Japan captures Qingdao from Germany

Fighting spread to German colonies in Togo, Cameroon, and German East Africa. African soldiers served in colonial forces, while large numbers of civilians were recruited—often forcibly—as carriers....

Union forces occupied the German port at Lüderitz as part of the campaign against German South-West Africa (today Namibia). South African participation was shaped by imperial allegiance but deeply...

Indian Army units reached France in September 1914 as Britain faced a manpower crisis. Around 1.4 million people from India served in military and support roles across the war, while India also...

Lieutenant-Colonel Manie Maritz defied the Union government’s order to participate in the invasion of German South-West Africa and aligned his force with Germany. The rebellion reflected Afrikaner...

Ottoman naval forces attacked Russian Black Sea ports, drawing the empire into the war on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary. The conflict opened campaigns in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, Sinai,...

Japan presented China with demands that would expand Japanese control over German rights in Shandong and privileges in Manchuria and elsewhere. China negotiated under pressure and rejected the most...

Led by Baptist minister John Chilembwe, insurgents attacked the A.L. Bruce plantation in Nyasaland. The uprising grew from grievances over forced labor, racial discrimination, land, and wartime...

The Indian Corps played a major role in the British attack on Neuve Chapelle, one of the first large offensives on the Western Front. Indian soldiers fought in conditions for which the colonial army...

Ottoman authorities arrested hundreds of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople, marking the opening phase of the Armenian genocide. Deportations and mass killing targeted...

British, French, Australian, and New Zealand forces landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in an attempt to force the Dardanelles. Ottoman defenders repelled the campaign after months of fighting. The...