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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary in Sarajevo and his wife, wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot dead in Sarajevo, by Gavrilo Princip, one of a group of six Bosnian Serb assassins. The political objective of the assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary's south-Slav provinces so they could be combined into a Greater Serbia or a Yugoslavia. -
WWI begins and U.S reaction
Woodrow Wilson issued the routine neutrality proclamation and called on the Americans to be neutral in thought as well as in deed. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
The British passenger liner Lusitania was torpedoed and sank off the coast of Ireland. The Lusitania carried 4200 cases of small arms ammunition, the Germans used that to justify the sinking yet Americans were shocked and angered by this action. -
Arabic Pledge
In August 1915, the British passenger liner Arabic was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland. Approximately 40 passengers and crew were lost, including two Americans. With the threat that the United States might join the war, the German government issued on September 18, 1915, what became known as the "Arabic pledge," which stated that Germany would warn non-military ships 30 minutes before they sank them to make sure the passangers and crew got out safely. -
Pancho Villa raids New Mexico
the orders of Mexican revolutionary leader Francisco "Pancho" Villa, and others led five hundred men in an attack against the town Colombus NM, Villa's army burned a part of the town and killed seven or eight soldiers and 10 residents before retreating back into Mexico. Woodrow Wilson responded to the raid by sending 10,000 troops under Brigadier General John J. Pershing to Mexico to pursue Villa. -
Sussex Pledge
a French cross-channel passenger ferry, the Sussex, was torpedoed without warning on March 24, 1916; the ship was severely damaged and about 50 lives were lost.President Woodrow Wilson to declare that if Germany were to continue this practice, the United States would break diplomatic relations with Germany. Fearing the entry of the United States into WorldWar I, Germany attempted to appease the United States by issuing, on May 4, 1916, the Sussex pledge, which promised a change in Germany. -
"He Kept Us Out Of War"
Woodrow Wilson's slogan in the campaign for the election of 1916. Many people were against going into war, the slogan influenced and encouraged people to vote to Wilson's neutral ways. -
Resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare
The Germans decided that they were going back to unrestricted submarine warfare which means they are going to sink all ships, this was their way of trying to win the war. -
Zimmermann Note
German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann had secretly proposed a German-Mexican alliance, he promised Mexico they would recover Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The message got to the Americans which angered them and gave them more of a reason to join the war. -
Russian Revolution
Russians began having a revolution and had overthrown the Russian tsar.The Allies fought against the Central Power because the Central Powers were communists, the U.S then entered the war as a democratic country.
