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Gavrilo Princip, one of the six Bosnian Serb Assassins coordinated by Danilo Ilić was ordered to assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to Austria-Hungary’s throne. Gavrilo Princip also killed Franz Ferdinand's wife, Sophie, while they couple were Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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World War I, also known as The Great War began on the June 28 1914. The fighting stopped on November 11 1918 however, the war officially ended on June 28 1919 when The Treaty of Versailles was signed by The Germans and Allied Forces.
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World War I started on July 28th 1914 with the Austro-Hungarian declaration of war against Serbia. Over the next few days many other European countries declared war.
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Germany Declares War on France
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Australian Forces Occupy German New Guinea
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The First Battle of Ypres begins on the 19th of October 1914. The Germans invaded Belgium and went to Ypres to try and outflank the French. But the Allied Forces wanted to invade Ypres to secure the English Channel ports and the British Army's supply lines.
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The first set of Australian soldiers left for Europe. They were not part of The Australian Army but the Australian Imperial Force. The troops were expected to land in England and go through more training because most of them didn’t know how to use firearms or fight in a war.
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The Australian Federal Governement decided that they would support Great Britain by sending 20,000 men that would be under the control of the British Admiralty to fight against Turkey at Gallipoli.
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The First Battle of Ypres. The Germans were prevented from reaching Calais and Dunkirk. The Germans overestimated the power and strength of the Allied Forces and called off their offensive too early losing the battle with a loss of 134,315 soldiers. The Allied forces lost 126,957-161,957 soldiers.
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The Australian Troops didn’t reach England because they were needed to fight against Turkey, who had recently joined the war. They were sent to Egypt to go through the training before they were sent to fight against the Turks.
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An Unofficial Christmas truce is declared. Soldiers from both sides meet in no-mans land
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The Anzac (Australian New Zealand Army Corps) Troops were told that they would go into battle against Turkey in a place called Gallipoli.
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The Second Battle of Ypres. This was the first use of chemicals in the war. The Germans moved 5,730 cylinders of chlorine gas that weighed 41 kg each by hand. They opened the cylinders by hand and relyed on the winds to carry the gas to the enemy lines. Because the Germans opened the cans by hand many of them where killed by the gas. About 6,000 French and soldiers died within ten minutes at Ypres because the Chlorine gas burned their eyes and lungs.
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Before landing at Gallipoli, The Anzacs set up a camp on a small island in The Aegean Sea called Lemnos. There was lots of talk about the battle ahead and that it was to be a dangerous one.
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The Anzacs were supposed to land at a point on the peninsula known as Gaba Tepe but a mistake in navigation meant they landed at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli instead. The Turkish army was ready and waiting. They opened fire as the Anzacs approached the beach in boats. Many of the troops were killed while exiting the boats. The high slopes at Anzac Cove made it difficult for the Anzacs to attack the Turks as they were shooting from above. At the end of the day just over 2,000 were dead and many wounded.
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Germany’s U-boat, U-20, sinks Britain’s ocean liner RMS Lusitania.
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John Simpson Kirkpatrick was a combat medic with The Anzacs. After arriving at Anzac Cove on April 25 1915, he got a donkey and carried wounded soldiers who fought for Britain. Simpson and his donkey travelled through an exposed area called The Shrapnel Valley. They worked for three weeks day and night. On May 19th 1915, while he was carrying 2 wounded soldiers he was shot in the heart by a sniper. He is one of the most well known soldiers that was part of The Anzacs.
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The Turkish Army almost got the Anzacs to retreat. They attacked for more than 7 hours but the Anzac lines held their position. At the end of the day there were at least 3,000 Turkish soldiers and a few hundred Anzacs who were dead.
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Both The Anzacs and The Turkish armies wanted to bury their fellow soldiers. An Anzac soldier stood up by himself above the edge of one of the trenches and waved a flag showing a red cross a symbol of peace. The Turkish army shot the soldier. But minutes later a Turkish soldier came running unarmed towards the Anzacs. He was shouting an apology because the Turks, as Muslims didn’t know that the Red Cross was a symbol of peace. Both sides agreed on a truce to bury the soldiers.
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The Battle of Lone Pine begins at 6:30 am with the Anzacs capturing the Turkish trenches. The Battle of Lone Pine was a diversion to draw the Turkish soldiers away from main assaults against Sari Bair at Gallipoli.
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Australian War Memorial - Battle of The NekThe 3rd Light Horse Brigade was involved in the Battle of The Nek that occurred at dawn on 7 August 1915. The attack began with a bombardment of Turkish positions by a destroyer steaming offshore but ended 7 minutes earlier than planned. The 3rd Light Horse Brigade had waited before attacking this gave the Turkish Army the opportunity to prepare for another attack. Once ordered to attack wave after wave were shot down by Turkish machine-gun fire. A total of 372 soldiers were killed and wounded.
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The Battle of Lone Pine ends. The Battle lasted 6 days and by August 10 1915, the Turkish stopped fighting leaving the Anzacs in control of the position.
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Emperor of Russia Nicholas II removed the Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolayevich as Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army and took the position to control all their armies.
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Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria invaded Serbia.
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Lord Kitchener suggested that the allied troops be evacuated from Gallipoli. This involved evacuating more than 93,000 troops.
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The Serbian Army collapsed and retreated to the Adriatic Sea. The Italian and French Navies evacuated them out of the area
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The decision was made for the Anzacs and other Allied Forces to leave the Gallipoli Peninsula.
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Gallipoli Campaign ends in an Allied defeat and an Ottoman Victory.
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All British Empire and allied troops are withdrawn from Gallipoli.
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The Battle of Verdun begins. This battle was the longest single battle of World War I, lasting about 10 months. it was also one of the bloodiest as both sides fought with artillery.
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The Battle of Jutland was fought by The Australian and Canadian Navy against the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only full-scale clash of battleships in the war.
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The Battle of The Somme took place on both sides of The Somme River in France. The Allied Forces used field guns to attack the heavily guarded trenches. They shot over 1 million shells at the Germans. Once the shooting had stopped the German Army came out of their trenches and started shooting with their machine-guns. By the end of the day the British had lost over 60,000 men and the Germans also lost many.
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The British attcked the Germans with tanks, a new weapon of the war.
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The Battle of the Somme ended with an enormous amount of casualties. The British lost 420,000, the French lost about 200,000 men and the Germans lost 500,000 troops.
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The Battle of Verdun Ends resulting in 714,231 casualties, 377,231 on the French side and 337,000 on the German side. But it is estimated by modern hstorians that 900,000 probably died.
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United States declares war on Germany sending in troops immediately.
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The Second Battle of Gaza begins in Palestine. The plan was to send troops against well-prepared Turkish positions to attack but was eventually called off due to mounting casualties, a loss of 6,000 soldiers
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The first set of US troops arrive in France.
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The Battle of Caporetto resulted in the Austro-Hungarian and German armies defeating the Italian army who lost 300,000 troops.
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Britain captures Jerusalem, ending 673 years under Turkish Rule.
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The Great War in the Air - At The SommeThe greatest air battle of World War I took place over the Somme battlefield. 70 aircraft were involved in one single combat.
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The German Air Force launches its largest and final raid on London. 6 of 33 aircraft were lost, 49 civilians were killed and 177 wounded.
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Germany and Austria send a peace proposal to the American President, Woodrow Wilson, requesting a truce.
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The Armistice (a truce) was signed at 5.00am and the fighting stopped at 11.00am. At 10.57am Canadian Private George Lawrence Price was killed while on patrol in Canal du Centre. He was the last soldier to die in action on the Western front. Most people were happy that the war had ended.
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The Treaty Of Versailles was a peace treaty that officially ended the war. It was signed by the Germans and the Allied Forces at The Versailles Palace, near Paris.The Palace was chosen because it could fit the hundreds of people that were involved in the process of the signing of the peace treaty.
