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How it began
The war started with the murder of Franz Ferdidnand. The murder of Franz pushed the European government to war. -
Austrian outrage
Austrian warships bombard Belgrade, capital of Serbia. -
Russia's retaliation angers Germany
Reacting to the Austrian attack on Serbia, Russia begins full mobilization of its troops. Germany demands that it stop. -
Germany Enraged
Germany declares war on Russia. France and Belgium begin full mobilization. -
France in panic
August 3, 1914 - Germany declares war on France, and invades neutral Belgium. Britain then sends an ultimatum, rejected by the Germans, to withdraw from Belgium. -
Russia gets another enemy
The Austro-Hungarian Empire declares war on Russia. -
German Governor taken down
French and British troops invade the German colony of Togo in West Africa. Twenty days later, the German governor there surrenders. -
Russia invades
Russia invades Germany, attacking into East Prussia, forcing the outnumbered Germans there to fall back. This marks the advent of the Eastern Front in Europe in which Russia will oppose Germany and Austria-Hungary. -
Russia's plan for control
German armies continue westward and invade France according to their master strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan. It calls for a giant counter-clockwise movement of German armies wheeling into France, swallowing up Paris, and then attacking the rear of the French armies concentrated in the Alsace-Lorraine area. Germans seek to achieve victory over France within six weeks and then focus on defeating Russia in the East before Russia's six-million-man army, the world's largest, can fully mobilize. -
Communication shut down
In the Far East, a German naval squadron, commanded by Graf von Spee severs the British Pacific communications cable. -
France cracks down
The French government enacts nationwide State of War regulations which include total control over the economy and national security, strict censorship, and suspension of civil liberties. -
Oceanic Warfare
A German U-boat sinks the Lusitania. A British British ocean liner, holder of the Blue Riband, and briefly the world's largest passenger ship until the completion of her running mate Mauretania
