-
Royal couple killed
The assassination of Archduck Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, was the spark that ignited a giant blaze. THis single terrorist act set off a chain reaction within the alliance system -
War between Austria and Serbia
On July 28, Austria rejected Serbia's offer and declared war. That same day, Serbia's ally, Russia, took action. Russian leaders ordered the mobilization of troops toward the Ausrtian border -
Schlieffen Plan
Under the Schlieffen Plan, a large part of the German army would race west, to defeat France, and then return to fight Russia in the east -
Central Powers
By mid-August 1914, the battle lines were clearly drawn. On one side were Germany and Austria-Hungary. They were known as the Central Powers, because of their location in the heart of Europe. -
Russian defeats Austria
Russian forces defeated the Austrians in September 1914, driving them deep into Austria. Not until December of that year did the Austrian army -with German assistance- manage to turn the tide -
Germans attacked by Allies
The allies attacked the Germans northest of Paris, in the valley of the Marne River -
War in the Dardenlles strait
The effort to tkae the Dardenlles strait began in February 1915. It was known as the Gallipoli campaign. British, Australian, New Zealand, and French tropps made repeated assaults on the Callipoli Peninsula on the western side of the strait. -
Slaughter reaches a high
The slaughter reached a peak in 1916. In February, the Germans launched a massive attack against the French near Verdun. Each side lost more than 300,00 men. -
Period: to
British pressures the French
In july of 1916, the British army tried to relieve the pressure on the French. British forces attacked the Germans northwest of Verdun, in the valley of the Somme River. In the first day of battle alone, more than 20,000 British soldiers were killed -
Unrestricted sumbarine warfare
In January 1917, the Germans announced that their submaries would sink without warning any ship in the waters around Britain. This policy was called unrestricted sumbarine warfare -
United States delclares war
On April 2, 1917. President Wilson asked congress to declare war. The United States entered the war on the side of the Allies -
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
In November 1917, Communist leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin seized power. Lenin insisted on ending his country's involvement in the war. One of his first acts was to offer Germany a truce -
War ends
In March 1918, Germany and Russia signed the treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended the war between them -
Allies and Germans clash
In July 1918, the Allies and Germans clashed at the Second Battle of Marne. Leading the allied attack were some 350 tanks that rumbled slowly forward, smashing through the German lines. -
World War I ends
On November 11, World War I came to an end. After four yeras of slaughter and destruction, the time had come to foge a peace settlement. Leaders of the victorious nations gathered outside Paris to work out the tearms of peace -
Treaty signed
This is when they officially ended the war