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A Serbian nationalist student, Gavrilo Princip, assassinated the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand and his wife -
The Austrian government blamed the Serbian government for the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife and declared war on Serbia. -
Although Russia was allied with Serbia, Germany did not believe that it would mobilize and therefore declared war -
German troops poured into Belgium as directed under the Schleiffen Plan, drawn up in 1905 -
Germany did not withdraw from Belgium and Britain declared war on Germany -
Japan declared war on Germany through their alliance with Great Britain, signed in 1902 -
The Russian army marched into Prussia. The Germans used their railway system to surround the Russian Second Army at Tannenberg, leading to thousands of Russian men killed and 125,000 taken prisoner. Germany had won -
Germans took on the Russian First army at Masurian Lakes. The Germans were unable to defeat the army, but over 100,000 Russians were taken prisoner.
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Turkey entered the war on the side of the central powers -
Because of the help given by Turkey to the German attack on Russia, Russia declared war on Turkey -
Britain and France, Russia’s allies, declared war on Turkey, because of the help given to the German attack on Russia -
The Belgians put up a good fight destroying railway lines to slow the transport of German supplies. the Germans continued to march into France. They were eventually halted by the allies at the river Marne. British troops had advanced from the northern coast of France to the Belgian town of Mons, eventually were forced to retreat. The British lost a huge number of men at the first battle of Ypres.
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Zeppelin airships dropped bombs on Yarmouth -
The Russians appealed for help from Britain and France to beat off an attack by the Turkish. The British navy responded by attacking Turkish forts in the Dardenelles
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The British successfully landed several marines in the Gallipoli region of the Dardanelles. However, the success was not followed up and the mission failed.
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The use of airships by the Germans increased. Zeppelins began attacking London
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Poison gas was used for the first time during this battle, causing many British deaths -
The Lusitania, which had many American passengers aboard, was sunk. -
Winston Churchill, critical of the Dardenelles campaign, resigned his post as First Lord of the Admiralty -
Italy entered the war on the side of the Allies. -
Winston Churchill served in Belgium as lieutenant colonel of the Royal Scots Fusiliers
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The Germans mounted an attack on the French, the fighting continued for nine months, and the battle was inconclusive. Germans lost 430,000 men and the French 540,000.
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The British admiral sent a smaller force to lure the German’s into the range of Admiral Jellicoe’s main fleet, the exchange of fire was brief and the German’s withdrew. -
The British and German naval forces met again but the battle was inconclusive -
The five month long battle saw the deaths of 420,000 British soldiers (60,000 on the first day), 200,000 French soldiers and 500,000 German soldiers
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Romania joined the war on the side of the Allies. But within a few months was occupied by Germans and Austrians -
The first German air raid on London took place -
Lloyd George became Prime Minister of the war time coalition. -
Cabinet to appoint Lloyd George as supreme war commander over Haig’s head -
Churchill was appointed Minister of Munitions
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British and French reinforcements were sent -
All allied or neutral ships were to be sunk on sight and in one month almost a million tons of shipping was sunk
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The United States of America declared war on Germany in response to the sinking, by German U boats, of US ships -
The operation commanded by the French General, Nivelle, went wrong and caused the loss of many French soldiers
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The British took a large force of tanks across the barbed wire and machine gun posts at Cambrai
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Russians signed an Armistice with Germany at Brest-Litovsk. Russia had to surrender Poland, the Ukraine and other regions. They had to stop all Socialist propaganda directed at Germany and pay 300 million roubles for the repatriation of Russian prisoners.
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The Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service were merged to form the Royal Air Force
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The British general, Haig, ordered the attack of the German sector at Amiens
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The allies had taken almost all of German-occupied France and part of Belgium -
The terms of the armistice treaty allowed the allies access to the Dardenelles. -
By the beginning of November the allies had pushed the Germans back beyond the Hindenberg line
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Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated. -
At 11 am, in the French town of Redonthes, the Armistice was signed bringing the war to an end