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Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie the Duchess of Hohenburg, are killed by Bosnian Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip.
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On the eastern front, Germans shatter the Russian Second Army and take over 92,000 prisoners at the Battle of Tannenberg.
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The attack has little military value, but is intended to terrorize civilians.
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German invasion of France is stopped in the First Battle of the Marne as German troops are forced to the north side of the Marne River
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Held by the Germans since 1898, Tsingtao is a lightly garrisoned port city on the Yellow Sea.
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As the armies tried to out flank each other, they extended their lines to the English Channel and began trench warfare. Ypres, a Belgian city and communications hub, was essential to both sides.
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The sound of Christmas carols across No Man’s Land encourages troops from both sides to exchange greetings.
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Each citizen and neutral foreign national is issued a bread card for an initial daily quota of 225 grams
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Ottoman Turkish army disarms and segregates Armenian soldiers into labor battalions fearing Christian Armenians are aiding Orthodox Russians in their fight against Turkey.
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A German officer is arrested in Maine for blowing up a Canadian Pacific Railroad bridge across the St. Croix River.
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Several thousand women demonstrate for peace before the German Reichstag
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In the Second Battle of Ypres, the Germans open the assault with a chlorine gas attack, the first successful use of poison gas on the Western Front
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Allies, including Australian and New Zealand troops, land in Gallipoli, Turkey at Helles and Anzac Cove.
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The Lusitania, a Cunard passenger ship sinks in British waters. A total of 1,198 drown, including many women and children and 124 U.S. citizens.
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A final attempt by Allied troops to take Krithia, a coastal city in Turkey, is unsuccessful. Field Marshal Kitchener decides to send three additional divisions as reinforcements. The Turks also bring in additional troops.
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A six-month campaign conquers the German colony, capturing its wireless stations and strategic harbors.
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In London, women demonstrate for the right to work in war industries
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British and Indian forces move up the Tigris River to capture Kut-al-Amara in Mesopotamia from Turkish forces.
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The Central Powers troops cross the Danube River and within days capture Belgrade. A massive Serbian retreat follows. Soldiers and their families made their way to the Albanian border through mountains and a steady snowfall.
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British nurse Edith Cavell, a nursing instructor working with the Red Cross, is shot by Germans at 7 a.m. under accusations of being a spy and helping Allied soldiers escape Belgium.