World war 1 recruiting poster

World War I

By EDSman11

  • Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

  • Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia

  • Period: to

    Austria-Hungary repeatedly invades Serbia

  • Outbreak of war - Germany declares war on Russia

  • Germany declares war on France

  • Woodrow Wilson declares U.S. neutral

  • Germany invades neutral Belgium

  • Britain declares war on Germany

  • Battle of the Frontiers begins

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    Russia invades East Prussia

  • Japan declares war on Germany

  • Period: to

    Austria-Hungary invades Russian Poland (Galicia)

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    Battle of Tannenberg

    Battle of Tannenberg, which Russia loses; Germany's greatest success of the war on Eastern Front
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    First Battle of Marne

    First Battle of Marne, halts German advance, resulting in stalemate and trench warfare
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    First Battle of Masurian Lakes

    First Battle of Masurian Lakes, which Russia loses

  • First Battle of Aisne begins

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    The "race to the sea"

    The "race to the sea", trenches appear on September 15
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    Austro-German attack on western Poland

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    First Battle of Ypres

  • Turkey enters the war on the side of the Central Powers

  • Battle of the Falkland Islands

  • First German air raid on Britain

  • Japan's 21 demands on China

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    First German zeppelin attack on England

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    Austro-Hungarian attack on Russian Poland (Galicia) collapses

    Austro-Hungarian attack on Russian Poland (Galicia) collapses, with the Russians counterattacking

  • German U-boat attacks on Allied and neutral shipping

  • Germany declares blockade of Britain

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    Second Battle of Masurian Lakes (also known as the Winter Battle)

    Russians suffer heavy losses at Second Battle of Masurian Lakes (also known as the Winter Battle)
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    Allied attack on the Dardanelles and Gallipoli ends

    Allied amphibious attack on the Dardanelles and Gallipoli (initiated by Winston Churchill, who resigns as a consequence) ends with the Turkish siege of the Allied forces

  • First passenger ship sinks, the British liner Falaba

  • Britain announces blockade of German ports

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    Germans focus on Eastern Front, breaking through Gorlice-Tarnow and forcing Russia out of much of Poland

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    First use of poison gas by Germany starts Second Battle of Ypres

  • Allied landing at Gallipoli

  • France, Russia, Italy and Britain conclude secret Treaty of London

  • Austro-German offensive on Galicia begins

  • U-boat sinks British liner Lusitania

    U-boat sinks British liner Lusitania with the loss of American lives, creating a US-German diplomatic crisis

  • Second Battle of Artois begins

  • Ignoring treaty agreements with the Central Powers, Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary

  • Period: to

    Italians launch unsuccessful attacks on Hungarians

    Italians launch unsuccessful attack on Hungarians at 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Battles of Isonzo; there are to be 12 in total

  • Germans capture Warsaw

  • Tsar Nicholas takes command of Russian armies

  • Second Battle of Champagne begins

  • Period: to

    Austro-German-Bulgarian forces invade Serbia, expelling Serbian army from the country

  • Anglo-French force lands at Salonika in Greece

  • Sir Douglas Haig replaces Sir John French as commander of British Expeditionary Force

  • Allies begin withdrawal of troops from Gallipoli

  • Period: to

    German attack on Verdun

    German attack on Verdun in the longest battle of the war, ultimately defended by the French at great cost to both sides
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    5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th Battles of Isonzo between Italy and Austria-Hungary

  • French passenger ship, Sussex, torpedoed

  • Period: to

    British forces in Mesopotamia begin advance on Baghdad

  • Easter rebellion starts in Ireland

  • Germany renounces submarine policy

  • Britain and France conclude Sykes-Picot agreement

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    Battle of Jutland

    Battle of Jutland, the biggest naval battle in history, ultimately without a clear victor
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    Turkish forces, led by Enver Pasha, are defeated by the Russians in the Caucasus

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    Russian Brusilov offensive in Carpathia nearly knocks Austria-Hungary out of the war

  • With British support (led by T.E. Lawrence), Hussein, grand sherif of Mecca, lead an Arab revolt against the Turks in the Hejaz

  • Start of the Battle of the Somme, with the greatest number of casualties in British military history, 60,000

  • US marines land in Haiti

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    Romania enters the war with the Allies, but is quickly overrun by German forces

  • Italy declares war on Germany

  • Germany suspends submarine assaults

  • Tanks introduced for the first time on the Somme battlefield by the British

  • Germany resumes U-boat attacks

  • Period: to

    US President Woodrow Wilson secures re-election

  • End of the Battle of the Somme

  • Germany announces unrestricted submarine warfare

  • Germany resumes unrestricted submarine warfare

  • US severs diplomatic ties with Germany

  • Zimmermann Telegram is passed to the US by Britain, detailing alleged German proposal of an alliance with Mexico against the US

  • US President Woodrow Wilson requests permission from Congress to arm US merchantmen

  • Zimmermann Telegram published in US press

  • British capture Baghdad

  • US President Woodrow Wilson announces arming of US merchantmen by executive order after failing to win approval from Congress

  • Tsar Nicholas II abdicates as a consequence of Russian Revolution

  • US President Woodrow Wilson's war cabinet votes unanimously in favour of declaring war on Germany

  • US President Woodrow Wilson delivers war address to Congress

  • US declares war on Germany

  • Canadian success at the Battle of Vimy Ridge

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    Nivelle Offensive (Second Battle of Aisne, Third Battle of Champagne) ends in French failure

  • Lenin arrives in Russia

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    Mutiny breaks out among French army

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    10th, 11th and 12th Battles of Isonzo fought, ending in Italian failure

  • Pershing leaves New York for France

  • British explode 19 large mines under the Messines Ridge

  • US Espionage Act passed

  • First US troops arrive in France, 1st Division

  • Greece enters the war on the side of the Allies

  • Pershing makes first request for army of 1,000,000 men

  • Pershing revises army request figures upwards to 3,000,000

  • Third Battles of Ypres (Passchendaele) begins

  • Major British offensive launched at Ypres

  • Germany takes the northernmost end of the Russian front in the Riga offensive

  • Austria-Germany breakthrough at Caporetto on Italian front

  • Bolshevik Revolution in Russia results in Communist government under Lenin taking office

  • British launch surprise tank attack at Cambrai

  • US declares war on Austria-Hungary

  • Jerusalem falls to Britain

  • Russia opens separate peace negotiations with Germany (Brest-Litovsk)

  • US President Woodrow Wilson makes "Fourteen Points" speech to Congress

  • US President Woodrow Wilson makes "Four Principles" speech to Congress

  • Soviet Russia concludes separate peace negotiations in treaty of Brest-Litovsk

  • Germany launches Spring push, eventually mounting five major offensives against Allied forces, starting with the Battle of Picardy against the British

  • Doullens Agreement gives General Ferdinand Foch "co-ordinating authority" over the Western Front

  • Germany launches second Spring offensive, the Battle of the Lys, in the British sector of Armentieres

  • Foch appointed Commander-in-Chief of Allied forces on Western Front

  • German U-boats appear in US waters for first time

  • Third German Spring offensive, Third Battle of the Aisne, begins in French sector along Chemin des Dames

  • US forces (28th Regiment of 1st Division) victorious in first major action, Battle of Cantigny

  • US 3rd Division captures Bouresches and southern part of Belleau Wood

  • Germans launch fourth Spring offensive, Battle of the Matz, in French sector between Noyan and Montdider

  • Italians prevail against Austro-Hungarian forces at Battle of Piave

  • US President Woodrow Wilson agrees to US intervention in Siberia

  • Final phase of great German Spring push, the Second Battle of Marne, begins

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    Former Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, and children, are murdered by the Bolsheviks

  • Allies counterattack against German forces, seizing initiative

  • Allied intervention begins at Vladivosto

  • Haig directs start of successful Amiens offensive, forcing all German troops back to the Hindenburg Line; Ludendorff calls it a "black day" for German army

  • US forces clear the St.-Mihiel salient, during which the greatest air assault of the war is launched by the US

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    Belgian troops attack at Ypres

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    Germany and Austria send peace notes to US President Woodrow Wilson requesting an armistice

  • Germany ceases unrestricted submarine warfare

  • German republic is founded

  • Armistice day; fighting ceases at 11am

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    Communist revolt in Berlin

  • Start of peace negotiations in Paris

  • Peace conference accepts principle of a League of Nations

  • German National Assembly meets in Weimar

  • Draft covenant of League of Nations completed

  • Peace conference disposes of German colonies

  • Period: to

    Treaty of Versailles drafted and signed