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The Balkan Wars
The Balkan wars took place from 1912-1913 which deprived them of almost all their land in Europe. In the first war the Balkan League beat the Ottoman Empire and caused them to lose Macedonia and Albania. The second Balkan war happened when Siberia, Greece, and Romania fought with Bulgaria over the joint conquests in Macedonia. Bulgaria lost and most of Macedonia was split up between Greece and Siberia (Britannica, n.d.). In the end the high tensions between these countries helped start WWI. -
Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand
The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand fueled hate into WWI. Exactly one month after his assassinaton Austria-Hungary declared war against Serbia. By the following week Germany, Russia, France, Belgium, Montenegro and Great Britain were dragged into the conflict (Greenspan, 2020). On June 28th Ferdinand and Sophie were in a motorcade to the city hall and Cabrinovic failed to kill them and blew up the wrong car. Ferdinand insisted on visiting the injured people but was killed before he did. -
World War 1 Begins
On July 28th, 1914 Austria-Hungary declared war against Siberia because a Siberian patriot shot Archduke Ferdiand which marked the beginning of WWI. This war started due to the militarism that was happening between the European nations and Germany saw this as a threat that should be destroyed. Around this time war was viewed as a way to honor your nation by fighting and dying for it (facing history.org, 2018). Due to the alliances throughout Europe this war ended up becoming a global conflict. -
Sinking of Lusitania
On May 7, 1915 a German U-boat torpedoed a British steamship killing 1,195 people and 128 Americans which made the U.S. mad (McDermott, 2022). The German submarine attacked suddenly and later claimed that the passenger ship was fair game. A few months earlier Germany sunk a passenger ship and America warned them that they would join in the war. Later in 1917 the British found a telegram from Germany saying that they wanted Mexico to turn on the United States which then fueled America to join. -
The Battle of Gallipoli, Somme
The Battle of Gallipoli, Somme took place from July 1st until November 18th 1916. This battle also had the first involvement of the volunteer army from Britain. This battle had lots of casualties on both sides and were losing lots of people at a time on both ends. In this battle the British took the lead because the French suffered many losses. By mid september the British brought out a new weapon called the tank and was pretty successful (Imperial War Museum, n.d.). -
The Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun happened between February 21st and December 18th 1916 and became the longest battle in modern history (Imperial War Museum, n.d.). The battle beagan to end when the weather made it almost impossible to fight. In the end the French lost about 377k men while Germany lost about 330k and created problems for both sides due to the bad conditions for fighting. This battle also created manpower problems due to the learge amounts of death. This battle had no true winner in the end. -
Russian Revolution
In 1917 there were two revolutions that happened in Russia. Lots of the European countries viewed Russia as a very undeveloped and backwards country (History.com Editors, 2023). The revolutions were started so they could remove their monarchy and it left many dead and poor. When Russia joined the war it became disastrous for the Russian Empire because they were no match against Germany and ended with shortages of everything. Later there was a civil war and ended up paving the way to communism. -
Russia Withdraws From WWI
Around 1917 Russia was unstable and had the highest casualties at the time due to the war. After a while they believed that communism would work best for Russia. In March of 1918 Russia signed a peace treaty with Germany but in result they lost a lot of land and imposed threats (facing history, 2016). Even though the treaty took them out of the war Russia was not even close to being at peace. After they ended up having a civil war which was trying to figure out what to do with the government. -
U.S. Enters the War
On April 4th, 1917 the U.S. senate voted to declare war on Germany then on April 6th, 1917 the U.S. they joined in on the war. The first group of U.S. soldiers entered combat in October in France. Then in December it was official that America is at war (History.com Editors, 2022). President Woodrow avoided war but then declared that they would go to war because Germany kept sinking passenger ships and U.S. citizen deaths were rising. By the end of the war the U.S. had around 5ok dead. -
Zimmermann Note
On March 1st, 1917 the U.S. learned that Germany was trying to make Mexico and to wage war against them. Around 1914 Britain tapped into the overseas communications from Germany. They managed to get lots of intelligence from their interceptions. Germany was hoping to slow down the U.S. with Mexico since they believed that they could weaken make them busy at the southern border. If that happened Germany would resume unrestricted submarine warfare (National WWI Museum and Memorial, n.d.). -
Armistice of WWI
The Armistice of WWI was proposed by Germany in the Autumn of 1918 because the soldiers became tired and exhausted, and people were starting to rebel (Imperial War Museums, 2023). The conditions that were put upon Germany would need them to leave Europe and stop fighting (Memorial de Armistice, 2018). The signing took place in Foch’s private train car at 5am on Nov 11, 1918 between Ferdinand Foch and some of the allies and Germany (National Museum of the U.S. Navy, n.d.). -
Battle of Argonne Forest
The Battle of Argonne Forest was the last battle fought in World War 1. This was a massive attack on the whole line and had about 1 million American troops. The beginning of this attack started on September 26th, 1918 and lasted till the Armistice on November 11th, 1918. A while after the allies took the offensive by October 26th, 1918 the American forces went over ten miles and cleared the Argonne Forest. This was the most deadly military campaign in history resulting in over 120k casualties. -
Battle of Chateau-Thierry
The battle of Chateau-Thierry was fought in May of 1918 and was one of the first battles where the U.S. military was able to show their power. The battle was fought between the French and U.S. militaries versus the German forces. This battle showed the immense power that the U.S. military had. During the battle the allies lost about 1,900 while the Germans lost over 5,300 soldiers (Beck, 2021). This battle severely weakened the German forces and took back a large and important part of land. -
Treaty of Versailles Signed
In January 1919 the Treaty of Versailles was drafted at the Paris Peace Conference. The main four countries that were present were the United Kingdom, France, The United States, and Italy (Office of the Historian, n.d.). The treaty was supposed to restrict Germanyś military so there wouldn’t be another war. The treaty was then signed on June 28th, 1919 just outside France. The signing of this treaty ended the first world war and made sure the Central powers would have war guilt. -
First Meeting of the League of Nations
The League was made on January 10th 1920 then on November 15th the first session happened in Geneva. The United States did not join the League of Nations but the League delayed the meeting in hopes of the United States joining in but they didn’t (Office of the Historian, n.d.). The meeting was supposed to help maintain world peace and the League would’ve worked better if the US joined in. In the end the League was disbanded in 1946. Some believe League would’ve been successful if the US joined.