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On June 6, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was out in a car, and he got assassinated. The assassin was believed to be a Serbian nationalist. -
Great Britain declares war on Germany. The declaration is binding on all Dominions within the British Empire including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa. An ally of America has declared war on Germany. -
A German U-Boat torpedoes the British passenger liner Lusitania off the Irish coast. It sinks in 18 minutes, drowning 1,201 persons, including 128 Americans. President Woodrow Wilson subsequently sends four diplomatic protests to Germany. This threatens American's saftey. -
American voters re-elect President Woodrow Wilson who had campaigned on the slogan, "He kept us out of war." -
The British intercept a telegram sent by Alfred Zimmermann in the German Foreign Office to the German embassies in Washington, D.C., and Mexico City. Its message outlines plans for an alliance between Germany and Mexico against the United States. Germany would provide tactical support while Mexico would benefit by expanding into the American Southwest, retrieving territories that had once been part of Mexico. If Mexico and Germany team up on America it could be very bad for them. -
The United States of America declares war on Germany. The USA is now in full swing in the war against Germany. -
The first American troops land in France. American people are now heading towards the frontlines of WWI. -
United States Congress approved the Sedition Act, which extended the Espionage Act to cover a broader range of offenses including public speech or expression that cast the U.S. Government or its war effort in a negative light or interfered with its sale of war bonds. -
At 5:10 am, in a railway car at Compiègne, France, the Germans sign the Armistice which is effective at 11 am--the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Fighting continues all along the Western Front until precisely 11 o'clock, with 2,000 casualties experienced that day by all sides. Artillery barrages also erupt as 11 am draws near as soldiers yearn to claim they fired the very last shot in the war. This marks the end of the war for everyone, including Americans. -
At the Palace of Versailles in France, a German delegation signs the Treaty formally ending the war. Its 230 pages contain terms that have little in common with Wilson's Fourteen Points as the Germans had hoped. Germans back home react with mass demonstrations against the perceived harshness, especially clauses that assess sole blame for the war on Germany. Americans rejoiced that the end of the war was over, and they could now go back to living there normal lives.
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