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Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The perpetrator was 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, a member of Young Bosnia and one of a group of assassins organized and armed by the Black Hand. -
American neutrality in World War I began with President Woodrow Wilson's 1914 declaration, intended to keep the U.S. out of the conflict through impartiality. However, this policy was difficult to maintain due to profitable trade with the Allies, the influence of British propaganda, and events like the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, which killed American citizens. -
The German army invaded France with a plan for winning the war in 40 days by occupying Paris and destroying the French and British armies.