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Franz Ferdinand Assassination
The Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated sparking World War I -
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia because Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian named Gavrilo Princip and because of the alliance system. Germany and Italy aided Austria-Hungary and Great Britain, France, and Russia aided Serbia. -
First use of gas as a weapon by the Germans
The Germans shook the Allies on the western front by dropping 150 million tons of a new weapon called toxic gas. With no defense for this it demolished two divisions of French and Algerian troops. They used it again on April 24 and pushed the Allies back. Gas changed the war completely, and the Allies used it too. In 1918 the Allies used toxic gas on the Germans. In total, during the war about 100,000 tons of it were fired and about 30,000 people died because of it. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
The MRS Lusitania was a British ocean liner that had a route from New York to Liverpool, England. A couple days before the trip a warning was written that the Germans might attack it. But they still went on the trip. While they were traveling a torpedo from a German submarine hit the ship and sunk it in a matter of minutes. Out of the 1,900 people on the ship 1,100 of them died. Of these, 128 were Americans. This was one of the major events that got the U.S into the war. -
Wilson reelected; pledged American neutrality
Wilson narrowly defeated Charles Evans Hughes, the Republican candidate. He used the catch phrase "he kept us out of war". Wilson still wanted to stay out of the war despite the Lusitania. -
Zimmermann Note
A German secretary named Arthur Zimmermann had a plan to distract America by making Mexico invade them and regain Texas, New Mexico and Arizona with the help of German troops. Mexico agreed with Zimmermann because they felt bitter about America. He sent the plan to the German ambassador through a telegram, but the line wasn't secure and British intelligence intercepted the note and sent it to America. This was the last straw and America soon entered the war. -
U.S. declares war
The man whose catch phrase was "he kept use out of war" had no choice but to declare war on Germany because of the Zimmerman note and the Lusitania. He set up the Selective Service Act which was a military draft that had about 3 million people join by the end of the war. Also this was the first time women served in the Amy but they had noncombat roles. -
Bolsheviks led by Lenin overthrow Russian government
In the revolution the government changed from an autocracy to a more democratic government. This boosted support for the war in the U.S because they could argue that the war was for freedom and democracy. -
War ends
After four years of fighting the Allies are victorious, largely because of the fighting in the Argonne Forest which was the biggest battle in America history. Also in late 1918 the Ottoman empire broke down and places like Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia declared independence. Later in November Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire surrender to the Allied Powers. -
Treaty of Versailles
It was a treaty between the Allies and Germany that said that Germany was responsible for all the damage done in the war and it forced Germany to pay billions of dollars for the damage done. It also reduced Germany's military power and its colonies overseas.
