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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie are shot to death by a Bosnian Serb nationalist during an official visit to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo -
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
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, beginning the First World War. -
Germany declares war on Russia.
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Germany declares war on France, and invades neutral Belgium.
Britain then sends an ultimatum, rejected by the Germans, to withdraw from Belgium. -
The first British troops land in France.
The 120,000 highly trained members of the regular British Army form the British Expeditionary Force commanded by Field Marshal John French. -
Great Britain and France declare war on Austria-Hungary.
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Japan declares war on Germany.
The Japanese then prepare to assist the British in expelling the Germans from the Far East. -
Austria invades Serbia.
This is the third attempt to conquer the Serbs in retaliation for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This attempt fails like the two before it. -
Germany declares the waters surrounding British Isles to be a war zone
This meant that ships can be sunk without warning. -
Armenian Genocide
Was the Ottoman government's systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians, mostly citizens within the Ottoman Empire. -
Treaty of London
Treaty between Italy and England -
German U-Boat torpedoes the British passenger liner Lusitania
A German U-Boat torpedoes the British passenger liner Lusitania off the Irish coast. It sinks in 18 minutes, drowning 1,201 persons, including 128 Americans. President Woodrow Wilson subsequently sends four diplomatic protests to Germany. -
British Army suffers the worst single-day death toll in its history
18,800 soldiers are killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme -
BRITANNIC SINKS IN AEGEAN SEA
No one knows why it sank but people believe the ship hit a hidden mine which killed 30 people on board -
Battle of Rafa
the Battle of Rafa occurs near the Egyptian border with Palestine. -
British troopship Connaught destroyed
British troopship Connaught was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel by German submarine SM U-48 with the loss of three crew -
The United States of America declares war on Germany
The USA officially enters the war -
The first American troops land in France.
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China declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary.
China officially enters the war -
Third Battle of Gaza
Continuous artillery barrages and low ammo forced the Ottoman command to consider a strategic withdraw from Gaza to Wadi el Hesi to the northeast -
The Fourteen Points
The Fourteen Points was a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I -
American collier ship USS Cyclops disappears
American collier ship USS Cyclops disappeared with all 306 crew and passengers on-board after departing from Barbados for Baltimore in the Bermuda Triangle Area -
Allies close in on Germany
This is the beginning of the end of the war -
Germans sign the Armistice
Fighting continues all along the Western Front until precisely 11 o'clock, with 2,000 casualties experienced that day by all sides. -
Paris Peace Conference
Allied nations began a series of discussions that became known as the Paris Peace Conference to settle issues raised by the war and its aftermath. -
Treaty of Versailles
Germany and the Allied Nations (including Britain, France, Italy and Russia) signed the Treaty of Versailles, formally ending the war.
