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Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated in Sarajevo.
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Russia mobilizes its vast army to intervene against Austria-Hungary in favor of its ally (Serbia).
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beginning World War I.
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Tannenberg was a crushing defeat for Russia, which lost almost an entire army, 400 guns, and other war material.
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The Germans fire shells filled with chlorine gas at Allied lines
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A German submarine sinks the passenger liner Lusitania. The ship carries 1,198 people, 128 of them Americans.
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Reacting to international outrage at the sinking of the Lusitania and other neutral passenger lines, Kaiser Wilhelm suspends unrestricted submarine warfare.
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The British employ the first tanks ever used in battle
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Germany resumes unrestricted submarine warfare in European waterways.
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British intelligence gives Wilson the so-called Zimmermann Telegram, a message from German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann proposing that Mexico side with Germany in case of war between Germany and the United States.
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President Wilson outlines his case for war to Congress.
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The United States enters World War I on the side of France and Britain.
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Congress passes the Selective Service Act authorizing the draft.
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The Germans sign a peace treaty with the new Bolshevik government of Russia.
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The Battle of Cantigny is the first major American offensive of the war.
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The Americans attack the Germans at Chateau-Thierry.
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The Battle of Belleau Wood begins as the U.S. Marine Corps attacks the Germans across an open field of wheat, suffering huge casualties
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The Battle of Belleau Wood ends with the final expulsion of the Germans from the wood
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The Battle of St. Mihiel begins when 300,000 American troops under the direct command of General Pershing fling themselves into the German lines.
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Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates, ending all German hope for a victory.
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War ended
