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The Start of the War
WWI was known as "The Great War". The main causes of the war were nationalism, militarism, imperialism, secret alliances, and mass media. The incident that started the war was the assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinard and his wife Sophie by Gravilo Princip, an irredentist Serb and member of the Serbian nationalist orginazation, the Black Hand. -
Major Battle- The Marne
Also sometimes referred to as the Battle of the Frontiers, this was the last time the Western Front actually moved in any meaningful way-- after this, the war became stalled alone a line of trenches in eastern France. Very nearly a complete success for the German Blitzkrieg. The French rushed soldiers into battle from Paris in city taxis. There was two Marne battles. The first battle was fought from September 5th to the 12th. The second battle was fought from July 15th to August 6th. -
The Sinking of the Lusitania
Lusitania was a British ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Germany waged submarine warfare against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The ship was identified and destroyed by the German U-boat U-20 and sank in 20 minutes. Lusitania had the misfortune to fall victim to torpedo attack relatively early in the First World War, before tactics for evading submarines were properly understood. -
Major Battle- Verdun
Probably the "worst" battle in human history, Verdun was a ten-month-long struggle over a 5-mile salient in the Western Front. It featured the heaviest artillery bombardment ever seen and resullted in roughly one million casualities combined between Germany and France. It was fought from February 21st to December 18th. -
Russia exiting the War
The Russian Bolshevik Revolution took over the country. They had their own war to fight(amongst themselves) and could not fight Germany anymore. The Bolsheviks were a radical group. They were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress. -
United States entering the War
The United States started sending fresh troups to the Western Front after joining their allies in 1917 for the last year of WWI. The U.S. broke their vow of isolation and entered WWI for many reasons; unrestricted submarine warfare, economic ties with England and France, many U.S. citizens still had family in Europe, the U.S would be the needed replacement for Russia exiting, the U.S was supplying weapons, amo, and money to the allies anyways, and the Zimmerman Note. -
Major Battle- The Somme
Another all-out attack by foot soldiers on entrenched artillery and machine guns, ordered by General Haig. This one spent over one million lives on both sides to gain something less than two miles-- the first day objectives were still three miles away when the generals finally called it quits after nearly five months. It was fought from July 1st to November 18th. -
New Weapons being introduced
Submarines were undetectable underwater vessels that were used to sink warships by sneaking up on them. They were used at sea. Airplanes and blimps were were the first flight that was used to dop bombs on soldiers below. They created new battles for control of the skies. Machine guns were guns that would automatically fire round after round without having to reload. They were used to kill people at war. -
The End of the War
Germany had formally surrendered and all nations had agreed to stop fighting while the terms of peace were negotiated. It was negotiated in the forest of Compiegne, 65 km north-east of Paris. The Germans were agreeing to the policies proposed by American president Woodrow Wilson in his Fourteen Points. The actual terms were written by French Marshal Ferdinand Foch. -
The Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was created and signed to settle the disputes between all the nations involved with World War 1. Parts of the treaty: 1. League of Nations. 2. The Ottoman Empire was shrunk. 3. Austria and Hungary were split and Russia lost territory. 4. New nations were created. 5. Germany had to pay money for damages. 6. Give up all of its colonies. 7. Can't import or manufacture weapons. 8. Can't have any military. 9. Not aloud to have a voice. 10. War Guilt Clause.
