-
The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
In 1908, The Empire of Austria-Hungary annexed the Bosnia and Herzegovina. That moved angered Serbian nationalists, the nationalist thought that that region belonged to Serbia. As a result, a group of Serbian nationalists plotted a plan to assassinate the Archduke. On June 28, 1914. The group's first attempt was to throw a bomb at the car. It bounced off and hit another car, it failed and the bomb thrower was arrested. Then, after a wrong turn. Gavrilo Princip killed the Archduke and his wife. -
The Declaration of War
There were two alliances: The Entente and the Central powers. The Entente consisted of Britain, France and Russia. The central powers were Germany,Austria and Italy. After the assassination, Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the assassination. Austria declared war on Serbia. When that happened, Russia declared war on Austria, since they wanted to defend Serbia. Then Germany declared war on Russia, and it spiraled out of control. War with Russia mean with France, Britain and Belgium joined later. -
Period: to
The Dawn of Modern Warfare
World War 1 was the first modern war as many people like to call it, and for good reason. World War 1 was the first used modern weapons like the machine gun, poison gas (chemical warfare), tanks and airplanes. But because of modern weaponry, a lot more men died in this war than in any other war in just that short time span of 4 years of conflict. A testament to show how deadly modern combat can be. -
Period: to
The African Theater of World War 1
The European powers had colonies in Africa and when war broke out, the colonies were also involved. The British, French and Belgian had more colonies were much more larger than the German colonies, so for most of them were not to much of an issue. Such as the allies capturing the colonies of Togo land and German Southwest Africa. Other campaigns such as the German East Africa and German Cameroon did have resistance and were a deliberate issue. Since the German forces used guerrilla tactics. -
The Battle of Liège and the Schlieffen Plan
The Germans came up with a plan, the Schlieffen Plan, which came up before the war. And it involved knocking out the French quickly by invading through Belgium and quickly rushing the French capital, Paris. Then before the Russian could fully mobilize - because they are a much more larger nation - turn all the forces from the west to deal with the Russians to win a quick victory.The Belgian forces fought hard at the battle of Liege in order to slow the quick German advance through their country -
The Japanese joined the War
The Japanese joined the war against the Central Powers. The Japanese had joined mainly to take the Asian colonies in Asia such as the Mariana Islands and Islands from the Bismark sea. -
The Battle of Tannenberg and the The Battle of Masurian Lakes
One of the first battles of the War in the eastern front were the battles of Tannenberg and Masurian Lakes. The Russians launched an offensive in East Prussia in promise with the French that they would attack the Germans. However the battle resulted in a crushing defeat for the Russians, as not only only were the Germans able to intercept their radio communications, the Russian high command was in disarray. When the Russians failed the Germans lauched a counter attack on the Masurian Lakes. -
The Naval Battle of Heligoland Bight
Let's not forget that the war was not only fought in the land. It was also fought in the seas and oceans. The British Navy was the largest in the world in the outbreak of WW1. One of the first major naval engagements of the war was the battle of Heligoland Bight. The result of which gave the British a victory in sinking 1 destroyer, 2 torpedo boats and 3 light cruisers sunk. While the British only had ships that were damaged. -
The Ottoman Empire's entry into the war
The Ottoman Empire initially was neutral. But because of pressure from Germany, and because the Minister of War of the Ottoman empire was pro-German. The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers on October 29,1914. Opening the War to the middle east and Mesopotamia. -
Raids on Suez and the Sinai Peninsula battles
The British controlled the Suez Canal. One of the most strategically important location in the world. As a result, when the Ottomans joined the war, it was one of the objectives to take the Suez Canal from the British, as it would lower their power on that side of the world. They initially took and crossed the Suez Canal, they were later repelled by the British and the Suez Canal was taken back by the British. Then they advanced in the Sinai Peninsula. -
The Gallipoli Campaign
After the Western front has turned into a stalemate, Lord of the First Admiralty Winston Churchill, proposed to open up another front in the war, By invading the Dardanelles Straights to help out Russia with the Ottomans and to open the water ways from the Aegean sea to the Black sea. Not only that, it would divert German forces from other fronts. The combined arms of British, French and ANZAC landed in Cape Helles and ANZAC cove with heavy losses. Soon it stagnated into trench warfare again -
The Armenian Genocide
The Ottomans were losing badly against the British and Russians in the Middle east and in the Caucasus Mountains. They needed a justification to the losses, and blamed the Armenians that lived inside their borders, as they suspected of them working with the enemy. So from April of 1915 to April of 1917, two years straight, the Ottomans killed around 1.5 million Armenians. These types of horrible actions were mainly gone under the radar by the allied powers. -
The sinking of the R.M.S. Lusitania
The British passenger liner the R.M.S. Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland on May 7th, 1915, killing 1,198 passengers, of those passengers were 128 Americans. President Wilson and the American people are angered by this and warn Germany that they will enter the war if they continue with this. -
The Battles of the Isonzo
After the Italians join the Entente, the Italians launch offensives on the Isonzo. The Italians do badly and loose men as quickly as they can be sent to the meat grinder that is the Austria-Hungary defenses in the mountains. The Isonzo saw 12 battles in over 2 years ending in November of 1917. -
Italy's Entry into World War 1
Before the War, Italy was part of the Central Powers. However, their alliance with Italy was unstable. Furthermore, Italy and Austria-Hungary laid claims in the same territory in the Alpine region to the north of Italy. The notion of alliances was compromised by the outbreak of war. The Central Powers did not require members of the alliance to be called to arms. So Italy stayed neutral in the beginning. Until Italy turned on their former allies and joined the Entente, with promises of land. -
The Bulgarians join the war
In October 14, 1915 Bulgaria Joined the War in the side of the Central Powers. They were neutral at first until they were requested to call up arms with both factions. Bulgaria made demands for the factions to fulfill in order for Bulgaria to join. The Central Powers made the demands and join the war against the Entente. Helping the Central Powers take Serbia down, since Austria-Hungary had been struggling to take down Serbia. -
The Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun was the bloodiest and the longest battle of WW1. With both sides suffering over 330,000 casualties. The German Army under Erich von Falkenhayn, launched an offensive on the small town of Verdun. The factors that made the battle so brutal was that the reason for the offensive was to kill as many French men as possible. He knew that the French would defend the city to the last man, since the city has historical value. The lasted for almost a year and ended on Dec 18, 1916. -
Portugal joins WW1
During the war, Portugal was cooperating with the Entente since, the Portuguese had colonies in Africa. And in response, The Germans declared war on Portugal. -
The Brusilov Offensive
The Russian army under the command of Aleksei Brusilov, began the Brusilov Offensive with its main goal to divert forces to relieve pressure from the French at Verdun and the Italians in the Alpine region. The Russian forces were very successful in the first days of the offensive and resulted in huge losses for Austria-Hungary. The offensive was successful in achieving its goal as forces from other fronts were diverted. But there were huge Russian losses to,Which help fan the Russian Revolutions -
The Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme was primarily launched as an offensive by the British to relieve the pressure of the French in Verdun. The battle took place in the river Somme and in the first day of the battle, the British took over 19,000 deaths on the first day. Which made the first day of the Somme the worst day in British Army history. However the battle would rage for another 4 months. -
Bloody April
With the advent of airplanes role in the battlefields, such as scouting, close air support and dog fighting, countries of the First World War started producing airplanes on mass. And while eventually the British would dominate the skies around the end of the war, the Germans initially had the upper hand in the skies. Such as having greater pilots and the Fokker Fighter, a better dog fighting airplane than what the British had in April 1917. Resulting in losses for the Royal Flying Corps -
The US Joins the War
The American people were put on edge after the sinking of the Lusitania, but the straw that broke the camel's back was when Germany sent a telegraph to Mexico to attack the United States and in return they would gain the territory they lost on the Mexican-American War. The British intercept the message however and send the message to the Americans. The American people are outraged and President Wilson asks Congress to declare war on Germany. On April 6, 1917. The US declares war on Germany. -
The October Revolution, Bolsheviks and the Russian Civil War.
Russia had a revolution in February due to the ineffectiveness and failures of the Russian army, which forced Tsar Nicholas II of Russia to abdicate the throne. In its place was a provisional, democratic government. However, this government was not stable. Not to mention, they chose to still fight in the war. So on November 7, 1918. The October Revolution took place and and the Bolsheviks attempted to take power in the Government. This led to a civil war between the White Army and the Red Army. -
Period: to
The German Spring Offensives
After the Russian capitulated and were engulfed in civil war. hundreds of thousands of German soldiers were freed up to be sent to the western front. The German needed a victory in France in order to have a small chance at victory, not to mention, the Americans were on their way. The German Army gathered all they could muster and pushed into the France and form all directions. First at the french in the south, then the British in the West. However, This last gamble failed. -
Battle of Amiens
The German's last ditch offensive was on the City of Amiens. Where the British Army defended it from German forces. The taking of Amiens could have given Germany a leeway to the English Channel to cause disarray among the allied command. But because the Germans were to exhausted, weak and demoralized, the attack failed and with newly arriving American troops, The German Army was on full retreat after this offensive. Leading to capitulation. -
The Meuse–Argonne offensive
After the Germans are exhausted from the spring offensives, the Allies plan a counter-attack offensive to pull back the Germans from France once and for all. The Meuse–Argonne offensive was a huge part in the offensive to push the Germans and it was led by the American forces under the command of General John J. Pershing. The presence of American troops in France was a huge relieve to the allies, since France and Britain were at the breaking point from 4 years of war. -
Armistice Day
Germany signed an armistice on November 11, 1918. Which ended the war. The poppy flowers represent the people that gave their lives during the the conflict. The Conflict officially ended on the signing of the treaty of Versaille. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles mark the official end to The Great War. The Treaty put the blame on Germany for all damages caused by the war and for starting the war. And were to pay a huge amount of war reparations. The German Army could not exceed over 100,000 men. There was to be no air force and the navy was to be comprised of only 6 light cruisers, 12 destroyers. 12 torpedo boats and no submarines. This Treaty was hugely unpopular in Germany. Which help fan some of the causes for its sequel.
