SL History Timeline

By chenwv

  • Francis Ferdinand assassinated at Sarajevo

  • Kaiser William II promised German support for Austria against Serbia

  • Austria declares war on Serbia

  • Germany declares war on Russia

  • Germany declares war on France, invades Belgium and implements Schlieffen Plan

  • Britain declares war on Germany

  • BEF starts retreat from Mons, Germany invades France

    BEF: British Expeditionary Force Battle of Mons is the first major battle World War 1
    battle of movement unlike subsequent trench warfare

  • Russian Army defeated at Tannenburg and Masurian Lakes

  • Battle of Marne starts

    start of trench warfare

  • First battle of Ypres

  • Turkey enters war on Germany's side

    Trench warfare starts to dominate Western Front

  • First Zeppelin raid on Britain

  • Britain bombards Turkish forts in the Dardanelles

  • Allied troops landed in Gallipoli

    Gallipoli: the plan to end the war by launching a new war which the Germans couldn't cope with

  • The Lusitania sunk by a German U-boat

    Lusitania: USA's luxury liner, supposedly impacted America deeply in regards to WWI, though they didn't join for another 2 years

  • Italy declares War on Germany and Austria

  • Germans capture Warsaw from Russians

  • Start of the Battle of Loos

    part of campaign to push back the Germans in a two-pronged offensive.

  • Allies start the evacuation of Gallipoli

  • Conscription introduced in Britain

    conscription: having to serve the country for a certain period of time

  • Start of Battle of Verdun

    The Battle of Verdun in 1916 was the longest single battle of World War One. The casualties from Verdun and the impact the battle had on the French Army was a primary reason for the British starting the Battle of the Somme in July 1916 in an effort to take German pressure off of the French at Verdun. The Battle of Verdun started on February 21st 1916 and ended on December 16th in 1916.

  • British forces surrender to Turkish forces at Kut in Mesopotamis

  • Battle of Jutland

    the only major naval battle of WWI
    British Navy wins German Navy
  • Period: to

    Brusilov Offensive

    major success for Russians

  • Start of Battle of Somme

    The most horrific battle of WWI

  • First use en masse of tanks at the Somme

  • Lloyd George becomes British Prime Minister

  • Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare campaign starts

    one of USA's reasons for joining the war

  • USA declares war on Germany

  • France launches unsuccessful offensive on Western Front

  • Start of the Third Battle of Ypres

    aka The Battle of Passchendaele, Battle of Mud
    high death rate

  • Battle of Caporetto - Italian Army heavily defeated

    decisive battle

  • Britain launches major offensive on Western Front

  • British tanks win victory at Cambrai

    first battle in which tanks were used en masse, with heavy artilerry and air power

  • Armistice between Germany and Russia signed

  • Britain captures Jerusalem from Turks

  • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed between Russia and Germany

  • Marshall Foch appointed Allied Commander on Western Front

    Foch: supreme commander of Allied forces in WWI, one of three most prominent French military officers in the war.

  • Gemrany starts offensive in Flanders

  • Second Battle of Marne starts, collapse of German army

  • successful advance of Allies

  • Turkish forces collapse at Megiddo

  • Germany asks Allies for armistice

  • Germany's navy mutinied

  • Turkey made peace

  • Austria made peace

  • Kaiser William II abdicated

  • OFFICIAL DATE OF END OF WWI - Germany signs armistice

  • Peace conference at Paris

  • League of Nations founded

  • The surrendered German naval fleet at Scapa Flow scuttled

  • The Treaty of Versailles was signed by the Germans

  • Adolf Hitler becomes leader of National Socialist Party (Nazi)

  • Washington Treaty signed

  • Treaty of Rapallo signed

  • Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch

    overthrowing of the Nazi party, which almost came to an end

  • Mein Kampf published

  • Locarno Treaty signed

  • Stock Market on Wall Street crashes

  • Germans elect Nazis, making them 2nd largest political party in Germany

  • Franklin Roosevelt elected President of USA

  • Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany

  • German Reichstag burns

    The Reichstag building, seat of the German government, burns after being set on fire by Nazis. This enabled Adolf Hitler to seize power under the pretext of protecting the nation from threats to its security.

  • First concentratino camp opens

    at Oranienburg outside Berlin

  • Enabling Act gives Hitler dictatorial power

  • Nazi boycott of Jewish owned shops

  • Nazis burn books in Germany

  • Nazis open Dachau concentration camp

  • Nazi Party declared Germany's only political party

  • Germany quits League of Nations

  • Nazi "Night of the Long Knives"

  • Nazis murder Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss

  • German President Hindenburg dies

  • Adolf Hitler becomes Fuhrer of Germany

  • Hitler violates Treaty of Versailles by introducing military conscription

  • German Jews stripped of rights by Nuremberg Race Laws

  • German Gestapo placed above the law

  • German troops occupy the Rhineland

  • Mussolini's Italian forces take Ethiopia

  • Civil war erupts in Spain

  • Olympic games begin in Berlin

  • Franco declared head of Spanish State

  • Soviet leader Josef Stalin begins a purge of Red Army generals

  • Hitler reveals war plans during Hossbach Conference

  • Germany announces 'Anschluss' (union) with Austria

  • Gernan military mobilizes

  • British Prime Minister Chamberlain appeases Hitler at Munich

  • German troops occupy the Sudetenland; Czech government resigns

  • KRISTALLNACHT -The Night of Broken Glass

  • Hitler threatens Jews during Reichstag speech

  • Nazis take Czechoslovakia

  • Spanish Civil war ends

  • Nazis sign 'Pact of Steel' with Italy

  • Nazies and Soviets sign Pact

  • British Fleet mobilizes, Civilians evacutaions begin from London

  • Nazis invade Poland