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The formation of the Triple Alliance
Otto von Bismark saw France as the main threat to peace in Europe. He was afraid that France was still angered about loosing the Franco-Prussian War, and wanted revenge on Germany. In order to maintain the peace, Bismark wanted to isolate France.
He believed that as long as France had no allies, it was not a threat. Later in 1879, Germany and Austria-Hungry joined together to become the Dual Alliance. Soon after Italy joined the Dual Alliance, finally forming the Triple Alliance. -
The formation of the Triple Entente
During Kaiser Wilhelm II’s rise to power, he was trying to assert himself as a great ruler. One of the things he did to prove he was a great ruler was attempt to build a navy as strong as that of Great Britain. This frightened the British, and in response, constructed an alliance with France. Then in 1907 Britain made another alliance, this time with both France and Russia. -
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand was visiting Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, with his wife Sophie. They were riding in an open car when Gavrilo Princip a member of the Black Hand, shot them. This occurred because the main objective of the Black Hand society was to eliminate Austrian rule from Bosnia. -
Austria declares war on Serbia
Since the murderer of Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie was a Serbian, Austria came to the conclusion to use the killings as a reason to punish Serbia. Austria gave Serbia a set of demands they were required to abide by, for the Serbians knew if they did not it would ultimately lead to war. Serbia offered an international conference as a solution, but Austria rejected their offer and declared war. -
Germany develops Schlieffen Plan
Since Germany was dealing with war from both sides, they developed a strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan. The plan consisted of attacking and beating France in the west then quickly moving to attack Russia in the east. Germany knew they could accomplish this because Russia was behind the rest of Europe in modern technology. -
First Battle of Marne
While carrying out the Schlieffen Plan it seemed that Germany would succeed, because by early September they had already reached the border of Paris. However, on September 5, the allies got together and moved against the Germans in the valley of the Marne River northeast of Paris. After four days of battle and hundreds of reinforcements, the Germans retreated. -
Gallipoli Campaign/Battle
The Allies believed the Ottoman Empire could be very useful to them, however in order to gain access to the city of Constantinople they had to capture the Dardanelles strait. The Allies initiated several attacks on the Gallipoli region but Turkish troops were able to fight off the Allies until they retreated and gave up the campaign. -
Trench Warfare
A new strategy of attack had been developed by 1915. The method of digging miles of trenches across from each other became known as trench warfare. The purpose of these trenches was to protect soldiers from opposing fire. The conditions in the trenches were muddy, miserable, and dangerous. The land between the frontlines of trenches was known as “no man’s land.” -
Battle of Verdun
Due to new technological advances in weapons such as; poison gas, machine guns, and tanks, the number of deaths during battle was higher that ever before. This is greatly shown through the outcome of the Battle of Verdun. The Germans has attacked the French, and both sides lost over 300,000 soldiers. Else where the British tried to help the French by attacking the Germans near Verdun. -
Battle of Somme
While the French were fighting off the Germans in Verdun the British decided to attack the Germans in the valley of the Somme River. Just on the first day of fighting the British had more that 20,000 casualties. In November at the end of the Battle of Somme, each side, including the French and Germans in Verdun, had suffered loses of over half a million soldiers. -
America joins the fight
Germany announced the policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. This entitled that the Germans would sink any ship sailing in the waters surrounding Britain. Germany would not stop sinking American ships even after they had made an agreement with President Woodrow of the United States. The event that pushed the U.S. the declare war on Germany was the discovery of a note written by Zimmermann along with the fact that Germany refused to abide by the demands of the U. S. -
Influenza epidemic
In 1918, a new force came up, more powerful than any nation. This force was a massive epidemic of influenza. By late 1918, it had spread through Europe, Russia, Asia, and had even reached the United States. The influenza killed both civilians and soldiers, nothing stopping its path of destruction. Worldwide, the disease killed more than the war itself causing 20 million casualties all together. -
Treaty of Versailles
A meeting to discuss the war called the Paris Peace Conference involved the united States, France, Britain, and Italy. At this conference the leaders discussed President Wilson’s Fourteen Points and other proposals for peace in the world. At one point it seemed as though there would never a solution to these conflicts, until a compromise was made called the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty was between Germany and the Ally powers, and Germany was forced to sign. -
Creation of League of Nations
As a result of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles a group called the League of Nations was formed. The main objective of the League of Nations was for group leaders to keep peace worldwide. This organization of leaders was very closely related to our current day United Nations.
