WWI

By ashleymd

  • Murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

    *Serbian nationalist assassinated archduke Franz Ferdinand while he was on a state visit in Sarajevo

  • Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia

  • Russia announces full mobilization of the armed forces to protect Serbia

  • Germany mobilizes their forces and declares war against Russia

  • Germany declares war on Belgium

    Germany attempts to overtake Belgium to get to Paris, France.

  • Britain declares war on Germany

  • Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia

  • The Battle of the Frontiers

    27,000 French soldiers die on this single day in an offensive thrust to the east of Paris, towards the German borders.
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    Battle of Tennenburg

    German army, led by Erich Ludendorff and Paul von Hindenburg acheives its greatest victory of the war on the Eastern front against Russia.

  • Germany declares war on France

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    First Battle of Marne

    Halts German invasion in France

  • First trenches of the Western front are dug

  • Unofficial Christmas Truce

    Truce declared by soldiers in the trenches along the Western front.

  • War becomes Total War with German Zepplin air raid on England

  • Germany declares a submarine blockade on England

    Any ship approaching England is considered a legitimate target.
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    Battle of Gallipoli

    Nine-month battle for the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli

  • U-boat sinks the Lusitania

    1,198 civilians, including 128 Americans, die.

  • Britsh steamer "Arabic" sunk by German submarines

  • Germany creates the Sussex Pledge

    Germany responds to US anger by ceasing to sink ships without warning.

  • Czar Nicholas takes control of the Russian armies

  • British stupidity

    British use gas in battle near Loos, but shifting winds cause 60,000 British casualties.

  • US loans money to the allies

  • Sir Douglas Haig becomes commandeer of British Expeditionary Forces

  • Allies begin withdrawal of troops from Gallipoli

  • British conscription law goes into effect

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    Battle of Verdun

    Estimated one million casualties

  • French liner "Sussex" sunk by German torpedoes

  • Canadians take Vimy Ridge

  • Wilson publicly warns Germany to end unrestricted submarine warfare policies

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    Battle of Jutland

    The only major naval engagement of the war is fought with no clear winner.
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    Battle of Somme

    Estimated one million casualties and no breakthrough for the Allies. British introduce the tank.

  • Wilson re-elected President of the United States

  • David Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister of Britain

  • Rasputin is murdered by relatives of the Czar

  • Germany resumes submarine warfare

  • Zimmermann Note intercepted

  • Wilson delivers a speech to the Senate

    Wilson urges the warring nations to accept a "peace without victory".

  • German government resumes unrestricted submarine warfare

  • Germany again declares unrestricted submarine warfare

  • Zimmerman Note published

    Zimmerman Note = intercepted telegram from German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmerman to German ambassador of Mexico. Stated that if Germany went to war with the United States, Germany would help Mexicans get back the land they had lost during the 1840s, including Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

  • Czar Nicholas abdicates his throne

    Provisional government is declared.
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    French soliders mutiny

    Over half a million French soldiers mutiny and refuse to continue the failed offensive.

  • Wilson asks Congress for a declaration of war with Germany

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    French offensive at Chemin des Dames

    French advance only 500 yards at the cost of 250,000 plus casualties.

  • The US passes the Selective Service Act to draft men for the armed forces

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    Russian defensive in Galicia

    Russian Army lead by Alexander Kerensky begins last -- and disastrous -- offensive in Galicia.

  • First wave of the American Expeditionary Force lands in France

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    Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele)

    Results in minor gains, but still no breakthrough in the Western front at the cost of 700,000 casualties for both sides.
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    Meuse-Argonne Offensive (Battle of the Argonne Forest)

    Americans were key participants in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which cracked Germany's vaunted Hindenburg Line.

  • American troops in France fire their first shot in trench warfare

  • Bolshevik socialists overthrow Kerensky's government

  • New Russian government signs an armistice with Germany

  • British capture Jerusalem from the Turks and her Arab allies

  • Wilson submits his Fourteen Points to Senate

    called for:
    1. abandonment of secret international agreements
    2. freedom of the seas
    3. free trade between nations
    4. reductions in national armaments
    5. an adjustment of colonial claims in the interests of the inhabitants affected
    6. self-rule for subjugated European nationalities
    7. the establishment of an association of nations to afford "mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike"

  • Germany appeals to Wilson to negotiate on the basis of the Fourteen Points

  • Official Armistice declared, ending WWI

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    Paris Peace Conference

  • Treaty of Versailles

    Ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Forces