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Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg were shot to death by a Bosnian named Gavrilo Princip, in Sarajevo on June 28 1914 -
The United Kingdom declaration of war upon Germany occurred on 4 August 1914. The declaration was a result of German refusal to remove troops from neutral Belgium. -
A German U-Boat sank the Lusitania, a swift-moving British cruise liner traveling from New York to Liverpool, England. Of the 1,959 men, women, and children on board, 1,195 perished, including 123 Americans. -
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson won against Charles E. Hughes in the U.S. presidential election. Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to the United States House of Representatives -
British naval intelligence intercepted and decrypted a message sent by German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmerman to the German Ambassador in Mexico City that is called the Zimmerman note. Zimmermann wanted help from Mexico and in return Germany would help regain old lost territories. -
The United States declared war on the Germany, joining France, Great Britain, Russia, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Italy. They were fighting against Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. -
The first 14,000 U.S. infantry troops landed in France at the port of Saint Nazaire. The landing site had been kept secret because of the menace of German U-Boats. -
The Sedition Act of 1918 was enacted on May 16, 1918, to extend the Espionage Act of 1917. The Sedition Act covered a broader range of offenses, notably speech and the expression of opinion that cast the government or the war effort in a negative light or interfered with the sale of government bonds. -
November 11, 1918: World War I Ends. On November 11, 1918, an armistice was signed between the Germans and the Allies, ending World War I. -
The Versailles Peace Treaty, signed on June 28, 1919, officially ended World War I. Of note, on the same day, five-years earlier the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated at Sarajevo, Bosnia, starting the war.