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The Socialist Party of America is founded on July 29th, 1901. Like other socialists around the world, the SPA wanted to give the means of production to the people by limiting the wealth and power of businesses and individuals. According to Eugene Debs, the leader of the party, the socialists wanted "the overthrow of the capitalist system and the emancipation of the working class from wage slavery." However, the values of the socialist party contradicted American values, and so support declined. -
Serbian Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife the Grand Duchess Sophie. His death is remembered as the spark that started World War I. -
After the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, Austria declared war on Serbia after Serbia failed to meet a list of ten demands made on them. -
Russia, the ally of Serbia, began to mobilize its forces to protect Serbia from Austria. Germany, the ally of Austria, demanded that Russia cease all war preparations. When Russia failed to comply, Germany declared war on Russia. -
After declaring war on Russia, Germany moved its forces through the neutral country of Belgium to attack France. Great Britain responded to this disregard for Belgium's neutrality with its own declaration of war. -
A combination of several factors led to American finally entering World War I. Several of them were Germany's decision to resume unrestricted submarine warfare, the interception of a telegram from Germany offering Mexico the states of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona in return for help against the United States, and the ideology of then-President Woodrow Wilson about making the world safe for democracy. -
A new strain of the flu hits the world and kills off around 50 million people. More soldiers died from influenza than from the war. It eventually faded in 1920 without a cure ever being found.
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In November of 1917, the tsarist regime collapses and is replaced by Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik party. In March of the next year, Russia officially surrenders to Germany and exits World War I. -
On November 11, 1918, the German Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated and the new government agreed to an armistice, officially ending World War I.