-
Franz Ferdinand is assassinated
Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated along with his wife on their way to visit Sarajevo. This was generally accepted by historians as the main cause of ww1, but not all agree because apparantly there had been problems building beforehand. -
Germany supports Austria
Kaiser William II of Germany promises support for their Austrian allies against Serbia. -
Austria declares war
Because the assassination was commited by Serbians, Austrians are furious and declares war on Serbia. -
Start of the war
WW1 starts. It is also known as the war to end all wars and the great war. -
Germany declares war on Russia
Germany declares war on the Russians, because they are compelled to defend Serbia. -
The Schleiffen plan
Germans declared war on France and put their plan into effect, the invasion of Belgium, part of their Scheifflen Plan. The Plan was intended to bring about a fast victory for Germany in the event of a two-front war. It concentrated on using the differences in the amount of time neighboring countries would need to prepare for war. The Belgium army was swept aside easily enough but the French held off the German forces. With the failure of the Schleiffen Plan, trench warfare started. -
Britian declares war on Germany
Britain joins its French and Russian allies in declaring war on Germany. -
Australia entered the war
Australia’s involvement in the First World War began when Britain and Germany went to war on 4 August 1914, and both Prime Minister Joseph Cook and Opposition Leader Andrew Fisher, who were in the midst of an election campaign, pledged full support for Britain. The outbreak of war was greeted in Australia, as in many other places, with great enthusiasm. -
Russians defeated
The Russian and German armies battled in the East of Prussia at the beginning of the war. This battle is considered one of the most clean-cut German victories throughout the war but the Russian distraction in the east played a part in the failure of the Schleiffen Plan. -
Battle of the Marne
Casualties from the battle were high on both sides. The French lost about 250,000 soldiers, as did the Germans. The BEF (British Expeditionary Force) lost about 13,000 men as well. This battle signifies the beginning of trench warfare that would occur in WW1, which would be dominant throughout the rest of the war. The French managed to save Paris. The German's Schleiffen Plan had failed. -
Turkey enters the war
Turkey enters the war on the German's side -
First zeppelin raid
Zepplins were a relatively new technology to the WW1 time period. The models built in 1914 had five machine guns and could carry 4,400 lbs. of bombs. This particular raid took place over the east coast of England. Yarmouth and King's Lynn were both bombed -
Australia lands at Gallipoli
Most of the men recruited into the Australian Imperial Force at the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 were sent to Egypt to meet the threat which the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) posed to British interests in the Middle East and to the Suez Canal. After four and a half months of training near Cairo, the Australians departed by ship for the Gallipoli peninsula, together with troops from New Zealand, Britain, and France. -
Red Baron is shot down
Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (2 May 1892 – 21 April 1918), also widely known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte) during World War I. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories. -
End of WW1
World War 1 ended with the signing of the Armistice. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers (mainly United States, British Empire, France, Italy, Japan, and other Allied Powers). It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
