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Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg were assassinated in Sarajevo on 6/28/1914. They were shot to death by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian, and member of the Serbian secret society "Black Hand". Franz Ferdinand's death led to the July Crisis and precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia. four weeks after his death to Austria-Hungary's allies and Serbia's allies making war on each other, starting WWI -
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. How its significant to us:The war shaped the culture of the U.S. After an Armistice agreement ended the fighting on November 11, 1918, the postwar years saw a wave of civil rights activism for equal rights for African Americans, the passage of an amendment securing women's right to vote, and a larger role in world affairs. -
The German submarine (U-boat) U-20 torpedoed and sank the Lusitania, a swift-moving British cruise liner traveling from New York to Liverpool, England. Of the 1,959 men, women, and children on board, 1,195 perished, including 123 Americans. The sinking of the Lusitania was the most notorious and deadly of several German submarine attacks in early 1917 -- attacks that were a key factor in the United States' decision to abandon a policy of neutrality and enter the war. -
British naval intelligence intercepted and decrypted a telegram sent by German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German Ambassador in Mexico City. The blockade had a devastating impact on the U.S. economy and public finance, and also kept most American warships in port. The British convoy system—in which warships escorted merchant vessels—cut down on the success of American privateers. -
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 7, 1916. Incumbent Democratic President Woodrow Wilson narrowly defeated former associate justice of the Supreme Court Charles Evans Hughes, the Republican candidate. its significant to America today because Wilson was the 1st Democratic president to win a 2nd consecutive term since Andrew Jackson in 1832. Thomas Marshall also became the first vice-president of any party elected to a second term since John Calhoun in 1828. -
The United States declared war on the German Empire, joining France, Great Britain, Russia, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Italy. They were arrayed against Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. It also affected the lives of Americans on the home front. Much of this impact was associated with mobilizing for the war. People moved to new places across the country to work and to train and their lives changed. Factories had to move quickly to Produce weapons -
Battle of Mount Ortigara – Shock troops with the Austro-Hungarian Army pushed 11 Italian divisions off the Mount Ortigara summit, regaining their important defensive position in Asiago, Italy. Italy suffered 23,000 casualties while Austria-Hungary sustained only 9,000 casualties. -
The Sedition Act of 1918 was enacted on May 16, 1918 to extend the Espionage Act of 1917. The Sedition Act covered 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. The Sedition Act made it a crime for American citizens to any false, scandalous, and malicious writing" about the government. The laws were directed against Democratic-Republicans. -
On November 11, 1918 an armistice was signed between the Germans and the Allies, ending World War I. Somehow, despite a global flu pandemic that killed 675,000 Americans in 1918 and 1919, and a depression that gutted the economy in 1920 and 1921, the United States not only recovered but entered into a decade of unprecedented growth and prosperity and we became more independent and learned from our past war to help build us today. -
The Versailles Peace Treaty, signed on June 28, 1919, officially ended World War I. Of note, on the same day, five-years earlier the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated at Sarajevo, Bosnia, starting the war. it represented a clear end to a major war in a way that we rarely see today. From 1816 to 1919, formal peace agreements marked the conclusion of nearly three-quarters of wars between countries. Since 1919, that percentage has dropped precipitously, to about one-third