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The assassination of Franz Ferdinand
19-year-old Gavrilo Princip assassinated Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. -
“Blank Check”
Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany’s unconditional promise to defend Austria-Hungary if Russia attacked it while Austria was invading Serbia. -
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
First event that started the first truly global war. -
Germany Invades Belgium
The Germans attacked on August 3rd. The next day, Great Britain declared war on Germany. -
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Battle of Tannenburg
The Germans surrounded parts of the Russian army and captured over 100,000 Russian prisoners. -
Battle of the Bight
British Royal Navy baited German warships in Helgoland Bight out to sea, where British forces sank three of the German ships with few losses of their own. -
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First Battle of Marne
The Allies counterattacked against the German forces, with little success. The Germans then attacked the French lines, but their attack failed. -
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Battle of the Masurian Lakes
An engagement on September 9–14, 1914, in which two German armies under the command of General Paul von Hindenburg defeated Russia’s First Army under General Paul von Rennenkampf. Russia suffered 125,000 casualties. -
Battle of Coronel
engagement in which the German East Asia Squadron defeated a weaker British squadron off the coast of Argentina. -
Battle of the Falkland Islands
British decimated the German East Asia Squadron during an attack on the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. -
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Battle of Gallipoli
Britain invaded Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsula as part of its effort to force open the Dardanelles, the strait between Europe and Asia. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
128 American citizens were among the 1,200 passengers of the liner Lusitania, sunk by a German submarine. -
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Battle of Verdun
Verdun was the longest battle and one of the most devastating in the First World War. -
Battle of Jutland
the largest sea battle in naval warfare history in terms of the numbers of battleships and battlecruisers engaged, bringing together the two most powerful naval forces in existence at that time. -
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Battle of the Somme
the loss of 58,000 British troops (one third of them killed) on the first day of the battle -
US declares war
Germany was attacking ships heading to Britain. The U.S. wanted wanted to stay neutral, but if Germany kept attacking U.S. passenger ships the U.S. would be proud to fight. -
USSR Withdraws from War
Russia withdrew from World War I because it was in the middle of its Communist revolution and when the Communists took control they wished to concentrate on internal affairs. -
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German Spring offensive of 1918
A series of German attacks along the western front, this was the deepest advances by either side since 1914. -
World War 1 Ends
an armistice was signed in a railroad car parked in a French forest near the front lines at 5am on November 11, 1918.