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Francis Ferdinand assassinated at Sarajevo
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, nephew of Emperor Franz Josef and heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is shot to death along with his wife by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on this day in 1914. -
Kaiser William II promised German support for Austria against Serbia
On July 5, 1914, in Berlin, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany pledges his country's unconditional support for whatever action Austria-Hungary chooses to take in its conflict with Serbia, a long-running rivalry thrown into crisis by the assassination, the previous June 28, of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife by a Serbian nationalist -
Austria declared war on Serbia
On July 28, 1914, 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 declared war on Russia
The Imperial German Government have used every effort since the beginning of the crisis to bring about a peaceful settlement. In compliance with a wish expressed to him by His Majesty the Emperor of Russia, the German Emperor had undertaken, in concert with Great Britain, the part of mediator between the Cabinets of Vienna and St. Petersburg; but Russia, without waiting for any result, proceeded to a general mobilisation of her forces both on land and sea. -
Germany declared war on France and invaded Belgium. Germany had to implement the Schlieffen Plan.
The Schlieffen Plan was created by General Count Alfred von Schlieffen in December 1905. The Schlieffen Plan was the operational plan for a designated attack on France once Russia, in response to international tension, had started to mobilise her forces near the German border. The execution of the Schlieffen Plan led to Britain declaring war on Germany on August 4th -
Britain declared war on Germany
On September 1, 1939 German troops swarmed across the Polish border and unleashed the first Blitzkrieg the world had seen. Hitler had been planning his attack since March - ever since German troops occupied the remainder of Czechoslovakia. The Poles suspected as much and readied their defenses. Unfortunately the Poles based their defensive strategy on the experiences of World War I. Mobility was crucial - mobility provided by cavalry troops the Poles considered the best in the world. Indeed, the -
Allied troops landed in Gallipoli
The Gallipoli Campaign (Battle of Gallipoli) was one of the Allies great disasters in World War One. It was carried out between 25th April 1915 and 9th January 1916 on the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire. The doomed campaign was thought up by Winston Churchill to end the war early by creating a new war front that the Ottomans could not cope with -
Italy declared war on Germany and Austria
The Italian Front (Italian: Fronte italiano; in German: Gebirgskrieg, "Mountain war") was a series of battles at the border between the Austria-Hungary and Italy, fought between 1915 and 1918 in World War I. Following the secret promises made by Allies in the Treaty of London, Italy entered war in order to annex the Austrian Littoral and northern Dalmatia, and the territories of present-day Trentino and South Tyrol. -
Start of the Battle of Loos
Compared with the small-scale British efforts of spring 1915, this attack of six Divisions was a mighty offensive indeed - so much so that it was referred to at the time as 'The Big Push'. Taking place on ground not of their choosing and before stocks of ammunition and heavy artillery were sufficient, the opening of the battle was noteworthy for the first use of poison gas by the British Army. Despite heavy casualties, there was considerable success on the first day in breaking into the deep ene -
The Allies started the evacuation of Gallipoli
On December 15, Allied forces begin a full retreat from the shores of the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey, ending a disastrous invasion of the Ottoman Empire. The Gallipoli campaign resulted in 250,000 Allied casualties and a greatly discredited Allied military command. Roughly an equal number of Turks were killed or wounded. -
Start of the Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun in 1916 was the longest single battle of World War One. The casualties from Verdun and the impact the battle had on the French Army was a primary reason for the British starting the Battle of the Somme in July 1916 in an effort to take German pressure off of the French at Verdun. The Battle of Verdun started on February 21st 1916 and ended on December 16th in 1916. It was to make General Philippe Pétain a hero in France -
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland is considered to be the only major naval battle of World War One. Jutland witnessed the British Navy losing more men and ships but the verdict of the Battle of Jutland was that the German Navy lost and was never in a position again to put to sea during the war. Admiral John Jellicoe's tactics were criticised by some, but after the battle the British Navy remained a powerful fighting force whereas the German High Seas fleet was not. -
Start of the Brusilov Offensive
The Brusilov Offensive took place in 1916. The offensive started in June 1916 and ended in August of the same year. The Brusilov Offensive ironically was nearly a major success in a war that had been a disaster for the Russians up to that year. -
USA declared war on Germany
On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson went before a joint session of Congress to request a declaration of war against Germany. Wilson cited Germany’s violation of its pledge to suspend unrestricted submarine warfare in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and its attempts to entice Mexico into an alliance against the United States, as his reasons for declaring war. -
Britain launched a major offensive on the Western Front
At the beginning of 1918, Germany's position on the battlefields of Europe looked extremely strong. German armies occupied virtually all of Belgium and much of northern France. With Romania, Russia and Serbia out of the war by the end of 1917 -
British tanks won a victory at Cambrai
The Battle of Cambrai, 20 November-7 December 1917, was the first large scale tank battle in history. It was launched after the general failure of the main British autumn offensive of 1917, the Third Battle of Ypres, famous for the Passchendaele mud. Ironically the poor weather at Ypres had preserved the Tank Corps, which by November could field over 300 tanks
