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Bismarck Forges Early Pacts
Prussia’s blood-and-iron chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, freely used war to unify Germany -
Treaty with russia
Bismarck took yet another possible ally away from France by making a treaty with Russia -
Forming an Alliance
Russia formed a defensive military alliance with France -
Triple Entente
In 1907, Britain made another entente, this time with both France and Russia -
Death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, Sophie. On June 28, 1914, the couple paid a state visit to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. It would be their last. The royal pair was shot at point-blank range as they rode through the streets of Sarajevo in an open car. -
Declared war
On July 28, Austria rejected Serbia’s offer and declared war. -
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War World I
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Trenches
opposing armies on the Western Front had dug miles of parallel trenches to protect themselves from enemy fire. This set the stage for what became known as trench warfare -
Attack
A major German victory appeared just days away. On September 5, however, the Allies regrouped and attacked the Germans northeast of Paris -
massive attack
he Germans launched a massive attack against the French near Verdun. Each side lost more than 300,000 -
Russia Struggles
Russia’s war effort was near collapse. -
America Joins the Fight
the focus of the war shifted to the high seas. That year, the Germans intensified the submarine warfare that had raged in the Atlantic Ocean since shortly after the war began. In January 1917, the Germans announced that their submarines would sink without warning any ship in the waters around Britain. This policy was called unrestricted submarine warfare. -
German action
German action pushed the United States closer to war. -
Russia Withdraws
civil unrest in Russia—due in large part to war-related shortages of food and fuel—forced Czar Nicholas to step down. -
Death
nearly 5.5 million Russian soldiers had been wounded, killed, or taken prisoner. -
Lenin seized power
Communist leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin seized power -
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
In March 1918, Germany and Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended the war between them.