-
Assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
The Austro-Hungarian prince and his wife, Sophie, were killed in Bosina. A member of the Black Hand, Gavrilo Princip, shot them in Sarajevo as they were riding in an open car. This caused Austria to demand many unrealistic things from Serbia. The Serbians could not fufill the demands and wanted to negotiate, but they Austro-Hungarians didn't want to negotitate and declared war. -
Period: to
World War I
World War I was the first war that was on the global scale. About 8.5 million soldiers died and 21 million were wounded. Countless civilians died from starvation, disease, and the slaughter. The war cost $338 billion and destroyed a lot of property. It ended with the signing of the armistice, but left much resentment that would lead into World War II. -
First Battle of the Marne
The First Battle of the Marne was a major battle that was fought between Germany and the Allies in France. The Germans fought this battle because they were trying to gain France quickly in accordance with their Schlieffen Plan. This plan wanted to defeat the French so they could send the German troops to fight Russia. The Battle of the Marne was won by the Allies in four days, which crushed the Gernmans hopes of using the Schlieffen plan. -
Trench Warfare Instituted
Trench Warfare was a strategy used in World War I that had soldiers fighting each other from trenches. The opposing forces would dig trenches across from each other and shoot at their enemy. The soldiers were forced to jump out of the trenches went the commander told them to to try to gain land. The soldiers would enter "no mans land," an area that was between the two trenches. Trench Warfare gained small amounts of land but suffered great losses of life. -
The Gallipoli Campaign
The Gallipoli Campaign was an effort made by the Allies in order to gain the Dardanelles Strait from the Ottoman Empire. Troops from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and France all attacked the strait. The Turkish troops, however, continued to sucessfully protect the strait and turned the Campaign into a stalemate. In December of 1915, the Allies gave up and retreated after they had suffered a loss of 250,000 troops. -
Germans Use Unrestricted Warfare
The Germans made an announcement that they will sink any ship that goes near Britain. This is called Unresticted Submarine Warfare. The Germans started to sink ships that had citizens on them. Attacks left thousands of people dead, including 128 Americans. The Germans agreed to not attack neutral ships or ships with citizens on them. Later the Central Powers needed an advantage over the Allies and went back to sinking all ships. This lead to Germany having problems with the United States. -
Czar Nicholas II Abdicated the Throne
Czar Nicholas was the last of the Romanov monarcy of Russia. After Russia entered the war, Nicholas took direct control of the army which caused his people to blame all failure on him. Nicholas, often away at war, was not in Russia in order to take care of the loss of life, inflation, and food shortages that were taking place in Russia because of the war. Nicholas lost the support of the army and protests began to take place in Russia capital. Nicholas had to abdicate the throne of Russia. -
United States Join the Allies
In early 1917, the Germans reinstituted unrestricted submarine warfare and sank three, neutral, American ships. In February 1917, the German foreign secretary sent a telegram to Mexico saying that if they allied with Germany, then the German troops would help take back land from the United States. The United States joined the Allies because of German actions and common ancestory and language with the British. The image shown is of the telegram sent by Germany to Mexico. -
War Becomes Total War
Shortly after the U.S. joined the war, World War I became a total war. Total war meant that a country had to devote all of its recources to the war. the economy was taken over by wartime governments and factories were told exactly what to make and how much was needed. Many people were also forced to work so more supplies could be built. Total war also meant that women were needed to help soldiers and work for the government. -
Period: to
Influenza Epidemic
The Influenza is a sickness which killed many people all over the world during the war, claiming 50-100 million lives. Scientist do not know where this virus started, but it spread quickly during the war. Symptoms of the virus included weakness and pain in the body, and fever that often led to delusions. -
Signing of the Armstice
The signing of the Armistice was the agreement ot stop fighting between Germany and France. After the Germans turned against their old kaiser, he agreed to step down. A German representative agreed to meet with French commander Marshal Foch to stop the fighting. The Armistice was signed inside a railroad car in France. This agreement ended World War I. -
The League of Nations
The League of Nations was created in President Wilson's Fourteen Points. This was a league that was meant to keep peace between the counrtries. The League of Nations was created to prevent another World War like this one. The League of Nations would negotiate problems in a peaceful way so countries would not go to was with one another -
Period: to
Paris Peace Conference
This was a meeting of 32 countries that was held at the Palace of Versailles. At this confrence, the four main powers of the Allies, France, Great Britain, Italy, and the United States, made the large decisions. At the confrence, the countries wrote up and signed the Treaty of Versailles, the Treaty of Saint-Germain, the Treaty of Neuilly, the Treaty of Trianon, and the Treaty of Sèvres. These treaties did not result in peace, rather, they created bitterness between countries. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles is the most well known of the Paris Peace Treaties. This treaty was between the Allies and Germany. It created the Leauge of Nations, placed severe punishments on Germany including territorial losses, military restrictions, and war guilt. Italy and Japan were angry because they felt they did not gain enough land. Mandated territories were upset because they were not being given independance. The treaty left resentment of the Allies in Germany and other countries.
