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Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia,
Prompted by the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. This prompts Russia to mobilize their armed forces in order to protect Serbia. -
Germany declares war...
... on Russia, followed by a declaration of war on France on August 3rd, then a declaration of war on Belgium on August 4th. That last prompts Britain to declare war on Germany in order to protect Belgium. -
Germany Invades Belgium and Holland
The invasion of Belgium was carried out both in retaliation to the country's neutral stance and as a flanking tactic to gain the upper hand over France. Photo shown is from the invasion of Holland, which soon followed. -
Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia.
This is akin to that quote from the Princess Bride about "never starting a land war in Asia" and how ill-advised it is. -
Germany declares a submarine blockade of Britain.
To Germany, any ship approaching Britain was a target for their attacks from below the surface. This was intended to cut off resources and manpower to the country. -
British accidentally gas their own troops.
While chemical weapons had been used by the Germans before, their efficacy was unpredictable and unprecedented. The remaining neutral countries condemned Germany's use of chemical weapons, but soon began to develop poison gas of their own. On this date, the British attempted to gas German lines, but shifting winds blew the poison back in the faces of sixty thousand soldiers. -
British Conscription
Britain needed more soldiers than it was getting through volunteer efforts alone, so they signed a conscription bill into effect. This bill called for the conscription of able-bodied men aged 18 to 41, but it had little impact on actual enlistment. By the end of the war nearly one in four men had joined the army, but this was due more to volunteer efforts than to conscription. -
Tsar Nicholas II abdicates in Russia
Following the events of the February Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II abdicates the throne, thus ending the Romanov dynasty. Provisional Government is declared in Russia following his abdication, and he attempts to flee to Britain, but is denied sanctuary. -
500,000 French soliders mutiny
The French launched a horribly inefficient fight at Chemin des Dames, advancing only five hundred yards at the life cost of an estimated quarter of a million men. In response, half a million French soldiers began to mutiny and abandon the transport trains taking them to the front. -
American Expeditionary Force lands in France
The first wave of the AEF landed in France, but did not engage the front until late in October of the same year. They were American soliders sent to assist France and Britain's efforts in the trenches by supplying raw manpower and reinforcements, and worked in racially segregated divisions. -
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
This treaty was between the Bolshevik powers in Russia and the Central Powers in the war. It had the result of ending Russia's involvement in WWI by renouncing claims to territories that were then controlled by Germany (e.g. the Baltic states). When Germany ceded to the Allies in November of the same year, the treaty was all but nullified, but it served its purpose at the time. -
Romanovs executed by the Bolsheviks
After their deposement and disgrace at the hands of the Bolsheviks, the last surviving members of the Romanov dynasty were gunned down on orders of the Supreme Soviet. There are exceptionally lurid accounts of the execution out there, but the greater political ramifications of this event are more to our concern, as this was an instrumental point in setting up Russia's political climate coming out of WWI. -
President Wilson cooperates with Allies
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson finally agreed to help out the Allies by sending in more volunteer troops to Russia. As an American, I can vouch for the fact that we as a nation are rather smug over this and consider it to be a great show of generosity. -
Allies break through Hindenberg line
This battle followed on the heels of a victory at the Battle of the Somme wherein the Allies pushed the Germans back. The Somme was a months-long and arduous fight, but it resulted in the victorious attack of the Allies on the Germans' Hindenberg fortifications, a vital turning point in the tide of the war. Soon after this breakthrough, German soldiers mutiny when asked to fight naval battles, expressing their discontent with the odds of survival. -
Mondros Ateşkes Antlaşması
The Ottoman Empire signs an armistice, thus officially ending the conflict between themselves and the Allies. Of course, this didn't actually end the conflict, as tensions persist in the area to this day. This armistice precipitated the division of the Ottoman Empire post-WWI. -
German Republic founded
Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates the throne in Germany, and a Republic is founded in his wake. He was considered to be an incompetent war leader, and upon his abdication, he fled to the Netherlands. He also had a magnificent mustache. -
War ends
After months of sustained battering of the German forces, the war ends at eleven in the morning on the eleventh of November. Germany and the Allies sign an armistice and a ceasefire comes into effect. For all intents and purposes, the war is over, but the fighting continues on. -
Treaty of Versailles
After the war ended, distrust against Germany boiled. The Treaty of Versailles put stringent restrictions on Germany in order to prevent them from rebuilding effectively post-WWI. Such restrictions included an army size cap at 100,000 men, the ceding of territory to other nations, and reparations paid to the Allied countries. Germany also was forced to accept full responsibility for the war under this treaty. This angered many Germans and made them feel that they were being unfairly treated. -
League of Nations - first meeting
Formed in Geneva in 1919 as a result of the Paris Peace Conference, the League of Nations was intended to enforce a state of peace throughout the world and prevent war from ever breaking out again. While this was an admirable goal, it was in no way practical. The USA, which had initially proposed the idea, refused to join. Germany and Russia were barred, the former under the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles and the latter because of the execution of the Romanovs. It dissolved in 1941. -
Poland establishes democracy
During a tumultuous economic period, Poland establishes a democractic government. This promptly shifts again when Józef Piłsudski takes power; his reign, from 1926 to 1935, closely resembles that of a dictatorship. -
Black Tuesday
Black Tuesday is commonly designated as the beginning of the Great Depression. This is often described as the single greatest period of economic downturn in US history (a fact which I may personally debate, but that's in a modern context). The repurcussions of this time caused ripples in the economies of countries all over the world, and set the US on a course into WWII. -
Nazi Party Takes Power
By 1933, Hitler's Nazis had taken control of the German government. The entire country was under the sway of their charismatic dictator, and rallies/organizations sprung up all around the country, such as the Hitler Youth. -
Adolf Hitler takes power in Germany
Needless to say, this was instrumental in the beginning of WWII. Adolf Hitler was responsible for not only the deaths of millions of Jews, but the death of millions of Roma and other Caucasian* ethnic groups. He also exterminated hundreds of thousands of queer people. All this with a stupid little mustache.- "Caucasian" being used in its proper usage: to refer to people from the Caucasus region, i.e. not white people.
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Anschluss
Germany, under Hitler's rule, annexes Austria into it's territory. Shown in the photo are German soliders dismantling a border post between the two countries. -
Germany Invades Poland
Germany marches into Poland with the intent of ethnic cleansing. Soon afterwards, Britain and France declare war on Germany in Retaliation. -
Germany Invades Norway and Denmark
The occupation of Norway and Denmark didn't end until Germany surrendered in 1945. This takeover was violent and frightening to the surrounding countries, who began to worry that they would be next. -
First Blitz
Germany begins to carry out a series of rapid, vicious bombings on Britain. These attacks were known as "Blitzkrieg", a war term for a rapid attack by ground soldiers with heavy air support. While planes bombed cities from above, German troops hammered at Britiain's shores from the ground. -
Operation Barbarossa
"Operation Barbarossa" was the code name for the German invasion of the Soviet Union. This was the largest invasion in the history of warfare, with over four million German soldiers engaging. It caused 65% of all Allied casualties during the entire war. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
On the morning of December 7th, the Japanese air force dropped bombs on the US naval base of Pearl Harbor in the Pacific. The attack was fast and devastating, causing American casualties of over three thousand. The attackers only lost sixty-five soldiers. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was an extremely important naval battle in the war. It was six months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and during it the American navy defeated the Japanese navy, beginning to turn the tide (pun intended) of the war. -
German Stalingrad Surrender
At the Battle of Stalingrad, the German soldiers stationed in Volgograd eventually surrendered after months of vicious fighting that has been called one of the bloodiest battles of history. Soon afterwards, the Axis stations in North Africa surrendered as well, and Italy followed suit (pictured). This was a decisive turning point in the war. -
D-Day
The Allies invaded Normandy on this day, landing on its shores in the early morning. Over a hundred thousand Allied soldiers landed and beat back German forces in a surprise attack, having successfully diverted Hitler's attention in the months prior to the point where he didn't anticipate the attack. It was an instrumental assault in the war. -
Germany Surrenders
Following the Battle of the Bulge from December 1944 to January 1945, Germany signed surrender documents and officially withdrew from the war. However, WWII wasn't technically over yet, as Japan still had to surrender. -
Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The United States leveled atomic bombs at the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9), utterly destroying both of the cities and wreaking widespread nuclear fallout. Even today, the sites of the bombings are not totally safe from radiation poisoning. -
War Ends
Japan surrenders on September 2nd, 1945, following the bombings earlier in the year. This officially brings World War Two to a close.
