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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinad
He visited the Bosnian captial Sarajevo. As the royal entourage drove through the city. Serbian nationalist gavrilo Princip stepped from the crowd and shot the Archduke and his wife. -
German declares war on Russia and France
Germany invaded Belgium, following a strategy known as the Schliefflin plan. This plan called for a holding action against Russia, combined with quick drive through Belgium -
Hollywood, California becomes the center for movie production in the U.S
Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It is notable for its place as the home of the film industry, including several of its historic studios. Its name has come to be a metonym for the motion picture industry of the United States. -
First transcontinental telephone call
In 1915 day timed to coincide with the Panama-Pacific Exposition celebrations. However, the transcontinental telephone line was first completed on June 27, 1914, and successfully first voice tested in July 1914. -
German U-boats fire
In 1915 German U-boats shoot and sink the Luistania, and sink 1,198 people die.On May 7, the ship neared the coast of Ireland. At 2:10 in the afternoon a torpedo fired by the German submarine U 20 slammed into her side. A mysterious second explosion ripped the liner apart. Chaos reigned. -
Albert Einstein
Proposes his general theory of relativityEinstein then spent 10 years trying to include acceleration in the theory and published his theory of general relativity in 1915. In it, he determined that massive objects cause a distortion in space-time, which is felt as gravity. -
The Battles of Verdun and the Somme claim millions of lives
The Battle of Verdun in 1916 was the longest single battle of World War One. The casualties from Verdun and the impact the battle had on the French Army was a primary reason for the British starting the Battle of the Somme in July 1916 in an effort to take German pressure off of the French at Verdun. The Battle of Verdun started on February 21st 1916 and ended on December 16th in 1916. It was to make General Philippe Pétain a hero in France. -
President election
In 1916 the Democratic candidate, was pitted against Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes, the Republican candidate. After a hard-fought contest, Wilson defeated Hughes by nearly 600,000 votes in the popular vote and secured a narrow majority in the Electoral College by winning several swing states with razor-thin margins -
Russia wiithdraws from the war
By the end of 1916 some 1,700,000 Russian soldiers were dead. . The new socialist government led by Alexander Kerensky hoped to negotiate a peaceful withdrawal, but neither Germany nor Russia's allies accepted this. Russian soldiers stopped obeying officers' orders and during the summer of 1917, Russian soldiers deserted in droves. -
The U.S declares War
At 8:30 on the evening of April 2, 1917, President Wilson appeared before a joint session of Congress and asked for a declaration of war against Germany in order to "make the world safe for democracy." On April 4, Congress granted Wilson's request. America thus joined the carnage that had been ravaging Europe since 1914. -
The Selective Service Sets up Draft
The act required men to register with the government in order to be randomly selected for military service. By the end of 1918, 24 million men had registered under the act. Of this reached Europe before the truce was signed, and three-fourths of them saw actual combat. -
President Wilson proposes the League of Nations
The League of Nations was an international organization, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It was created after the First World War to provide a forum for resolving international disputes. Though first proposed by President Woodrow Wilson as part of his Fourteen Points plan for an equitable peace in Europe, the United States never became a member. -
Congress Passes the Sedition Act
Was an Act of the United States Congress that extended the Espionage Act of 1917 to cover a broader range of offenses, notably speech and the expression of opinion that cast the government or the war effort in a negative light or interfered with the sale of government bonds. It forbade the use of "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the United States government, its flag, or its armed forces or that caused others to view the American government or its institutions with. -
The Congress Passes 19th Amendment
In 1919, the 19th Amendment, which stated that “the rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex,” passed both houses of Congress and was sent to the states for ratification. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, giving it the two-thirds majority of state ratification necessary to make it the law of the land. Eight days later, the 19th Amendment took effect. -
Influenza epidemic killed 30 million
On September 27th, influenza became a reportable disease. However, influenza had become so widespread by that time that most states were unable to keep accurate records. Many simply failed to report to the Public Health Service during the pandemic, leaving epidemiologists to guess at the impact the disease may have had in different areas.