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World War Timeline
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Assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand
On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot dead in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, one of a group of six assassins coordinated by Danilo Ilić, a Bosnian Serb and a member of the Black Hand secret society. -
Germany declares war on Russia and France
Although guaranteeing Belgian neutrality, Germans march through Belgium into France. -
Wilson declares U.S. neutrality
Reflecting strong public opinion, Wilson states that U.S. will not join the war -
Sinking of the Lusitania
The sinking of the Cunard ocean liner RMS Lusitania occurred on 7 May 1915 during the First World War, as Germany waged submarine warfare against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. -
German U Boat firing on the French ship, Sussex
Sussex was a cross-English Channel passenger ferry, built in 1896 for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway -
Zimmerman Note
1917 diplomatic proposal from the German Empire for Mexico to join an alliance with Germany in the event of the United States entering World War I against Germany. -
Russian Revolution deposes Czar Nicholas
instability in Europe encourages Wilson to act -
The day Congress declared War on Germany
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson outlined the case for declaring war upon Germany in a speech to the joint houses of Congress on 2 April 1917. -
Food Administration formed
Herbert Hoover heads effort to conserve food and boost agricultural output. -
War Industries Board created
Led by Bernard Baruch, the WIB set prices and determined what goods should be produced by private industry -
Selective Service Act passed
Nearly 10 million men are listed and a lottery chooses first 687,000 to serve. Eventually 3,000,000 men serve as draftees in the war -
14 Points declared
Wilson lists his goals for a war-free world, including a League of Nations -
The signing of the separate peace between Germany and Russia
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, between the new Bolshevik government of Russia (the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey), that ended Russia's participation in World War I. -
Armistice declared
Armistice Day is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning—the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918. -
Signing of the Treaty of Versailles that ended WWI
World War I (1914-1918) was finally over. This first global conflict had claimed from 9 million to 13 million lives and caused unprecedented damage.
