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Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife at Sarajevo, Bosnia.
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Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
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Germany declares war on Russia.
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Germany declares war on France.
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President Wilson tenders good offices of United States interests of peace.
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Austria-Hungary at war with Russia.
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Montenegro at war with Austria.
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The British shells damaged the ships, Sydlitz and Blucher but the German's retaliated and damaged Beatty's flag ship, the Lion. Afterwards, both sides afterwards claimed the Battle of Dogger Bank as a victory.
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The British Expeditionary Force gained 2 square kilometres of land at a cost of 13,000 casualties.
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The Dardanelles is a 61km (28 mile) strait between Europe and Asiatic Turkey.The assault started with a long range bombardment followed by heavy fire at closer range. As a result of the bombardment the outer forts were abandoned by the Turks.
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Garros approached an German Albatros B II reconnaissance aircraft.
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The German Army first used chlorine gas cylinders in April 1915 against the French Army at Ypres.
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Vice-Admiral Sir John de Robeck now informed Winston Churchill that he could not capture the Gallipoli peninsula without the help of the army. General Ian Hamilton, commander of the troops on the Greek island of Lemnos, who had watched the failed navy operation, agreed and plans were now made for full-scale landings at Gallipoli.
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Captain Schwieger, the commander of the German U-Boat fired two torpedos to the Lusitania.After a second, larger explosion, the Lusitania rolled over and sank in eighteen minutes. A total of 1,198 people died (785 passengers and 413 crew). Those killed included 128 US citizens.
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After a five-day preliminary bombardment of German positions, Henri-Philippe Petain and 9th Army launched an attack on 9th May, 1915.
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Representatives of the Italian government agreed to enter the war in return for financial help and the granting of land currently under the control of Austria-Hungary.
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The Allied line held, but the German Fourth Army was able to use its new higher positions to bombard the town with heavy artillery. This inflicted heavy losses and Ypres was virtually demolished by the German shells during this period.
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Herbert Asquith was born in Morley, West Yorkshire in 1852. This day he forms coalition government.
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The Zeppelin had five machine-guns and could carry 2,000 kg (4,400 lbs) of bombs.
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n the first two weeks of the Isonzo Offensive, the Italian Army lost 60,000 men.
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Nikolai achieved little success and was removed from office when Tsar Nicholas II took control of the Russian Army in September 1915. Nikolai was sent to Tiblisi where he worked with General Nikolai Yudenich.
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The first prototype landship, nicknamed Little Willie, was demonstrated to Ernest Swinton and the Landship Committee on 11th September, 1915.
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In May, 1915, Henri-Philippe Petain and 9th French Army launched an attack at Artois. Petain initially made good progress but was unable to take the main objective, Vimy Ridge. On 25th September Anglo-French forces launched another offensive at Artois and at nearby Loos.
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The first Anglo-French troops arrived at Salonika on 5th October, 1915. With Bulgarian and German troops on the frontier, the French commander, General Maurice Sarrail and General George Milne, the leader of the British troops, turned Salonika and its surrounds into an entrenched zone.
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On 5th August 1915, she was arrested by the Germans and charged with having helped about 200 allied soldiers to escape to neutral Holland.
Cavell was kept in solitary confinement for nine weeks, during which time she was tricked by the Germans into making a confession. Edith Cavell was tried by court-martial, and along with her Belgian accomplice, Philippe Baucq, was found guilty and sentenced to death. Cavell's execution by firing-squad on 12th October, 1915, received world-wide press coverage. -
In December 1915, Haig was appointed commander in chief of the BEF. Haig now become under extreme pressure from the French to produce a diversion from Verdun. The first Battle of the Somme was fought from July to November 1916.
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Battle of Gaza begins. United States declares war on Germany. Start of Nivelle Offensive and also of Arras offensive.
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n January 1917, the German Foreign Secretary, Arthur Zimmermann, sent a coded telegram to the German minister in Mexico City. This instructed the minister to propose an alliance with Mexico if war broke out between Germany and the United States. In return, the telegram proposed that Germany and Japan would help Mexico regain the territories that it lost to the United States in 1848 (Texas, New Mexico and Arizona). The telegram was intercepted by the British government and shown to President Wood
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On the evening of 8th April, 1917, 30,000 members of the Canadian Corps began to move to the front line. At 5.30 the next morning, 2,800 allied guns began pounding the German trenches and soon afterwards the Canadian infantry went over the top into No-Mans-Land. They were still making good progress and by 12th April they were firmly in control of Vimy Ridge.
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The first Char Schneider tanks were delivered to the French Army in September 1916. Built for a six man crew, the tank was fitted with one 75-mm gun and a Hotchkiss Machine Gun.
The Char Schneider was used for the first time on 16th April 1917 during the 2nd Battle of the Aisne. -
After the disastrous Nivelle Offensive in the spring of 1917, the French Army suffered widespread mutinies on the Western Front. Petain replaced Robert Nivelle as Commander-in-Chief. This was a popular choice as Petain, unlike Nivelle, had a reputation for having a deep concern for the lives of his soldiers.
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In May 1917, Maria persuaded Alexander Kerensky, the country's new leader, to allow her to form a Women's Battalion. Initially Maria had 2,000 women under her command, but after fighting for three months on the front-line, numbers had fallen to 250.
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In 1917 Pershing was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe. His belief that his fit, fresh troops could break the deadlock on the Western Front had to be revised in the first-half of 1918.
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In 1917 George V took the controversial decision to deny political asylum to the Tsar Nicholas II and his family after the Bolshevik Revolution.
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Frederick Maude was born in Gibralter in 1864. While leading the attack on Ramadi Frederick Maude went down with cholera and although he was quickly taken back to Baghdad he died on 18th November 1917. Rumours circulated that he had been poisoned but the evidence suggests that he probably contracted the disease from contaminated milk.
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After the failure to break through at Ypres, Haig changed his mind and ordered a massed tank attack at Artois. Launched at dawn on 20th November, without preliminary bombardment, the attack completely surprised the German Army defending that part of the Western Front. Employing 476 tanks, six infantry and two cavalry divisions, the British Third Army gained over 6km in the first day. Progress towards Cambrai continued over the next few days but on the 30th November, 29 German divisions launched
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On 25th October, Bochkareva and the few remaining members of the Women's Battalion attempted to defend the Winter Palace against Bolshevik forces.On 21 November, 1917, the Bolshevik Military Revolutionary Committee officially dissolved the Women's Battalion. Its leader, Maria Bochkareva, managed to escape and eventually emigrated to the United States.
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