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Triple Alliance
Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy formed the Triple Alliance. They agreed to give each other millitary support if there was a war. -
Triple Entente
France, Russia and Great Britain signed the Triple Entente. This agreement said that the countries had a "moral obligation" to support each other. -
The Sarajevo Assassination
Serbian nationalist student Gavrilo Princip assassinates Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Habsburg, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in Sarajevo. -
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
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General mobilisation in Serbia's ally Russia
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Assassination of French socialist and pacifist leader Jean Jaures.
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Germany declares war on Russia. France and Germany decree general mobilisation.
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Germany declares war on France.
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German troops cross Belgium and enter France. The United Kingdom declares war on Germany.
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Border battle
In the north (Franco-Belgian border) and east (Franco-German border). French troops fall back 200 kilometres. -
Japan declares war on Germany.
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Battle of Tannenberg
German General Hindenburg halts the advance of Russian forces on the East Prussian front. -
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First Battle of the Marne
A Franco-British counteroffensive halts the German advance, less than 40 kilometres from Paris, and pushes the Germans back to the north. Nearly a million French and British troops clash with 800,000 Germans. -
The Ottoman Empire, which had closed off access to the straits, isolating Russia, went to war on the side of the Central Empires (German and Austro-Hungarian).
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Russian defeats against Germany (Battles of Tarnov, Gorizia)
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Turkey massacre
250,000 members (out of 400,000) of the Assyrian-Chaldean community settled in the west of the Euphrates River and in southern Turkey are massacred. -
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Allied defeat at the Battle of the Dardanelles, attempting to open the Straits, attacking the centre of the Ottoman Empire.
On 25 April, British, New Zealand, Australian and French troops attempt to land on the Gallipoli peninsula, but are blocked by Turkish troops, leaving 180,000 Allied and 66,000 Turkish dead. The last Allied troops are evacuated on 9 January 1916. The southern front is blocked until the autumn of 1917. -
The Germans launch the first poison gas attack on French and Canadian soldiers on the Western Front between Langemarck and Ypres (Belgium).
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Lusitania
The British ship "Lusitania" sank off the coast of Iceland, torpedoed by a German U-boat, leaving 1,198 missing. -
Italy enters the war alongside the Allies
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Bulgaria enters the war on the German side
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Battle of Verdun
500,000 dead, French and Germans. -
Sykes-Picot Agreement
Sykes-Picot Agreement: British and French divide the Middle East. -
Germany declares war on Portugal.
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Start of the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire, fomented by the British
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The Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme (northern France), the deadliest (1.2 million dead) of the conflict, begins and lasts until 18 November. -
Franz Joseph I dies
The last Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I dies. -
Germany launches all-out submarine warfare, which precipitates the US breaking off diplomatic relations with Germany.
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Russian Revolution
February Revolution in Russia (according to the Julian calendar). The Romanov dynasty falls and Tsar Nicholas II abdicates. -
US declares war on Germany
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China declares war on Germany
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October Revolution
October Revolution in Russia, which brings to power the Bolshevik communists led by Lenin. -
The British enter Jerusalem
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Brest-Litovsk
The Bolsheviks ended Russia´s involvement in WWI, giving away a lot of territory to the Central Powers in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. -
Spanish flu
Spanish flu spreads worldwide, causing 20 million deaths in eight months. -
Wilson
US President Wilson's 14-point declaration on the right of peoples to determine their own destiny, which would serve as a framework for the treaties signed after the war. The US military intervention, which will take place in the spring, will be decisive. -
Offensive
Germany launches the first of a series of four major offensives on the Western Front, but the Allies hold out. -
Counteroffensive
Victorious Allied counteroffensive at Villers-Cotterets (85 kilometres from Paris) with massive US troop support, which marks the beginning of the general retreat of German forces. The Allies also advance in the Balkans and on the Eastern Front. -
The Ottoman Empire signs an armistice.
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Austro-Hungarian Empire signs an armistice
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Wilhelm II abdicates
Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates. Major demonstrations in Berlin. -
Allied victory and armistice of the First World War