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battle of le cateau
took place in northern France and south east from Cambrai. the field marshal for Frances BEF and sir Douglas Haig commanding 1 corp. the winner of the battle were the germans when some of the british 2 corps didnt recieve retreat orders and were killed. -
battle of marne
this battle lasted from the 6th-12th the point to slow the German advance. when the Germans failed to crush the French quick enough they got put on a defensive trench warfare match for the next 3 years. -
battle of yser
the battle Yser was the Belgians defending the Yser canal. the leader of the Germans duke Albrecht. with the help of the British the Belgians managed to push the Germans back. the battle was a loss as they had to flood the low lands to get the Germans to retreat. -
first battle of champagne
this battle was the first significant attack against the Germans since they started trench warfare. they launched the offensive with minor attacks starting the 10th of December at the south of Sayon salient yet they weren't very effective against the Germans. there was a brief a lull in mid February to reorganize then continued in ended on march 17th. -
unofficial Christmas truce
the pope Benedict the 15th suggested the war be halted for a day on Christmas. the warring places didn't outright make a cease-fire but there was an unofficial truce so that they could enjoy the brief holiday. some Germans left there trenches and sang with the allies and traded gifts with them and documents of them playing a soccer game together. -
first use of poison gas
the first large scale use of poison gas was by the Germans during the second battle of Ypres. the french Canadian line was hit by this the french fled but the Canadians held and kept the line for the allies. -
"in Flanders fields" by John Mcrae
during the early days of the second battle of Ypres a soldier blew up beside his friend John Mcrae. John was asked that he do the burial for his friend because the normal person was away at the time. it was believed that evening he started to draft his now famous poem "in Flanders fields". -
sinking the lusitania
the Lusitania was the fastest ship on the sea. it was a smuggling ship to get munitions to the British war effort. The Germans knew that the ship had weapons in it but the passengers didn't. the Germans sunk it on its first voyage. -
battlr of verdun
early in the morning Germans unleashed a veil of artillery fire on the french in Verdun.the Germans intended to bleed the french out in a battle of attrition but both sides ended up in bad spots. the French eventually won and pushed back the Germans but both sides totaled 800,000 killed. -
first tank use
it wasn't used super effectively but helped to stop trench warfare and bring back mobility on the lines.the first but less known use was in the battle of Flers. the better known fight was the battles of Somme but was unreliable since not much testing was done at his point. -
Germans declare unrestricted use of submarine warfare
the threat of the German u-boats came up again when they get rid of the policy it suspended due to pressure from the US and other third parties. this started in 1915 where the area around the british isles a war-zone and sunk all ships in area including neutral ones. the leader Kaiser Wilhelm agreed to use u-boats again to end the war sooner. -
USA enters war
the US joined the allies to fight in the war under general John J. Pershing. the US brought 2 million soldiers to the battle. however many wished the US to stay neutral but they entered the war anyways. -
selective service act in america
this allowed the government to raise a compulsory army to enter WW1. this was brought to the presidents attention shorty after the relation break between the states and Germany.this made all men from 21-230 to enlist in service for the army. -
conscription crisis of 1917
after the battle of Somme was in need of a resupply of soldiers however not many decide to volunteer. many were against conscription as they felt no loyalty to Britain or France and only loyal to Canada. this allowed the government to take men volunteer or not into the war -
German-Russian peace deal
in Brest-Litovsk the Russians signed a peace deal with the central powers. this ended their participation in the war. this deal however was replaced with the treaty of Versailles where Germany had to give up all land gain from the first treaty. -
German spring offensive
the Germans launched a bunch of large attacks along the western front in the spring. the Russian withdrawal from the war from defeat and internal problems gave the Germans a massive advantage on the western front and tried to win in one big move before the states got involved in a good way. -
battle of lys
this battle was part of the German spring offensive in their attempt to break the allies in one large move. also known as the fourth battle Ypres, the Lys offensive, and the third battle of Flanders. the point of this battle to the Germans was to take the city and to control the high ground before the full; strength of the US got to the lines. -
red baron shot down
Manfred Von Richthofen was an ace fighter pilot belonging to the Germans, he was the "ace of aces" with 80 confirmed combat victories. Richthofen was shot down and killed by Arthur brown when he caught him in the heart lung area. even fatally wounded he managed to land his plane at an Australian controlled runway with his plane in good shape. -
100 day offensive
the Canadian corps was told to spearhead the attack on Amiens. secrecy was needed at the Germans learned that any use of Canadians meant an imminent attack on a larger scale. hte battles raged on for a long period of time with the aliies making movement when they could, the Canadians were a major player and did lots in this time in the war. -
armistice day
this later became remembrance day. at the time not a official holiday it seen lots of serious minded people coming together on parliament hill. C.W. Dickie talked to the house of commons to rename it remembrance day and that it be a real holiday to remember the veterans and held the first one in 1931.
