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On the western front, the French and British on one side, and the Germans on the other, attempt maneuvers to encircle their enemies. The fighting approaches the North Sea, where they arrive on November 17. The front, which extends to the Swiss border, will not change much until the spring of 1918. The war is buried in the trenches, contrary to what happens on the eastern front, where the war of movement continues -
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Franz Ferdinand, was Archduke of Austria, Imperial Prince of Austria, Royal Prince of Hungary and Bohemia and the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. He was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist student, Gavrilo Princip. -
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Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, by a telegram -
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General mobilization in Russia, an ally of Serbia. -
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Assassination of French socialist and pacifist leader Jean Jaures. -
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Germany declares war on Russia. France and Germany decree general mobilization. -
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Germany declares war on France while invading Belgium. Germany launches the Schieffen plan. The Schlieffen plan consisted of rapidly overrunning the French troops from the north, by means of a rapid attack through the Netherlands (Holland), before Russia - an ally of the Triple Entente (France, Great Britain and Russia) could mobilize its forces. troops and go on the offensive, forcing Germany to fight on two fronts -
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German troops crossed Belgium (neutral country) and entered France. The United Kingdom declares war on Germany. -
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Battle of borders in the north (Franco-Belgian border) and the east (Franco-German border). French troops retreat 200 kilometers. -
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Japan declares war on Germany. -
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Battle of Tannenberg. German General Hindenburg halts the advance of Russian forces on the East Prussian front. -
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First battle of the Marne (east of Paris). A Franco-British counteroffensive halts the advance of the Germans, less than 40 kilometers from Paris, and pushes them back north. About a million French and British soldiers face 800,000 Germans. -
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The Ottoman Empire, which had closed access to the straits, isolating Russia, enters the war on the German and Austro-Hungarian side. -
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Russian defeats against Germany (battles of Tarnov, Gorizia). -
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The Germans launch the first poison gas attack against French and Canadian soldiers on the western front, between Langemarck and Ypres (Belgium). -
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The massacres of Armenians in Turkey begin. there were massacres and that between 250,000 and 500,000 Armenians died in Anatolia between 1915 and 1917 during the Ottoman Empire. Armenians say there were 1.5 million dead. -
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The British packet ship Lusitania, wrecked off the coast of Iceland torpedoed by a German submarine, leaving 1,198 missing. -
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Italy goes to war with the Allies. (triple Entente) -
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Landing of an allied expeditionary force in Thessaloniki (Greece). Bulgaria enters the war on the German side -
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Beginning of the battle of Verdun (until December 18) with 500,000 dead, French and German. -
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Sykes-Picot Agreements: English and French divide the Middle East. -
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Germany declares war on Portugal. -
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Beginning of the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire, fomented by the British. -
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The battle of the Somme (northern France) begins, the deadliest (1.2 million dead) of the conflict, which lasts until November 18. -
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The last Austro-Hungarian emperor, Franz Joseph I, dies. -
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Germany launches submarine warfare at all costs, which precipitates the break of diplomatic relations with this country by the United States. -
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February Revolution in Russia. The Romanov dynasty falls and Tsar Nicholas II abdicates. -
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The United States declares war on Germany. -
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Failure of the French offensive on the Camino des Dames, on the Champagne front (north-east of Paris), which leaves tens of thousands dead. French soldiers mutiny. There are also manifestations of discontent in the armies of other countries throughout the year. -
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China declares war on Germany. -
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October Revolution in Russia, which brings to power the Bolshevik communists led by Lenin. -
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The British enter Jerusalem -
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Brest-Litovsk armistice between Russia and the Central Powers. On March 3, 1918, a peace treaty was signed. -
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The Spanish flu spreads throughout the world causing 20 million deaths in eight months. -
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Fourteen-point statement by US President Wilson on the right of peoples to determine their destiny, which will serve as the framework for the treaties signed after the war. The US military intervention, which will take place in the spring, will be decisive. -
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Germany launches the first of a series of four major offensives on the Western Front, but the Allies hold out. -
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Victorious counteroffensive of the Allies in Villers-Cotterets (85 kilometers from Paris) with massive support of American troops, which marks the beginning of the general retreat of the German forces. The allies are also advancing in the Balkans and on the eastern front. -
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The Ottoman Empire signs an armistice. -
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The Austro-Hungarian Empire signs an armistice. -
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German Emperor Wilhelm II abdicates. Important demonstrations in Berlin. -
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Also known as the Compiègne Armistice after the place where it was signed on November 11, 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a defeat for Germany, though not formally a surrender.
