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At around 11 a.m. today, two shots rang out from a street corner in the center of this city, mortally wounding the archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Sophie the Duchess of Hohenberg, his wife. A suspect, a 19-year old Bosnian-Serb named Gavrilo Princip, was apprehended. -
On 28 July, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. It was determined to take decisive action against Serbia and, by now, knew this risked war with Russia, Serbia's supporter. Austria-Hungary was prepared to risk war because it had the guarantee of German support. The Balkan crisis now threatened a European-wide war. -
Reacting to the Austrian attack on Serbia, Russia begins full mobilization of its troops. Germany demands that it stop. -
When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Serbia's ally Russia started mobilizing for war. Austria-Hungary's ally Germany demanded Russia stop preparing for war. When Russia refused, Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914. -
On July 31, 1914, Germany demanded that France remain neutral, and that the Russians stop mobilizing. Neither country bowed to German demands. When Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914, it knew that war with France would soon follow. Two days later, on August 3, 1914, Germany declared war on France. -
After declaring war on France, Germany was now determined to execute its war plan to defeat France first and then concentrate its forces against Russia. The plan required German troops invade Belgium to get to France. -
The United Kingdom entered World War I on 4 August 1914, when King George V declared war after the expiry of an ultimatum to the German Empire. -
Germany's resumption of submarine attacks on passenger and merchant ships in 1917 became the primary motivation behind Wilson's decision to lead the United States into World War I. -
the first 14,000 American soldiers began arriving at the port of St Nazaire in France. Their arrival had been kept a secret to further guard against German intervention, but it did not take long for the local French population to begin cheering them through the streets. -
The Fourteen Points was a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I. The principles were outlined in a January 8, 1918 speech on war aims and peace terms to the United States Congress by President Woodrow Wilson.