Event Timeline
MAIN:
June 28 - Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to Austria-Hungary's throne, and his wife, Sophie, are assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip while the couple were visiting Sarajevo, Bosnia.
July 28 - Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
August 1 - Germany declares war on Russia.
August 3 - Germany declares war on France.
LATER:
August 4 - The United Kingdom declares war on Germany, after Germany invades Belgium.
August 6 - Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia and Serbia declares war on Germany.
August 26 - The Battle of Tannenberg begins.
August 19 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson announces the U.S. will remain neutral.
September 5 - The First Battle of the Marne begins. Trench warfare begins as soldiers on both sides dig in.
June 28 - Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to Austria-Hungary's throne, and his wife, Sophie, are assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip while the couple were visiting Sarajevo, Bosnia.
July 28 - Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
August 1 - Germany declares war on Russia.
August 3 - Germany declares war on France.
LATER:
August 4 - The United Kingdom declares war on Germany, after Germany invades Belgium.
August 6 - Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia and Serbia declares war on Germany.
August 26 - The Battle of Tannenberg begins.
August 19 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson announces the U.S. will remain neutral.
September 5 - The First Battle of the Marne begins. Trench warfare begins as soldiers on both sides dig in.
WWI Stalemate
Trenches were dug by both sides in the war. The war made it to where both sides had casualities and deaths everyday, but neither side were gaining any land, so there wasn't anybody really winning. They just hid in their trenches and shot at any sign of life. The barbed wire and machine guns in no mans land didn't help either. It made it impossible to mount an attack on the other side's trenches to overpower them.
Horrors of the Trench Warfare
No Hygiene, for months, rotten, old, tasteless food, hardly any rest, under constant fire. Trench foot, a disease from being wet in trenches too long can cause your feet to turn green and/or blue, and a need for amputation. These are just some of the scary conditions of the trench warfare.
Soldiers who lived in the trench warfare
“A good standing trench was about six foot deep, so that a man could walk upright during the day in safety from rifle-fire. In each bay of the trench we constructed fire-steps about two feet higher than the bottom of the trench, which enabled us to stand head and shoulders above the parapet. During the day we were working in reliefs, and we would snatch an hour’s sleep, when we could, on a wet and muddy fire-step, wet through to the skin ourselves.
If anyone had to go to the company on our right in the daytime he had to walk through thirty yards of waterlogged trench, which was chest-deep in water in some places.
The duckboard track was constantly shelled, and in places a hundred yards of it had been blown to smithereens. It was better to keep off the track when walking back and forth, but then a man had to make his way sometimes through very heavy mud…..wet snow had begun to fall, which turned into rain and some parts of the land were soon a bog of mud to get drowned in.” -Frank Richards
“It was a long and weary night, that first one of mine in the trenches. Everything was strange, and wet and horrid. First of all I had to do and fix up my machine guns at various points, and find places for the gunners to sleep in. This was no easy matter, as many of the dugouts had fallen in and floated off downstream.
In this, and subsequent descriptions of the trenches, I may lay myself open to the charge of exaggeration. But it must be remembered that I am describing trench life in the early days of 1914, and I feel sure that those who had experience of them will acquit me of any such charge.
To give a recipe for getting a rough idea, in case you want to, I recommend the following procedure. Select a flat ten-acre ploughed field, so sited that all the surface water of the surrounding country drains into it. Now cut a zig-zag slot about four feet deep and three feet wide diagonally across, dam off as much water as you can so as to leave about one hundred yards of squelchy mud; delve out a hole at one side of the slot, then endeavour to live there for a month on bully beef and damp biscuits, whilst a friend has instructions to fire at you with his Winchester every time you put your head above the surface.
Well, here I was anyway, and the next thing was to make the bets of it. As I have before said, these were the days of the earliest trenches in this war; days when we had none of those “props” such as corrugated iron, floorboards, and sand bags.
When you made a dug-out in those days you made it out of anything you could find, and generally had to make it yourself.” -Bruce Bairnsfather
“It was 9 a.m. and the so-called trench was full of corpses and all sorts of equipment. We stood and sat on bodies as if they were stones or logs of wood. Nobody worried if one had its head stuck through or torn off, or a third had gory bones sticking out through its torn coat. And outside the trench one could see them lying in every kind of position. There was one quite young little chap, a Frenchman, sitting in a shell-hole, with his rifle on his arm and his head bent forward, but he was holding his hands as if to protect himself, in front of his chest in which there was a deep bayonet wound. And so they lay, in all their different positions, mostly Frenchman, with their heads battered in by blows from mallets and even spades, and all around rifles, equipment of all kinds and any number of kepis. The 154th had fought like furies in their attack, to revenge themselves for the shellfire.
A heap of five corpses lay just this side of the barrier; we were constantly having to tread on them to try to squash them down in the mud, because, in consequence of the gunfire, we couldn’t get them out of the trench. Our feelings gradually became quite blunted.” -August Hope
"It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it; consequently, the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning." -George Orwell
"The battle for the mind of Ronald Reagan was like the trench warfare of World War I: never have so many fought so hard for such barren terrain." -Peggy Noonan
If anyone had to go to the company on our right in the daytime he had to walk through thirty yards of waterlogged trench, which was chest-deep in water in some places.
The duckboard track was constantly shelled, and in places a hundred yards of it had been blown to smithereens. It was better to keep off the track when walking back and forth, but then a man had to make his way sometimes through very heavy mud…..wet snow had begun to fall, which turned into rain and some parts of the land were soon a bog of mud to get drowned in.” -Frank Richards
“It was a long and weary night, that first one of mine in the trenches. Everything was strange, and wet and horrid. First of all I had to do and fix up my machine guns at various points, and find places for the gunners to sleep in. This was no easy matter, as many of the dugouts had fallen in and floated off downstream.
In this, and subsequent descriptions of the trenches, I may lay myself open to the charge of exaggeration. But it must be remembered that I am describing trench life in the early days of 1914, and I feel sure that those who had experience of them will acquit me of any such charge.
To give a recipe for getting a rough idea, in case you want to, I recommend the following procedure. Select a flat ten-acre ploughed field, so sited that all the surface water of the surrounding country drains into it. Now cut a zig-zag slot about four feet deep and three feet wide diagonally across, dam off as much water as you can so as to leave about one hundred yards of squelchy mud; delve out a hole at one side of the slot, then endeavour to live there for a month on bully beef and damp biscuits, whilst a friend has instructions to fire at you with his Winchester every time you put your head above the surface.
Well, here I was anyway, and the next thing was to make the bets of it. As I have before said, these were the days of the earliest trenches in this war; days when we had none of those “props” such as corrugated iron, floorboards, and sand bags.
When you made a dug-out in those days you made it out of anything you could find, and generally had to make it yourself.” -Bruce Bairnsfather
“It was 9 a.m. and the so-called trench was full of corpses and all sorts of equipment. We stood and sat on bodies as if they were stones or logs of wood. Nobody worried if one had its head stuck through or torn off, or a third had gory bones sticking out through its torn coat. And outside the trench one could see them lying in every kind of position. There was one quite young little chap, a Frenchman, sitting in a shell-hole, with his rifle on his arm and his head bent forward, but he was holding his hands as if to protect himself, in front of his chest in which there was a deep bayonet wound. And so they lay, in all their different positions, mostly Frenchman, with their heads battered in by blows from mallets and even spades, and all around rifles, equipment of all kinds and any number of kepis. The 154th had fought like furies in their attack, to revenge themselves for the shellfire.
A heap of five corpses lay just this side of the barrier; we were constantly having to tread on them to try to squash them down in the mud, because, in consequence of the gunfire, we couldn’t get them out of the trench. Our feelings gradually became quite blunted.” -August Hope
"It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it; consequently, the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied down to any one meaning." -George Orwell
"The battle for the mind of Ronald Reagan was like the trench warfare of World War I: never have so many fought so hard for such barren terrain." -Peggy Noonan
Battle of Verdun
-Verdun, France
-Febuary - December, 1916
-Germany vs. France
The battle of Verdun symbolized for the French the strength and fortitude of their armed forces and the solidarity of the entire nation. After a few short weeks, the battle took on a life of its own, with small groups of men on both sides fighting local battles in constant struggle for their lives, and protection of the territory they occupied. Verdun is still considered by many military historians as the greatest and most demanding battle in history. In the end, the front lines were nearly the same as when the battles started while over 300,000 French and Germans were killed and over 750,000 were wounded.
-Febuary - December, 1916
-Germany vs. France
The battle of Verdun symbolized for the French the strength and fortitude of their armed forces and the solidarity of the entire nation. After a few short weeks, the battle took on a life of its own, with small groups of men on both sides fighting local battles in constant struggle for their lives, and protection of the territory they occupied. Verdun is still considered by many military historians as the greatest and most demanding battle in history. In the end, the front lines were nearly the same as when the battles started while over 300,000 French and Germans were killed and over 750,000 were wounded.
Battle of Somme
-Somme river, somme
-July 1 - November 18, 1916
-Britain vs. France
The fighting at the Somme cost the British approximately 420,000 casualties, while the French incurred 200,000. German losses numbered around 500,000. While the campaign achieved its goal of relieving pressure on verdun, it was not a victory in the classic sense. Also, the large-scale British commitment during the campaign aided in increasing their influence within the alliance. While the Battle of Verdun became the iconic moment of the conflict for the French, the Somme, achieved a similar status in Britain and became a symbol of the war.
-July 1 - November 18, 1916
-Britain vs. France
The fighting at the Somme cost the British approximately 420,000 casualties, while the French incurred 200,000. German losses numbered around 500,000. While the campaign achieved its goal of relieving pressure on verdun, it was not a victory in the classic sense. Also, the large-scale British commitment during the campaign aided in increasing their influence within the alliance. While the Battle of Verdun became the iconic moment of the conflict for the French, the Somme, achieved a similar status in Britain and became a symbol of the war.
New Weaponry
Machine gun:
Machine guns needed 4-6 men to work them and had to be on a flat surface. They had the fire-power of 100 guns. |
Rifle:
The main weapon used by British soldiers in the trenches was the bolt-action rifle. 15 rounds could be fired in a minute and a person 1,400 metres away could be killed. |
Zeppelin:
The Zeppelin, also known as blimp, was an airship that was used during the early part of the war in bombing raids by the Germans. They carried machine guns and bombs. However, they were abandoned because they were easy to shoot out of the sky. |