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Start of Great Migration
The Great Migration, in which about half a million African Americans moved to the urban North from the rural South, began about 1905 and ended around 1930. -
Woodrow Wilson elected president
Democratic Party nominee Woodrow Wilson won the presidential election, beating out three other candidates: Republican incumbent William Howard Taft, Progressive Party nominee Theodore Roosevelt, and Socialist Party nominee Eugene V. Debs. -
World War I began
The Great War began when Austria, assured of Germany’s support, declared war against Serbia. -
US declaration of neutrality
President Woodrow Wilson issued a declaration of American neutrality in the European war -
Sinking of the Lusitania
A German U-boat torpedoed a British passenger ship, the Lusitania, killing more than 1,000 people, including 128 Americans -
Sinking of the Arabic
A German U-boat sank the British passenger ship Arabic, killing forty-four people, including two Americans. The attack, coupled with the sinking of the Lusitania, created a diplomatic crisis between Germany and the United States that was somewhat defused when Germany issued the Arabic Pledge, renouncing its unannounced attacks on passenger ships. -
US warning against German submarine attacks
US warning against German submarine attacks President Woodrow Wilson publicly warned Germany against continuing unrestricted submarine attacks -
Sussex Pledge
Germany, seeking to avoid war with the United States, issued the Sussex Pledge, promising to suspend its surprise attacks on merchant vessels -
Woodrow Wilson re-elected
Woodrow Wilson was re-elected president of the United States, having used the motto, “He kept us out of the war,” as a campaign slogan -
Germany to resume submarine warfare
Germany announced that it would resume unrestricted submarine warfare -
Zimmermann telegram released
Wilson released a decoded telegram from German foreign minister Arthur Zimmermann to Mexico. Zimmermann proposed that, if the US entered the war, Mexico go to war with the US as a German ally. Zimmermann promised that if Mexico allied with Germany, Germany would provide “financial support and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.”
