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The assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo
The Austro-Hungarian Empire sent its corwn prince, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, to Bosnia's capital of Sarajevo to demonstrate its imperial rule. As Archduke and his wife made their way through the city, they were shot and killed by a Black Hand member, Gavilo Princip. -
Austria declear war on Serbia
Austriia-Hungary blamed the Serbian for the assisnation of Frnaz Ferdinand and his wife and declear war on Serbia. -
Germany declares war on Russia
After Russia annouced its general mobilization, Germany and Austria-Hungary demands that Russia stop mobilizing; Russia ignores and later Germany decalres war on Russia. -
Germany declared war on France
Germany troops poured into Belgium as directed under the Schleiffen Plan. -
Britain declares war on Germany
After Germany violated the neutrality of Belgium, in order to attack France, British sent an ultimatum to Germany demanding their withdraw from the neutral Belgium. Germany did not withdraw, therefore, Britain delcear war on Germany. -
Canada is automatically at war as part of the British Empire.
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The Second Battle of Ypres
Poison gas was used for the first time during this battle. French and Canadian troops were blinded, burned, or killed when the Germans used chlorine gas. -
Italy entered the war on the side of the Allies (Triple Alliance).
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The Battle of the Somme
The allies launched a massive attack against the line of German trenches near the Somme River in France but the attack failed. -
German U-boat campaign
Germany announced that U-boats would sink any ship within the war zone around Britain—including ships that were not from Allied countries. -
USA enter the war on the side of the Allies
The United States of America declared war on Germany in response to the sinking, by the German U boats, of US ships. -
The Battle of Vimy Ridge
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Period: to
Passchendale
General Currie and General Haig take the Canadian troops to captured Passchendale but soon the Germans recaptured the town. -
Russia and the Central Powers signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
This truce on the Eastern Front freed the German troops to fight on the Western Front. -
Allies recover France and Belgium
the Allies had taken almost all of the German-occupied France and part of Belgium. -
Armistice with Turkey
The allies had successfully pushed the Turkish army back and the Turks were forced to ask for an armistice. -
Hindenberg line Collapsed
By the beginning of November the Allies had pushed the Germans beyond the Hindenberg line. -
Armistice signed
In November, the German Kaiser abdicated and fled to Holland and Austria-Hungary agreed to a casefire. In November 11, at 11 am in the French town of Redonthes, the Armistice was signed bringing the war to an end. -
The Treaty of Versailles was signed
The Treaty of Versailles it's one of the treaties that came out of the Paris Peace Conference. This document laid out the terms of peace betweeen Germany and Allies. -
Canada declared war on Germany
On September 3, 1939 Britain and France declared war on Germany. Although Canada was an autonomous country, the Parliament voted in favor of going to war. -
Canada agreed to host and run BCATP
In December 1939, Canada agreed to host and run the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). BCATP trained more than 130000 pilots, navigators, engineers and ground crews. The total cost was more than $2.2 billion, of which Canada paid more than 70 percent. -
Britain and the Commonwealth were alone against Germany
After the evacuation at Dunkirk, the German Army continued to sweep through France and on June 22, 1940, France surrendered. Britain and the Commonwealth now stood alone against Germany. -
Every Canadians was either killed or taken prisoner
Weeks earlier before Japan attacked Hong Kong, Canada had sent two battalions to reinforce the British Commonwealth forces. By December 25, 1941, Hong Kong had fallen to the Japanese. All 1975 Canadians troops had been killed or taken prisoner. -
Dieppe Raid
One of the ships carrying Canadian soldiers to Dieppe met a small German convoy. They engaged in a small sea battle, but the noise alerted German troops on shore. Since the ships were delayed and the troops landed daylight, they were easily shot down by German machine guns. Nearly 5000 Canadian soldiers involved in the nine-hour battle, 907 were killed, almost 600 were wounded and another 1946 were taken prisoner. -
Battle of Sicily
On July 10, 1943, Allied forces invade Sicily. Canadian soldiers fought Italian and German soldiers through 240 kilometres of mountainous terrain, losing 562 soldiers in the battle. The Allies captured the island after 38 days which the victory led to Mussolini's downfall. He was overthrown and the new Italian gov't surrendered. -
Battle of Ortona
Canadians were given the task of capturing the medieval town of Ortona on the Adriatic Sea. On December 28, 1943, Canadian captured the town but lost 1937 soldiers before the Germans withdrew. -
Juno Beach
On the morning of June 6, 1944, 14000 Canadian soldiers arrived at Juno Beach in France, as part of the first wave of the attack. By the end of the day, Canadian soldier had fought their way inland about 9 kilometres. Although they were successful, casualties from the day were high—359 Canadians died and 715 were wounded. -
Battle of the Scheldt
In October, Canadians were given the task of clearing enemy troops from the Scheldt River in Belgium, which connected Antwerp to the North Sea. The Canadians achieved their goal after a month of bitter fighting, allowing the Allies to bring in supplies for their final advance into Germany. -
Battle of the Rhineland
On February 8, 1945, the Allies—including approx. 175000 Canadians—brgan their attacks to drive the Germans back over the Rhine River and out of the Netherlands. On March 10, 1945, After the Germans lost about 90000 men, including 52000 who were taken prison, the German army withdrew to the east bank of the Rhine River. This allows the Canadians to continue north to liberate Holland. -
The war in Europe was over
The Allies declared May 8 as Victory in Europe (VE) Day. -
The Canadians defeated the Germans in the northern city of Groningen
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The Allies negotiated a truce with Germany
Since the Germans had destroyed many port cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam, food supplies had been cut off and so many Dutch were starving to death. On April 28, 1945, the Allies negotiated a truce with Germany, allowing then to bring much needed supplies to the Dutch people. Convoys of trucks carrying food and fuel eventually delivered thousands of tonnes of supplies to civilians. -
Germany surrendered
Hitler and his wife Eva Braun committed suicide in Berlin before he could be captured. -
The Atomic Bomb
In 1942, Canada was notified of the project and asked to contribute uranium and the gov't agreed. On August 6, 1945, an American bomber plane dropped an atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, a second atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. It is estimated that the two bombing killed approx. 100 000 people and wounded another 100 000. -
The War Ends
The Japanese surrendered on August 14, 1945, after they realized that they couldn't withstand the power of the U.S. weapon. The Second World War was over after six long years and the loss of millions of lives.