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The Assassination of Ferdinand
The Austro-Hungarian heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie went to the capital of Bosnia on June 28, 1914. A Serbian named Gavrilo Princip shot the couple who were in an open car in the Sarajevo streets. Princip shot the royal couple because he was a member of a secret society called Black Hand who wanted to get rid of the Austrian rule in Bosnia. This lead Austria to declare war on Serbia. -
Nations Take Sides
By the middle of August, different nations had their own alliances. One of the alliances was between Germany and Austria-Hungary. This alliance was known as the Central Powers because they were in the heart of Europe. The other alliance was between Great Britain, France, and Russia. They were known as the Allies. Japan and Italy joined the Allies later on even though Italy was originally part of the Central Powers. -
The Battle of Tannenberg
The Battle of Tannenberg was a fight between the Germans and Russians. Germany counterattacked Russia near the town of Tannenberg at the end of August because Russia had previously attacked Austria and Hungary. This battle was four days long and the Germans defeated the Russian Army and made them retreat. More than 30,000 Russians were killed in this battle. -
The First Battle of the Marne
The First Battle of the Marne was the first major clash that took place on the Western Front. It was between Germany and France. The Germans had a plan called the Schlieffen Plan to attack and defeat France and then go to Russia to fight them. This plan backfired, however, because the Allies ended up attacking the Germans in the valley of the Marne River. The German generals ordered their soldiers to retreat after fighting for four days. -
The Gallipoli Campaign
The Gallipoli Campaign was an effort for the Allies to get the Dardanelles which was a small sea strait in a region in the Ottoman Empire. This strait lead to Constantinople, the Ottoman capital. The Allies thought that if they took this strait, they could take Constantinople, conquer the Turks, and establish a supply line to Russia. The British, Australian, New Zealand, and French armies made repeated attacks on the Gallipoli Peninsula but they eventually gave up on the campaign in December. -
The Battle of the Somme
On February 1916, Germany launched a huge attack on the French. This attack was near Verdun and many men were killed. In July, the British tried to help the French and attacked the German troops in the valley of the Somme River which is northwest of Verdun. Just on the first day, more than 20,000 people were killed and when this battle finally ended in November, both Britain and Germany had more than half a million casualties. -
America Joins the Fight
The U.S. was not part of World War 1 until Germany modernized their submarines and sunk them without giving warnings to any of the ships. This was called unrestricted submarine warfare. On May 7, 1915, a German submarine sunk a British ship which killed U.S. citizens so the American president sent a protest to Germany to stop. Germany agreed but went back to the warfare in 1917 so President Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany and the United States entered the war on the Allies' side. -
Total War
World War I became a total war so countries' resources were all devoted to the war. Wartime governments controlled everything from the economy to the number of production of goods in factories. Items started to be short in supply so the government started rationing. Rationing was when people could only buy a limited amount of items that the war also needed. Total warfare happened in many nations including Germany, Austria, Russia, and France. -
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk is Signed
There was civil unrest in Russia because of food shortages so Czar Nicholas stepped down and a communist leader named Vladimir Ilyich Lenin seized power. He wanted his country to not be involved in World War I so he offered a truce with Germany. In March, Germany and Russia signed the Treaty of Best-Litovsk. This ended the war between the two countries. -
The Second Battle of the Marne
The German forces attacked the Allies in France on March 1918, defeated them, and reached the Marne River but they were now weak. The troops were tired and there were little supplies left. The Allies knew they were weak and had a counterattack at the Marne River. The Allies used tanks and smashed through the German lines. The Germans were also at a disadvantage because two million American troops came to support the Allies. The Central Powers crumbled in this battle. -
An Armistice is Signed
Germany and the Central Powers were finally defeated. Kaiser Wilhelm II stepped down from his position. Germany became a republic and a representative from Germany met with Marshal Foch who was a French Commander. They talked in a railway car and signed an armistice which is an agreement to stop fighting. World War I and the allies between the countries ended.
