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Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie were shot dead by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo. This event led to the First World War. U.S. takes important step to aid stabilization and reconstruction in Bosnia -
President Woodrow Wilson declared the United States to remain neutral, and many Americans saw no reason to become involved in what they saw as European squabbles and intrigues. Staying away from the war allowed the U.S. economy to recover from recession. -
The British ocean liner Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat and in less than 20 minutes the ship sank in the Celtic Sea. Of the 1,959 passengers and crew on board, 1,198 drowned, including 128 Americans. Indirectly led to the United States joining the world war. -
Democratic President Woodrow Wilson narrowly defeated Republican Charles Hughes in the U.S. presidential election. Montana Republican Janet Rankin becomes the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Many saw this as a vote on whether the United States should join the First World -
British codebreakers decipher a telegram from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to von Eckhardt, Germany's minister in Mexico, The telegram's clear threats against the United States stoked the American public's antipathy toward Germany and prompted Congress to declare war on Germany in 1917. -
The United States was worried that the failure of the Allies would lead to the loss of its foreign loans. In order to safeguard its economic interests and control the war situation, the United States declared war on Germany, on the grounds that Germany practiced "unrestricted submarine warfare." -
The first 14,000 American soldiers began arriving at the port of St Nazaire in France. Their arrival had been kept a secret to further guard against German intervention, but it did not take long for the local French population to begin cheering them through the streets. -
After the Sedition Act, passed on May 16, 1918, augmented the already stringent Espionage Act of 1917, the New York Herald ran this cartoon by William Allen Rogers touting Uncle Sam's expanded authority to "round up" those that would oppose the government. -
Germany and the Allies signed an armistice, ending World War I. The signing of the Armistice became a national holiday in the United States to commemorate those who served in World War I. -
Germany and the Allies signed the Treaty of Versailles, officially ending World War I. The Treaty of Versailles included a plan to form a League of Nations that would serve as an international forum and an international collective security arrangement. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was a strong advocate of the League as he believed it would prevent future wars.