First World War

  • Archduke Franz Ferdinand's murder

    A Serbian nationalist assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, so Austria began bombing Belgrade, the German Kaiser declared war on Russia and France, Germany invaded Belgium (which was neutral) to attack France from an unexpected front, Britain declared war and the soldiers crossed the Channel to fight on the Western Front in northern France
  • German army had reached the River Marne in France

    A great battle stopped the German advance
  • A German submarine sank the British passenger liner Lusitania

    A lot of people died (including 128 Americans) so the US President Wilson sent diplomatic protests to Germany; in the same month Italy joined France and Britain
  • Easter Rising

    There was a rebellion in Dublin due to the fact that Home Rule had been suspended.
  • Conscription was introduced

    The Empire sent troops; women started to replace men in their jobs
  • A battle took place on the Somme

    The battle was fought to kill soldiers and wear down the enemy, using machine guns, poison gas, tanks, aircraft and submarines
  • The US joined the war on Britain's side

  • George V changed the name of the British royal family into the British Windsor,

  • Italian's defeat at the Battle of Caporetto

  • British artillery began dropping shells on the Hindenburg Line

  • Germany asked President Wilson for an armistice

  • The Armistice Day

  • The peace treaty was signed at Versailles in 1919 by the Allied powers

    Wilson proposed "fourteen points" to work out the peace treaty and prevent future wars and presented a plan to set up the League of Nations