World War 1 Timeline

Timeline

Date Summary Detailed Information

28 June 1914 Assassination of Franz Ferdinand The Balkan states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, had been annexed from Turkey and taken into the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This was strongly resented by many Serbs and Croats and a nationalist group, The Black Hand, was formed.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, and his wife, had decided to inspect Austro-Hungarian troops in Bosnia. The date chosen for the inspection was a national day in Bosnia. The Black Hand supplied a group of students with weapons for an assassination attempt to mark the occasion.

A Serbian nationalist student, Gavrilo Princip, assassinated the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, when their open car stopped at a corner on its way out of the town.

28 July 1914 Austria declared war on Serbia The Austrian government blamed the Serbian government for the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife and declared war on Serbia.

Although Russia was allied with Serbia, Germany did not believe that she would mobilise and offered to support Austria if necessary.

However, Russia did mobilise and, through their alliance with France, called on the French to mobilise.

1 Aug 1914 Germany declared war on Russia Germany declared war on Russia.

3 Aug 1914 Germany declared war on France Germany declared war on France. German troops poured into Belgium as directed under the Schleiffen Plan, drawn up in 1905. The British foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, sent an ultimatum to Germany demanding their withdrawal from the neutral Belgium.

4 Aug 1914 British declaration of war Germany did not withdraw from Belgium and Britain declared war on Germany.

Aug 1914 Battle of Tannenberg The Russian army marched into Prussia. However, because of the differences in railway gauge between Russia and Prussia it was difficult for the Russians to get supplies through to their men. The Germans, on the other hand, used their railway system to surround the Russian Second army at Tannenberg before it's commander could realise what was happening. The ensuing battle was a heavy defeat for the Russians with thousands of men killed and 125,000 taken prisoner. Although the Germans won the battle, 13,000 men were killed.

13 Aug 1914 Japan declared war on Germany Japan declared war on Germany through her alliance with Great Britain, signed in 1902

Sept 1914 Battle of Masurian Lakes Having defeated the Russian Second army, the Germans turned their attention to the Russian First army at Masurian Lakes. Although the Germans were unable to defeat the army completely, over 100,000 Russians were taken prisoner.

29 Oct 1914 Turkey Turkey entered the war on the side of the central powers and gave help to a German naval bombardment of Russia.

2 Nov 1914 Russia declared war on Turkey Because of the help given by Turkey to the German attack of Russia, Russia declared war on Turkey.

5 Nov 1914 Britain and France declared war on Turkey Britain and France, Russia's allies, declared war on Turkey, because of the help given to the German attack on Russia.

late 1914 Early stages of the war The German advance through Belgium to France did not go as smoothly as the Germans had hoped. The Belgians put up a good fight destroying railway lines to slow the transport of German supplies.

Despite a French counter-attack that saw the deaths of many Frenchmen on the battlefields at Ardennes, the Germans continued to march into France. They were eventually halted by the allies at the river Marne.?

British troops had advanced from the northern coast of France to the Belgian town of Mons. Although they initially held off the Germans, they were soon forced to retreat.

The British lost a huge number of men at the first battle of Ypres.

By Christmas, all hopes that the war would be over had gone and the holiday saw men of both sides digging themselves into the trenches of the Western Front.

Dec 1914 Zeppelins

The first Zeppelins appeared over the English coast.

7 May 1915 Lusitania sunk There outraged protests from the United States at the German U-boat campaign, when the Lusitania, which had many American passengers aboard, was sank. The Germans moderated their U-boat campaign.

23 May 1915 Italy Italy entered the war on the side of the Allies.

2 Apr 1915 Second Battle of Ypres Poison gas was used for the first time during this battle. The gas, fired