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Franz Ferdinand Assasinated
Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assasinated in Sarajevo by Gavrillo Princip who was a part of a Serbia freedom fighter group called the 'Black Hand'. During the same day there were 2 grenade attacks but they had not killed Franz Ferdinand. Franze Ferdinand demanded to go back and see the victims of the grenades. He was then killed by Gavrillo with a pistol -
Period: to
World War I
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William II gave a "blank cheque" to Austria against Serbia
Germany gives Austria-Hugary unconditional support against the Sebians. -
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia
Austria-Hungary provides an ultimatum to Sebia but they do not agree on one term. Austria-hungary decalred war on Serbia and prepares for an invasion. -
Germany declared war on Russia
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Germany declared war on France
Germany declared war on France. German troops rush into Belgium under the Shleiffen Plan which was the war on two fronts which included attacking France through neutral Belgium. Britain provides and ultimatum for Germany to remove it's troops from Belgium. This photo is the basic version of the Schlieffen Plan -
Britain declared war on Germany
Germany does not remove it's troops and Britain declares war. This is a picture of a newspaper when Britain declared war -
Turkey joins Germany in the war
Turkey joins Germany in the war and helps bomb Russia -
Allies land in Gallipoli
Allied Troops land in Gallipoli but mistakenly miss the beach they were meant to land on by a few kilometres. They realise their mistake once they land. The beach that they have landed on is surrounded by large hills and is heavily fortified by the opposing Turkish forces -
Allies withdraw from Gallipoli
After 7 months of fighting between the Allies and Turkey with over 26,000 Australian casualties alone the Allied forces decide to withdraw from Gallipoli. The campaign is said to have no impact on the war. Many soldier died for a battle that achieved nothing. Australia mourned the losses of the brave men after Gallipoli and many of the population now saw the consequences of war first hand with many families losing man young boys in the battle. -
Battle of Somme begins
The French army had been facing heavy losses at Verdun which is to the east of Paris. So to relieve some of that pressure the British decided to attack the Germans to the north of Verdun. The Germans would have to send men to fight the British and that would allow the French to recover. Many French and British commanders though this wouldn't work but still went on with the attack. Allied troops in trenches in the photo to the left. -
First en masse of tanks at the Battle of Somme
The first mass of tanks in WWI was at the Battle of Somme however tanks were very unreliable and coud not hold a position so their use was pointless and they were easily destroyed bt the Germans. Photo Left: Destroyed British tank. -
Germany begins a submarine campaign
Germany decides it's navy cannot beat the British Navy so it decides to use unrestricted submarine tactics to destroy British merchant ships. Germany also attacks American supply ships coming across from the Atlantic. to resupply Allied troops. British Merchant ship destroyed by German Submarine -
USA declares war on Germany
The USA declares war on Germany due to it's recent losses of merchant ships to German U-Boats -
France launches an unsuccesseful offensive on the Western Front
France launches the Nivelle offensive with over 1.2 million men which was designed by Robert Nivelle. The French thought they would overwhelm the Germans and would win the battle in 48 hours. There were 317,000 casulaties in 5 weeks. There was also a large amount to mutiny due to low morale and heavy losses. Troops picking up bodies after the large battle -
Battle of Caporetto
The Italian army is crippled for the rest of the war in the Battle of Caporetto. -
Germany and Russia sign an armistice
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British capture Jerusalem from the Turks
British Troops in Jerusalem -
Treaty of Brest-Littvosk is signed
Lenin ordered his representatives to make peace with Germany so he could focus on rebuilding and improving Russia. Allied representatives failed to reach the meeting so Bolshevik representatives had to make a deal themselves. After a few months of time wasting the Germans got tired and pushed a further 100 miles into Russia. The treaty was then signed on the 3rd of March 1918. -
Germany break through in the Battle of Somme
Germany masses 72 divisions of men and after 5 hours of bombing adding up to 3.2 million shells Germany uses fog over the battlefield to advance on the British positions and push the line back. Photo Left: Allied troops in trenches -
Second Battle of Marne
Germans push up and reach the Marne River which is very close to Paris. Allied troops grouped and outnumbered the Germans. The Allies pushed back the Germans over 10km in two days. Eventually the Germans reached where the offensive had started.The battle cost 168,000 German casualties. The dotted line shows how far the Germans pushed forward and the line furthest back is where they got pushed back to. -
Germany requests an armistice from the Allies
On the 4th of October Maxs von Baden who is Germany's newly appointed chancellor send a telegram to the President on the United States Woodrow Wilson requesting an armistice from the Allied nations. Britain had set up a blockades on Germany so supplies were dwindling and many people were starving -
Turkey made peace with the allies
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Austria made peace
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Armistice is signed
At 11am on the 11/11 of 1918 all troops on the battlefield stopped fighting. An armistice was signed during this moment to comemorated the 9-13 million dead with over half with no grave. Over 70 million people had to move to escape the war. In 1919 the halt of all activities to observe 2 minutes silence was introduce in London and quickly became the tradition around the world -
Period: to
Negotiations
Negotiations after Armisitce Day -
Treaty of Versailles is signed
On the 28th of June the treaty of Versailles is signed by all nations which bring the end of The Great War. The treaty was signed in Versailles Castle near Paris. The war took a very heavy toll on the French who had lost so much in the war. 750,000 homes were destroyed and a large amount of infrastructure including telegraph lines were destroyed. Many people after the war were quite angry towards the Germans but the war had ended and the allies had won. The photo is the cover of the treaty
