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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
The shooting of the Austrian by a Seribian was an event that started the war. It led to conflicts between all the countries resulting into the Great War -
Declaring war
Austria rejected Serbias offer and declared war. That same day, Serbia's ally, Russia, took action. Russian leaders ordered the mobilization of troops toward the Austria border. -
The Schliffen Plan
Germany quickly put its military together to defeat France and then Russia. A large part of German Army would race West, to defeat France, and then return to fight Russia in the East -
First battle of Marne
The allies attacked Germany northeast of Paris, in the valley of the Marne River, Every available soilder was hurled into the struggle.When reinforcements were needed more then 600 taxicabs rushed soilders from Paris to the front. -
Battle of Limanowa
In the east, Russian forces had already invaded Germany. Germany was going to have to fight a long war on two fronts. Realizing this, the German high command sent thousands of troops from France to aid its forces in the east. -
Verdone
As war on both European Fronts promised to be a grim, drawn-out affair, all the Great Powers looked for new allies to tip the balance. -
Batte on western front
In February, the Germans launched a massive
attack against the French near Verdun. Each side lost more than 300,000 men. -
battle of the somme
The Germans lauched a massive attack against the France near Verdun. Each side lost more than 3,000 men. -
Unrestricted submarine warfare.
In January 1917, the Germans announced that their submarines would sink without warning any ship in the waters around Britain. This policy was called unrestricted submarine warfare. -
Total war
countries devoted all their resources to the war effort. -
Russian revolution
Lenin and the bolsheviks recognized their opportunity to seize power. They soon gained control of the Petrograd soviet. -
Germany attacks France
In March 1918, the Germans mounted one final, massive attack on the Allies in France. More than 6,000 German cannons opened the offensive with the largest artillery attack of the entire war. -
Second battle of the Marne
In July 1918, the Allies and Germans clashed at the Second Battle of the Marne.
Leading the Allied attack were some 350 tanks that rumbled slowly forward, smashing through the German lines. With the arrival of 2 million more American troops, the Allied forces began to advance steadily toward Germany. -
End of World War I
On November 9, 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II was forced to step down. Germany declared itself a republic. A representative of the new German government met with Marshal Foch. In a railway car in a forest near Paris, the two signed an armistice, or an agreement to stop fighting. On November 11, World War I came to an end. -
Treaty of versailles
The differences between French, British, and U.S. aims led to heated arguments among the nations’ leaders. Finally a compromise was reached. The Treaty of Versailles between Germany and the Allied powers was signed on June 28, 1919— five years to the day after Franz Ferdinand’s assassination in Sarajevo.