WWI

By sdp108

  • Archduke Assassination

    Archduke Assassination
    Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated in Sarajevo. His death starts WWI.

  • Russia Deploys

    Russia Deploys
    Russia mobilizes its vast army to intervene against Austria-Hungary in favor of its ally, Serbia. This creates a domino effect that leads to the assemblage of the rest of the European Great Powers, and inevitably to the outbreak of hostilities.

  • WWI Begins

    WWI Begins
    Germany invades Belgium.

  • Germans Fire

    Germans Fire
    The Germans fired shells filled with chlorine gas at Allied lines. The result is the near-collapse of the French lines.

  • Lusitania Sinks

    Lusitania Sinks
    A German submarine sinks the passenger liner Lusitania. The ship was carring 1,198 people, 128 of them American.

  • Germany Limits Submarines

    Germany Limits Submarines
    Kaiser Wilhelm suspends unrestricted submarine warfare as a reation to international outrage at the sinking of the Lusitania and other neutral passenger lines. It is an attempt to keep the US out of the war, but it extremely obstructs German efforts to prevent American supplies from reaching France and Britain.

  • First Tanks

    First Tanks
    Britain employs the first tank ever used in battle at Delville Wood. They failed to be the decisive weapon, but were good for breaking through barbed wire and clearing a path for the infantry.

  • Submarines Back

    Submarines Back
    Germany restarts unregulated submarine warfare in European waterways. This action draws draws the US into the war and causes of eventual defeat of Germany.

  • Zimmermann Telegram

    Zimmermann Telegram
    The Zimmermann Telegram was a message from German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann proposing that Mexico side with Germany in case of war between Germany and the US. In exchange, Germany promises to return to Mexico the "lost provinces" of Texas and much of the rest of the American Southwest. Mexico turned down the offer, but the blowup at this interference pushes American public opinion to support entering the war.

  • Wilson for War

    Wilson for War
    President Woodrow Wilson drafts his case for war to Congress.

  • US Enters the War

    US Enters the War
    Congress authorizes a declaration of war against Germany. The US enters WWI on the side of France and Britain.

  • Selective Service Act

    Selective Service Act
    Congress passes this act to authorize Wilson's draft. Wilson claims he sees no other option other than entering the war and signs the bill into law.