The Great War

By gettinbiscuits

  • Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo

  • The Falaba becomes the first passenger ship sunk by German U-boat

  • Second Battle of Ypres: first use of poison gas (Germans)

  • The Lusitania is sunk by German U-Boat; 128 American civilians perish

  • Battle of Verdun begins (longest battle of the war)

  • The Sussex is sunk by German U-Boat; results in the issue of the Sussex Pledge

  • Battle of the Somme begins; first use of tanks in combat by British (huge failure)

  • U.S. President Woodrow Wilson wins reelection

  • Battle of Verdun ends

  • The Zimmermann telegram is published in U.S. Newspapers Jan 19

  • Germany revokes the Sussex pledge and resumes unrestricted submarine warfare Jan 31

  • U.S. breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany

  • Tsar Nicolas II abdicates the Russian throne during Russian Revolution mar 15

  • U.S. declares war on Germany

  • Congress passes the Espionage Act

  • Third Battle of Ypres begins; by its end, over 250,000 are dead july 31

  • Battle of Cambrai begins;first British offensive designed around use of the tank

  • U.S. declares war on Austria-Hungary

  • President Wilson makes the “Fourteen Points” speech to Congress

  • Russia and Germany sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, removing Russia from the war

  • Tsar Nicholas II and his family are murdered by the Bolsheviks

  • Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates the throne

  • Armistice day—fighting ceases at 11 am; over 8.5 million soldiers are dead Nov 11

  • Peace negotiations begin in Paris

  • The Treaty of Versailles is signed

  • U.S. signs separate peace treaty with Hungary

  • U.S. signs separate peace treaty with Germany

  • U.S. signs separate peace treaty with Austria