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Assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand
This is said to be the event that triggered the Great War. In Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated while he was inspecting their imperial armed forces. The day of that he went happened to coincide with an event that had happened in 1389 that changed Serbia forever. The First Battle of Kosovo was when the Turks defeated the Serbians and their independence was "slipping." Because the Archduke was from Austria, this was a HUGE deal to everybody. -
Battle of Mons
First confrontation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). They were against the German 1st Army over the Mons Canal in Belgium. My researched veteran (Richard Bliss Leith) was a member of the BEF and was a doctor during this battle. This was the first battle between the British and Germans in Europe since the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. 35,000 British soldiers in total were involved, with over 1600 casualties. -
Invention of Modern Flamethrowers
The first version of the more modern flamethrower was used by the Germans in the First World War. Its original name was flammenwerfer, which does indeed mean flamethrower. Its initial use was at the Battle of Hooge against the Allied Forces in Belgium. The flames would shoot out to an alarming 20 or 30 feet long. -
Battle of Neuve Chapelle
The British Expeditionary Force messed up an attack that THEY initiated on the Nueve Chapelle in the Artois region of France. My veteran (Richard Bliss Leith) doctored for this battle. All in all, the battle took three days. The goal of the British in this clash was to capture the small village of Aubers on the other side of the German trenches. In the end, the British had captured 1200 German soldiers, but at the cost of 7000 of their own troops. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
This event is pretty much what got Americans interested in the war. The British ship with American passengers was sunk by a German U-Boat on this day. A total of 1,100 people died, including 120 Americans. The boat was hit on its right side by an exploding torpedo. It sank off of the Southern coast of Ireland at 2:12 p.m. -
Battle of the Somme
The British Expeditionary Force again attempted an attack against the German Army. The German army suffered about 465,000 casualties. The British suffered about 420,000 casualties. This caused them both to have to advance their tactics. My veteran doctored soldiers in this battle, and many of them. There was said to be no real winner of this battle. -
Invention and use of the Tank
The first tank was designed by the British Army for the Battle of the Somme. The first that was let out on the battlefield was entitled the British Mark 1. The first model of the tank was called Little Willie. It weighed over 14 tons and went only 2 mph. -
Invention of Tracer Rounds
Tracer rounds are bullets that emit a green-white flame when fired for assisted night-time fighting. The invention of these was essential for fighting 'round the clock. The time that these were used were when England and Germany were fighting. The only problem was that they couldn't see each other in the middle of the night, so as soon as the sun set, they had to stop fighting. In order to be fully efficient and finish a battle quicker, they came up with tracer bullets. -
The U.S. Enters the War
On the 11th of January, 1917, the U.S. intercepted a telegram sent from Arthur Zimmermann in Germany to the Mexican government. This telegram basically stated that when Germany beat and obtained America that they would give it to Mexico. This, coupled with the American casualties in the sinking of the Lusitania, persuaded the American government's to join the war. Originally, the President back then (Woodrow Wilson) stated that America were to remain neutral in this war. This changed that. -
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Battle of Passchendaele
The British Expeditionary Force successfully attacked German forces (finally).Their only goal was to capture the village of Passchendaele in Belgium. The Germans weren't happy. Long story short, there were 325.000 Allied casualties and 260.000 German casualties. My veteran (Richard Bliss Leith) doctored during this battle. -
Invention of Aircraft Carriers
The Aircraft Carrier is a long boat used to launch, land, and store military (or possibly non-military) airplanes quickly and easily during battle. The first landing on an aircraft carrier was made by Edward Dunning. The first aircraft carrier commissioned in a war was called the Hosho. It was used by the Japanese in 1922. -
Invention of the Pilotless Drone
The pilotless drone was at first invented to be a sort of aerial bomb that would drop on America's enemies. In that aspect, it succeeded, but as a regular airplane, it was relatively unsuccessful. It was also used for surveillance. The first version was able to fly at 50 mph carrying a 300 pound bomb. The second version was, in itself (literally), a bomb. After a set amount of time, an electrical circuit would close and the engine would shut off, and it would explode when it hit the ground. -
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Hundred Days Offensive
Basically Germany versus the World. More than 10 of the countries involved in the Allied Forces, including the British Expeditionary Force, all grouped together at the same location as the Battle of the Somme, and attacked Germany again. The goal of the offense was to break through the so-called "Hindenburg Line." It was the Germans' last line of defense on the Western Front. My veteran (Richard Bliss Leith) doctored in this battle. -
Signing of Armistice
This is the official ending of the war. After all of that fighting and all of those deaths due to things like gasing, machine guns, tanks, flamethrowers, etc., it's all over. On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, all fighting ceased as the armistice of World War I was signed.
