1. World War I Timeline
Pre

2. Pre 1914
France signs humiliating treaty after defeat in the Franco Prussian War
France loses Alsace and Lorraine
Wilhelm II becomes Kaiser of Germany

3. Pre 1914 Nicholas II (Romanov) becomes tsar of Russia
Russo-Japanese War results in disastrous loss for Russia
Bloody Sunday massacre in St. Petersburg

4. 1914 Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo
Austria declares war on Serbia
Russia mobilizes
Germany declares war on Russia

5. 1914 Germany declares war on France Invades neutral Belgium
Britain declares war on Germany
Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia

6. 1914 Ludendorff and Hindenburg defeat Russians at Tannenberg
First Battle of the Marne halts German invasion of France
Trenches dug
Western front created

7. 1914
Christmas Truce
Unofficial truce among soldiers along the Western Front

8. 1915 War becomes Total War with German Zeppelin raid on GB
German blockades Britain – any ship is a target

9. 1915 Allies begin 9 month battle for Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli
Thousands of British and Australians killed

10. 1915 U-Boat sinks British passenger liner, Lusitania 128 Americans die
Germans claim munitions on board

11. 1915
British use poison gas near Loos, but shifting winds cause 60,000 British casualties
Allies begin withdrawal of troops from Gallipoli

12. 1916 Longest battle, Verdun, ends in a draw with 1 million casualties
Battle of the Somme, first use of tanks by British
Woodrow Wilson re-elected, “He kept us out of war.”

13. 1917 Zimmerman Note is discovered
Germany urged Mexico to enter war against U.S. – would regain lost territory
German resumes unrestricted submarine warfare

14. 1917 Tsar Nicholas II abdicates Provisional government set up
President Wilson asks for declaration of war
U.S. passes Selective Service Act

15. 1917
First wave of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) arrives in France
Doughboys

16. 1917 Americans fire first shots in the war
Bolshevik socialists led by Lenin overthrow Kerensky’s provisional government
Russia signs armistice with Germany

17. 1918 Flu epidemic begins – kills more people than the war
Americans stop Germans at Chateau Thierry
Baron von Richthofen (Red Baron) killed in air dog-fight

18. 1918 Tsar Nicholas and family are murdered by Bolsheviks
Allied forces push Germans back into retreat

19. 1918 Germans mutiny and desert Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates
Nov. 11, 1918 (11:00 am) – armistice
War is over

20. 1918 Pres. Wilson sails to Paris Treaty of Versailles 14 Points
Harsh punishment for Germany