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The event that started WWI was Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife being shot to death in Serbia. Austria-Hungary and many other countries put the blame on the Serbian Government. Austria-Hungary waited to declare war until it knew that Germany was on their side. They eventually declared war, and within a week, Russia, Belgium, France, Great Britain, and Serbia were prepared to go to war against Austria-Hungary and Germany. And that started the First World War. -
At 5 pm on April 22nd, 1915, the Germans released asphyxiating gas from cylinders in the ground. The Allied troops on the northern end of the Ypres salient were the victims. The attack made the French retreat. This attack was the first successful use of poison gas on the Western Front. The gas that the Germans used was called chlorine gas, and it irritated the lung tissues, which caused a choking effect that led many soldiers to death. -
A German boat sank the British-owned Lusitania, killing 1,195 people, including 128 Americans. This strained their relationship and made the civilians more anti-German and willing to go to war. After being pressured, Germany said that they would no longer sink passenger ships without warning, so America did not declare war. Then, when the Zimmerman Telegram came through, though America was outraged, they still didn't declare war. But as they conducted submarine warfare, America declared war. -
The Battle of Verdun was one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the war. The Germans launched the first infantry attack. On the first day the Germans had already took the Bois d’Haumont and were penetrating through the French lines. The French had a new army and the Britsh had came to help and they were able to fight back. They both kept changing their commanders on the different sides of the banks. After over 10 months in battle there were 700,000 casualties, including 300,000 killed.
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Eugene W. Lee and his Marine squad started in an open field with the woods in front of them. They moved forward in waves. They couldn't see anything in front of them or where the Germans were, but they kept shooting anyway as the Germans were shooting at them. As they finally entered the woods and started the actual fighting, the Germans threw everything at them. After they got the Germans out of the woods, they had to dig foxholes and wait for their artillery to come and back them up.
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While Eugene W. Lee was fighting in the Battle of Belleau Wood, a lot of people got injured. A Navy medic asked for his help in carrying some of the injured people away from the front line and going back and forth for more. He got shot at a good amount but continued to transfer the injured. Because of this, he got given the Silver Star. -
Eugene W. Lee and one of his friends from the hospital he was in decided to go to France and mess around for a while. Whenever they ran out of money, they went to the Marine headquarters in Paris and asked for the money on their books. Once that money ran out, they got on a train that they didn't know where it was going. They got stopped and asked to see their passes, but they didn't have any, so they both got arrested. When they got freed a couple of days later, they got punishments. -
Eugene was coming back from being in jail and was put under one of the MPs. When he returned to headquarters, they were preparing for a big drive. They wanted to put him in the brig, but they didn't have one. They had a lot of new men who had never been to the front, and since he needed punishment, but they couldn't put him in the brig, they decided to put him in charge of the squad. -
Eugene and the others had driven to the Meuse River. They then had to march their way down to the actual river, and once they arrived, they had pontoons to help them get across the river. Once they all got across, they were all spread out across the south riverbank. The Germans would occasionally throw shells over, and they would land in the river. One of Eugene's closest friends was killed by one of them. Once morning arrived, no shots were fired, and they got the order to cease all fire. -
At 3 am on November 11th, 1918, just outside of Compiégne, France, the Germans were blowing whistles, firing guns, and making every kind of surrender they could think of. On November 10th, Kaiser Wilhelm II had told the new government that they should sign the armistice. By November 11th at 5 am, the armistice was agreed upon. It was ordered that all hostilities would be stopped at 11 am on 11/11.