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Czarist Russia is stored with internal discontent that erupts into violence in St. Petersburg in what will become known as the Bloody Sunday Massacre.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bloody-sunday-massacre-in-russia -
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, prince to the Austria–Hungary throne, is assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serbian named Gavrilo Princip. His death is the event that sparks World War I.
https://www.history.com/news/the-assassination-of-archduke-franz-ferdinand-100-years-ago -
Russia mobilizes its giant army to intervene against Austria-Hungary to support its alliance with Serbia. This move starts a chain reaction that leads to the mobilization of the rest of the European Great Powers, and inevitably to the outbreak of hostilities.
https://causesofwwi.wordpress.com/russian-mobilization/ -
Before the Germans declared war on France, they needed free passage across Belgium. Wanting to keep its neutral status in the war, Belgium denies, leading to German troops invading Belgium. The Belgians as a result picked up their weapons and joined the Allies. It became quickly aware that the small Belgian army was no match for the powerful German offensive. As Germany advanced, the Belgium, French, and Britain retreated.
http://www.historyforkids.net/germany-invades-belgium.html -
The Germans fire shells filled with chlorine gas at Allied lines. This is the introduction of the use of large amounts of gas in battle.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germans-introduce-poison-gas -
The Lusitania is torpedoed by a German submarine off the south coast of Ireland. Within 20 minutes, the vessel sank into the Celtic Sea. The attack created a great deal of resentment in the United States, but Germany defended the action, noting that it had given warnings of its intent to attack all ships, neutral or otherwise, that entered the war zone around Britain.
https://www.history.com/news/how-the-sinking-of-lusitania-changed-wwi -
Kaiser Wilhelm suspends unrestricted submarine warfare as a reaction to the international outrage of passenger lines. This is an attempt to keep the United States out of the war, but it severely hinders German efforts to prevent American supplies from reaching France and Britain.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germany-agrees-to-limit-its-submarine-warfare -
The Battle of Lutsk starts the Brusilov Offensive, the largest and most Allied offensive of World War I.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/brusilov-offensive-begins -
The first tanks were used in the World War I Battle of the Somme. They appeared on the battlefield at Flers Courcelette. The large, noisy machines that rolled across the battlefield were a surprise to men on both sides.Though the tanks weren't that useful in their introduction, British commanders were convinced that they would have an important role in future warfare and ordered that more be produced.
https://www.mysticstamp.com/info/this-day-in-history-september-15-1916/ -
Riots and strikes over the scarcity of food erupt in Petrograd.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/february-revolution-begins-in-russia -
During the February Revolution, Czar Nicholas II, ruler of Russia since 1894, is forced to abdicate the throne by the Petrograd insurgents and replaced by a provisional government.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/czar-nicholas-ii-abdicates -
Socialist leaders established the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, made up of one deputy for every 1,000 workers and one for each military company. This Petrograd Soviet stood as a "second government" opposite to the Provisional Government and often challenged the latter's authority.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/oct/25a.htm -
Lenin helped define the goals of 1917 and the future of his nation with his first step being to publish his ideas in a brief collection of notes known as the April Theses.
https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-april-theses-summary-effects.html -
President Wilson wanted the United States to stay neutral, but the sinking of the Lusitania and the Zimmermann Telegram caused the United States to enter World War I.
http://www.american-historama.org/1913-1928-ww1-prohibition-era/us-entry-into-ww1.htm -
The Kornilov Affair was a confused episode where for a time the Provisional Government seemed to be under threat from its own army.
https://alphahistory.com/russianrevolution/kornilov-affair/ -
Lenin ordered an attack on the Winter Palace on the night of October 25. Although later Bolshevik propaganda portrayed the attack as a savage battle, very few blood was shed. The immediate outcome was to dive Russia into a brutal civil war that ended with a Bolshevik victory in 1921.
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/bolshevik.htm -
In the city of Brest-Vitovsk, located in modern-day Belarus near the Polish border, Russia signed a treaty with the Central Powers ending its participation in World War I.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/treaties-of-brest-litovsk -
Germany signed an armistice agreement with the Allies.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/world-war-i-ends -
The Comintern, short for Communist International, was designed to oversee the world wide workers' revolution against the establishment.
https://russianlife.com/stories/online/creation-of-comintern/ -
World War I was brought to an official end with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/treaty-of-versailles-1
