Timeline: 1914
February 8 At Russia's request and supported by England and France, a reform plan is signed. According to this plan, two international observers from neutral countries would be appointed, who would oversee the administration and governance in the Armenian provinces of the Ottoman Empire. The reform plan also guaranteed that the Armenians, in relation to their numbers in each province, would be allowed to have a number of Armenian advisers, officials and police among the local authorities.
June Just as the two observers from the neutral countries, namely Dutch Westeneck and Norwegian Hoff, had been appointed and the latter had recently taken up his office in the town of Van, the flames of the WWI ignited.
August After the losses in West, the Turkish leaders began turn their gaze towards the East and planning a unity of all Turkic peoples that would lead to a united empire extending from the Bosphorus to Central Asia. However, there was an obvious obstacle in this plan. Even if the Ottomans managed to break up Russia, the Christians, non-Turkish Armenians posed an obvious obstacle to the realization of this vision due to their geographical position which separated the Ottoman Turks from the rest of their Turkic cousins in the Russian Empire, all the way to Mongolia. At first, the leaders of the Union anf Progress tried to secure the cooperation of the Armenians and asked them to start an armed uprising in Eastern Armenia and Transcaucasia, and in return they were promised autonomy for Eastern Armenia and the neighboring regions of Western Armenia after the war. The Dashnak Party leadership rejected the proposal during its congress in August 1914, held in Erzurum, and replied that in the possibility of war between Turkey and Russia, the Armenians were obliged to support their respective countries. Just as Winston Churchill recalls "the Armenians preferred war, involving killing brothers on two fronts, to the Turkish suggestion of treason against the Russians."
August 18 1,080 Armenian shops are burned down in the city of Diyarbekir.
August 22 All men between 20 and 45 called up for military service in the Ottoman army.
October When Turkey joins Germany to participate in the war, it was decided to take the opportunity to get rid of the Armenians once and for all. In addition, just at the end of August, Turkey expelled the Norwegian observer Hoff in an extremely violent and threatening manner, thus tearing up the agreement of February 8, 1914 and depleted Western Armenia of the presence of all the Western states' representatives (except German, Austria-Hungarian allies and neutral USA) and any witnesses to what was coming.
October 17 Chete bands (armed irregular Turkish and Kurdish forces) start looting and raping the women and children and large scale murders in the province of Erzurum start.
October 30 In Bashkala a Muslim mob massacres 50 Gawanai Assyrians.
November 19 Mass-executions of Armenian soldiers begin in public places.
November 20 An order is given to remove all Armenian functionaries serving in the Ottoman Army.
November 26 Large-scale plundering reported from the province of Van.
November 26 Turkish authorities release convicted murderers and other criminals and rapists to be trained before being placed in special units belonging to Teshkilati Mahsusa , which will be used in the massacres of Armenians.
November 26 Turkish War Department begins distributing explosives to Turkish special units and spreading false rumors about Armenian violence against the Muslim population.