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Franz Ferdinand Assassination
Archduke of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, Sophie, were assassinated by a Serbian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip while the couple were visiting Sarajevo, Bosnia.
In my opinion, I think that this event is the most important factor leading to World War I because the assassination was what ignited the many countries to get involved and declare war on each other. This event resulted in a domino effect on countries around the world and led to a numerous amount of casualties. -
Austria declares war on Serbia
The Austria-Hungarian government blamed the Serbian government for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife and declared war on Serbia. -
Germany declares war on Russia
When the Russians came to the defense of the Serbs and mobilized along the German border, the Germans had no choice but to go to war to defend their Austrian allies. -
Germany declares war on France
Germany's strategy for war against Russia was the Schefffein Plan, which called for an initial attack against France, Russia's ally. Therefore, even though Germany had no dispute with France at the time, it still declared war against France. -
German troops enter Belgium
Six German brigades crossed the German border and attacked, and eventually seized, the Belgian city of Liege, which was a weak city, but was yet guarded by a ring of fortresses. Germans executed Belgian civilians whenever they judged that they were guilty of sabotage. -
Britain declares war on Germany
Germany did not withdraw from Belgium, which was a neutral country at the time, and resulted in the United Kingdom declaring war on Germany. -
Japan declares war on Germany
Japan issued Germany an ultimatum demanding that the German fleet be withdrawn from the Far East and when no answer was forthcoming, it declared war on Germany through its alliance with Great Britain, signed in 1902. -
U.S. declares it will remain neutral
The United States president, Woodrow Wilson, announces that the U.S. will stay out of European affairs and remain neutral. One of the reasons was that Wilson was aware of the huge immigrant populations whom have came from those nations currently at war. -
The Battle of Tannenberg
The Russian army marched into Prussia and because of the differences in railway gauge between the countries, it was difficult for the Russians to get supplies through to their men. The Germans, however, used their railway system in their advantage to surround the Russians at Tannenberg. The battle resulted in a victory for the Germans. -
The Battle of Masurian Lakes
Having defeated the Russian Second army, the Germans turned their attention to the Russian First army at the Masurian Lakes. Although the Germans were unable to defeat the army completely, over 100,000 Russians were taken prisoner. -
The Battle of Ypres
British, French and Belgian troops were outnumbered by the Germans, who had the mindset to reach the English Channel. The Allies won the battle after 34 days of fighting and it ignited the use of trench warfare on the western front. -
Britain & France declares war on Turkey
Britain and France, who are Russia's allies, declared war on Turkey because of the aid given to the German attack on Russia. In addition, this event occurred right after Turkey joined the Central Powers.
