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Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated on July 28, 1914 in Bosnia. The man who killed them was a Serbian nationalist. This started a domino effect to begin World War One.
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After a promise of unrestricted help from their ally Germany, Austria declares war on Serbia. Serbia's ally Russia is beginning to mobilize their military towards Austria. This will start a chain reaction of more allies getting involved and a full fledged world war will begin to take place.
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Germany tells Russia that a mobile military aimed at Austria will result in war. Russia ignores the warning and continues mobilization. German begins to mobilize their army and declare war on Russia
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Two days after declaring war on Russia, Germany makes a bold decision to fight a two-front war and declare war on France. France then declares war back at Germany and starts to move troops into German provinces Alsace and Lorraine. Germany starts moving troops to the border of Belgium, provoking Britian to get involved.
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On the same day Great Britain declares war on Germany, the United States proclaims to stay neutral in warfare. President Wilson said in a speech about the war that the United States would be “impartial in thought as well as in action.” This decision by the President was widely accepted in the US.
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After Germany starts for the frontier of Belgium, Britain (ally of Belgium) declares war on Germany. This conflict now puts Great Britain in the Allied Powers with France and Russia. The Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary are now outnumbered three to two.
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The Lusitania was a British ocean liner on its way from New York to Liverpool. Since the waters around the British war zone were controlled by Germany, a U-Boat sank the ship. This killed more than 1,100 people and approximately 120 Americans.
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After Germany declared unrestricted warfare against all ships in the Britain war zone, Germany started to sink or damage US ships. These accumulative US ships and lives of those on board being lost prompted the United States to get involved. The US Senate votes 82 to 6 and The House of Representatives votes 373 to 50, and with that, the United States declares war on Germany.
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At 5 a.m, Germany signs a ceasefire with the Allies. This war killed over nine million people and injured or wounded another 21 million. This great war was called "The War to End All Wars" because not only did it kill around nine million soldiers, it also cost approximately ten million civilians their lives,
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Signed in Versailles Paris, this document officially ended World War One. This treaty reassigned the German borders and made Germany pay for much of the expenses for post war Europe to rebuild itself. This document also created the League of Nations.
