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Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, are assassinated by a Bosnian Serb nationalist in Sarajevo. -
world war started
World War I begins when Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. -
Australia joins the war
Great Britain declares war on Germany and its Allies because Germany did not withdraw from Belgium. The Australian government also pledged full support for Britain in the war against Germany. -
Allied troops land at Gallipoli
The Australian Imperial Force land at Gallipoli together with troops from New Zealand, Britain, and France to fight the Turks. The troops were very congested on the small beach and they were also faced with steep cliffs that they had to climb to get off the beach. -
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Battle of Fromelles
Australian Infantry was separated into five divisions after Gallipoli and in March 1916 they were moved to France to battle in Fromelles.
The Australian War Memorial history states and AIF troops learned this lesson on the enormous Western Front, which stretched from the English Channel in Belgium to the Swiss Border.
In July 1916 Australian infantry suffered its heaviest losses over 24 hours at Fromelles where 5533 died. Australia’s population at the time was less than 5 million. -
First Battle of Bullecourt
The Battle was fought as part of the British offensive north and south of Arras. It was undertaken to support a major attack further south. It resulted in 3,289 Australian casualties. -
Allies captured Jerusalem
As part of an allied force aimed at protecting access to the Suez Canal, Australians took the Sinai peninsula, then Palestine, Gaza, and Jerusalem on December 30, 1917. -
Australians drive Germans from Villers-Bretonneux
The Germans had captured Villers–Bretonneux and were pushing out west in the direction of Amiens. Australian units helped defend the town but a German attack forces the British north of the town out of the village of Hamel. An Australian battalion had to go back to avoid being closed in. The German advance was stopped by British troops working with the Australians soldiers. -
Turkey wanted peace
The Allies continued into Lebanon and Syria before on October 30, 1918, Turkey sued for peace. -
Armistice signed
Bulgaria was the first to sue for peace on September 29, 1918. Armistice day commemorates the German surrender on November 11.
The war claimed about 17 million lives, and the toll on Australia was more than 60,000.
A further 156,000 were wounded, gassed or taken prisoner.
More than 14 percent of Australia’s 416,809 troops died in the war and more than 37 percent were wounded – 52 percent of AIF troops were killed, wounded, gassed or taken prisoner.
