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World War I

1914 CE – 1918 CE

The Great War, 1914–1918 — the Western and Eastern Fronts, Gallipoli, and the collapse of four empires.

464 events · 514 people

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Key events

  1. assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand1914 CE
    The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, also called the Attack in Sarajevo or Sarajevo incident occurred on 28 June 1914 and was one of the key events that led to World War I. Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated by Bosnian Serb student Gavrilo Princip. They were shot at close range while being driven through Sarajevo, the provincial capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, formally annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908.
  2. First Battle of the Marne1914 CE
    The First Battle of the Marne or known in France as the Miracle on the Marne was a battle of the First World War fought from 5 to 12 September 1914. The German army invaded France with a plan for winning the war in 40 days by occupying Paris and destroying the French and British armies. The Germans had initial successes in August. They were victorious in the Battles of Mons and the Frontiers and overran a large area of northern France and Belgium. In what is called the Great Retreat the Germans pursued the retreating French and British forces more than 250 km (160 mi) southwards. The French and British halted their retreat in the Marne River valley, while the Germans advanced to 40 km from Paris.
  3. Battle of Tannenberg1914 CE
    The Battle of Tannenberg, also known as the Second Battle of Tannenberg, was fought between Russia and Germany between 26 and 30 August 1914, the first month of World War I. The battle resulted in the encirclement and the almost complete destruction of the Russian 2nd Army by the German 8th Army and the suicide of its commanding general, Alexander Samsonov. A series of follow-up battles led to the ousting of the Russian 1st Army from East Prussia.
  4. First Battle of Ypres1914 CE
    The First Battle of Ypres was a battle of the First World War, fought on the Western Front around Ypres, in West Flanders, Belgium. The battle was part of the First Battle of Flanders, in which German, French, Belgian armies and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fought from Arras in France to Nieuwpoort (Nieuport) on the Belgian coast, from 10 October to mid-November. The battles at Ypres began at the end of the Race to the Sea, reciprocal attempts by the German and Franco-British armies to advance past the northern flank of their opponents. North of Ypres, the fighting continued in the Battle of the Yser (16–31 October), between the German 4th Army, the Belgian army and French marines.
  5. Battle of Galicia1914 CE
    The Battle of Galicia, also known as the Great Battle of Galicia, was a major battle between Russia and Austria-Hungary during the early stages of World War I in 1914. In the course of the battle, the Austro-Hungarian armies were severely defeated in several encounters and forced out of Galicia, while the Russians captured Lemberg and, for approximately nine months, ruled Eastern Galicia until their defeat at Gorlice and Tarnów. The Battle of Galicia showed weaknesses of the Austro-Hungarian Army during that period and at the same time was one of the formidable victories of the Imperial Russian Army in the war.
  6. Battle of Liège1914 CE
    The Battle of Liège was the opening engagement of the German invasion of Belgium and the first battle of the First World War. The city of Liège was protected by a ring of modern fortresses, one of several fortified cities intended to delay an invasion for troops from the powers guaranteeing Belgian neutrality to mobilise and join the Belgian Army in the expulsion of the invader.
  7. Caucasus campaign1914 CE
    The Caucasus campaign comprised armed conflicts between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, later including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus, the German Empire, the Central Caspian Dictatorship, and the British Empire, as part of the Middle Eastern theatre during World War I. The Caucasus campaign extended from the South Caucasus to the Armenian Highlands region, reaching as far as Trabzon, Bitlis, Mush and Van. The land warfare was accompanied by naval engagements in the Black Sea.
  8. Treaty of London1915 CE
    The Treaty of London or the Pact of London was a secret agreement concluded on 26 April 1915 by the United Kingdom, France, and Russia on the one part, and Italy on the other, in order to entice the latter to enter the Great War on the side of the Triple Entente. The agreement involved promises of Italian territorial expansion against Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and in Africa where it was promised enlargement of its colonies. The Entente countries hoped to force the Central Powers – particularly Germany and Austria-Hungary – to divert some of their forces away from existing battlefields. The Entente also hoped that Romania and Bulgaria would be encouraged to join them after Italy did the same.
  9. Gallipoli Campaign1915 CE
    The Gallipoli campaign, the Dardanelles campaign, the Defence of Gallipoli or the Battle of Gallipoli was a military campaign in the First World War on the Gallipoli Peninsula from 19 February 1915 to 9 January 1916. The Allied powers unsuccessfully attempted to make the Ottoman Empire, one of the Central Powers, capitulate by taking control of the Turkish straits. They intended to expose the Ottoman capital at Constantinople to bombardment by Allied warships and cut it off from the Asian part of the empire. An Ottoman Empire defeat could have led to unfettered Western control of the Suez Canal and the opening of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits to Allied supplies headed for the Black Sea and warm-water ports in Russia.
  10. Battles of the Isonzo1915 CE
    The Battles of the Isonzo were a series of twelve battles between the Austro-Hungarian and Italian armies in World War I mostly on the territory of present-day Slovenia, and the remainder in Italy along the Isonzo River on the eastern sector of the Italian Front between June 1915 and November 1917.
  11. Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive1915 CE
    The Gorlice–Tarnów offensive during World War I was initially conceived as a minor German offensive to relieve Russian pressure on the Austro-Hungarians to their south on the Eastern Front, but resulted in the Central Powers' chief offensive effort of 1915, causing the total collapse of the Russian lines and their retreat far into Russia. The continued series of actions lasted the majority of the campaigning season for 1915, starting in early May and only ending due to bad weather in October.
  12. Second Battle of Ypres1915 CE
    The Second Battle of Ypres was fought from 22 April – 25 May 1915, during the First World War, for control of the tactically valuable high ground to the east and the south of the Flemish town of Ypres, in western Belgium. The First Battle of Ypres had been fought the previous autumn. The Second Battle of Ypres was the occasion of the first mass use by Germany of poison gas on the Western Front.

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Events from Wikipedia/Wikidata (CC-BY-SA); base map © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); era boundaries are a hand-curated set in v1. Spotted a mistake? Email [email protected].