How do I organize content based on date field in a Y > m > d hierarchy? In essence, I want to organize content based on a date field; first by year, and once a user clicks a particular year, it goes to months, and so on... possible? 

For instance,
-2017
-2016
-2015   

I click on 2016 views generated date link, I should see the following on the next page.   

December,
November, etc... 

and finally, if I click on November, I will get to the actual listing of content for November. 

Edit:
I have already tried grouping by year, and then months. But it is not creating the hierarchy I am expecting. Should I create a display that groups content by years first? and then months?
So for Drupal 7: Take look at this description:
http://chrisshattuck.com/blog/how-create-monthly-archive-block-drupal-blog-views

This is basically an explanation of the "Archive" view (disabled by default) shipped with views. Take a closer look at it and copy it to apply a few minor changes.

It gives you a monthly grouping of your content if there is no argument passed. That is actually the trick. Instead of the "created" date of your content just use the date field you have as argument.