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WW1 sparkes
The heir to the throne of Austro-Hungarian Empire, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was killed by the nationalist Gavrilo Princip. This assassination set off a chain of events that led to the start of world war 1 barely a month later. -
WW1 begins
Germany invades Belgium, officially beginning World War I -
The Battle of Mons
The Battle of Mons in Belgium is the British Army's first engagement in France. 70,000 British soldiers are attacked by 160,000 German troops. outnumbered Britain's tiny army suffers heavy casualties and is forced to retreat. With this humiliation Britain starts recruiting a large army for the first time. -
Gas attack
The Germans fire shells filled with chlorine gas at Allied lines. This is the first time that large amounts of gas are used in battle, and the result is the near-collapse of the French lines. However, the Germans are unable to take advantage of the breach. -
The battle of verdun begins
This battle lasted from 21 February 1916 until 19 December 1916 caused over an estimated 700,000 casualties dead, wounded and missing. The battlefield was not even 6 miles. -
Tanks
The British deploy the first tanks ever used in battle, in Delville Wood. It was useful at breaking through barbed wire and clearing a path for the infantry, tanks are still primitive and they fail to be the decisive weapon, as their designers thought they would be. -
USA enters war
Congress authorizes a declaration of war against Germany. The United States enters World War I on the side of France and Britain. -
Fighting stops
The fighting ends today November 11th 1918. The World War left nine million soldiers dead and 21 million wounded, with places like Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, France, and Great Britain each losing nearly a million or more lives. Also at least five million civilians died from disease, starvation, or exposure. -
War ends
The Treaty of Versailles officially ends WWI
