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June 28-Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.
July 28-Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
July 29-In a surprise action, the entire German Navy attacks and seizes the English Channel.
Blockade is quickly set up over England.
July 30-Britain, Russia, and France (Allied Powers) declare war on Germany and Austria-Hungary (Central Powers),
and vice-versa.
August 2-German forces cross into Belguim. The Belgian Army collapses in less than three days.
August 4-Russian forces attack Germany, but are defeated later that month at Tannenburg and Masurian Lakes.
August 5-Ottoman Empire enters the war on the Central Powers side.
August 6-German forces cross into France from Belgium and Alsace-Lorraine.
The French, under the command of Marshal Joffre, put up fierce resistance,
but are unable to stop the encircling movement of the German Imperial Army.
By September 15, German forces are 25 miles from Paris.
September 19-With the Germans less than 15 miles from Paris,
the French Communists seize the chance and rebel in Paris.
French forces in and outside of the city are so panicked and disorganized that the rebels are able to seize control of the city,
with the help of hundreds of deserters.
Marshal Joffre and his staff are arrested in their headquarters and executed.
By nightfall, Paris is in the hands of the proclaimed Second Commune of Paris.
By the next morning, the Communard forces hold all of the defensive positions around Paris
and call for a cease fire with Germany.
Later that day, at a meeting between several German officers
and leaders of the Communards an official cease-fire is declared.
September 23-Kaiser Wilhelm announces that hostilities between the Second Commune of Paris and Germany
have ceased.
October 2-V. I. Lenin appears in Paris, along with follower Gregori Zinoviev.
Lenin declares that all of France should be freed from corrupt capitalist rule.
October-Civil War breaks out in France between the Communards, who are gaining support all over France,
and government forces. Soon, the leadership of the government forces dissolves
and a new leader emerges-fiery nationalist Henri Phillippe Petain.
The government forces begin to call themselves the Petainists.
November-German forces begin moving from France to the Russian front and into Austria to assist them against Serbia.
December-Third faction arises in France made of the milder socialists.
They want to remind the French people of the original revolutions of 1792 and 1848.
Calling themselves Bastillistes, they gain support in southern and western France.
December 29-Fall of Belgrade, Serbia to a combined German and Austrian force.
Serbian government sues for peace.
December 31-Bulgaria declares war on Serbia and begins seizing parts of government-held Serbia.
January through March-Russian Bolsheviks and Mensheviks begin moving into France,
with limited German help. The Bolsheviks support the Leninist Communards, and the Mensheviks support the Bastillistes.
February 6-Marseille falls to Communard forces.
Bastillistes are heavily weakened. Menshevik aid begins dwindling.
However, Bolsheviks from Russia continue to move into France.
However, the Bolshevik underground is still strong in Russia.
February 19-Fall of Minsk to German forces.
March 1-English attempt to break out of the English Channel, but fail to do so.
England continues to slowly starve under the German blockade.
March 30-Fall of Pskov to German forces.
April 14-Finnish nationalists rebel against Russian authority in Helsinki.
Germans begin supplying the Finns.
April 16-Last Bastilliste stronghold in France, at Nantes, falls to Petainist forces.
Most of France is Communard or ally Bolshevik controlled, while the northern coastline is Petainist held.
April 28-Great Liberation, the massive assault on the Petainist forces, begins.
May 8-With German capture of Petrograd imminent, Czar Nicholas moves the capital to Moscow.
May 10-After the Czar and his family, along with a good deal of the military forces in Petrograd, depart,
rioting breaks out in the streets of the city. Bolshevik forces in the city,
under the leadership of Leon Trotsky and Lev Kamenev, begin seizing government buildings.
May 11-Assassination of Menshevik leader Alexander Kerensky by alleged Communist forces.
Menshevik party collapses.
May 13-After a three day bloody battle, Tours falls to the Communards.
Among the dead is a young commander, Lavrenti Beria.
May 18-Commune of Petrograd proclaimed (sound familiar?)
May/June-National revolt in Russia due to the approching German menace and poor conditions.
Thousands of Russians desert the military.
June 2-One of the Czar's guards attempts to assassinate the Czar and his family, but fails and is executed.
Entire guard is arrested, but refuse to turn over their weapons.
The guards revolt and seize control of the palace in Moscow, taking the Czar hostage.
They declare their loyalty to the Communists and announce that the Moscow Commune is now in existance.
June 6-Communist forces in Moscow defeat government forces.
Czar Nicholas and his family are executed.
June 19-With the government and army no longer existing, the Union of Russian Communes is declared,
with Leon Trotsky as Premier.
July 1-Caen falls to Communard forces in France.
July 22-Petainist forces in Cherbourg revolt and declare the Commune of Cherbourg.
July 30-August 1-Cherbourg Commune is brutally put down. Over 13,000 are killed in just 3 days.
Thousands more are sent to imprisonment in Brest.
This outrages world leaders, many of whom publicly denounce Petain and support the Communard cause,
including US President Wilson, Vittorio Orlando of Italy, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany,
Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary, and even Herbert Asquith of England.
August 8-Anti-war riots in London.
August 9-Asquith resigns as Prime Minister.
David Lloyd George becomes the new Prime Minister of a coalition government.
August 17-Lloyd George sues for peace with Germany.
U.S. President Wilson offers to supervise the mediations, but the English government declines.
August 19-Last Petainist stronghold in France is captured by Communard forces,
thanks largely in part to foreign aide. Petain is captured, tried for murder, treason, and crimes against the people.
He is executed December 6.
September 18-German Communist leader Rosa Luxemberg is released from prison in Germany.
She arrives in Paris with dozens of followers and her husband, Karl Liebknecht, one week later.
October 17-People's Republic of France is declared,
with V. I. Lenin as Chairman of the Supreme Council of Commissars.
Controversy arises over why the highest position of the government in France is held by a foreigner,
but that is quickly put to rest when the leader of the so-called "Nationalist" wing,
Jacques Bersieres, is fatally shot in his home on November 2.
Commissars include Germans Luxemburg and Liebknecht and Russians Zinoviev, Iosif Stalin, and Vyacheslav Molotov,
among others.
December 18-Russian-American anarchist Emma Goldman arrives in Paris to observe the government.
December 22-The Union of Russian Communes is renamed the Russian Socialist Republic.
January 8-Treaty of Hamburg
between all of the European powers involved in the so-called "War of Revolution".
The following conditions are made:
*Poland is partitioned between Germany and Austria
*Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are ceded to Germany
*Certain parts of Russia are ceded to Germany and Austria-Hungary
*Finland is independent under Premier Mannerheim
*Serbia is to remain under Austrian and Bulgarian occupation for 5 years
followed by the formation of a new, constitutional government
*German forces are to withdraw from France and Belgium
*England owes 20 million pounds reparations to Germany
*England is to reduce its navy and army
*South Africa is declared independent and comes into the German camp whilst the Belgian Congo
is ceded to Germany
*Parts of Morroco are ceded to Germany
*Sinai Peninsula and Aden is ceded to the Ottoman Empire
*British are to withdraw from Egypt
*Germany is given a protectorate over Algiers.
April 18-France and Russia sign the Moscow Pact, a treaty of military alliance.
April 27-Trotsky, in a speech to the Politboru, the chief governing body of the RSR,
preaches the spread of communism to the rest of the world.
May 30-Bomb explodes in Bucharest, Romania, outside of the parliamentary buildings.
11 are killed, 29 are wounded. Among the dead is one of the major democratic leaders of Romania.
Communist underground in Romania claims responsibility.
June 19-Second bomb explodes inside of a leading general's house in Romania.
He, along with 3 others, one another military leader, is killed. Communists again claim responsibility.
June 29-Bela Kun, a Hungarian communist in exile in Russia,
is sent to Romania with promises of the eventual liberation of Hungary to assume leadership of the underground.
July 10-Attempted coup in Bucharest.
Battle between government forces and communists outside the parliament.
Communists are defeated by last minute reinforcements.
Kun is wounded and is dragged away by surviving communists.
July 11-Martial law is declared in Romania. Manhunt for Kun and other communists begins.
July 20-Kun is found, still recovering in a basement in Bucharest.
Communists attempt to defend the basement, but are killed. Kun is captured and put in prison.
August 8-Kun is convicted of treason by a Romanian court.
November 27-While awaiting execution, Kun dies in prison from his wounds.
Trotsky critisizes Romania for not caring for their prisoners. Russian-Romanian relations begin to quickly sour.
January 18-Romanian Army begins to mobilize.
February 4-RSR declares war on Romania. Romania declares war on Russia the next day.
February 8-People's Republic of France declares war on Romania, but has nothing to do with the war.
Emma Goldman protests French involvement in the pointless war.
February 10-Red Russian Army begins their drive into Romania.
Romanian Army holds out desperately, but cannot stop the Russian advance.
April 17-Russians approach Bucharest.
May 29-Russians complete the surrounding of Bucharest. Siege on the city begins.
July 16-Starving Bucharest rejects ultimatum to surrender to the Russians.
July 31-Russian forces begin moving into Bucharest.
Romanian forces mostly surrender due to starving conditions and lack of ammunition.
August 14-King Ferdinand is captured by the Russians.
His guard attempts to free him, but fails. The guard is killed off, and Ferdinand is hit by a stray bullet and killed.
August 15-Remaining Romanian forces surrender, ending the Romanian War of Liberation.
November 9-Communist government is installed in Bucharest.
January 6-Romania joins the Moscow Pact.
July 5-To counterbalance the Moscow Pact,
Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire, and Italy sign the Central European Defense League.
Europe is now divided between two powerful alliances.
Beginning of the "Great Stalemate", a period of tension between the two power blocs.
England is weakened by treaty, but searches for an ally in the United States.
However, isolationism is still popular in the United States, and Wilson declines the offer of alliance.
Communist organizations in the U.S. grow, as well as in Canada, particularly in Quebec.
1919-1934 "Great Stalemate" takes place in Europe.
Both the Moscow Pact and the CEDL rush to advance their arms programs.
By 1930, Arms levels for both sides are at 1935 levels and quickly advancing.
Several flame-ups take place over the years, but nothing serious happens.
September 6-Lenin dies of a stroke. Power struggle ensues in France.
One faction is led by the Leninists, the other by the Nationalists, mostly French leaders.
October 22-Stalin is found dead in his home with a knife in his chest.
The public believes it was the Nationalists, but actually, a Trotsyite agent put paid to Stalin.
Soon, Nationalist forces, with the secret help of Trotsky, have gained the upper hand.
February 19
-Gregori Zinoviev assumes control of the Supreme Council, but he is not supported by the Nationalists.
March 12-Zinoviev is placed under house arrest by the forces of Henri Bernard, a French Nationalist.
He is allowed his position as Commissar, but has essentially no power.
Bernard assumes leadership of the Supreme Council.
October 1-Bernard dies of a heart attack.
October 16-Succesor is named: 27 year old Maurice Thorez.
He begins purging the Russian Bolsheviks in France.
December 2-Thorez announces that Vyacheslav Molotov has succumbed to a heart attack and died.
October 29-Stock Market crashes in New York.
The United States has little to do with Europe politically, but has much to do economically,
even though the military is far behind in technology.
Crash begins to affect European markets, especially England.
October 8-Belgian Communists rebel against the struggling government in Brussels.
French forces intervene. Soon, the Belgian Socialist Republic is in full control of Belguim.
CEDL protests, but Belguim is not a member, so they have no power in the matter.
January 2-Riots against the government in London.
Civil war begins all over the country.
Troops begin to withdraw from India and other parts of the Empire to handle the current crisis.
March 4-India declares its independence from Britain, under Mohandas Ghandi.
There is no opposition. However, civil war breaks out there as well between Hindus and Muslims.
However, Ghandi is able to find a peaceful solution, and India is divided into Hindustan and Islamic India.
October 6-With French and Russian help,
Ireland declares its independece as the Irish Republic is announced. There is no resistance from British troops.
December 8-Scotland declares its independence as the Independent State of Scotland.
There is no resistance from British troops.
March 9-Government regains control of England.
However, the country is broke and ravaged, and anarchy still reigns in most of the nation.
January 19-Simultaneous explosions in Italy,
Germany, and Austria-Hungary in front of the capital buildings by cooperating communist undergrounds.
Several high offcials are killed in each of these countries.
Former fascist, now communist Benito Mussolini is arrested in Rome.
January 23-France demands the release of Mussolini.
Italy refuses. Mussolini is executed the next day.
January 29-France, Russia, Romania, and Belguim protest the execution of a political party leader.
All countries order mobilization of forces. Ireland pledges its support to the Moscow Pact.
February 4-CEDL nations mobilize forces. Europe is on the brink of a war of total destruction . . .
TO BE CONTINUED ...
