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Allies
The Triple Entente consisted of France, Britain, and Russia. -
Central Powers
Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire made up the central powers. -
Schlieffen Plan
Germany invaded Belgium, for a holding action against Russia, combined with a quick drive through Belgium to Paris; after France had fallen, the two German armies would defeat Russia. -
1914 Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Heir to the Austrain thorne was visiting the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.As he drove through the city, Serbian nation-alist Gavrilo Princip stepped from the crowd and shot him and his wife Sophie. It touched off a diplomatic crisis. -
Sinking of British liner Lusitania
A germany U-boat sank the Britih liner Lusitania off the southern coast of Ireland. There was 1,198 casualties. -
Sinking of British liner Arabic
A germany U-boat sank another British linear, drowing two americans. -
Zimmermann note
A telegram from the German foeign minister to the German ambassador in Mexico that was intercepted by British agents. The telegram propsed an alliance between Mexico and Germany and promised that if war with the United States broke, Germany would support Mexico in recovering 'lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona' -
Sinking of French passenger liner Sussex
After the sinking the Arabic, the United States protested to Germany to not sink passenger boats. Germany agreed but broke its promise and torpedoed an unarmed French passenger steamer, the Sussex. -
Battle of the Somme
The first battle, which the scale of slaughter was terrible. The British suffered 60,000 casualties in the first day alone. The final casualties total was 1.2 million. -
Selective Service Act of 1917
The act required men to register with the goverment in order to be randomly selected for military service. 24 million men had registered and almost 3 million were called up. -
Convoy System
German U-boats attacks on merchant ships in the Atlantic were a serious threat to the Allied war effort. American Vice Admiral William S. Sims convinced the British to try convoy system, in which a heavt guard of destroyers escorted merchants ships back and forth across the Atlantic in groups. -
Second Battle of the Marne
Russia pulled out of the war in 1917 and U.S troops entered and helped stop German advanced at Cantigny in France. Several weeks later, they threw back German attacks at Chateau-Thierry and Belleau Wood. They helped win the Second Battle of the Marine. -
War Industries Board
The main regulatory body, established in 1917 and reorganized in 1918 under the leadership of Bernard M. Baruch, a prosperous business-man. The board encouraged companies to use mass-production techinques to increase efficiency. Urged them to eliminate waste by standardizing products. -
National War Labor Board
To deal with disputes between management and labor, President Wilson established the National War Labor Board. Workers who refused to obey board decisions would lose their draft exemptions. -
Espionage and Sedition Acts
Under these acts a person could be fined up to $10,000 and sentenced to 20 years in jail for interfering with the war effort or for saying anything disloyal, profane, or abusive about the goverment or the war effort. -
Food Administration
To help produce and conserve food President Wilson set up the Food Administration under Herbert Hoover. -
Committee on Public Information
To popularize the war, the goverment set up the nation's first propaganda agency. Propaganda is a kind of biased communication designed to influence people's thoughts and actions. -
Austria-Hungary surrenders to the Allies
Austria-Hungary surrendered. That day German sailors mutinied against government authority. -
Establishment of the German Republic
German sailors mutinied against goverment authority. The mutiny spread quickly. Groups of German soldiers and workers organized revolutionary councils. Social leaders in the captial, Berlin, established a German republic. The kaiser gave up the throne. -
Cease-fire and armistice
Germans were too exhausted to continue fighting. So at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, in the eleventh month of 1918 Germany agreed to a cease-fire and signed the armistice, of truce, that ended the war.