|
28
June |
Assassination of
Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austria-Hungary
throne. Archduke Ferdinand and his wife had been
inspecting Austro-Hungarian troops in occupied
Sarajevo. A Serbian nationalist student, Gavrilo
Princip, shot the couple when their open topped
car stopped on its way out of town. |
|
5
July |
Kaiser William II
promised German support for Austria against
Serbia. |
|
28
July |
Blaming the Serbian
government for the assassinations, Emperor Franz
Joseph of Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
and its ally Russia. Through its alliance with
France, Russia calls on the French to mobilise
her armed forces. |
 |
|
1
Aug |
The official
outbreak of World War I as Germany declares war
on Russia. |
|
3
Aug |
Germany declares war
on France, its troops march into Belgium
implementing a pre-planned (Schlieffen) strategy
intended to quickly defeat the French. The
British foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey
demands that Germany withdraws from neutral
Belgium. |
|
4
Aug |
Germany failed to
withdraw its forces from Belgium and so Britain
declares war on Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Canada joins the war. President Woodrow
Wilson declares American neutrality. |
|
7
Aug |
The British
Expeditionary Force (BEF) lands in France to
assist the French and Belgians in stopping the German
offensive. |
|
14
Aug |
The Battle of the
Frontiers begins. |
|
Late
Aug |
Battle of Tannenberg.
The Russian army invades Prussia. The Germans
use their railway system to surround the
Russians and inflict heavy causalities. Tens of
thousands of Russians are killed and 125,000 are
taken prisoner. |
|
23
Aug |
The BEF starts to
retreat from Mons. Through her alliance with
Britain, Japan declares war on Germany
and attacks the German colony of Tsingtau in
China. |
|
Aug |
British and French
forces invade and occupy Togoland, a German
protectorate in West Africa. |
|
Sept |
After defeating the
Russian Second Army at Tannenburg, the Germans
confront the Russian First Army at the Battle
of Mausurian Lakes. Although not an outright
victory for Germany, over 100,000 Russians are captured. |
|
11 -
21 Sept |
Australian forces
occupy German New Guinea. |
|
13
Sept |
South African troops
invade German South-West Africa. |
|
19
Oct - 22 Nov |
The First Battle of
Ypres, the last major battle of the first year
of World War I, ends the Race to the Sea.
The Germans are prevented from reaching Calais
and Dunkirk. |
|
29
Oct |
Turkey enters the
war on Germany's side. |
|
8
Dec |
Battle of the
Falkland Islands. Von Spee's German cruiser
squadron is defeated by the Royal Navy. |
The British
Fleet 1914 |
|
16
Dec |
The German fleet
shells Scarborough and Hartlepool on England's
east coast. |
|
24 -
25 Dec |
An unofficial
Christmas truce is declared between large
numbers of warring soldiers along the Western
Front. |
|
First year of the war |
The German advance
to France was met by fierce Belgium resistance,
the allies eventually halted the German's at the
River Marne.
The British troops that had
advanced from the northern coast of France to
the Belgian town of Mons were finally forced to
retreat.
The British suffered huge losses at
the First Battle of Ypres.
All hope of a
quick ending to the war disappeared as trench
warfare started to dominate the Western Front. |
