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Aassassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
The plotters hoped that by killing Franz Ferdinand, they would provoke the Austro-Hungarian Empire to declare war on Serbia. That is when their supportive friend Russia, they hoped, would leap to the defense of Serbia, defeat the Habsburg armies, and help the Bosnian Serbs win their independence. -
July Crisis
The July Crisis was a series of interrelated diplomatic and military escalations among the major powers of Europe in the summer of 1914, which led to the outbreak of World War 1. -
The Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (Turkey) enters the war on the side of the Germans as three warships shell the Russian port of Odessa. Three days later, Russia declares war on Turkey. Russian and Turkish troops then prepare for battle along the common border of the Russian Caucasus and the Ottoman Empire. -
The Christmas truce
About 100,000 British and German troops were involved. Not all units knew about it, but it was widespread across at least half of the British front. -
Gallipoli
Allied troops landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in Ottoman Turkey. The Gallipoli campaign was the land-based element of a strategy intended to allow Allied ships to pass through the Dardanelles, capture Constantinople (now Istanbul) and ultimately knock Ottoman Turkey out of the war. -
Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary
The Emperor's obstinacy that caused Italy to enter the war as an enemy of the Danube Monarchy. When Italy joined sides with the Triple Entente, it was on the understanding that the Allies would seek to provide Italy with substantial territorial gains at the cost of Austria-Hungary. -
The Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun began on 21 February 1916 at 7.15 am when the German army began pounding the forts and trenches with artillery fire. 1,200 guns smashed the French positions. -
Battle of Jutland
The only major encounter between the main British and German battle fleets in World War I, fought near the Skagerrak, an arm of the North Sea, about 60 miles (97 km) off the west coast of Jutland (Denmark). -
The Battle of Albert
The French Sixth Army and the right wing of the British Fourth Army inflicted a considerable defeat on the German 2nd Army but from near the Albert–Bapaume road to Gommecourt, the British attack was a disaster, where most of the c. 57,000 British casualties of the day were incurred. -
The United States declares war on Germany
Germany's resumption of submarine attacks on passenger and merchant ships in 1917 became the primary motivation behind Wilson's decision to lead the United States into World War I. -
American combat forces arrive in France
The AEF did not fully participate at the front until October, when the First Division, one of the best-trained divisions of the AEF, entered the trenches at Nancy, France. -
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The signatories were Soviet Russia signed by Grigori Sokolnikov on the one side and the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Ottoman Empire on the other. -
Battle of Saint-Mihiel
Allied victory and the first U.S.-led offensive in World War I. The Allied attack against the Saint-Mihiel salient provided the Americans with an opportunity to use their forces on the Western Front en masse. -
Allied forces enter Germany
The American public was outraged by the news of the Zimmermann telegram and it, along with Germany's resumption of submarine attacks, helped lead to the United States joining the war. -
The Treaty of Versaille
by the Allied and associated powers and by Germany in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles and went into effect on January 10, 1920. The treaty gave some German territories to neighbouring countries and placed other German territories under international.