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Gavrilo Princip
A teenage Serbian militant who assassinated Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914. Princip was armed and trained by a Serbian terrorist group known as the Black Hand. -
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was shot dead in Sarajevo, by Gavrilo Princip, One of a group of six Bosnian Serb assassins coordinated by Danilo Ilić. The political objective of the assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary's south-Slav provinces so they could be combined into a Greater Serbia or a Yugoslavia. -
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
Austria declared war on Serbia and marched her army toward Belgrade. The next day Emperor William made a shameless bid for British neutrality, pledging Germany to take no territory from France in case of a German victory, but omitting mention of French colonies in Egypt and Africa; nor was any mention made as to sparing the French fleet, or as to the size of the indemnities to be imposed on France. -
Germany declares war on Russia
Germany, an ally of Austria-Hungary declare war on Russia and demands the neutrality of Russia's ally France; France refuses and mobilises. -
Germany declared war on France
German troops poured into Belgium as directed under the Schleiffen Plan, drawn up in 1905. The British foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, sent an ultimatum to Germany demanding their withdrawal from the neutral Belgium. -
Battle of Tannenberg
The Russian army marched into Prussia. but, because of the railroads it was difficult for the Russians to get supplies through to their men. The Germans, on the other hand, used their railway system to surround the Russian Second army at Tannenberg before it's commander could realise what was happening. Russia lost -
Turkey joins the war
Turkey entered the war on the side of the central powers and gave help to a German naval bombardment of Russia. -
Sir Christopher Cradock
A British admiral in command of the Fourth Squadron. Cradock is known primarily for his catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Coronel on November 1, 1914, in which he lost his life. -
Germany declares a "war zone"
February 4 - Germany declares a "war zone" around Great Britain, essentially effecting a submarine blockade where even neutral merchant vessels were to be potential targets. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
Immediately inciting international outrage, the sinking quickly turned public opinion against Germany and its allies. The German government attempted to justify the sinking by stating that Lusitania was classified as an auxiliary cruiser and was carrying military cargo. -
Battle of Verdun
Unable to achieve a decisive breakthrough, offensives simply resulted in heavy casualties with little gain. Seeking to shatter the Anglo-French lines, the German Chief of Staff, Erich von Falkenhayn, began planning a massive assault on the French city of Verdun. -
Battle of the Somme
In planning for operations in 1916, the commander of the British Expeditionary Force, General Sir Douglas Haig, called for an offensive in Flanders. Approved by French General Joseph Joffre, the plan was amended in February 1916, to include French troops with a focus on attacking around the Somme River in Picardy. -
Constantine I
The king of Greece for much of the war. Although Greece remained neutral during his reign, Constantine himself had strongly pro-German sentiments, at the same time that his government favored the Allies. He abdicated on June 12, 1917, under pressure of a threatened Allied invasion.
