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Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, paid a state visit to Sarajevo, the captital of Bosnia where the pair were shot at point blank rage as they rode down the streets of Sarajevo in an oper car, the killer was then then captured and identified as Gavrilo Princip, a 19-year-old member of the Black Hand.
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Austria rejected Serbia's negotioation about the ultimantum and declared war. That same day, Serbia's ally, Russia, took action and ordered the mobilization of troops toward the Austrian border.
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In the heart of Europe, Germany and Austria-Hungary were located and they were known as Central Powers.
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Germans were attacked on the northeast of Paris, in the valley of the Marne River. The soilders had a ton of their backs. when reinforcements were needed, more than 600 taxicabs rushed soilders from Paris to the front. After fur days of bloodshed, the Germans retreated.
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By this time, the Germans have been driven back nearly 60 miles. After the Germans left, the Schlieffen Plan was ruined. A victory in thw west no longer seemed possible. Meanwhile, the Russians attacked Germany. So Germany sent word to get reinforcements in the East.
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By this time, opposing armies on the western front had dug miles of parallel trenches to protect themselves from the enemy fire.In this warfare, men shoot at each other from their trenches and living in thos conditions were harsh. They had to sleep on mud, washed in mud, ate mud, and even dreamed mud.
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Germans launched a massive attack against the French near Verdum. Each side lost more than 300,000 men.
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British army tried to relieve the pressure on the French. So they attacked the Germans northest of Verdum, in the valley of the Somme River. On just the first day of battle, 20,000 British men were killed. By the time the war ended, both sides suffered greatly.
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Germany returned to unrestricted submarine warfare because they knew it might lead to war with the United States. They gambled that their naval blockade would starve Britian into defeat before the United States could mobilize. They ignored warnings by President Wilson, German U-boats sank three American ships.
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President Wilson asked congress to declare war. The United Sates entered the war on the side of the Allies.
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Seizing power, comunist leader Vladimir Ilych Lenininsisted on ending his country's involment in the war. One of his acts was to offer Germany a truce.
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Germans gave one massive attack on the Allies in France. More than 6,000 German cannons opened the offensive with the largest artillery attack of the entire war.
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The Allies and Germans clashed at a second battle of the marne. Arriving more than 2 million American troops, the Allied forces began to move closer to Germany.
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World War I comes to an end. After four years, Leaders of the Victorious nations gathered outside Paris to work out the terms of peace. Even though those leaders had come with high hopes, the peace settlement they made left many feeling bitter and betrayed
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Germany and the Allied powers signed the Treaty of Versailles five years to the day after Franz Ferdinand's assassination in Sarajevo.