WWI begins timeline

Sequencing

World War I begins

July 28, 1914

1907

1882

June 28, 1914

Czar Nicholas II ordered partial mobilization of the Russian army against Austria-Hungary.

France, Great Britain and Russia created the Triple Entente.

Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy formed the Triple Alliance.

Archduke Francis Ferdinand was murdered.

1914

July 28, 1914

August 1914

1890

European armies doubled in size since 1890.

Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

Japan declares the war on Germany.

Western countries established conscription.

Sequencing

World War I begins

August 1, 1914

August 4, 1914

1917

1916

August 3, 1914

Germany is at war with Russia.

All the Great Powers of Europe were at war.

Russian Revolution begins.

Germany declared war on France.

German offensive at the Battle of Verdun.

Militarism

Most Western countries had established conscription as a regular practice before 1914. Militarism was growing.

Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia was determined to support Serbia´s cause. Mobilization is the process of assembling troops and supplies for war. This by 1914 was considered as an act of war.

Alliances

A system of alliances intensified the dangers of militarism. Europe's great powers had been divided into two loose political aliances:

• Triple Entente
• Triple Alliance

Assassination in Sarajevo and Response

Austria leaders wanted to attack Serbia but feared that Russia would intervene on Serbia´s behalf. They asked and received the backing of their German allies.

Background to Revolution

Russian industry was unable to produce the weapons needed for the army. Czar Nicholas II relied on the army and bureucracy to hold up his regime. Grigory Raspputin began to influence the czars's wife Alexandra. The Russian people grew more upset with the czarist regime.

The Conflict Broadens

Germans were warned by Russians that they must halt its mobilization within 12 hours. But Germans ignored this and they declared war on Russia. This was the beginning of the Schlieffen Plan.

• Two front wars with France and Russia because the two had formed a military alliance in 1894.
• Germany would conduct a smallholding action against Russia and their army would carry out a rapid invasion of France.

Imperialism

The system of nation-states that emerged in Europe in the last half of the 19th century led not to cooperation but rather competition.

• The imperialist expansion and industrialization played an important role in the coming war.

The Outbreak of War

It was the decisions that European leaders made in response to a crisis in the Balkans that led directly to the conflict.

• Archduke Francis Ferdinand heir to the Hapsburg throne of Austria-Hungary and his wife Sophia visited the city of Sarajevo in Bosnia.
• A group of conspirators waiting for them in the streets shoot the archduke and his wife.

The Conflict Broadens

About the same time Germany issued an ultimatum to Belgium demanding that German troops be allow to pass though their territory, but Belgium was a neutral ntion.