| Year | Event |
|---|
Events Leading up to the War |
|---|
| June, 1914 |
Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by Serbian secret society. |
1914 |
|---|
| Aug 3 |
Germany declares War on France, invades neutral Belgium. |
| Aug 20 |
Germany enter Brussels after ignoring protests. England declars War on Germany. |
| Sep 6 |
First Battle of Marne—French Victory; Germans retreat to Western Front. |
| Dec 24 |
First German air-raid on Britain, civilian cities targeted. |
1915 |
|---|
| Apr 17 |
Battle of Ypres—First use of poison gas. |
| Apr-Dec |
Battle of Gallipoli, costly defeat for allies against Turkey. |
| May 7 |
British passenger liner Lusitania sunk by the Germans. |
| May 23 |
Italy enters war on the side of the allies. |
| Oct 13 |
German execute Edith Cavell, a British nurse, for helping soldiers escape Belgium. |
| Oct 14 |
Bulgaria enters the war on the side of the central powers. |
1916 |
|---|
| Feb-July |
Battle of Verdun, failed German offensive, over 1 million killed . |
| May 31 |
Largest naval battle of the war off the coast of Jutland. |
| Jul-Nov |
Battle of Somme, failed British offensive, over 500 thousand killed. |
| Aug 29 |
Hindenberg takes supreme command of German armies. |
1917 |
|---|
| Mar 11 |
Bagdhad captured by British. |
| Apr 6 |
America declares War on Germany . |
| Jul 20 |
Kerensky succeeds as premier of Russia |
| Nov 7 |
Overthrow of Kerensky by the Bolsheviks—Russia withdraws from the war. |
1918 |
|---|
| Apr 9 |
German offensive between Ypres and Arras. |
| May 27 |
German offensive near Chateau-Thierry and Marne River. |
| Jun 11 |
American offensive in Belleau Wood. |
| Jul 18 |
Second Battle of Marne—Allied Victory. |
| Sep 22 |
British victory over the Ottomans in Palestine. |
| Oct 1 |
Hindenberg Line taken by the French. |
| Oct-Nov |
German losses at Laon, Ostend, Lille, Aleppo. |
| Nov 11 |
Armistice signed between Allies and German powers. |
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