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Period: to
WW1
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the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Two shots in Sarajevo caused the fires of war and drew Europe toward World War I. Just hours after narrowly escaping an assassin’s bomb Archduke Franz Ferdinand is killed by Gavrilo Princip. -
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
When Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated Austria-Hungary felt they had no choice but to assert their revenge. Austria-Hungary sets out to attack Serbia it wants to crush support for Serbian nationalism. It's encouraged by its ally Germany. -
Germany declares war on Russia
When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia Serbia's ally Russia started preparing for war. Austria-Hungary's ally Germany demanded Russia to stop preparing for war. When Russia refused Germany declared war on Russia -
First battle of the Marne
Troops from the British force and the French fifth army crossed the Grand Morin and Petit Morin rivers in France to engage German forces. -
France and Britain declare war on the Ottoman Empire
In the Persian Gulf a major British offensive begins as the 6th Indian Division. The objective is to protect the oil pipeline from Persia. 2 weeks later they captured the city of Basra. -
Australians and New Zealanders landed on the Gallipoli peninsula.
On April 22, 1915 at 5 p.m. a wave of gas released from cylinders in the ground by German specialist troops. The troops choked the Allied line on the northern end of the Ypres salient, causing panic and a struggle to survive a new form of weapon. -
German submarine U-20 torpedoed and sank the Lusitania
The British ocean Lusitania is torpedoed by a German U-boat off the southern coast of Ireland. It sinks in 18 minutes and nearly killed 1,200 people including 128 U.S. citizens. Germany felt fully accounted for in treating the Lusitania as a target in a declared war zone. -
Battle of Verdun
the Germans attacked Verdun in what became the longest battle of the war. Nicknamed 'the mill on the Meuse" Verdun lasted for over nine months and was one of the bloodiest battles in history. -
The Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was the largest naval battle of WW1 involving 250 ships and around 100,000 men. Over the course of the battle there were periods of intense action and inactivity. In the end, 6,000 British and 2,500 German sailors were dead. -
The battle of Somme
The British offensive was supposed to draw German attention from Verdun, and in that regard only could it be considered a success. The nearly 20,000 killed in action on July 1 is the single bloodiest day in the history of the British army. The combined casualties of both sides topped 1,000,000. -
Nicholas II abdicated the throne
Tsar Nicholas II abdicates the throne after a week of riots in the Russian capital of St. Petersburg. The Russian Revolution saw the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty and the rise to power of Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks. -
U.S declares war on Germany
the United States declared war on the German Empire, joining France, Great Britain, Russia, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Italy. They were arrayed against Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. -
Battle of Cambrai
the British Third Army launched an attack towards Cambrai using smart methods that were to become a common of the fighting on the Western Front in 1918. The assault was the largest number of tanks yet assembled. -
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between soviet Russia and the central powers by which Russia withdrew from World War I. -
the Treaty of Versaille
It was signed on June 28, 1919, by the Allied and associated powers and by Germany in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles and went into effect on January 10, 1920. The treaty gave some German territories to countries and placed other German territories under supervision.