A parade of Chinese labourers at Boulogne, 12th August 1917. Image courtesy Imperial War Museum © IWM (Q 2695).
- The United Kingdom and Chinese Governments agree on the employment of Chinese labour in France to fill the manpower shortage caused by the war. Men from northern China are recruited to form the Chinese Labour Corps; the first contingent arrives in France in April 1917. By the end of the war the Corps would number nearly 96,000. The Forgotten Army of the First World War
- Allied governments reject the German peace proposal, discounting it as “empty and insincere”. Entente Reply to the Peace Note of Germany and Her Allies
- The Bulgarian government accepts American president Woodrow Wilson’s peace note of 18 December, agreeing to peace negotiations
- The Bulgarian and Turkish armies advance towards Macin in Romania
- The Greek government requests that the Allies rise the naval blockade of Greece instituted on 8 December
