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Assination
ArchDuke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie of Austria-Hungary were assasinated by a terrorist. This caused Austria-Hugary to attack Serbia. Russia wanted to help Sebia, so they declared war on Austria-Hungary. To help AUstria- HUngary, Germany declared war on Russia. U.S. was neutral on the matter. -
Division of Powers
Austria-Hungary becomes allies with Germany and Ottoman Empire and is known as the Central powers. The allied powers become U.S., Russia, Great Britain, and France. At this time, U.S. is not involved, but they eventually become part of the allied powers. -
Creation of U-boats
Germany created Undersea boat, which is a submarine. They used these to attack the British blockade to try and stop supplies from getting to the allies. U.S. does not approve of these ships because they attacked U.S. supplies and boats and even people with these ships. -
Exports from U.S. to Europe
When the war began, the U.S. shipped supplies to everyone, but in 1915, export to the central powers decreased while exports to the Allied powers increased dramatically. This is shown on the graph in Doc. 2. They decrease exports because of Germany's attacks on their citizens. THis is when they start getting involved with the allied powers. -
The Sinking of Lusitania
German authorities torpedo and sink Great Britain's steamship the Lusitania. This killed over 100 U.S. citizens. This is a major reason why U.S. got involved in the war because Germany continued to injure American citizens. At this time U.S. and German tension raise significantly. -
Preparedness movement
It was president Wilson's movement to prepare the U.S. to go to war. He prepared the army and navy by building them up with weapons and soldiers. The U.S. citizens were in support of this movement because this slogan got Wilson elected as president -
Sussex Pledge
Germany agreed to spare all lives in any future submarine attacks on merchant ships. They agreed to this if the U.S. forced England to stop their blockade. U.S. did not want to agree to this and became very agitated with Germany and became heavily involved in the war after that.