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Assassination of Franz Ferdiand
Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, were assassinated in Sarjevo, Bosnia (province of Serbia) by Serbian Nationalists during a tour of the country. Ferdinand was the archduke of Austro-Hungary and was thus a very important political figure. The aim of his tour of Serbia was to persuade the people of Serbia that Austro-Hungary and Serbia should form an alliance. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand was the short term cause of the war. -
Britian declares war on Germany (start of war)
Germany invades Belgium in order to outflank the French army as part of their activated Schifflen Plan. However, Britain protests the violation of Belgian neutrality, ensured by The Treaty of London signed in 1839. German Chancellor replies to Britian that the treaty is just a ''chiffon de papier'' (a scrap of paper). Therefore, The United Kingdom declared war on Germany, this subsequently signified the start of W.W 1. -
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WW1
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Australia First Lands
The Australian Navy landed at Rabual. -
Australia Takes Control
Australia took control of German New Guinea at Toma -
Gallipoli
The Australian Imperial Force landed at Gallipoli with troops from New Zealand, Britain and France. -
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Gallipoli Campaign
The Australian Infantry and Light Horse divisions landed at what became known as ANZAC Cove on April 25, 1915, and thus established a set of trenches on the beach in spite of heavy Turkish fire. The allies tried to break through Turkish lines, while the Turks tried to drive the allied troops off the peninsula. Attempts on both sides ended in failure, this resulted in a stalemate. During the campaign there were 26 000 casualties among the Anzac troops, including about 10,000 deaths. -
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Battle of Lone Pine
Battle of Lone Pine was a battle fought between ANZAC and Turkish forces that took place during the Gallipoli campaign from 6–10 August, 1915. It was part of a diversion aiming to draw attention from the main assaults of the Turkish Line. The ANZAC troops, managed to capture the Turkish trenches at Lone Pine, and as the counterattacks increased the Australians brought up two new brigades. On 9 August the Turks called off all further counterattacks and by 10 August offensive movement ceased. -
Battle of The Nek
The Battle of the Nek was a minor World War I battle fought as part of the Gallipoli campaign. "The Nek" was a narrow stretch of ridge in the Anzac battlefield on the Gallipoli peninsula. On 7 August 1915, two segments of the Australian 3rd Light Horse Brigade mounted a tragic and futile attack on the Ottoman trenches on the Baby 700 which involved over 1000 Australian casulaties. The Australian's were used as Cannon Fodder, due to their repuatation as Larrikans. -
Evacuation
Their troops were evacuated, ending the battle at Gallipoli. -
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Battle of the Somme
The aim of this offensive attack was to cut the Germans off from behind and make them so demoralised that they would surrender.British artillery failed to destroy the barbed wire protecting the German trenches. When the soldiers advanced into no man's land, they advanced into a non-stop barrage of German machine gun fire. There were 23 000 Australian casualties at the Somme battlefields , all of this effort was for the gain of about 1.5 km. German casualties were estimated at about 500,000. -
Battle of Fromelles
On July 19th Australian and British troops from two divisions (61st Division and the 5th Australian Division) attacked German positions at Fromelles. Allied intelligence had failed to pickup that the Germans had abandoned these lines and had set up new positions about 200m behind them where they had built concrete bunkers that housed machine guns.The oncoming attacks by the Australian divisions were failures and consequently very costly in terms of firepower with 5, 533 Australian casualties. -
Battle of Romani
This battle fought in the Middle East signified the end of the Turkish threat on the Suez canal. The British and Australian defences were camped admist a series of large, towering sand dunes, 35 kilometres east of the canal, this position was held throughout the 4th of August. The next morning the Australian 1st and 2nd Light Horse Brigades advanced on foot with the bayonet. Turkish resistance collapsed at this point, and large numbers of prisoners were taken. -
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Third Battle of Ypres
The Third Battle of Ypres, was a major British offensive in Flanders in 1917. The plan was to break through German defences enclosing the Ypres salient, a range of trenches near the British front line, with the intention of sweeping through to the German submarine bases on the Belgian coast. However,in eight weeks of fighting Australian forces incurred 38,000 casualties. The combined total of British and ANZAC casualties had been estimated at 310,000 - only two km was gained from the attack. -
First Battle of Passchendaele
The aim of this futile offensive attack was to capture Passchendaele village. The 3rd Australian Division came under German artillery fire before the offensive movement even started. Australian patrols reached Passchendaele village, but did not hold the village and were forced to retreat to their starting point. The 10th Australian Brigade was stopped by machine gun fire from its flank. The Australian and New Zealand Light Horse Brigades suffered a casualty count of nearly 3,000 men -
Black Day of the German Army
Australian infantry troops and approxiametely 6000 armed tanks shatter German defensive forces and consequently reach the Hindenburg line (a sustainable defensive system comprising of bared wire metal fences and concreate trenches). Thus, pushing German defensive forces back past their own bared wire fences and metal trenches of the Hindenburg Line. Consequently, the AIF and British military services gained approxiametely 10 kilometres of land. -
Armistice Day
The Germann Government signed a treaty (armistice) with the allies at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month. This significant event represented the official end of World War 1.