• Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

    Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

    The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, is the direct start to the war.
  • Great War begins

    Great War begins

    The trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo.
  • Kaiser declares "open season" on ships

    Kaiser declares "open season" on ships

    Kaiser Wilhelm proclaimed the North Sea a war zone where all merchant ships including those who are from neutral countries could be sunk without warning.
  • Lusitania sunk

    Lusitania sunk

    German U-boat torpedoed and sank the RMS Lusitania, a British ocean liner en route from New York to Liverpool, England.
  • Battle of the Somme

    Battle of the Somme

    One of the largest and bloodiest battles of the war.
  • Wilson re-elected

    Wilson re-elected

    Woodrow Wilson became the first Democratic president since Andrew Jackson to be elected to two consecutive terms of office when he defeated Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes.
  • Zimmerman Note intercepted

    Zimmerman Note intercepted

    Zimmermann instructed the ambassador, Count Johann von Bernstorff, to offer significant financial aid to Mexico if it agreed to enter any future U.S-German conflict as a German ally.
  • US declares war on Germany

    US declares war on Germany

    The sinking of the Lusitania and the Zimmerman note brought about fear and forced the US into the war
  • Selective Service Act

    Selective Service Act

    Authorized the United States federal government to raise a national army for service in World War I through conscription.
  • Espionage Act Passed

    Espionage Act Passed

    Made it a crime for any person to convey information intended to interfere with the U.S. armed forces prosecution of the war effort or to promote the success of the country's enemies.
  • Convoy System

    Convoy System

    The British Royal Navy introduces a newly created convoy system, whereby all merchant ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean would travel in groups under the protection of the British navy.
  • Flu Epidemic

    Flu Epidemic

    The 1918 flu pandemic was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus.
  • Fourteen Points speech

    Fourteen Points speech

    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.
  • Russia pulls out of the war

    Russia pulls out of the war

    The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between the new Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia and the Central Powers, that ended Russia's participation in World War I.
  • Sedition Act passed

    Sedition Act passed

    an Act of the United States Congress that extended the Espionage Act of 1917 to cover 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.
  • Germany signs armistace

    Germany signs armistace

    The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice that ended fighting on land, sea and air in World War I between the Allies and their last opponent, Germany.