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Ferdinand was the heir to the throne of Austria- Hungary. He was assassinated while making a state visit to sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. Gavrilo Princip, a young revolutionary assassin from Bosina killed him.
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Germany declared war on Russia
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Germany declares war on France.
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Britain declared war on Germany
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Germany declares war on Belgium
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◾Secret Alliance between Germany and Turkey signed at Berlin.
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Battle of the Tser and the Jadar (Serbia) begins (see 13th and 21st).
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During trench warfare, opposing armies conduct battle, at relatively close range, from a series of ditches dug into the ground. Trench warfare becomes necessary when two armies face a stalemate, with neither side able to advance and overtake the other. Although trench warfare has been employed since ancient times, it was used on an unprecedented scale on the Western Front during World War I.
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The unofficial Christmas truce is declared.
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The Winter Battle in Masuria (East Prussia) begins (see 22nd).
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Liquid fire first used by the Germans on the Western front.
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The first passenger ship (British S.S. "Falaba") sunk by a German submarine
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Lusitania was torpedoed in by German submarine. It took just eighteen minutes to sink. The speed and the angle of sinking made it extremely difficult to launch the life boats.1,153 passengers and crew drowned. 128 of them were Americans.
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Germany promises not to the sink unarmed passengers ships without warning
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The Battle of Verdun begins. The Battle of Verdun was the longest battle of World War 1 and was one of the bloodiest.
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Geramny breaks promise by sinking the Sussex
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Germany promises not to sink unarmed ships again
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Woodrow Wilson re-elected President of the United States with campaign slogan: "He kept us out of the war."
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A telegram from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German Minister to Mexico, von Eckhardt, offering United States territory to Mexico in return for joining the German cause. This message helped draw the United States into the war.
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Wilson asked congress for a declaration of war against Germany
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The treaty ended war between Russia and Germany. Under the treaty, Russia lost Riga, Lithuania, Livonia, Estonia and some of White Russia. These areas had great economic importance as they were some of the most fertile farming areas in Western Russia. Germany was allowed by the terms of the treaty to exploit these lands to support her military effort in the west.
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Germany surrendered to the Allies in a railway car in Compiegne France.
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The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
