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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand & his wife Sophie are shot to death on the Latin Bridge in Sarajevo, Kingdom of Serbia. The purpose was to leave Bosnia and Herzegovnia without a ruler, sending the state into chaos, and causing the southern provinces to break away & be added to Greater Serbia or Yugoslavia. The result: when Serbia refused to fully meet Austria-Hungary's demands of an investigation, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, thereby pulling it's allies, Italy & Germany, into war also. -
Period: to
World War I
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First Battle of Ypres
Ypres was a city which was badly affected by the war. British troops came, not realizing the size of the German forces. But the Germans, although outnumbering the British, were lacking in experience (many of their soldiers had only a few weeks of training, while the British were professional soldiers with years of experience). There were many casualties, & this city was to be overrun with chaos during the war. Ypres also saw the first use of poison gas, which resulted in many British deaths. -
Turkey enters the war
Turkey joins the war on the German side. They assisst the Germans in an attack on Russia (naval). This leads to Russia declaring war on Turkey November 2, 1914. -
The first Zepplin (blimp) raid of England
The Zepplin was a blimp with a metal frame, covered in layers of calf intestines called "goldbeater's skin" and used as an airship. These were used as bombers and carried immensley more guns than a standard aircraft, but the weakness was these were extremely vulnerable to incindiary ammunition (type of ammunition which causes fires). -
Conscription brought into Britain
The volunteers for the British Army were depleting. The government was forced to resort to the means of enlilsting men from ages 18 to 41, eventually extended to 51, and made to include married and unmarried men. There was, however. a "conscience clause", which meant if you were a pacificst and against war, a political objector who did not agree with the war, or war went against your beliefs, you could appear before a tribunal to plead your case as to why you shouldn't have to fight. -
Battle of Jutland
Only major naval battle of WWI. The Germans and British both suffered major losses. Although the British lost more ships and more men, the verdict was the Germans lost, due to the fact that after the battle of Jutland, the German navy was never in a position to fight again. -
First German Air Raid on London
In an attempt to force the British Air Force to protect the homeland and draw them away from attacking the German Air Force, Germany attacked London. -
Germany declares unrestricted submarine warfare
The Germans announced they would use submarines (and U-boats) in an attempt to keep America out of the war, if the results were devastating enough. But instead, this prompted America to join the war. -
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Russia was forced to surrender all territories, including Ukraine and Poland. They had to pay a heavy fee to retrieve all Russian prisoners, and they had to agree to stop all Germany directed socialist propaganda. -
End of WW1
Known as the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month", Remembrance Day, or Armistice Day. This is the date on which the Allies signed an Armistice for peace with Germany on the Western Front, which had been terribly affected by the war.
