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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
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Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
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Germany declares war on Russia.
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The United Kingdom declares war on Germany, after Germany invades Belgium.
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Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia and Serbia declares war on Germany.
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The Battle of Tannenberg begins.
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First Battle of the Marne
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Battle of Ypres begins.
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The Dardanelles Campaign begins.
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Second Battle of Ypres
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The Battle of Gallipoli begins.
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The Battle of Verdun begins
The Battle of Verdun was the longest battle of World War I and was one of the bloodiest. -
The Battle of Jutland
the major naval battle of the war, begins. -
Battle of the Somme
During the Battle of the Somme, tanks are first introduced into battle. -
The United States declares war on Germany.
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The Battle of Passchendaele
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Russia signs the Treaty of Brest Litovsk,
A peace treaty between Russia and the Central Powers. -
Second Battle of the Marne
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The armistice
Germany signs the armistice at Compiegne, France. Fighting ends on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month -
The Treaty of Versailles
The Versailles Treaty, signed on June 28, 1919 in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles in Paris, was the peace settlement between Germany and the Allied Powers that officially ended World War I. However, the conditions in the treaty were so punitive upon Germany that many believe the Versailles Treaty laid the groundwork for the eventual rise of Nazis in Germany and the eruption of World War II. -
Hitler Becomes Chancellor
Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. -
Germany invades Poland
World War II begins. -
France and Great Britain declare war on Germany.
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Japanese attack the US Navy
The Japanese attack the US Navy in Pearl Harbor. The next day the US enters World War II on the side of the Allies. -
D-day
D-day and the Normandy invasion. Allied forces invade France and push back the Germans. -
World War II allies attend the Yalta Conference.
The United States and the Soviet Union attend the Yalta Conference after World War II to discuss what to do with Germany. -
Bombing of Hiroshima
On August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. -
Another atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, Japan
Japan. A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people -
End of WW2
Japan surrenders to US General Douglass MacArthur and the Allies. -
The Russians test an atomic bomb.
The Soviet Union successfully tests its first atomic bomb, which the U.S. calls Joe 1. In addition to the U.S., there are now two countries in the world with nuclear weapons. -
The Korean War begins.
Korea invades South Korea, starting the Korean War. The U.S. gets involved in the war to try and stop the spread of communism. -
The Korean War ends.
North and South Korea agree to end fighting in the war. The country is still divided, though, and North Korea remains communist. -
Cuba has a revolution.
Fidel Castro becomes the president of Cuba after a revolution that overthrows Fulgencio Batista. Castro does not say that Cuba is communist, but Cuba becomes an ally of the Soviet Union. -
The Berlin Wall is built.
The Soviet Union, which occupies East Germany, builds a large wall that divides the city of Berlin. People who live in East Germany are not allowed to cross over into West Germany.
