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Russo-Japanese War
military conflict in which a victorious Japan forced Russia to abandon its expansionist policy in the Far East, becoming the first Asian power in modern times to defeat a European power.The Russo-Japanese War developed out of the rivalry between Russia and Japan for dominance in Korea and Manchuria. In 1898 Russia had pressured China into granting it a lease for the strategically important port of Port Arthur (now Lü-shun), at the tip of the Liaotung Peninsula, in southern Manchuria. -
Bloddy Sunday
the workers of St Petersburg organised a peaceful demonstration to demand political and constitutional reform. 150,000 demonstrators, including whole families, led by an Orthodox priest, Father Georgi Gapon, marched through the city streets armed with a petition to be presented to the tsar, Nicholas II. -
Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia
Austria-Hungary, backed by Germany, annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina. Neighboring Serbia, with the backing of Russia, voices its objection in support of the Serbian minority living in Bosnia. Though Bosnia and Herzegovina were still nominally under the control of the Ottoman Sultan in 1908. -
Assassination Of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, and his wife, visit Sarajevo in Bosnia. A bomb is thrown at their auto but misses. Undaunted, they continue their visit only to be shot and killed a short time later by a lone assassin. Believing the assassin to be a Serbian nationalist, the Austrians target their anger toward Serbia. -
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
On July 28, 1914, one month to the day after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were killed by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, effectively beginning the First World War Threatened by Serbian ambition in the tumultuous Balkans region of Europe, Austria-Hungary determined that the proper response to the assassinations was to prepare for a possible military invasion of Serbia. -
Russia mobilizes army
Reacting to the Austrian attack on Serbia, Russia begins full mobilization of its troops. Germany demands that it stop. Russia entered the first world war with the largest army in the world, standing at 1,400,000 soldiers; when fully mobilized the Russian army expanded to over 5,000,000 soldiers (though at the outset of war Russia could not arm all its soldiers, having a supply of 4.6 million rifles). -
Schlieffen Plan put into action
The Schlieffen Plan was created by General Count Alfred von Schlieffen in December 1905. The Schlieffen Plan was the operational plan for a designated attack on France once Russia, in response to international tension, had started to mobilise her forces near the German border. The execution of the Schlieffen Plan led to Britain declaring war on Germany on August 4th, 1914. -
Germany invades Belgium
King Albert and his government the choice of fighting or being conquered. Albert took personal command of the armed forces and although outnumbered, decided to resist the German invasion that began on 4th August. -
Start Of The Battle Of Marne
The Battle of the Marne was a First World War battle fought from 5–12 September 1914. It resulted in an Allied victory against the German Army. The World War I First Battle of the Marne featured the first use of radio intercepts and automotive transport of troops The World War I First Battle of the Marne featured the first use of radio intercepts and automotive transport of troops in wartime in wartime. -
Fourteen Points proposed
was a statement of principles for world peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I. The principles were outlined in a January 8, 1918 speech on war aims and peace terms to the United States Congress by President Woodrow Wilson. Europeans generally welcomed Wilson's points. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
erupted across Europe, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the RMS Lusitania, a British ocean liner en route from New York to Liverpool, England. Of the more than 1,900 passengers and crew members on board, more than 1,100 perished, including more than 120 Americans. -
The start of battle of verdon
At 7:12 a.m. on the morning of February 21, 1916, a shot from a German Krupp 38-centimeter long-barreled gun one of over 1,200 such weapons set to bombard French forces along a 20 kilometer front stretching across the Meuse River strikes a cathedral in Verdun, France, beginning the Battle of Verdun, which would stretch on for 10 months and become the longest conflict of World War I. -
The start of the battle of the somme
also known as the Somme Offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British and French empires against the German Empire. Fought between July 1 and November 1, 1918 near the Somme River in France, it was also one of the bloodiest military battles in history. -
Russian Czar Nicholas II abdicates
the army garrison at Petrograd joined striking workers in demanding socialist reforms, and Czar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate. Nicholas and his family were first held at the Czarskoye Selo palace, then in the Yekaterinburg palace near Tobolsk. -
U.S. enters WWI
President Woodrow Wilson went before a joint session of Congress to request a declaration of war against Germany. Wilson cited Germany’s violation of its pledge to suspend unrestricted submarine warfare in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean. -
Russian Civil War
War was a multi-party war in the former Russian Empire immediately after the Russian Revolutions of 1917, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. -
October Revolution
officially known in the Soviet literature as the Great October Socialist Revolution, and commonly referred to as Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution. Lenin and other revolutionaries returned to Russia after having been permitted by the German government to cross Germany. -
Russia signs Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
was a peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between the new Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Ottoman Empire), that ended Russia's participation in World War I. The treaty was signed at Brest-Litovsk -
Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates
Wilhelm tried to scale back the mobilisation of Germany's armed forces, but was prevented by the Germany military. While theoretically supreme commander, Wilhelm found himself excluded from military decisions. With Adolf Hitler's rise to power after 1933, Wilhelm had hopes of being restored but they came to nothing and he died on 4 June 1941. -
Armistice Signed
an agreement to stop fighting - was signed between France, Britain, and Germany on 11th November 1918, bringing four years of fighting in the First World War to an end. -
Treaty Of Versailles signed
World War I officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. Negotiated among the Allied powers with little participation by Germany, its 15 parts and 440 articles reassigned German boundaries and assigned liability for reparations.
