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1880-1919

By sofibilbaobruck

  • Germany began its world expansion

    Germany began its world expansion in the 1880s under Bismarck's leadership, encouraged by the national bourgeoisie.

  • Prussian War, Germany vs France

  • Period: to

    1880-1919

  • The alliance was expanded

    In 1882, this alliance was expanded to include Italy in what became the Triple Alliance.

  • The Franco-Russian Alliance was signed to counteract the force of the Triple Alliance.

  • In 1904, the United Kingdom sealed an alliance with France, the Entente cordiale.

  • The launch of HMS Dreadnought

    With the launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906, the British Empire expanded on its significant advantage over its German rivals.

  • In 1907, the United Kingdom and Russia signed the Anglo-Russian Convention.

  • Between 1908 and 1913, the military spending of the European powers increased by 50%.

  • Austria-Hungary precipitated the Bosnian crisis of 1908-1909 by officially annexing the former Ottoman territory of Bosnia Herzegovina, which it had occupied since 1878.

    This greatly angered the Pan-Slavic and thus pro-Serbian Romanov Dynasty who ruled Russia and the Kingdom of Serbia, because Bosnia Herzegovina contained a significant Slavic Serbian population. Russian political maneuvering in the region destabilized peace accords that were already fracturing in what was known as "the Powder keg of Europe".

  • First Balkan War

    In 1912 and 1913, the First Balkan War was fought between the Balkan League and the fracturing Ottoman Empire. The resulting Treaty of London further shrank the Ottoman Empire, creating an independent Albanian State while enlarging the territorial holdings of Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece.

  • 33 day Second Balkan War

    When Bulgaria attacked both Serbia and Greece on 16 June 1913 it lost most of Macedonia to Serbia and Greece and Southern Dobruja to Romania in the 33 day Second Balkan War, further destabilising the region.

  • First World War

    World War I was a military conflict that lasted from 1914 to 1918 and involved most of the world's great powers,assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (centred around the Triple Entente) and the Central Powers.

  • Ottoman Empire joining the war

  • Great War, Germany vs France

  • On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian-Serb student and member of Young Bosnia, assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo, Bosnia.

    This began a period of diplomatic manoeuvring between Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France and Britain called the July Crisis. Wanting to end Serbian interference in Bosnia conclusively, Austria-Hungary delivered the July Ultimatum to Serbia, a series of ten demands which were deliberately unacceptable, made with the intention of deliberately initiating a war with Serbia.

  • Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914

    When Serbia acceded to only eight of the ten demands levied against it in the ultimatum.

  • German Empire began to mobilize

    When the German Empire began to mobilize on 30 July 1914, France, sporting significant animosity over the German conquest of Alsace-Lorraine during the Franco-Prussian War, ordered French mobilization on 1 August.

  • Germany declared war on Russia.

  • The United Kingdom declared war on Germany.

  • French and British troops invaded the German protectorate of Togoland.

  • German forces in South-West Africa attacked South Africa; sporadic and fierce fighting continued for the remainder of the war.

  • On 9 September 1914, the Septemberprogramm, a plan which detailed Germany's specific war aims and the conditions that Germany sought to force upon the Allied Powers, was outlined by German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg.

  • Italy joining the War

  • For the first ten months of 1915, Austria-Hungary used most of its military reserves to fight Italy.

  • In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed at Salonica in Greece, to offer assistance and to pressure the government to declare war against the Central Powers.

  • Romania joining the war

  • The 1916 Battle of Jutland (German: Skagerrakschlacht, or "Battle of the Skagerrak") developed into the largest naval battle of the war, the only full-scale clash of battleships during the war.

  • The British Army endured the bloodiest day in its history, suffering 57,470 casualties including 19,240 dead on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

  • In December 1916, after ten brutal months of the Battle of Verdun, the Germans attempted to negotiate a peace with the Allies, effectively declaring themselves the victors

  • Imperial Russia left the war

  • Battle of Arras the only significant British military success was the capture of Vimy Ridge by the Canadian Corps under Sir Arthur Currie and Julian Byng.

  • Finally, in early 1917 Germany adopted a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, realizing the Americans would eventually enter the war.

  • After a 1918 German offensive along the western front, American forces entered the trenches and the German armies were driven back in a series of successful allied offensives

  • Allied victory: summer and autumn 1918

  • World War I also saw the first use of aircraft carriers in combat, with HMS Furious launching Sopwith Camels in a successful raid against the Zeppelin hangars at Tondern in July 1918, as well as blimps for antisubmarine patrol

  • Germany surrendered on Armistice Day

  • Recover lost territories, protect France From Germany