July 28, 1914 – November 11, 1918
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, drawing Europe's powers into a global war that lasts until the armistice of 11 November 1918.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife are shot dead by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, triggering the crisis that leads to the First World War.
The US-built Panama Canal officially opens, linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring premieres in Paris amid uproar in the audience, becoming a landmark of modernist music.
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in the Allies' unsuccessful campaign against the Ottoman Empire; 25 April is now commemorated as Anzac Day.
Albert Einstein presents the field equations of general relativity to the Prussian Academy of Sciences, describing gravity as the curvature of spacetime.
RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic on her maiden voyage after striking an iceberg; more than 1,500 people die.