Timeline
You can download the primary and secondary education pack Timeline here.
| Date | Key events in the war | Key events in the Post Office |
| 1914 back to top August | Britain declares war on Germany. The capture and execution of German spies. | 11,000 Post Office employees join the armed forces. Rising to over 73,000 by the end of the war.
Army Post Office establishes communications in the field.
Postal censorship began. |
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Stalemate is reached as trenches stretch from Belgian coast to the Swiss Alps. |
Inter-Army Postal Service begins on Western Front |
1915
|  First zeppelin raids on Britain | The Post Office begins the development of air raid warning system. |
| February |  Women are recruited to fill jobs left by male soldiers | Many women drafted in to sort army mails. The Regents Park Depot handles over 2 billion letters by the end of the war. |
April |
First Battle of Ypres begins. Poison gas is used for the first time. | |
1916back to top March | Conscription is introduced in Britain. | The Post Office helps to distribute call up papers. |
| April | The General Postal Office in Dublin is the scene of a siege during the Easter Uprising. | |
| July | Battle of the Somme: 400,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers die  | |
September | Tanks are used for the first time in battle. | Central Telegraph Office in London is bombed. Telegraph communications temporarily go down. |
1917back to top April | USA declares war on Germany after the sinking of the Lusitania | |
| The Post Office Rifles enter the trenches and suffer heavy losses. |
Sergeant Knight showed most 'conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty'. He was awarded the VC.
356,000 postal packets were detained by postal censors as being of some use to the enemy |
1918back to top January | American President Woodrow Wilson announces his ‘fourteen points’ for peace. | |
| June | Uniform Penny Post is suspended. All letters up to 4 oz in weight now cost 1 1/2 d to deliver.  | |
| August | Allied counter-attack halts German advance; German troops in retreat. | Post Office distribute ration books. |
| September | Allied advance storm German lines | Over 19,000 bags of mail per day are sent to the troops in France. In the ten day period before Christmas Day half a million bags of mail are sent to France. |
November |
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