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On June 28th, 1914, Franz Ferdinand and his wife were killed in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, a young Serbian revolutionary. The event led to a chain of events that eventually triggered WW1
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After the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Several alliances formed under the previous decades were invoked. Within weeks, the major powers were at war. The U.S. meanwhile maintained a policy of non-intervention.
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On May7, 1915, a German U-Boat U-20 torpedoed the ship Lusitania which had passengers in it killing 1,198 passengers. The U.S. condemned the attack & it eventually contributed to the American entry into World War 1.
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In spite of the Lusitania incident, Germany continued unrestricted submarine warfare until the Arabic incident. On August 19, 1915, the British passenger ship Arabic was torpedoed by a German U-Boat.
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After the sinking of the Arabic, a British passenger boat, Wilson was outraged at the attack and threatened on with joining the war. So the German government issued on September 18, 1915, the "Arabic Pledge", which stated that Germany would warn non-military ships 30 minutes before they attacked.
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The Sussex Pledge was a promise made in 1916 by Germany during WW1 to the United States.After Germany torpedoed the ship "Sussex" President Wilson issued a warning againts Germany that if they kept doing unrestriced submarine warfare that the U.S. would enter the war. Germany issued the Sussex pledge and promise to stop unrestricted submarine warfare.
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Running for re-election in 1916, President Wilson's campaign slogan was "He kept us out of war" because he prevented the U.S. from entering WW1. But ironically the U.S. will eventually enter WW1.
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On January 16, 1917, Germany sent a telegram to Mexico asking for their alliance and to make war against the United States. In the telegram Geramny promised Mexioo the return of Texas, New Mexico, Nevada and California. After it was decoded and translated the U.S. government were outraged and that helped build up the United States declarationof war against Germany and enrty into WW1.
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The Russian Revolution was started after Russia's horrible war campaign in which they were doing badly compared to the rest of the allied powers. The revolutionaries overthrew Nicholas II, the last emperor of Russia and set up their own Provisional Government.
