1914

June 28th

Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated at Sarajevo

July 5th

Kaiser William II promised German support for Austria in war against Serbia

July 28th

Austria declared war on Serbia

August 1st

Germany declared war on Russia

August 2nd

Germany invaded Luxembourg

August 3rd

Germany declared war on France and invaded Belgium. Germany had to implement the Schlieffen Plan.

August 4th

Britain declared war on Germany

August 6th

Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia, Serbia declared war on Germany

August 7th

British Expeditionary Force (BEF) arrived in France

August 11th

France declared war on Austria-Hungary

August 23rd

BEF started retreated from Mons. Germany invaded France. Japan declared war on Germany

August 25th

Japan declared war on Austria-Hungary

August 26th

Russian army defeated at Tannenburg and Masurian Lakes.

September 6th

Battle of the Marne started

October 18th

First Battle of Ypres

October 29th

Turkey entered the war on Germany’s side. Trench warfare started to dominate the Western Front.

December 24th -25th

Unofficial Christmas truce between German and British forces on the Western Front

1915

January 19th

The first zeppelin (airship) raid on Britain

February 19th

Britain bombarded Turkish forts in the Dardanelles

April 25th

Allied troops landed in Gallipoli, Turkey

May 7th

The British liner “Lusitania” was sunk by a German U-boat (submarine)

May 23rd

Italy declared war on Germany and Austria

August 5th

Germany captured Warsaw (Poland) from the Russians

September 25th

Start of the Battle of Loos

December 19th

The Allies started the evacuation of Gallipoli

1916

January 27th

Conscription introduced in Britain

February 21st

Start of the Battle of Verdun

April 29th

British forces surrendered to Turkish forces at Kut in Mesopotamia

May 31st

Battle of Jutland (Denmark)

June 4th

Beginning of the Brusilov Offensive

July 1st

Beginning of the Battle of the Somme

August 10th

End of the Brusilov Offensive

September 15th

Tank used en masse at the battle of the Somme

December 7th

David Lloyd George became British Prime Minister

1917

April 6th

USA declared war on Germany

April 16th

France launched an offensive on the Western Front

July 31st

Beginning of the Third Battle at Ypres

October 24th

Battle of Caporetto – the Italian Army was heavily defeated

November 6th

Britain launched a major offensive on the Western Front

November 20th

British tanks won a victory at Cambrai (France)

December 5th

Armistice (truce) between Germany and Russia signed

December 9th

Britain captured Jerusalem from Turkey

1918

March 3rd

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed between Russia and Germany.

March 21st

Germany broke through on the Somme

March 29th

Marshall Foch was appointed Allied Commander on the Western Front

April 9th

Germany started an offensive in Flanders, Belgium

July 15th

Second Battle of the Marne began. German army starts to fall apart

August 8th

The advance of the Allies was successful

September 19th

Turkish forces collapsed at Megiddo

October 4th

Germany asked the Allies for an armistice

October 29th

Germany’s navy mutinied

October 30th

Turkey made peace

November 3rd

Austria made peace

November 9th

Kaiser William II abdicated

November 11th

Germany signed an armistice with the Allies – the official date of the end of World War One.

Post-war – 1919

January 4th

Peace conference met at Paris

June 21st

The surrendered German naval fleet at Scapa Flow was scuttled.

June 28th

The Treaty of Versailles was signed by the Germans.