U.S. involvement in WW1 Timeline

By McKenzie and Erin

  • British intelligence intercepted and decoded the Zimmermann Telegram

    a coded message from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German Ambassador in Mexico City

  • The Archduke families visit to Sarajevo in Bosnia

    A bomb is thrown at their auto but misses. Undaunted they continue their visit only to be shot and killed a short time later by a lone assassin. Believing the assassin to be a Serbian nationalist, the Austrians target their anger towards Serbia.

  • President Wilson declares U.S. neutrality

    President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation of neutrality, stating that the U.S. would remain impartial in the war.

  • the United States Congress passed the Declaration of War, officially entering World War I and joining the Allied Powers

    Germany had been sinking ships in the Atlantic Ocean since January 1917, including passenger ships and neutral American ships.

  • the German U-boat U-20 torpedoed and sank the British luxury liner RMS Lusitania, killing 1,195 people, including 128 Americans

    a swift-moving British cruise liner traveling from New York to Liverpool, England. Of the 1,959 men, women, and children on board, 1,195 perished, including 123 Americans.

  • Woodrow Wilson is re-elected as President of the United States

    President Woodrow Wilson who had campaigned on the slogan, "He kept us out of war."

  • the United States Congress passed the Sedition Act

    a law that expanded the Espionage Act of 1917

  • the day when the fighting in World War I officially ceased

    On November 11, 1918, the Allies and Germany signed an armistice in Compiègne, France, ending hostilities at 11 AM.

  • the Treaty of Versailles was signed, officially ending World War I

    The treaty included a covenant to create the League of Nations, an international organization to preserve peace