1914 World War I began in 1914 . In this year , Josie Laws McRae was born in Scotland . ( PROSE : " The Wheel of Ice " ) Freddie was born in Russia . ( PROSE : " The Clockwise Man " ) Before the War . In April , Bernice Summerfield watched over John Smith , the Seventh Doctor in human form , in the town of Farringham . The Aubertide s attacked , searching for him . ( PROSE : " Human Nature " ) In June , French archaeologists discovered a Krivani interstellar drive . With the help of a German spy , the Seventh Doctor and Ace retrieved it from British agents . ( PROSE : " Ante Bellum " ) Beginning of World War I . On 28 June , the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria - Hungary by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo , Bosnia triggered a series of events that rapidly escalated into Earth ' s first global conflict : World War I . Unknown to the general populace , however , the start of the war was influenced by the passage of the Nemesis statue around Earth in November 1913 . ( TV : " Silver Nemesis " , TV : " The Family of Blood " ) In August , the United Kingdom entered the war . On 21 August , British troops were preparing to defend the town of Mons in Belgium from the advancing German troops . The Battle of Mons was the first battle of the British Army in the war . There were rumours of Weeping Angel s making German soldiers vanish during the battle . ( COMIC : " The Weeping Angels of Mons " ) In October , Germany bombarded Antwerp . Using her yacht , a British woman named Jessica Borthwick evacuated numerous Belgians across the English Channel while under German fire . ( AUDIO : " Brotherhood of the Daleks " ) On 25 December , the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler visited a World War I battlefield and participated in a football match between the British and German soldiers during the Christmas truce . ( COMIC : " The Forgotten " ) Elsewhere on the Western Front , the Fifth Doctor witnessed another such football match while temporarily separated from Peri Brown . ( PROSE : " Never Seen Cairo " ) The First Doctor , Steven Taylor and Sara Kingdom likewise visited the Western Front at this time . ( PROSE : " The Little Drummer Boy " ) The First Doctor and Twelfth Doctor also visited the Christmas truce , saving Archibald Hamish Lethbridge - Stewart and a German soldier ' s lives . They watched the subsequent Christmas truce football match , then each departed to regenerate . However before doing so the Twelfth Doctor met Glass avatars of Bill Potts , Clara Oswald , and Nardole . He also observed how empty the battlefield was , remarking the war represented him as the lone survivor . ( TV : " Twice Upon a Time " ) The Third Doctor , Tobias Philby and Thomas visited a World War I battlefield . ( COMIC : " The Amateur " ) The Tenth Doctor visited the battlefields of the First World War in Belgium twice , once with Rose Tyler and once with Daniel Francis Thompson . ( COMIC : " Warfreekz ! " , PROSE : " Deep and Dreamless Sleep " ) Francis Wilberforce was killed in Flanders . ( AUDIO : " The Wrong Doctors " ) Behind the scenes . According to a sighting report sent to " Whoisdoctorwho . co . uk " by someone under the username " Matneee " , the Ninth Doctor was present at Ferdinand ' s assassination . He shouted at the archduke , telling him to duck .