World War I Timeline of Events

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World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

Timeline of Events

1914

6.28.1914

Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo by young Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip, the ''casus belli'' of World War I.

7.28.1914

World War I: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia after Serbia rejects the conditions of an ultimatum sent by Austria on July 23 following the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand.

8.1.1914

Germany declares war on Russia at the opening of World War I. The Swiss Army mobilises because of World War I

8.1.1914

Germany declares war on Russia at the opening of World War I. The Swiss Army mobilises because of World War I

8.3.1914

World War I: Germany declares war against France.

8.4.1914

World War I: Germany invades Belgium. In response, the United Kingdom declares war on Germany. The United States declare their neutrality.

8.5.1914

World War I: the German minelayer ''Königin Luise'' lays a minefield about 40 miles of the Thames Estuary (Lowestoft). She is intercepted and sunk by the British light-cruiser ''HMS Amphion''.

8.6.1914

World War I: First Battle of the Atlantic

8.12.1914

World War I: the United Kingdom declares war on Austria-Hungary; the countries of the British Empire follow suit.

8.16.1914

World War I: Battle of Cer begins.

8.17.1914

World War I: Battle of Stalluponen

8.20.1914

World War I: German forces occupy Brussels.

8.22.1914

World War I: in Belgium, British and German troops clash for the first time in the war.

8.23.1914

World War I: Japan declares war on Germany and bombs Qingdao, China.

8.24.1914

World War I: German troops capture Namur.

8.28.1914

World War I: the Royal Navy defeats the German fleet in the Battle of Heligoland Bight.

9.8.1914

World War I: Private Thomas Highgate becomes the first British soldier to be executed for desertion during the war.

9.9.1914

World War I: The creation of the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade, the first fully mechanized unit in the British Army.

9.13.1914

World War I: South African troops open hostilities in German south-west Africa (Namibia) with an assault on the Ramansdrift police station.

9.13.1914

World War I: The Battle of Aisne begins between Germany and France.

9.18.1914

The Irish Home Rule Act becomes law, but is delayed until after World War I.

9.18.1914

World War I: South African troops land in German South West Africa.

10.5.1914

World War I: first aerial combat resulting in a kill.

10.9.1914

World War I: Siege of Antwerp

10.27.1914

World War I: The British super-dreadnought battleship HMS Audacious (23,400 tons), is sunk off Tory Island, north-west of Ireland, by a minefield laid by the armed German merchant-cruiser ''Berlin''.

11.1.1914

World War I: the first British Royal Navy defeat of the war with Germany, the Battle of Coronel, is fought off of the western coast of Chile, in the Pacific, with the loss of HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth.

11.28.1914

World War I: Following a war-induced closure in July, the New York Stock Exchange re-opens for bond trading.

12.15.1914

World War I: The Serbian Army recaptures Belgrade from the invading Austro-Hungarian Army.

12.16.1914

World War I: German battleships under Franz von Hipper bombard the English ports of Hartlepool and Scarborough.

12.23.1914

World War I: Australian and New Zealand troops arrive in Cairo, Egypt.

12.24.1914

World War I: The "Christmas truce" begins.

12.25.1914

World War I: Known as the Christmas truce, German and British troops on the Western Front temporarily cease fire.

1915

1.19.1915

World War I: German zeppelins bomb the towns of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn in the United Kingdom killing more than 20, in the first major aerial bombardment of a civilian target.

1.31.1915

World War I: Germany uses poison gas against Russia

2.22.1915

World War I: Germany institutes unrestricted submarine warfare.

3.14.1915

World War I: Cornered off the coast of Chile by the Royal Navy after fleeing the Battle of the Falkland Islands, the German light cruiser SMS ''Dresden'' is abandoned and scuttled by her crew.

3.18.1915

World War I: Massive naval attack in Battle of Gallipoli. Three battleships are sunk during a failed British and French naval attack on the Dardanelles.

4.18.1915

French pilot Roland Garros is shot down and glides to a landing on the German side of the lines during World War I.

4.25.1915

World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli begins—The invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula by Australian, British, French and New Zealand troops begins with landings at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles.

5.7.1915

World War I: German submarine SMU U-20 sinks RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turns many formerly pro-Germans in the United States against the German Empire.

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