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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assasinated on Jun 28, 1914 in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Prnicip. The political objective of the assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary's south-Slav provinces so they could be combined into a Greater Serbia or a Yugoslavia. -
Germany declares war on Russia
When the Russians came to the defense of the Serbs, the Germans had no choice but to go to war to defend their Austrian allies. Their strategy for war against Russia was the Schefffein Plan which called for an initial attack against France, Russia's ally. -
Zeppelins
The use of airships by the Germans growZeppelins began attacking London. They were also used for naval reconnaissance, to attack London and smaller balloons were used falong the Western Front -
Italy enters the war
Italy had remaded neutral until 1915 when the Treaty of London allowed Italy to gain land at the end of the war. Therefor, putting them on the same side as the allies. -
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was the largest naval battle of World War I and the only full-scale clash of battleships in that war. It was only the second major fleet action between steel battleships in any war.Both sides claimed victory. The British had lost more ships and twice as many sailors, and the British press criticised the Grand Fleet's failure to force a decisive outcome, but Scheer%u2019s plan of destroying a substantial portion of the British fleet had also failed. -
Battle of the Somme
An inconclusive battle that lasted for some five months. 60,000 British men were killed or seriously wounded on the first day. British were the first side to use tanks in this battle -
First Aeroplane raid
The first German air raid on London. Germans hoped that by making raids on London and the South East the British Air Force would be forced into protecting the home front rather than attacking the German air force -
U.S enters the war
On April 6 1917 war was called in U.S.A. with the permission of congress. To some people this was a natural progression as it was thought that the U.S.A. were backing up Britain and that they weren't neutral in any case -
Red October
Also known as the Soviet Revolution, took place in Petrograd. The Soviets, with the support of the common people, overthrew the Provisional Government, which had failed to pull out of World War I. A Russian Civil War followed (1917-1922) and the Soviets gained full power over the country, recreating it as the Soviet Union. -
End of the war
Also known as Armistice Day. At 6 am, Germany signed the Armistice of Compiègne. The Fighting ended at 11 o'clock and the war was officially over.
