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Franz Ferdinand, who was the archduke of Austria-Hungary, was assassinated while on a visit in Sarajevo, Bosnia with his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg. First, a bomb was thrown at the vehicle they were driving in. They survived the first attack and continued on, until they were shot and killed later. It was believed that the assassin was a Serbian nationalist, so the Austrian government officials began to direct their anger Serbia. -
Great Britain, out of fear and wanting to defend their power in Europe, declare war on Germany. Due to the declaration, this caused most of the countries that the British Empire had control over to join in with the war. These countries included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa. The U.S., however, declares that they're neutral and wish to stay out of the war. -
Throughout August 4th-16th, 1914, The Siege of Liege occurs while Germany is attacking a city fortress within Belgian, but Belgian's soldiers resist the attacks and fire back. However, the twelve major city fortresses are forced into submission by German and Austrian soldiers using high explosive shells. As Belgian is in submission, German soldiers than continue on westward; towards Antwerp.
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A German U-boat (A.K.A. "Submarine") sinks a British passenger boat, with no relation to the war or signs of being an enemy ship, off of the Irish coast. Within 18 minutes, 1.2k passengers, including 128 Americans, were drowned. President Wilson send four diplomatic protests to Germany, telling them to back off and down from the US. -
After voting, President Wilson was re-elected into office. He won the election with the slogan, "He kept us out of war". -
A telegram message, intercepted by the British, was sent to the German embassies in Washington D.C. and Mexico City. The message was sent by "Alfred Zimmermann" and detailed that it would be an alliance between Germany and Mexico against the U.S. Germany would provide tactical support while Mexico benefitted from it by infiltrating the southwest of the U.S.; Attempting to retrieve territories once belonged to Mexico. This caused the public & interventionists into panic and outcry. -
Because of the German submarine sinking the British passenger ship and the telegram message being leaked to the Americans, The U.S. declares war on Germany. -
14k American soldiers begin to arrive within St. Nazaire, France. This was kept secret from the Germans to attempt to stop potential attacks from them. -
The Sedition Act of 1918 was enacted to extend the Espionage Act of 1917. The Sedition Act of 1918 allowed American citizens to have free speech rights during time of war. -
On November 11, 1918, the Germans signed the Armistice - which only became affective at 11pm ("The eleventh hour, the eleventh day, the eleventh month"). -
The treaty stated that German government had to surrender about 10% of it's territory in Europe prior to the war and all of possessions that were overseas. The U.S. also joins the "League Of Nations".