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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were riding in the back of their open car in Bosnia, Austria, when a bomb was thrown on their car. The bomb rolled off of the back of the car and injured a police officer and a few pedestrians. Later that day, the car made a wrong turn and passed by Princip, who shot at them as they rode by. Both he and his wife died in under an hour. -
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World War I
WWI began shortly after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. Most of the countries that got involved had to fight because they were allies with the countries that had the main conflict. The main allies that fought in WWI were Britain, France, Italy, Russia, and the United States. They were fighting against Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria. WWI was classified as a world war because there was conflict going on almost everywhere in the world. -
The Blank Check
Germany promises to support Austria-Hungary's actions to attack Serbia, effectively making the conflict much larger that it would have been. -
Lusitania
The Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat, killing 1100 of the 1900 people aboard. This event played a big role in getting the US to join the war later on. Germany also sank many other ships with its submarines and did not have any restrictions when it came to sinking a battleship or a passenger ship. -
Zimmerman Telegram
British code breakers intercepted a secret message from the Nazi's to a German Ambassador. The telegram told him to provide military and financial support to Mexico so that they could attack the US if the US decided to enter the war. -
US Enters the War
After many years of avoiding conflict, the United States finally joined the war. The US was able to provide the allies with supplies and kept Great Britain and the rest of the allies from bankruptcy. The US also sent over 2 million troops to fight, 50,000 of which lost their lives. The US also helped strengthen the allied blockade against Germany, which helped worsen the economy of Germany. -
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Effects of the War
WWI had affected almost every single country in the world in some way. Over 9 million soldiers had died and 5 million civilians had also lost their lives. The economy in Europe was in shambles, which allowed the US to come out on top. There was over $150 billion in costs and another 7 million men were left disabled. -
Treaty of Versailles
This treaty was what officially ended WWI. It put most of the blame on Germany and put some restrictions as well as punished the country. Germany was supposed to give back a large amount of land as well as pay a $100 million fine. Their military size was also decreased and it was essentially disarmed. -
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The Great Depression
The Great depression was triggered by a stock market crash that happened in 1929. Millions of stocks were traded in at such a fast rate that many were counted worthless. Many workers were fired because factories started to slow down production, leaving 4 million American's looking for work and 6 million by 1931. Farmers who were struggling even before the crash couldn't harvest their crops and people were left starving. -
Hitler comes to power
After WWI, Adolf Hitler joined and became the leader of a National Socialist German Worker Party, now know as the Nazis. Hitler hoped to lead this group to power in Germany and called for the reconstruction of Germany on a racial basis. His plan was to take over the world and prove that Germans were superior to all other nationalities. Looking back, we can come to the conclusion that the Germans would not have followed him if not for the Treaty of Versailles and the harsh treatment of the German
