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This padlet will aim to provide a concise timeline of the first world war. There will be sixteen entries on the timeline describing important dates and events that happened over the course of the first world war.

That's enough for the introductory portion, so please sit back and enjoy the show!

-Siobhan

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Timeline point 1: The murder of archduke Franz-Ferdinand (June 28th, 1914)

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Timeline point 1: The murder of archduke Franz-Ferdinand (June 28th, 1914)

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What is seen by many historians as the inciting incident that started the first world war is the assasination of the Austro-Hungarian duke and crown prince Franz-Ferdinand.

Of course, this one incident isn't enough for a country to declare a war for.

There were many tensions across Europe in the early 20th century. Many countries had a growing sense of nationalism across their population, which is the sense of unity and pride across a population for their home country. A lot of this was the result of the many political revolutions that occurred across europe in the previous century, most notably in France, Belgium and Germany (or the German confederation or Prussia as it was known back then). Many rulers in Europe manipulated these feelings of nationalism and destain for the old monarchies to win over the hearts of their people. One of the ways in which they did this was by enstilling a war mentality among the people, the rulers wanted their citizens to entertain the idea of going to war and winning territories over other nations. The people were, of course, happy to die an honorable death for their countries because of the nationalist ideals.

Other political occurances that played a large part in the tensions that lead to the first world war was the forming of allegiances between the larger nations. A lot of nations sensed that a war was an inevitability. Especially considering the ongoing arms race as the political powers were readying themselves for war. Because of the technological advancements that had happened as a result of the industrial revolution of the previous century, weapons had also grown exponentially in quality and deadliness. Some of the most important military advancements were the invention of the tank, machine gun, submarine and methods of chemical warfare. The allegiances were then formed with the idea that no one nation would be able to fend for themselves with how advanced the modern weaponry was. The most important of these allegiances were the Triple Entente (consisting of the UK, France and Russia) and the Central powers (consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman empire and Bulgaria)

Most of the tensions originate from the Triple Entente's (mostly France's) issues with Germany. During the Franco-Prussian war, France was forced to give up territory to Germany. Despite the fact that the German empire was only a newly formed country, they proved to be a force to be reckoned with in combat. The German empire, on the other hand, feared these tensions between them and France as well as they suspected that France would try to go to war with them to gain their territories back. To strengthen their position, Germany formed an allegiance with Austria-Hungary and originally with Russia as well. The relations with Russia broke based on disagreements over how to handle the growing revolutionary thoughts among the population in the Balkans. The Russians and Germans broke their allegiance, but signed a secret 'reinsurance treaty' which essentially meant that Russia and Germany would not go to war with each other. However, Russia decided to break from this treaty based on the economic exclusion from the German side.

Aside from military fears and disagreements, disagreement over the growing imperialism of Germany also led to distrust from the Triple Entente. Germany, as a newly formed country, obviously had a lot fewer overseas territories and colonies compared to the likes of the UK and France. This weakened their overall global power, and led to the newly crowned emporer Wilhelm the second to employ a weltpolitik which basically meant that the Germany empire set out to gain these territories. It just so happened that around this time Africa was being colonized, and because of their weaker political power, Germany did not get as much territory as they had hoped for. This led to more distrust and hatred growing between the triple entente and central powers.

All of this came to a head when the Austro-Hungarian archduke Franz-Ferdinand was assasinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina (part of Austria-Hungary back in the day) on the 28th of June 1914. Franz-Ferdinand was assasinated by Serbian revolutionaries. This was obviously the match that lit the fire of the first world war. Austria-Hungary was well in their place to accuse the Serbian government of being behind the assasination, which the Serbian government denied. The growing tensions between these two countries was then backed by their respective allies (Germany for Austria-Hungary and Russia (and by proxy France and the UK) for Serbia)

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Timeline point 2: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia (July 28th, 1914)

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Timeline point 2: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia (July 28th, 1914)

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A month had passed between the assasination of Franz-Ferdinand and Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Serbia. In that time Austria-Hungary, feeling increasingly threatened by Serbia's (and the rest of the Balkan region's) growing desire for political independence and not having received a response to the note presented by the Austro-Hungarian minister over the safeguarding of their country's right and recourse of force of arms, decides to declare war on Serbia. The other allied forces also prepared for war, knowing that they had to back their allies up. In essence this declaration of war does not merely mark the start of the conflict between two nations, but the start of the conflict between all of the allied nations, marking the official start of world war one. What followed this first declaration of war by Austria-Hungary was a declaration of war from Germany on Serbia the following day. Prior to this Germany had demanded Russia demobilise their troops immediatly, as per the previous agreement. When Russia refused to do so (instead supporting Serbian troops) Germany also declared war on Russia on the 1st of August, with Austria-Hungary following on the 6th of August. France then joined in by declaring war on the central powers and supporting Russia on the 2nd of August.

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Timeline point 3: The German invasion of Belgium and British involvement (August 4th, 1914)

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Timeline point 3: The German invasion of Belgium and British involvement (August 4th, 1914)

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In preperation of the growing mobility among the allied forces, Germany prepared what was known as the Von Schlieffen Plan. This plan was named after its inventor, the German field marshal Alfred Von Schlieffen. The plan was put in place to avoid a fight on both the East (Russia) and West (France) fronts, as that would spread the german forces out too much leaving them vulnerable to attacks from the allied forces. The plan was for the German forces to invade France at a rapid pace by going to Belgium (which wasn't as mobilised and strongly protected as the French common border would be). The idea behind this was that Russia (which was not as industrialised and well organised as the German and French forces were) would take a while to mobilize, by which France would already have been defeated. What immensely helped these aspirations of Germany was the fact that Great Britain had not formally joined the war yet, mainly due to the fact that they wanted to maintain peace with Germany if France was not attacked as Britain already had a lot of troubles to deal with back home with a growing call for Irish independence.

Germany invaded Luxembourg on the 2nd of August and declared war on France on the 3rd. On that same day Germany sent a demand to the Belgian government, stating that they wanted unimpeded right of way through Belgium. The Belgians refused this, upon which Germany occupied them on August 4th. The treaty of London was envoked by Belgium, which stated that Belgium was to be left independent and neutral in the event a war broke out. By invading them, Germany broke this treaty which is what led to Great Britain declaring war on Germany on the 4th of August

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Timeline point 4: The battle of the Marne (September 6th to September 12th, 1914)

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Timeline point 4: The battle of the Marne (September 6th to September 12th, 1914)

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The battle of the Marne was one of the first battles in the first world war between the allied forces and the German forces on the Western front. The battle of the Marne is a part of the battles of the Frontiers. These battles were a result of the German forces taking over parts of Belgium (most notably Liege). The British army landed in France on the 7th of August. At the beginning of the battles between the allied forces and Germany they ended having to give up large amount of ground (The great retreat) to the Germans, and it almost looked like the Von Schlieffen plan could possibly work. It looked to be working so well in fact, that the German forces completely abandoned their original plans to circle Paris by invading France from different angles to force them to surrender. Instead, the German forces focused on following the British and French forces in their retreat, wanting to push them back even further. By then focusing all of their military power on the left flank (the south part of the shared border between Germany and France), exposing their right flank to the French troops. By moving their troops to face this new attack from the right flank, they opened up a gap on their front line which is where the British army decided to attack. This attack is what is known as the first battle of the Marne. The allied forces ended up winning this battle and forcing the German army to retreat, albeit slightly. This small victory, however, proved to be vital as it put a huge dent in the German plans to seize Paris quickly

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Timeline point 5: The battle of Tannenberg (August 26th to August 30th, 1914)

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Timeline point 5: The battle of Tannenberg (August 26th to August 30th, 1914)

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As I mentioned previously, the Von Schlieffen plan to outflank the French forces and circle Paris quickly relied on there not being a war on both the Eastern and Western fronts, as that would put too much strain on the German forces. Not only did the part of the plan to take over France quickly enough that the Russian forces wouldn't have time to mobilise fail, the Russian forces also mobilised far more quickly than the Germans had anticipated. This created the exact two front battle that the Germans had hoped to avoid.

The battles in Russian mostly consisted of a two flank battle. With there being two completely seperate troops led by two different marshals for each army. This led to a lot of miscommunication on the German side, as the different troops did not follow each other's orders. The detachment of the main army ignored the original call by the main marshal Ludendorff to attack the Russian troops immediately, instead opting to wait in order to circle the Russian troops. the detached troops actually succeeded in doing so. Because of the miscommunications on the Russian side, the encircled troops did not receive backup in time. This is one of the heaviest defeats the Russian army has ever faced, and led to the German troops making large advancements on the Russian front.

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Timeline point 6: The beginning of trench warfare on the Western front (end of 1914)

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Timeline point 6: The beginning of trench warfare on the Western front (end of 1914)

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As a result of the counterattack by the allied forces in the battle of the Marne, the fighting had reached a stalemate over on the Western front.

Both sides saw that there was no way either of them was gaining any sort of ground on one another head on, instead opting for gaining ground among the horizontal plane of the frontline. This was known as a race to the sea. Once both sides had reached Belgium's North Sea Coast, the frontline spanned all the way from the North Sea Coast to down south in the German Alsace. Both sides decided to dig themselves into defensive positions known as trenches. These trenches are man-made tunnel systems, protected by barbed wire and sandbags, with the trenches of the opposing sides opposite one another, with a no-man's land in between. The sides would blast eachother with the newly innovated machine guns and artillery for days on end. After the all-out attacks had ended, the opposing side would rush across no-man's land in an attempt to face the enemy head on and gain some ground (even if it was mere inches). The trench side kept on firing as the rushing side would send wave after wave of soldiers across no-man's land, leading to millions of casualties.

This non-stop fighting between the sides coupled with the bad and filthy conditions in the trenches and the immense amount of fatalities had a very big impact on the soldiers, with many of them (at least the ones that did make it out alive) returning back home with shell shock or, as we know it today, PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) from all the atrocities they had witnessed.

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Timeline point 7: The fights on the new frontiers

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Timeline point 7: The fights on the new frontiers

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The war had reached a stalemate on the western front, it no longer became a matter of who would gain territory on the other, but who would wear the other side down first.

The allied forces had the upperhand in this department, as they were able bring in men from their overseas territories. On top of that the British had created a naval blockade along the North sea, which meant that the German forces could not get supplies from overseas.

Both sides looked for new frontiers between their overseas territories to battle.

When the war broke out, Australia was quick to invade German New Guinea. Africa also formed a battleground, as the allied forces easily outnumbered the German colonies. Especially in German East Africa, the locals were taken and used as soldiers and carriers by both sides. Some outside nations also decided to take part in the war, with Italy and Japan joining the side of the allied forces. At this time Japan was taking over large parts of mainland Asia in an attempt to expand their empire, also conquering some smaller islands that were under German control in the Pacific ocean. Italy was originally on the side of the central powers, but switched sides after they were not given the promised territories in the south of Austria-Hungary. Italy ended up starting their own war at the Austro-Hungarian border.

The Ottoman empire joined the war on behalf of the central powers. They had been a part of the central powers since the beginning of the war, but had been too focused on the Balkan war to join in. By opening naval fire on Russia, they had officially joined in on the war. This was of particular concern for the British, as the Ottoman empire formed a part of the Middle East and the middle east held a large amount of oil. The Ottomans first engaged in battle at their northern border, attacking the Russians .However, being ill-prepared for the cold, barren Russian climate, the Ottoman's were swiftly defeated. In the South, the Ottoman's attempted to seize the Suez canal from the British, which also failed. The allies fought a long trench campaign in Gallipoli, in attempt to take over parts of the Ottoman empire. The ottoman empire, however, was victorious in their defence. The Ottoman's blamed their failures on the amount of non-ethnic Ottomans  (Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians), using that as a reason to commit large scale ethnic cleansings of these ethnic minorities.

The Germans tried to convince the unhappy population of the British territories of India and Afghanistan into an uprising, which failed.

Overall the attempts to fight the war in overseas frontiers failed, and ended up backfiring for the central powers as they realised that they were massiely outnumbered by the allied forces, meaning that they must be the ones to break the stalemate.

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Timeline point 8: Violations of the The Hague conventions

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Timeline point 8: Violations of the The Hague conventions

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Before the war, a number of international treaties were written up at the peace conferences in The Hague in 1899 and 1907. These treaties were mainly surrounding laws of war and war crimes, and were written up as international law, meaning they were non-neggotiable and applicable to every country in  the world.

In a desperate attempt to break the stalemate and make up for the man power and resources they lacked, Germany decided to breach these treaties. The Germans conducted zeppelin air raids  (known as the first blitz) over Britain, kiling thousands of innocent civillians. Furthermore, the Germans used chemical warfare in the trenches by firing chlorine gas into the trenches of the allied forces and used submarines to sink civillian ships. One of these ships, the Lusitania which was torpedoed by a German submarine in 1915, had 159 Americans citizens on board. This infuriated the Americans, and was a huge catalyst in their eventual involvement in the war.

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Austria-Hungary was still at war with Serbia after all this time, so the central powers enlisted the help of Bulgaria (which lost out heavily on territory in the Balkan wars). Collectively, the central powers were able to defeat Serbia. The Serbian troops ended up retreating through Albania, which was neutral but had close ties to Austria-Hungary. Leading to an invasion by Austria-Hungary in order to chase down the Serbians, many of whom ended up escaping overseas.

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The first world war was largely fought on land. The main naval battle was the battle of Jutland in 1916. The plan was for the Germans' High Seas Fleet to lure out a portion of Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, trap them and destroy them. By doing this, the German navy attempted to break a part of the British naval blockade, which blocked any and all German ships from crossing the Atlantic. The British naval power at this time far outweighed that of the German navy, meaning that they were capable of containing the German fleet. Despite the fact that the British navy had lost more sailors and battleships, they were still seen as the victorious party.

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Timeline point 11: The battle of Verdun (Febuary 21st to December 18th, 1916)

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Timeline point 11: The battle of Verdun (Febuary 21st to December 18th, 1916)

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The battle of Verdun was one of the longest battles fought in the first world war. Early into 1916, the French army ordered for an all-out no retreat attack on the Germans around Verdun, leading to a constant bombardment and artillery firing on the Germans. Despite counter-attacks from the Germans side, the French army ended up gaining a lot of ground on the Germans, including regaining Fort Vaux and Fort Souville.

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Timeline point 12: The battle of the Somme (July 1st to November 18th 1916)

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Timeline point 12: The battle of the Somme (July 1st to November 18th 1916)

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The battle of the Somme was fought alongside the battle of Verdun, as the French forces called on the British army to send more troops (of which there were plenty) in order to provide a distraction to lead away the German troops (Which was the strategy decided upon in the Chantilly conference in December of 1915). By attacking a weak point of the German forces at the Meuse at a difficult time for the Germans (being attacked at both Verdun and from the Eastern frontier) the British army ended up being massively succesful, gaining over 10 kilometres of ground on the Germans

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Timeline point 13: The Russian offensive (June 4th to September 20th 1916)

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Timeline point 13: The Russian offensive (June 4th to September 20th 1916)

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In June of 1916 the Russians launched an attack at the Eastern front known as the Brusilov offensive. This is one of the Russian Empire's biggest victories in the first world war. In accordance to the Chantilly agreement, the Russian army launched a massive artillery barge on the Austro-Hungarian lines. While this barge was only brief, it was incredibely accurate and effective. By attacking the weak points in the Austro-Hungarian lines, the Russian armies were able to advance on the wide front and gain massive amounts of ground on the Eastern front

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Timeline point 14: The Russian revolution

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Timeline point 14: The Russian revolution

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While it seems like everything is going peachy for the allied forces at this point in the war, the advancements they were making on ground were minimal. This had a heavy toll on all sides involved, but especially on Russia. Russia was incredibly drained on supplies, food and morale leading to a growing discontent among the people. In March of 1917 people came out in large numbers to demostrate in Petrograd, which led to a revolution in which the Tsar (Tsar Nicholas II) was overthrown and a provisional government under control of the army was appointed. This government, however, was deemed incompetent and a new party (the bolshevik party led by Vladimir Lenin) seized control over Russia in the December revolutions. This was very bad for the allied forces, as the Bolshevik party thought it wasn't in the interest of the people to continue the war. This means that they essentially 'gave up'  on the war, conceding large amounts of territory (including Finland and Ukraine) to the central powers.

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At this point in the war, things are starting to look up for the central powers as they only have to focus on the Western front. The only worry for the central powers was the increasing likelyhood of American involvement. Despite the fact that America wanted to stay neutral throughout it, this became harder to do over the course of the war as the war crimes and infringements of the Hague treaties (especially regarding the killings of American civillians like in the torpedoing of the Lusitania) commited by the Germans were to grave to ignore. Throughout the war, America was consistently supplying weapons and other supplies to the allied forces (and profiting massively of it). Germany tried to anticipate the American involvement by creating an allegiance with Mexico. A telegram asking Mexico for an allegiance with a promise to supply money and weapons for an attack on the United States was intercepted by the British and presented to the US embassy in the United Kingdom. The president at the time, Woodrow Wilson, then announced in a press conference that the US would be declaring war on Germany, which happened on April 6th, 1917.

This ended up being the central powers' downfall. Despite this fact, Germany did fight back, hoping to defeat the British and French armies before the American army could arrive (most notably in the second battle of the Somme). This is ended up depleting the German resources massively, meaning that the allied forces were able to hold their line. By the time the fresh troops came in from the US, the central powers could be pushed back from all fronts. This lead to a number of capitulations from the Ottoman empire, Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary.

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Timeline point 16: The armistice of Compiègne (November 11th, 1918)

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Timeline point 16: The armistice of Compiègne (November 11th, 1918)

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On November 11th 1918 at 11 a.m. the final remaining central power, Germany, was defeated by the allied forces. The final push that broke the Germans was the growing realisation among the military that Germany was going to lose the war. Furious at the fact that they had been lied to by the government, many of the military and naval forces commited mutiny. In one particular event, setting in motion the German Revolution of 1918, a troop of sailors revolted by refusing to set sail for a final operation (which was deemed to be a futile effort that would only result in more lives being lost) sparked large protests and riots all over the country, resulting in Wilhelm the second being overthrown. The new temporary government had decided to end the war.

The fighting did not stop immediatly, however, as allied troops took a hold of the Rhineland and surrounding areas and demanded Germany surrender all military supplies and the release of allied prisonars of wars. Additionally, no German prisoners of war were released and the naval blockade was upheld.

The war was formally ended with the signing of the treaty of Versailles. This treaty was signed on the 28th of July, 1919. Some of the main points of this treaty was that Germany and their allies must accept all responsibility for the war, Germany must disarm all their forces, give up a number of territories and pay reparations (which were deemed impossibly high by economists)

The loss of this war meant a great deal to the German people, as they felt betrayed and misled. This growing discontent along with the general poverty of Germany around this time (largely due to the massive damages from the war and the inflation caused by the reparations) formed the breeding ground for the Nazi party to grow in popularity, eventually leading to the second world war

Overall the war has been estimated to have taken the lives of over 40 million people, civilians and military personnel alike and permanently wounded or mentally scarred many more, not to mention the damages that have been done to the cities and fields in which these battles were fought.
In Britain, every year on the 11th of November rememberance day or poppy day (in reference to the poppy fields in which many of these battles were fought) is celebrated as a way to honour the lives of those lost fighting for their country in world war one.