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Timeline - 1914

German telescoping searchlight The First World War spanned four years and involved many nation states.

This section lists the landmark events of the year 1914, the first year of the war which began as the widely expected war of movement, but which inexplicably (to contemporary eyes) settled into stubborn trench warfare.

For a day by day account click any given month using the sidebar to the right.

Date Event
TimelineJune 28 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austro-Hungarian empire, in Sarajevo, Bosnia
TimelineJuly 28 Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
TimelineJuly 29 - December 9 Austria-Hungary repeatedly invades Serbia but is repeatedly repulsed
TimelineAugust 1 Outbreak of war - Germany declares war on Russia
TimelineAugust 3 Germany declares war on France
TimelineAugust 4 Germany invades neutral Belgium
TimelineAugust 4 Britain declares war on Germany
TimelineAugust 4 US President Woodrow Wilson declares policy of US neutrality
TimelineAugust 14 Battle of the Frontiers begins
TimelineAugust 17-19 Russia invades East Prussia
TimelineAugust 23 Japan declares war on Germany
TimelineAugust 23 - September 2 Austria-Hungary invades Russian Poland (Galicia)
TimelineAugust 26-30 Battle of Tannenberg, which Russia loses; Germany's greatest success of the war on Eastern Front
TimelineSeptember 5-10 First Battle of Marne, halts German advance, resulting in stalemate and trench warfare
TimelineSeptember 9-14 First Battle of Masurian Lakes, which Russia loses
TimelineSeptember 14 First Battle of Aisne begins
TimelineSeptember 15 - November 24 The "race to the sea", trenches appear on September 15
TimelineSeptember 17-28 Austro-German attack on western Poland
TimelineOctober 14 - November 22 First Battle of Ypres
TimelineOctober 29 Turkey enters the war on the side of the Central Powers
TimelineDecember 8 Battle of the Falkland Islands
TimelineDecember 21 First German air raid on Britain
TimelineDecember 25 Unofficial Christmas truce declared by soldiers along the Western Front

"Hun" was a slang term used by the allies, to describe the Germans. "Boche" was another.

- Did you know?

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