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Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
On 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand air to the throne of Austria- Hungary was shot and killed in Sarajevo. His killer was a Serbian nationalists Gavrilo Princip. This led Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia and Russia's invasion of Austria-Hungary. -
Germany steps in
Germany an ally of Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia. Germany then declared war on France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. This made the United Kingdom step in and protect Belgium. -
Invasion of Belgium
In the first battle of WW1 started when the Germans laid siege on the fortified town of Liege. The Germans killed civilians in massive shootings. The Germans laid siege to the fortified city of Namur the Germans laid siege to and the Belgian forces had to surrender. -
Battle of Mons
This was the first encounter between the German army and the British expeditionary forces. The Germans started by bombing the British forces. The British forces caused many casualties against the Germans but were soon forced to retreat. -
Battle of Tannenberg
The battle of Tannenberg was a large cavalry battle that halted the Russians advance into Prussia. The eastern front unlike the western front saw more rapid movements -
First Battle of the Marne
The Allies were retreating and the Germans were in sight of Paris, but the French commander stopped retreating and the first battle of the Marne began. During the battle a gap opened up in the German lines. The French used the gap to outflank the Germans, so the Germans have to retreat. -
First battle of Ypres
The battle of Ypres happened when the British, French and the Germans tried to outflank each other in what is know the race to the sea. Both sides in the battle were stuck in stalemate as both sides took little land but with massive casualties. This led to an end of battles of maneuvers. -
Battle of Gallipoli
The allies launched an amphibious assault on the Gallipoli peninsula which became a total failure. The lack of intelligence of the terrain and the fierce Turkish resistance pushed the allies out of Gallipoli. The battle was in stalemate for many months before the Turks brought reinforcements and broke the deadlock. -
Battle of Verdun
The Germans launched an offensive to the town of Verdun. The French defended it desperately. They used shell holes and put up a good defense. The Germans advance 6 miles until the offensive was called off. Then the French launched a offensive and took back several key forts. In total there was around 1.2 million casualties at Verdun -
Battle of Jutland
The only sea battle between the British and Germans major fleets collided into battle. The first phase saw the British lose three cruisers and the Germans lost none but to massive damage. The second phase saw the British lose over 6,000 men and the Germans lose over 3,000 men. -
Brusilov offensive
The Russians launched an attack on Austria-Hungarian lines. They used accurate artillery on a wide front and broke through Austrian-Hungarian lines. The Russians took 200,000 prisoners and pushed to the Carpathian mountains and stopped do to the fact that his troops were low on supplies -
Battle of the Somme
The British launched the attack at the Somme because of the French defensive campaign at Verdun. The British had difficult time bombing and destroying barbed wire and enemy position leaving infantry exposed. The British and Germans fought to a stalemate with 75,000 British casualties on the first day. -
USA joins the war
Woodrow Wilson president of the USA declares war on Germany. There are many reasons for why America joined the war. Some include that the Germans asked Mexico to start a border war against America, the Germans had unrestricted u boat warfare, and sunk American shipping. -
The Kerensky Offensive
Kerensky launched an attack to Galicia against the Austrian-Hungarian and Germany lines. The Russians had initial success but were then bugged down by stubborn German resistance that mounted Russian casualties. The Russian advanced collapsed and the central powers counterattacked. -
Russian revolution
The Bolsheviks launched a coup d'etat to overthrow the Russian government. The communists took over government buildings and a bloodless fight. The Bolsheviks brought Russia out of the Great War. The new Bolshevik government would then fight in a civil war in Russia. -
Treaty of Versailles.
The treaty of Versailles was the peace terms against Germany. The Germans lost their colonies Alsace-Loraine, lost much land from a new country called Poland and split Germany into two threw the polish corridor. The Germans were to pay reparations to the allies and had to demilitarize. These decisions would unleash a chain of events that would bring a man named Adolf Hitler to power and start another tragic global conflict called World War 2.
