Lead up to World War I - Key Events.
| 1861 | Bismarck appointed chancellor of Prussia (= 'prime minister') by Wilhelm I |
| 1866 | Austria loses war with Prussia, and loses Schleswig-Holstein, Venetia and Lombardy. |
| 1867 | Austria, weakening, agrees to 'dual Monarchy' with Hungary (The 'Magyars') |
| 1870 | France loses Franco-Prussian war, Napoleon III exiled to England |
| 1888 | Wilhelm II becomes Kaiser, 'Second Reich" consolidated. |
| 1904 | Entente Cordiale between France and Britain, colonial disputes settled. |
| 1912 | Serbia defeats Turkey in Balkan wars, and turns ambitions north = Slavic regions of Austro-Hungary. |
| 1914 | 28 June. Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to Austro-Hungarian throne) assassinated by Bosnian terrorist. |
| 1914 | 28 July. Austria (backed by Germany) declared war on Serbia. Russia mobilized to support Serbia. |
| 1914 | 2 August. Germany declared war on Russia (who was allied to France). |
| 1914 | 3rd August. Germany declared war on France, after false accusations of French violations of the Franco German frontier. |
| 1914 | 4th August. Germany invades Belgium, violating her neutrality, so Britain, as guarantor, enters war on France's side. |