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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria went to the capital of Bosnia which was highly hostile towards him due to the annexation of Bosnia by Austria-Hungary. A bomb was thrown at him earlier by a member of the Black Hand which the driver of the car was able to evade and save Franz Ferdinand's life. The archduke turned onto the street which a member of the Black Hand was present and shot him and his wife leaving both fatally wounded leading to death within an hour. -
Start of World War 1
Due to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Austria was furious at Bosnia and the Balkans got in a war with each other which eventually ropes in allies leading to a world war. -
Christmas Truce of 1914
An unofficial and unapproved ceasefire in the western front, which also included soldiers from both trenches meeting up in No Man's Land to hang out, converse, and play sports. However due to it being strongly opposed by higher ranks, it didn't last long and the following Christmas Truces were less widespread and effective. -
First WW1 Air Raid
A zeppelin flew over Great Britain and performed an air raid which is the process of dropping explosives down on a target. This was an attack on the homefront, on innocent civilians and those who cannot fight. -
Germany Declares Unrestricted Naval Warfare
Germany announces that it will fire at any marine vessel, neutral or enemy within war waters around Great Britain to try and cut off the flow of supplies to Britain. A month later, a German ship sunk a private American owned vessel. This angered president Wilson. Germany apologized for scuttling the ship, saying it was an unfortunate mistake. -
The Sinking of the Lusitania
The Lusitania, a British passenger liner was sunk by German U-Boats. The Lusitania was also carrying American passengers. 1200 People died because of this, 128 of which were Americans. This heightened tensions between Germany and the United States. -
Battle of Verdun
Infamously known for being the longest and bloodiest battle of WWI. Germany utilized the strategy of total war to crush French morale. There were over 700.000 total losses in the battle. Germany did this attack to try and drain the French of supplies and manpower. Both sides fought with all they could to secure their goal. Due to the tragic results, the battle is seen as having no winner. The battle ended on December 18 1916. -
Battle of the Somme
Because of the assault on Verdun, the British launched an attack in the Somme River area to get the Germans to send troops away from Verdun. both sides suffered horribly. The first day of fighting alone numbered 19,000 casualties for the British. There were over 1 million casualties for the Germans and British at the end of the battle. The battle ended on November 1 1916. -
The Zimmermann Telegram
The German foreign secretary, Arthur Zimmermann, sent an encoded message to Mexico. It was telling Mexico to fight against The United states if North America were to enter the war. In return Germany would give them cash and help to regain certain states for them. Mexico however declined the offer and the message was soon intercepted and decoded by the United States which was the last straw for President Wilson. -
Russian Revolution of 1917
Back in Russia, a group called the Bolsheviks which was led by Vladimir Lenin, started a revolution that overthrew the Tzar and forced Russia to pull out of the war. This ended up in the Eastern Front no longer existing and let the Germans pull back their troops to reposition in the Western Front. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed with Germany in 1918 which officially pulled Russia out of WWI. -
America Enters the War
Due to rising strains with Germany and the United States, the final straw that caused America to enter the war was the Zimmermann Telegram. President Wilson requested Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. War was declared by Congress on Germany and its allies on April 6th, 1917. The Selective Service Act was passed by Congress which created a military draft and vastly skyrocketed the quantity of the United States army. -
New German Offensive
After Russia relinquished it's position in the war, Germany took the troops from the Eastern from and sent them off to the Western Front and put on massive pressure for France.
The Germans got within 40 miles of Paris and lost 800 thousand troops. -
Armistice
The official end to the fighting. It happened on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. The war's effect on Europe was devastating as it had caused millions of casualties, new nations formed and in turn the boundaries of countries changed, and the economy was in peril from all the damages done, allies wanted to be paid back and colonies couldn't be maintained / controlled. -
War Guilt Clause
The Treaty of Versailles were negotiations started in January 1919 between four figures which represented: USA, Great Britain, France, and Italy. Germany was not invited to these negotiations. The war guilt clause states that Germany accepts responsibility for starting the war and had to pay for all the damages caused by its armies and allies during the war. The amount that Germany had to pay was 6.6 billion. This also heavily constricted Germany's military presence and power. -
Treaty of Versailles Signing
The treaty was signed in June of 1919 and officially ended the first world war. Germany faced large consequences from this and had to make reparations to those involved.