World War I

By Georgia Moro

  • Assassination

    Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to Austria-Hungary's throne, and his wife, Sophie, are assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip while the couple were visiting Sarajevo.

  • Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.

  • Germany declares war on Russia.

  • Germany declares war on France.

  • The United Kingdom declares war on Germany, after Germany invades Belgium.

  • Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia and Serbia declares war on Germany.

  • U.S. President Woodrow Wilson announces the U.S. will remain neutral.

  • The Battle of Tannenberg begins.

  • The First Battle of the Marne begins. Trench warfare begins as soldiers on both sides dig in.

  • Battle of Ypres begins.

  • The United Kingdom announces that the North Sea is a military area, effectively creating a blockade of goods into Germany.

  • The unofficial Christmas truce is declared.

  • Germany declares a "war zone" around Great Britain

    Essentially effecting a submarine blockade where even neutral merchant vessels were to be potential targets.

  • The Dardanelles Campaign begins.

  • The Second Battle of Ypres begins

    It is during this battle that the Germans first use poison gas.

  • The Battle of Gallipoli begins.

  • The British ocean liner RMS Lusitania is sunk by German U-boat, U-20

  • Tsar Nicholas II takes personal control over Russia's armies.

  • The Battle of Verdun begins.

    The Battle of Verdun was the longest battle of World War I and was one of the bloodiest.

  • The Battle of Jutland, the major naval battle of the war, begins.

  • The Battle of the Somme begins.

    During the Battle of the Somme, tanks are first introduced into battle.

  • Germany sends the secret Zimmerman Telegram to Mexico

    In an effort to entice Mexico to join the war. The British intercept and decipher the coded message.

  • Russian Tsar Nicholas II abdicates.

  • The United States declares war on Germany.

  • The Battle of Passchendaele.

    (also known as the Third Battle of Ypres) begins.

  • The Bolsheviks successfully overthrow the Russian government.

    During the 1917 Russian Revolution.

  • The armistice agreed upon between the new Russian government and the Central Powers goes into effect.

  • U.S. President Woodrow Wilson issues his Fourteen Points to peace.

  • March 3 - Russia signs the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, which is a peace treaty between Russia and the Central Powers.

  • Germany launches the Spring Offensive.

  • German flying ace Baron Manfred von Richthofen, is shot down.

    (more commonly known as the Red Baron)

  • The Second Battle of the Marne begins.

  • Black day for the German Army

  • German Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates and flees Germany.

  • Germany signs the armistice at Compiegne, France.

    Fighting ends on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month (i.e. 11 a.m. on November 11).

  • The Treaty of Versailles officially ends WWI.