1. World War I Timeline Pre-1914 - 1918

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