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Francis Ferdinand assassinated
In June 28 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to Austria-Hungary's throne, and his wife, Sophie, were assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip while the couple were visiting Sarajevo.
Austria is enraged and declares war on Serbia with Germany promising their support for Austria. -
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WW1
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Germany declares war on Russia.
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and as an ally of Serbia Russia announces full mobilization of her armed forces. Germany mobilizes her armed forces and declares war on Russia. -
Germany declares war on France.
Two days after declaring war on Russia, Germany declared war on France, as part of the Schlieffen Plan, made by Alfred von Schlieffen, for a two-front war against France and Russia. Hours later, France makes its own declaration of war against Germany, readying its troops to move into the forfeited provinces of Alsace and Lorraine ready for battle. -
The United Kingdom declares war on Germany
Sir Edward Grey,the British foreign secretary, sent an ultimatum to Germany demanding their withdrawal from the neutral Belgium. The ultimtum was ignored and Germany did not withdraw from Belgium so Britain was forced into the war as they declared war on Germany. -
The First Battle of the Marne
The First Battle of the Marne begins. Trench warfare begins as soldiers on both sides dig in. The Battle was fought from September 6 to September 10, 1914 on the banks of Marne River, France on the Western Front.
It was a costly battle for both sides. While the French recorded 250,000 causalities and the German lost 222,000.
The victory at the Battle of the Marne was a big win for the Allied Powers, for it stoped German invading Paris as part of their Schlieffen Plan. -
Battle of Ypres begins.
From October 19 to November 22, 1914 the epic battle of Ypres occured in Ypres, Belgium on the Western Front.
It was fought bettween Germany and the allied Powers of France, Britain and Belgium.
Ypres was one of the last battles fought for ports to controll the seas and gain as much sea superiority as possible.
Their were over 134,000 German casualties, 7,900 BEF(British) soldiers killed and the loss of 21,500 men in the Belgian Army. -
The unofficial Christmas truce is declared.
One of the most amazing events in WW1 was the 'Christmas Truce' of 1914.On Christmas Day the soldiers of the Western Front laid down their weapons and met in No Man's Land.
The men exchanged food and cigarettes, as well as playing a game of soccer.
The cease fire wasn't disscussed before it and was completly unofficial. Both sides of troops acted in goodwill, not orders. -
The Second Battle of Ypres begins
The Second Battle of Ypres begins. It is during this battle that the Germans first use poison gas.
It was also the only major attack launched by the Germans on the Western Front in 1915. At this time most of there efforts were on the Russians on the Eastern Front and was mainly used to divert the Allies soldiers and attention.
The Second Battle of Ypres was a faliure for the Germans so they just decided to bombard the area with countless air raids, -
The Battle of Gallipoli
The first major battle for Australia was in Gallipoli, Churchills plan was to weaken Germany by taking out its allies, firsly decided to launch an attack on Turkey.
His plan was to control the Dardanelles waterway. Which would the enable them to invade and take Turkey.
Unfortunatly after their first day, the men had suffered 2300 casualties and had covered only 900 metres.
After another 5,000 ANZAC causulties and little ground made the campain was declared a failuire and the men evacuated. -
The Battle of Verdun begins.
The Battle of Verdun was the longest battle of World War I and was one of the bloodiest.
"Men were squashed. Cut in two or divided from top to bottom. Blown into showers; bellies turned inside out; skulls forced into the chest as if by a blow from a club."
Never before or since has there been such a long battle, with so many causulties, on such a small piece of land. The battlefield was less than square ten kilometres. Some said that they were fighting for the sake of fighting. -
The Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was to be the only major naval battle of WW1.
Both sides decided that they were the victors, the Germans saying that they had destoyed more ships there for they were the victors but the British arguing that they still had a powerful navy and the Germans had what was left of a ruined one.
The British did lose more ships (14 ships and over 6,000 lives) than the Germans 9 ships and over 2,500 casualties. But the German fleet was never again to be in a position to fight. -
The Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme begins. During the Battle of the Somme, tanks are first introduced into battle.
The Battle of the Somme started in July 1st 1916. It lasted until November 1916. It was fought to realese some preaure off the French in the Battle of Verdun by making the Germans concerntrate some of it's man power away from Verdun.
By the end of the battle, the British Army had suffered 420,000 casualties including almost 60,000 on the first day alone. -
Germny secertly tries to get Mexico to join in the war
Germany sends the secret Zimmerman Telegram to Mexico in an effort to entice Mexico to join the war. The British intercept and decipher the coded message. -
The United States declares war on Germany.
On April 6, President Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany. He did this because of the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, and the Zimmerman Telegram sent to Mexico by Germany in January 1917. -
The Great October Socialist Revolution
The Bolsheviks successfully overthrow the Russian government.
The revolution was led by the Bolsheviks, who used their influence to organize the armed forces.
Bolshevik Red Guards forces under the Military Revolutionary Committee began the takeover of government buildings on 24 October 1917. The following day, the Winter Palace was captured. -
Armistice day
Immediately after their accession to power in Russia the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, had arranged an armistice and withdraw from a war with the Central Powers.
Russia would lose a million square miles of its territory, a third of its population, many called it a "shameful peace," -
The Treaty of Brest Litovsk
Russia signs the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, which is a peace treaty between Russia and the Central Powers. -
Germany launches the Spring Offensive.
The Spring Offensive was Germany’s attempt to the War with around 500,000 troops added to Germany’s strength from the Eastern front.
When the United States entered the war this added a large number of troops to the Allied powers. This weakened the Germans further, both in morale and in numbers.
By July 1918, the Germans had lost over a million soldiers in their Spring Offensive. The French counteroffensive in Marne cut off the German supplies ending the offensive in disaster. -
Germany signs the armistice at Compiegne
Germany signs the armistice at Compiegne, France. Fighting ends on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month (i.e. 11 a.m. on November 11). -
The Treaty of Versailles
People celebrate as the Treaty of Versailles officially ends WWI. Although people were releived that the long and bloody war was over it had taken its toll. Allied losses
Britain : 750,000 soldiers killed
France : 1,400,000 soldiers killed
Italy : 600,000 soldiers killed
Russia : 1,700,000 soldiers killed
America : 116,000 soldiers killed Central Power losses
Germany: 2,000,000 soldiers killed
Austria-Hungary : 1,200,000 soldiers killed
Turkey : 325,000 soldiers killed
