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Archduke Assassinated
Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip. The Black Hand, a secret society of which Gavrilo Princip was apart of, had an objective to assassinate Archduke Ferdinand. -
Germany invades Belgium
Germany invades Belgium starting WW1 after the death of Archduke Ferdinand. Germany invaded Belgium to gain an advantage on France. Germany originally sent a letter demanding free passage but Belgium was a neutral country and did not accept. -
Germans use chemical weapons
Germans fire shells of chlorine gas and tear gas at Allied powers. This is the first time gas warfare is used on this scale. -
Lusitania is sunk by German ships
Germany sinks the Lusitania, prompting the U.S to join in the fight due to the fact the ship was a passenger ship, carrying 128 Americans, 198 people in total. This was the factor that brought America into the war -
First ever tanks used
The very first tanks were deployed in Delville Wood by British soldiers. Thought they were very new and did not have sufficient weaponry for actual fighting, they were useful in getting rid of barbed wire. -
Selective service act
The Selective Service act that authorized drafting American people for the war through conscription -
Frank Woodruff Buckles joins the war
After the Selective Service act was appointed, Frank Woodruff Buckles joined the war. He originally started out as an ambulance driver. He lied about his age to join the war, he was 16 at the time. -
Buckles tried and tried
During his summer vacation, that is when he tried out for the Marine Corps in Kansas. He told the recruitment office that he was 18 but they said that he had to be 21 to join. One week later he came back and said he was 21 but this time he was given a physical examination and they said he was not heavy enough. He later tried out for the Navy but was told he had flat feet. -
Buckles finally gets his wish
Another week passed and no luck until he tried out for the Army. They had asked him for his birth certificate, not wanting to get caught lying about his age, he said that where he came from, births where not put with public records. They accepted what he said and they let him join. On August 14th 1917 he was finaly enlisted -
What he did
He and his team sailed from New Jersey to Scottland, then to England where he drove an ambulance motorcycle. He asked to be stationed in France but he couldn't until one day he was assigned to escort an officer to France. After Armistice Day he was assigned to escort prisoners back to Germany. -
Battle of Cantigny
The Battle of Cantigny is the first major American offensive battle of the war. -
The end of the war
Five years to the day after Franz Ferdinand’s death, Germany and the Allied Powers signed the Treaty of Versailles, officially ending World War I -
An honorable discharge
Two years later he returned home. He later got the rest of his education and got a job at a post office. He later moved to Canada and got a job at a soliciting office
