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Franz Ferdinand Assassination
Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated while visiting Sarajevo, Bosnia. He was next in line for the Austro-Hungarian throne. The killings set off decades old tensionsin Europe and started WWI. -
Austria-Hungry declares war on Serbia
Because of the assassination of Ferdinand, the World War I started and it changed many people's reactions. -
First us of gas as a weapon by the Germans
The introduction of poison gas, however, would have great significance in World War I. Immediately after the German gas attack at Ypres, France and Britain began developing their own chemical weapons and gas masks. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
On May 7, 1915, less than a year after World War I (1914-18) erupted across Europe, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the RMS Lusitania, a British ocean liner en route from New York to Liverpool, England. -
President Wilson reelected
The United States presidential election of 1916 was the 33rd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 1916. -
Zimmermann Note
The Zimmermann Note was a secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office in January 1917 that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico in the prior event of the United States entering World War I against Germany. -
US declares war
U.S. Entry into World War I, 1917. On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson went before a joint session of Congress to request a declaration of war against Germany. ... The United States later declared war on German ally Austria-Hungary on December 7, 1917. -
Bolsheviks led by Lenin overthrow Russian government
On Nov. 7, 1917, Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution took place as forces led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin overthrew the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky. -
War ends
Germany signed an armistice (an agreement for peace and no more fighting) that had been prepared by Britain and France. At the start of 1918, Germany was in a strong position and expected to win the war. -
Treaty of Versailles
World War I officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. Negotiated among the Allied powers with little participation by Germany, its 15 parts and 440 articles reassigned German boundaries and assigned liability for reparations.
