Thewatres | Turks prevent Italians leaving Smyrna. | |||
| Naval and Overseas Operations | ▶ USA liner Arabic (White Star) torpedoed and sunk. Americans on board. | ▶ German force landing at Pernau (Riga) destroyed by Russians. | ▶ Norwegian mail steamer Haakon VII stopped by Germans and mails seized. Norwegian Government protests. | ▶ British submarine HMS E13 shelled when aground at Saltholm in neutral Danish waters. |
| Political | ▶ Reichstag opened; speech by Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg.[b] Bulgarian Foreign Minister resigns. | ▶ British forces total 3,825,000, including Colonial troops. |
Notes
- ↑ Extract from Order reported issued by the Emperor, 19 August, 1914, H.Q., Aix-la-Chapelle:- "It is my Royal and Imperial Command that you concentrate your energies....to exterminate first the treacherous English, and to walk over General French's contemptible little army."
- ↑ Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg accuses the Allies of having caused the war and of seeking to deceive the people as to the real situation.
Sources: Various material contemporary with the war have been used to compile The Great War On This Day and its associated Index.
Text has 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). Spelling of place names are original to British use at the time. Some typos have been altered or corrected for consistency. Duplicate or identical events between these sources have been amalgamated; as a result the date and wording may differ to the original texts.
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 do not come under the general licence of this site.
Advisory note: The information in these sources may not accurately represent up-to-date histories, present-day spelling of place names, or geographical boundaries. In some instances the language used may appear sexist or derogatory to the modern reader, and in rare cases, images may depict distressing scenes.
For further details and a full list of sources, click here.
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 do not come under the general licence of this site.
Advisory note: The information in these sources may not accurately represent up-to-date histories, present-day spelling of place names, or geographical boundaries. In some instances the language used may appear sexist or derogatory to the modern reader, and in rare cases, images may depict distressing scenes.
For further details and a full list of sources, click here.