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On June 28, 1914, the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated by a man named Gavrilo Princip. This is a Serbian man who decided to start WWI. After this assassination, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia, causing Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia. Russia stood on the side of Serbia, while Germany supported Austria-Hungary. -
On September 6, 1914, French forces were 30 miles away from Paris. The French had pushed German soldiers as far as the Marne River. When Frances' 6th unit of soldiers arrived, they crossed the river, ready to stop any advance from Germany. French soldiers saw an open flank from the German soldiers. Germany's first unit of soldiers disobeyed orders and allowed the French to defeat them and hold their ground. -
On May 7, 1915, a German submarine fired a torpedo at a civilian boat named Lusitania. Once the war grew to a bigger size, Germany took this more seriously. They started to sink any boat that wasn’t part of their alliance. They later sank the Lusitania, causing the U.S to shut down all boats in the area of German territory. This caused many Americans to dislike Germany and not consider it a good country. -
William tried to enlist in the Navy. When he first tried, he failed the eye exam. He went to get glasses later, coming back to find out the enlistment had been completed already, and he missed his chance for medic in the Navy. He grew mad, and so instead of going to the Navy, he decided to try the Army. -
March 1, 1917, a note was sent to Mexico from Germany, for an alliance if the U.S joined WWI. Germany was also looking to add another teammate to the war if the U.S were to join. Germany made a deal with Mexico, saying that if they fought the U.S, they would help them with money and resources to defeat the U.S. Mexico gave the information to the U.S about the deal Germany gave them. This made the U.S fight in the war. -
1917 month of June, the Williams family came to visit him at his camp in Maryland. He felt so grateful to see them all again, especially all that he had accomplished at the camp. Soon after the visit of his family, they finally started making their way overseas. The moment he saw so many people waving goodbye as they went overseas, it gave him a feeling of pride and overwhelming emotion at the same time. -
Nov. 1918 was the day he went off on his journey away from his hometown of Philadelphia. He felt proud and excited about fighting for his family back home. He then reflects on his past life as a pharmacist and how great his life has been. Lastly, he then writes a letter to his best friend/roommate, who is in a different station in the Army. He talks about how good a friend he's been to him and how he's happy to have him as a friend. -
On July 14, 1918, William was on a ship resting and waiting for the arrival in France. Suddenly, a big crash hit the ship, waking up all the soldiers. They thought it was a torpedo, but they hit a ship or some sort of carrier that had men on it. They heard the cries of drowning men, but they couldn’t do anything cause they were inside. They were only able to save 60 of the men out of who knows how many. -
In October 1918, the Germans and the French were fighting in the trenches. As William’s group emerged to replace the last group, he saw so many faces of the soldiers who had been fighting. They were so petrified and scared. William had no idea what was going to happen. -
June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles, WWI finally ended with a peace treaty signed by Germany and all other countries included in the Allied Powers. Included in the agreement, Germany took all the blame, taking this war too far. They lost much territory, money, and they became more demilitarization. This event later allowed Hitler to rise, eventually causing the famous WWII.