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Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot along with his pregnant wife Sophie by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914.
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The plot to kill the Archduke was initiated by the leader of the Black Hand, Dragutin Dimitrijevic. The Black Hand was a group of Serbs dedicated to making Serbia very large with the use of violence. Three men were sent to Bosnia-Herzegovina with the task of assassinating the Archduke. One the assassins threw a bomb, which failed to injure Ferdinand, but a young Serbian Nationalist named Gavrilo Princip was successful at murdering the couple. He fired only two shots.
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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. In response, Russia formally ordered mobilization in the four military districts facing Galicia, its common front with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. That night, Austrian artillery divisions initiated a bombardment of Belgrade across the Danube River.
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Russia's support of Serbia brought France into the conflict. Germany declared war on Russia on August 1 and France on August.
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Germany declares war on France and invades neutral Belgium.
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Germany didn't withdraw from Belgium and Britain declared war on Germany.
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Japan declared war on Germany through her alliance with Great Britain, signed in 1902
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The Battle of Tannenberg was fought between Russia and Germany between the 26th and 30th of August 1914. The battle resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Russian Second Army and the suicide of its commanding general, Alexander Samsonov.
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Turkey entered the war on the side of the central powers and gave help to a German naval bombardment of Russia.
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In response to attacks on Russian ports and shipping in the Black Sea beginning on October 29, Russia declared war on Turkey on November 2, 1914.
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Britain and France, Russia’s allies, declared war on Turkey, because of the help given to the German attack on Russia.
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Britain bombarded Turkish forts in the Dardanelles.
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Italy entered the war on the side of the Allies.
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Italy declares war on Germany and Austria.
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The Battle of the Loos starts. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used poison gas and the first mass engagement of New Army units.
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The Battle of Verdun begins. Over the next 10 months, the French and German armies at Verdun, France, suffer over 700,000 casualties, including some 300,000 killed. By the battle’s conclusion, entire French villages had been wiped from the map.
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The Battle of Jutland is a naval battle fought between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet, under Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer, during the First World War.
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The First Battle of the Somme begins. The British offensive is intended to draw German attention from Verdun, and in that regard only could it be considered a success. The nearly 20,000 killed in action on July 1 marks the single bloodiest day in the history of the British army.
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Romania joined the war on the side of the Allies. But within a few months was occupied by Germans and Austrians.
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World War I officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. People in Germany were angry. The country had to pay 132 billion gold marks to repair the damages of war. They became poor because of this.
