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On this day in 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie are shot to death by a Bosnian Serb nationalist during an official visit to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. The killings sparked a chain of events that led to the outbreak of World War I by early August.
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Germany invaded Belgium, following a strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan. This plan called for a holding action against Russia, combined with a quick drive through Belgium to Paris; after France had fallen, the two German armies would defeat Russia.
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The Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. Germany and Austria- Hungary, together with the Ottoman Empire, were later known as the Central Powers.
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On May 7, 1915, the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania, which primarily ferried people and goods across the Atlantic Ocean between the United States and Great Britain, was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sunk. Of the 1,959 people on board, 1,198 died, including 128 Americans. The sinking of the Lusitania enraged Americans and hastened the United States' entrance into World War I.
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The Triple Entente, later known as the Allies, consisted of France, Britain, and Russia.One of the major defense alliances in Europe.
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A U-boat sank another British liner, the Arabia, drown two Americans. Again the United States pretested, and this time Germany agreed not to sink any more passenge ships.
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In March 1916 Germany broke its promise and torpedoed an unarmed French passenger steamer, the Sussex. The Sussex sank, and about 80 passengers, including Americans, were kill or imjured. Once again the United States warned that would break off diplomatic relations unless Germany changed its tactics.
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During the first Battle of the Somme--which began on july 1, 1916, and lasted until mid- November--the British surrered 60,000 casualities the first day alone. Final casualities totaled about 1.2 million, yet only about seven miles of ground changed hands.
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A telegram from the German foreign minister to the German ambassador in Mexico that was interceptd by British agents.The telegram proposed an alliance between Mexico and Germany and promised that if war with United States broke out, Germany will support Mexico in recovering "lost territory in Taxas, New Mexico, and Arizona."
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To popularize the war, the government set up the nation's first propaganda agency, the Committee on Public Information (CPI). Propaganda is a kind of biased communication designed to influence people's thoughts and actions. The head of the CPI was a former muckraking journalist named George Creel.
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The act required men to register with the government in order to be randomly selected for military service.
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To help produce and conserve food, Wilson set up the Food Administration under Herbert Hoover. Instead of rationing food, he called on people to follow the "gosple of the clean plate." He declared one day a week "meat-less," another "sweetless," two day "wheatless," and two other days "porkless."
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American Vice Admiral William S. Sims convinced the Britiish to try the convey system, which a heavy guard of destroyers escorted merchant ships back and forth across the Atlantic in groups.
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It was established on July 28, 1917 and reorganized in 1918 under the leadership of Bernard M. Baruch. The board encouraged companies to ued mass-producetion techniques to increase efficiency. The WIB set production quotas and allocated raw materials.
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To deal with disputes between management and labor, president Wilson established the National War Labor Board in 1918. Workers who refused to obey board decisions could lose their draft exemptions. The board also worked to improve factory conditions. It pushed to a eight-hour workday, promoted safety inspections, and enforced the child labor ban.
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In June15, 1917 Congress passed the Espionage act, and in may 1918 it passed the Sedition act. Under the Espionage and Sedition Acts a person could be fined up to $10,000 and sentenced to 20 years in jail for interfering with the war effort or for saying anything disloyal, profane or abusive about the government or the war effort
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The Second Battle of the Marne was the last major German Spring Offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. The German attack failed when an Allied counterattack led by French forces and including several hundred tanks overwhelmed the Germans on their right flank, inflicting severe casualties.
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On November 3, 1918, Austria Hungary surrenfered to the Allies. That same day, German sailors mutinied against government authority.
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Socialist leader in the capital, Berlin, established a German republic.
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Although there were no Allied soliders on German territory and no truly decisive battle had been fought, the Germans were too exhausted to continue fighting. So at the eleventh hour, on the eleven day, in the eleven month of 1918, Germany agreed to cease-fire and signed the armistice, or truce, that ended the war.
