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The Balkan Wars
The battles between 4 Balkan states and Turkey were fought for the redistribution of European territories in the Ottoman Empire. The war was declared by Montenegro. Eventually, the Balkan states would defeat the Ottoman Empire. After the war, Albania was under the rule of a German Prince. Serbia gained the Kosovo region and extended to the northern parts of Central Macedonia. -
Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand
Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated. This is what started the first world war. The reason he was assassinated was because of his perceived threat to Serbian Independence. Austria Hungary then declared war on Serbia. This was the first move in WW1. This would continue to turn into the largest war anyone has ever witnessed. -
WW1 begins
A month after Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated. The first world war broke out, Germany was crossing Belgian territory to conquer the city of Liege. The battle took 11 days but Germany came out victorious. 4 years would pass by, in those 4 years, America would join in and help the allies (Britain and France) win the war. Germany suffered a crushing loss and they became a poor country for a while. -
Battle of Gallipoli, Somme
On February 19, 1915, the Battle of Gallipoli began. The purpose of the battle was to capture Constantinople (Istanbul) and knock Ottoman Turkey out of the war. The Ottoman Empire suffered a whopping 80,000 casualties and about 160,000 injuries. With multiple countries fighting together, the Ottoman Empire was sure to fall. After the Ottoman Empire was defeated, most of their territories were split between Britain, France, Greece and Russia. -
Lusitania Sinks
The Lusitania was sunk by a German torpedo. There were about 2,000 men on that boat and about 1,100 of them perished. Some famous people who died on the ship were, “Charles Frohman”, “Elbert Hubbard” and “Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt”, they were very wealthy men. The reason why the Germans sank the Lusitania was because it was carrying Cargo filled with weapons and ammunition. They felt it was the right thing to do as the ammunition would be benefiting their enemies. -
Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun began. It was one of the biggest battles in WW1. There were 400,000 French Casualties and 350,000 German casualties. The battle lasted 10 whole months. France came out victorious in the end. The goal of The Battle of Verdun was to crush the French Army before they grew in power. Obviously this plan failed and it backfired on Germany because they wasted their soldiers. -
The Zimmermann Note
The Zimmermann Telegram was sent out to the German Minister in Mexico. The reason why the Zimmerman note was sent was to get away with unrestricted submarine warfare. Germany was hoping that the U.S. Zimmermann would get in tensions with Mexico which would slow down the transportation of troops, weapons and ammunition. -
Zimmermann Note Cont.
This was also sent out so that Mexico and Japan would back Germany up in case America were to declare war on them. The Zimmermann note was meant to benefit Mexico as they were supposed to get U.S. territory as long as they allied with them. This didn’t end up working. -
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution started to take place. The poor citizens of Russia were tired of the way they were being taxed and forced to work harder just to scrape a living. They started to get the royal guard on their side and they revolted against the royal people. Communism started becoming more popular and was promised to be a new and improved government, but over the years, Communism became corrupt and Russia is in a very poor state as of now. -
The United States enters the war
The US got involved in the war. The reason why is because Germany violated a pledge to avoid submarine warfare in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean. When the US got involved, the war would take a large turn for the best. They would continue to have the war in Britain's and France’s favor over their enemies, Germany and Austria. It was an allied victory, if America never joined, Britain and France would have probably been defeated. -
Russia withdraws from WW1
Russia withdrew from the war. The reason why they withdrew was because the Russian Revolution was happening. Their main goal was to take over their current government and to make Communism take over. They focused on fighting a civil war to benefit their country. This was probably the best choice because otherwise, Russia would fall. -
Battle of Chateau-Thierry
The Battle of Chateau-Thierry began. This was part of the bigger fight going on called the “Battle of the Marne” where they were trying to get France troops away from Flanders, an area in Belgium. The reason why this battle took place was so the American’s could stand their ground and push Germany back to where they came from. This was considered a pivotal turning point for the war. This battle lasted for almost about a week. -
The Battle of Argonne
A million American soldiers took offense.The Germans put up a good fight but the amount of Americans would slowly push them to defeat. The purpose of this battle was to push the German troops out of France and back to Germany. The battle lasted about 1 month and a half with many casualties on both sides. There were about 120,000 American casualties, 120,000 German casualties and 70,000 French casualties. -
Armistice of WW1
The Armistice of WW1 was signed. Signing this meant that WW1 would officially come to an end. It was a time to celebrate as the whole world would be at peace for another 20 years. The Armistice was signed by the Marshal of France Ferdinand Foch, some allies and Germany. All the soldiers from every country went back to their homeland to see their families. -
The Treaty of Versailles signing
The Treaty of Versailles was signed. What the treaty meant was that Germany had to give up colonies in Africa, Asia and The Pacific to France and Poland. They had to reduce the size of their military, pay their allies and they had to take the blame for the war. This treaty was very controversial as people would now hate Germany because -
First Meeting of the League of Nations
The first assembly was held at Geneva, 41 member states in total. Why this was created was to resolve international disputes. Woodrow Wilson was the founder of this organization. Although his organization kind of failed, he was still remembered as an important figure and one of our greatest Presidents. The organization would come to an end in 1946.