-
Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie the Duchess of Hohenburg, are killed by Bosnian Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip. The Austrian government suspects that Serbia is responsible.
-
-
“This is a dark day and a dark hour. The sword is being forced into my hand. This war will demand of us enormous sacrifice in life and money, but we shall show our foes what it is to provoke Germany.”
– Kaiser Wilhelm II, July 31, 1914 -
-
The attack has little military value, but is intended to terrorize civilians.
-
The sound of Christmas carols ring across No Man’s Land encourages troops from both sides to exchange greetings. The truce is spontaneous and was experienced by hundreds, perhaps thousands, of soldiers.
-
A German officer is arrested in Maine for blowing up a Canadian Pacific Railroad bridge across the St. Croix River.
-
In the Second Battle of Ypres, the Germans open the assault with a chlorine gas attack, the first successful use of poison gas on the Western Front; more than 10,000 Allied troops are affected, over half of whom died. By May 25, the Allies withdraw. The affects of a gas attack are vividly described in Wilfred Owen’s poem, Dulce et Decorum Est, written in 1917.
-
The Lusitania, a Cunard passenger ship sinks in British waters. A total of 1,198 drown, including many women and children and 124 U.S. citizens. Germans will end unlimited submarine warfare on September 1, 1915 because of worldwide outrage at this attack on civilian shipping.
-
This French Army flying unit is composed mostly of American volunteers. Thirty-eight Americans serve in the Lafayette Escadrille and are credited with 57 victories.
-
The Democrats run on the slogan, “He kept us out of war.” The Republican candidate, Charles Evans Hughes, is perceived as a warmonger and loses the election.
-
Intercepted weeks earlier by the British intelligence service, the United States is alerted about the Zimmermann Telegram. German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmerman promises the return of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to Mexico as reward.
-
President Woodrow Wilson delivers his war message in a historic joint session of the House and Senate, stating that the world must be made “safe for democracy” and asks for a declaration of war.
-
The day after an overwhelming majority in the Senate votes for war, President Wilson signs the declaration. The United States quickly puts the entire country on the road to war. Going from a standing army of 133,000 men with almost no heavy artillery pieces, millions of men were inducted into the armed forces over the next two years and given basic combat training.
-
Herbert Hoover calls on Americans to help the war effort and save food; his program is voluntary and does not impose any regulations or rationing. He states, “The whole foundation of democracy lies in the individual initiative of its people and their willingness to serve the interests of the nation with complete self-effacement in the time of emergency.” ~Herbert Hoover, May 5, 1917
-
The peace plan includes independence for Poland, restoration of Belgian independence, the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France, an end to secret diplomacy, autonomy of subject nationalities and the formation of a League of Nations. “What we demand in this war is nothing peculiar to ourselves. It is that the world be made fit and safe to live in; and particularly that it be made safe for every peace-loving nation which, like our own, wishes to live its own life, determine its own institutions, be
-
At Belleau Wood, U.S. Marines launch an attack against German storm troopers. Two battalions of Marines, along with army engineers and infantry, confront German storm troopers in a seesaw battle that continues through the month of June.
-
The Eighteenth Amendment outlaws the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic liquors. The law is sent to the states for ratification
-
Again, the terms were harsh, as the Treaty divided the Middle East with a British-controlled Palestine and Iraq, French governed Syria and Lebanon, and an independent Kingdom of Hejaz (present-day Saudia Arabia).
