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Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
On June 28 1914, heir to Austria, Franz Ferdinand toured Bosnia. Many people in Bosnia wished to separate from Austria. At the start of the tour, one of his cars was hit by a grenade. But to show Bosnia his family was in charge, the tour went on. He changed the route but his driver got lost and unluckily stopped near Gavrilo Princip, who shot Ferdinand and his wife, thus beginning the war as Austria blamed Serbia for the event. As a result Serbia allied with Russia and Austria with Germany. -
The Battle of Tannenberg
The Battle of Tannenberg was Russia’s worst defeat in the World War One. The Russian Second Army led by Alexander Samsonov attacked East Prussia on the 26th of August 1914. The attack was extremely unorganized and by August 29th, the German army had the Russian Second Army surrounded. Out of the 150,000 men that fought only 10,000 escaped. 30,000 men were dead or wounded and 95,000 Russian soldiers were taken prisoner by the Germans. Samsonov ended up committing suicide. -
Battle of the Marne
On the 6th of September the Battle of Marne begun. The Battle of the Marne was fought north and east of Paris, when the Germans attempted to seize Paris. The French forces managed a successful offensive forcing the Germans to retreat. This battle indicated the end of the German move into France and the start of the trench warfare that symbolized World War One. -
Battle of Ypres
On October 19th 1914, near the city of Ypres in Belgium, Allied and German troops fought the first of three battles to seize Ypres and its valuable location. British troops entered Ypres in early October, unaware of the large German forces advancing towards the city. Battle started on the 19th of October. By November 6th, the city had been taken by the Allies. Over 1,700,000 soldiers on both sides were killed or injured and there were an uncounted number of civilians wounded. -
Gallipoli Landing
http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/885109' >Gallipoli Timeline</a>On the 25th of April 1915, Anzac troops were sent to conquer the Gallipoli Peninsula. This would defeat the Turkish defences guarding the Dardanelles and give the Allies a clear path to trade with Russia. The Anzac troops landed 1km away from their planned landing spot, so in the complete darkness and confusion different units were mixed and the structure was lost. That first night 16,000 men landed, of those 2,000 Australians were killed or injured. -
Battle of Loos
The Battle of Loos was fought on September 25th 1915. It was part of Marshal Joffre's campaign to British-French attack in Artois that was intended to push the Germans back. The British 1st Army would attack at Loos with the French 10th Army at Lens. The British successfully got into Loos and took the town after a long night-time fight. The battle came to an end on September 28th, with the British still in control of Loos. The British suffered 50,000 fatalities and the Germans about 25,000. -
Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun begun on Feb 21st 1916. German Chief, von Falkenhayn wanted to “bleed France white” by attacking the significant historic French forts around Verdun. 140,000 German troops attacked with 1,200 cannons aiming 2,500,000 shells at Verdun. The French were falling quickly, so General Philippe Pétain was put in charge. Petain used the one road into Verdun to move in 25,000 tons of supplies and 90,000 soldiers. The French lost about 360,000 and the Germans 340,000. -
Battle of Fromelles
The Battle of Fromelles was fought to try to stop the Germans from moving troops to the Battle of Somme that was being fought south of Fromelles. The area surrounding Fromelles was viewed as an area where the Germans could move their troops around comfortably. The battle was fought to interrupt this and would hopefully force the German High Command to move troops from Somme to Fromelles to help their troops there. The Allied attacks failed resulting in many dead or wounded. -
Battle of the Somme
Because the French were suffering harsh losses at Verdun, the Allied High Command decided to aid them by attacking the Germans from north of Verdun, forcing them to shift some of their men away from Verdun. It was fought near the Somme River from July 1 to November 1 and was one of the largest battles in World War 1. It was one of the bloodiest battles in history. The first day saw more than 57,000 British fatalities. By the end the Allies and Central Powers lost more than 1.5 million men. -
Battle of Flers
The Battle of Flers was a minor attack of the Battle of the Somme. The Battle of Flers was the first in which tanks were used. The attack on Flers was supported by 49 tanks. Out of the 49 tanks that were sent into battle only 15 managed to reach the area. The first three days saw of the Allies advance 2 kilometres. The villages of Flers, Courcelette and Martinpuich were all captured by the Allies, who also managed to take High Wood. -
Battles of Gaza
Gaza, south Palestine, was the Ottoman Empire’s main defence refuge. If the British could capture Gaza it would give the British navy a clear path through the Mediterranean. Three battles were fought as the Allies tried to reach this goal. The first happened on the 26th of March 1917, and ended in victory for the Turkish much like the second battle on the 7th of April 1917. The Allied forces finally saw success after the third battle on the 7th of November 1917. -
German Spring Offensive
IIn spring 1918, Erich Luderndorff ordered a German attack on the Western Front. The Spring Offensive was Germany’s effort to end the War. The Allies expected an attack but did not know where it would come. On March 21st 1918, the Germans attacked the British line west of Cambrai, with a successful result. They then launched shells at Paris and were able to get as far as Amiens, where Luderndorff ordered his soliders to attack. The French counter-offensive in Marne put an end to the offensive. -
Armistice Day
On the 11th of November 1918, the head of the German delegation, Matthais Erzberger signed the Armistice written by French Marshal Ferdinand Foch. The Armistice marked the end of ‘the war to end all wars’. It stated that fighting was to end at 11 am, that day. Despite this, fighting continued until the very last minute. Though it did put an end to fighting, it was originally to only last for 30 days and it didn’t state how peace could be kept. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Armistice was made official when members of the Commonwealth and the League of Nations signed the Treaty of Versailles. It was signed at the Versailles Palace near Paris on the 28th of June 1919. The treaty had many terms and conditions that were to be followed by the countries involved. The Versailles Treaty officially ended World War 1, but many of its conditions were so debatable that as well as ending a war it set the phase for a new one, World War 2.
