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Period: to
WWI
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Austria annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina
After the Ottoman Empire declines, Austria annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina, who were now independent. Both were part of the Slavic ethnic group. Serbia was angry that Austria took the land they were planning to. -
The Black Hand assassinates Ferdinand
The Serbians couldn't get over the Austrians stealing their land. A Serbian Slavic group called The Black Hand assassinated the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Austria sent the Serbians a list of unreasonable demands to follow if they wanted to get Bosnia back, knowing they wouldn't oblige. -
Austria declares war on Serbia
Many Serbians agreed to the demands sent by the Austrians. Unfortunately, not enough of them agreed to accept them and get Bosnia back. Austria still wanted Serbia to be punished, even though it was just one group is Serbia that assassinated Ferdinand. This action officially starts WWI. -
Russia makes a move
Russia is one of Serbia's allies and they are also Slavic. They mobilized their troops and sent them to the Austrian border to let them know they weren't going to stand down. This knocks over the first ally domino of WWI. -
Germany responds
Germany was an ally of Austria. They saw the threat Russia posed on Austria and they didn't like it at all. Germany declares war on Russia and knocks over another one of the ally dominoes. Germany also declares war on France, one of Russia's allies. -
The Schlieffen Plan takes affect
Germany came up with The Schlieffen Plan to fight France and Russia without starting a two-front war. The plan was to attack France to the west first, with a limit of six weeks to conquer it. Then they would attack Russia to the east. -
Germany attacks
Germany wanted to get to France to attack. The only way to do this was to go through neutral Belgium. Britain didn't like this and declared war on Germany. -
The Schlieffen Plan Fails
At first, The Schlieffen Plan worked well. They were in Paris by September 3rd, right on schedule. The Germans were expecting the Russians to take at least six weeks to organize their troops. Unfortunately, they were quicker than that and invaded Germany. -
The Battle of the Marne
Eight days after Germany invaded France, their offense was stopped in it's tracks when they realized the Russians were ready. The battle lasted seven days, with the French and Russians winning. The French turned and attacked Germany too, so they were trapped. -
The Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun lasted ten months between Germany and France. Each side lost upwards of 300,000 men. Germany took over some French forts, and eventually France took those back and pushed back the line. Trench warfare was introduced and many other weapons were used that were first invented in WWI such as tanks, planes, and machine guns.
