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Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany comes to power
Crowned in 1888, he dismissed the Chancellor, Prince Otto von Bismarck, in 1890 and launched Germany on a bellicose "New Course" in foreign affairs that culminated in his support for Austria-Hungary in the crisis of July 1914 that led to World War I. Bombastic and impetuous, he sometimes made tactless pronouncements on sensitive topics without consulting his ministers, and allowed his generals to dictate policy during World War I with little regard for the civilian government. An ineffective war -
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Reign of King George V
Learn MoreAs a result of the First World War, other empires in Europe fell while his expanded to its greatest extent. In 1917, he became the first monarch of the House of Windsor, which he renamed from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as a result of anti-German public sentiment. His reign saw the rise of socialism, communism, fascism, Irish republicanism, and the Indian independence movement, all of which radically changed the political landscape. The Parliament Act 1911 established the supremacy of the -
Woodrow Wilson elected President
Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. -
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot dead in Sarajevo, by Gavrilo Princip, one of a group of six Bosnian Serb assassins coordinated by Danilo Ilić. The political objective of the assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary's south-Slav provinces so they could be combined into a Greater Serbia or a Yugoslavia. The assassins' motives were consistent with the movement that later became known as -
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
One month to the day after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were killed by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, effectively beginning the First World War. -
Germany declares war on Russia
Germany, an ally of Austria-Hungary, declares war on Russia and demands the neutrality of Russia's ally France. Germany is a Central Power. -
Germany declares war on France
Germany declared war on France. German troops poured into Belgium as directed under the Schleiffen Plan, drawn up in 1905. The British foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, sent an ultimatum to Germany demanding their withdrawal from the neutral Belgium. -
The United Kingdom declares war on Germany
Germany did not withdraw from Belgium and Britain declared war on Germany. The United Kingdom is an Aliied Power. -
Serbia declares war on Germany
Serbia declares war on Germany the same day Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia. Serbia wasn't really an Aliied Power or a Central Power. -
Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia
Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia on August 6, 2011. Austria-Hungary is a Central Power and Russia was an Aliied Power. -
Woodrow Wilson's Declaration of Neutrality
Believing that American should not take part in unrelated European wars, Wilson declared the United States a neutral country. -
Japan declares war on Germany
At the time Japan was allied with Great Britain and when Germany declared war they did what any good ally would do. It also helped that it allowed them seize Germany colonies in Micronesia. Like Serbia, Japan wasn't really wasn't an Allied Power or a Central Power but it was occupied by the Allied Powers by the end of the war. -
The Ottoman Empire enters the war
The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers to form the Triple Alliance with the signing of the August 1914 Turco-German Alliance. Turkey formally entered World War I on October 28, 1914, with the bombing of Russian Black Sea ports. The Triple Entente, or Allied Powers, declared war on the Ottoman Empire on November 4. -
First Battle of the Marne
Fought between 5 and 12 September 1914. It resulted in an Allied victory against the German Army. The battle effectively ended the month long German offensive that opened the war and had reached the outskirts of Paris. The counterattack of six French field armies and one British army along the Marne River forced the German Imperial Army to abandon its push on Paris and retreat northeast, setting the stage for four years of trench warfare on the Western Front. -
United Kingdom begins the naval blockade of Germany
The campaign was highly destructive, and resulted in the loss of nearly half of Britain's merchant marine fleet during the course of the war. -
Battle of Ypres (1915)
There were multiple battles included in The Second Battle of Ypres and it didn't officially end until May 25, 1915. -
Germans first use Chlorine Gas
On April 22, 1915, German forces shock Allied soldiers along the western front by firing more than 150 tons of lethal chlorine gas against two French colonial divisions at Ypres, Belgium. This was the first major gas attack by the Germans, and it devastated the Allied line. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
The sinking of the Lusitania enraged Americans and hastened the United States' entrance into World War I. -
Italy enters the war
The Italian forces were able to withstand the opening Austrian offensive of May- June, known as the Trentino offensive. But Italy was a country ill-prepared for war, and the border between the two countries was predominantly mountainous, giving the advantage to defence. -
First Zeppelin raid on Great Britain
The first Zeppelin raid on London took place on 31st May 1915. The raid killed 28 people and injured 60 more. -
Introduction of the Tank
This date is when the tank was first tested for the British Army. -
Bulgaria enters the war
The country wants to win back control of Macedonia which it had lost after the Second Balkan War (1912-1913). Bulgaria was a Central Power. -
Battle of Verdun
Lasted until December 18, 1916. It was fought between the French and the German. Resulted in 306,000 battlefield deaths (163,000 French and 143,000 German combatants) plus at least half a million wounded, an average of 30,000 deaths for each of the ten months of the battle. It was the longest and one of the most devastating battles in the First World War and the history of warfare. Verdun was primarily an artillery battle: a total of about 40 million artillery shells were exchanged, leaving behi -
Sussex Pledge
Promised a change in Germany’s naval warfare policy. The primary elements of this undertaking were that assenger ships would not be targeted; merchant ships would not be sunk until the presence of weapons had been established, if necessary by a search of the ship; and merchant ships would not be sunk without provision for the safety of passengers and crew. -
Battle of the Somme
Took place between 1 July and 14 November 1916. The battle consisted of an offensive by the British and French armies against the German Army, which, since invading France in August 1914, had occupied large areas of that country. The Battle of the Somme was one of the largest battles of the First World War; by the time fighting had petered out in late autumn 1916 the forces involved had suffered more than 1 million casualties, making it one of the bloodiest military operations ever recorded. -
Romania enters the war
Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary, formally entering World War I, Romanian troops cross the border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire into the much-contested province of Transylvania. Romania was an Allied Power. -
Election of 1916
After a hard-fought contest, Wilson defeated Hughes by a narrow margin. Wilson was helped by his campaign slogan "He kept us out of war". -
Zimmerman Telegraph
Diplomatic proposal from the German Empire to Mexico to make war against the United States. The proposal was caught by the British before it could get to Mexico. The revelation angered the Americans and led in part to a U.S. declaration of war in April. -
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917 (March in the Gregorian calendar; the older Julian calendar was in use in Russia at the time). In the second revolution, during October, the Provisional Government was removed and replaced with a Communist government. -
The U.S. declares war on Germany
On April 6, 1917 the United States Congress declared war upon the German Empire; on April 2, President Woodrow Wilson had asked a special joint session of Congress for this declaration. The USA enters the war as an Allied Power. -
Selective Service Act
It authorized the federal government to raise a national army numbering in the hundreds of thousands with which to fight a modern war. The Act was canceled with the end of the war on November, 1918. -
American forces join the war
The US had to wait a few months after declaring war to join the battle because they had to train new troops. They expected to train for a year but time was cut short. This is just an approximate date. -
Lever Food and Fuel Control Act
The Act, an emergency wartime measure, was designed to expire at the end of World War I or shortly thereafter. It created two agencies, the Food Administration and the Fuel Administration. As United States Food Administrator he had the authority to fix food prices, license distributors, coordinate purchases, oversee exports, act against hoarding and profiteering, and encourage farmers to grow more crops. -
Lenin signs a truce with Germany
In his decree Lenin worked to secure an end to the war using the usual (i.e. traditional) diplomatic channels, while simultaneously promoting the expansion of Soviet ideals around the world, thereby encouraging a widening of the socialist revolution. -
Battle of Cambrai
Lasted until December 7, 1917. The battle is often erroneously noted for being the first large-scale use of tanks in a combined arms operation. -
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
A list of guidelines made by President Wilson to consider while making the peace treaty. -
Sedition Act
It forbade the use of "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the United States government, its flag, or its armed forces or that caused others to view the American government or its institutions with contempt. Those convicted under the act generally received sentences of imprisonment for 5 to 20 years. The act also allowed the Postmaster General to refuse to deliver mail that met those same standards for punishable speech or opinion. -
War Industries Board
The organization encouraged companies to use mass-production techniques to increase efficiency and urged them to eliminate waste by standardizing products. The board set production quotas and allocated raw materials. It also conducted psychological testing to help people find the right jobs. -
Battle of St. Mihiel
Lasted until September 15, 1918. The attack at the St. Mihiel Salient was part of a plan by Pershing in which he hoped that the United States would break through the German lines and capture the fortified city of Metz. It was one of the first U.S. solo offensives in World War I and the attack caught the Germans in the process of retreating. -
Meuse-Argonne Offensive
Part of the final Allied offensive of World War I that stretched along the entire western front. Consisted of 3 phases, and finally ended on November 3rd. -
Dissolution of the Austria-Hungary Empire
Foreign Minister Baron István Burián von Rajecz asked for an armistice based on the Fourteen Points. -
German navy mutinied
On the night of October 29 and the morning of October 30 some ship captains refused to obey orders. -
Armstice
An agreement between the Allies and Germany that eneded the fighting of WW1. This wasn't the actual surrender though. -
League of Nations
Was designed to keep peace in European countries and prevent another World War. Although Wilson came up with the idea he could not get the support for it in the United States to accept it so American did not join. -
Signing of the Treaty of Versailles
Officially ended World War I and was signed at the Palace of Versailles. -
Election of 1920
The United States presidential election of 1920 was dominated by the aftermath of World War I and a hostile response to certain policies of Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic president. The wartime economic boom had collapsed. Politicians were arguing over peace treaties and the question of America's entry into the League of Nations, which produced an isolationist reaction. Warren G. Harding (Democrat) won.
