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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Serbian nationalist group known as the Black Hand. This took place in Sarajevo, Bosnia. -
World War I begins
With the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary gave Serbia an ultimatum, that those responsible for the assassination are to be turned in and the terrorist groups must be stopped. Serbia refused and then Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and then the war began. -
Germany Invades Belgium
Germany invaded Belgium to gain clear passage to France.This makes the British angry and the result is that Britain jumps into the war. They put their main focus on the Western Front to battle France because they thought it would take Russia to mobilize longer than it did. -
The sinking of the Lusitania
The RMS Lusitania was a luxury liner that was owned by the British. On May 7, 1915 it was sunk due to a German submarine torpedoing it. There were 128 Americans on board of this ship, and this made America very angry and they called for ban on submarine warfare. -
The Battle of Verdun
This battle was in Verdun, France. The Germans planned to storm Verdun because they thought they would be able to slaughter the French, and hit them hard. The French fired back and kept the Germans from taking Verdun. There were a total of 305440 people were killed. -
The Battle of the Somme
On the first day of this battle, the British suffered more than 57,000 casualties. This battle was fought on the Somme River in France. It was the British and the French taking on the Germans. This battle lasted a total of 141 days and there were a total of 1.5 million casualties. -
The Zimmerman Note
Germany attempted to send a note to Mexico. This note was known as the Zimmerman note, and it promised Mexico that they would get their land back and encouraged them to declare war on the United States. This note was intercepted by Great Britain and shared with the United States. This propelled the United States into joining the war. -
The United States enters the War
On April 6, 1917 the United States finally enters the war. The soldiers were known as "Doughboys." The sinking of the Lusitania and the Zimmerman Note propelled the United States into entering this war on the Allies side. -
Woodrow Wilson Proposes his Fourteen Points to Congress
Woodrow Wilson stood before Congress and delivered his Fourteen Points speech. The three categories of his speech were as follows: The first category was his message to the world, which addressed the underlying causes of the war, and the problems with that. The Second category was the rebuilding of Europe, which included how Europe would be rebuilt and redivided. The final category was the establishment of the League of nations. This promoted peace among countries rather than resulting to war. -
Russia leaves the War
Russia was having a revolution during the war, as the leaders weren't liked. The second revolution brought a man named V.I. Lenin to power. He promised to take the Russian troops out of the War. On March 3, 1918 the treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed by Germany and Russia, and Russia left the war. -
The War ends
On November 11, 1918 the war officially ends. The Treaty of Versailles is signed by the Allies and Germany assumes full responsibility for the war. Russia and the members of the Central Powers were not invited to this meeting. The the treaty reduced the size of Germany and the size of their military.
