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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Ferdinand was heir to the Austrian throne. One day he decided to drive through the city when Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip stepped from the crowd and shot the Archduke and his wife Sophie. Princip was a member of the Black Hand, an organization promoting Serbian nationalism. On July 28 1914 Austria- Hungary declared what was expected to be a short war against Serbia. Other countries joined them and caused the beginning of the great war. -
The sinking of the Lusitania
the Lusitania was a passenger ship during WW1. on one of its voyages to Liverpool England a German submarine fired a torpedo at it without warning. The Lusitania supposedly had secret war supplies such as weapons and munitions. The ship sank in under 18 minutes and 1198 passengers and crew members were killed. -
Wilson Gets Reelected
Democrats renominated Wilson while republicans nominated Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson campaign slogan was "he kept us out of the war". Hughes pledged to uphold America's right to freedom for the seas but also promised not to be too severe on Germany. In the end, Wilson won the election. -
U.S joined the war
The U.S goes to war in 1917 and some of the causes of this are that the Kaiser of Germany said the they would be sinking all ships in British waters hostile or neutral and before the US. declared war Wilson said that he would wait for "actual over act". Another reason for American going to war was because of the Zimmerman note a telegram from Germany to Mexico that intercepted by British agents witch said that if US join the war that Germany would help Mexico fight and help them gain lost land -
First World War Ends
WW1 brought death and disease to many people and then all of a sudden after 4 years of destruction, the war finally ends. America thought and hoped that this was the war to end all wars. The winning nations gathered together in Versailles (outside of Paris) to discuss the terms of peace, Wilson traveled all the way to Europe to ensure it. -
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Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the document that formally ended the war. It was negotiated by the allies with little participation by Germany . Even though Germany didn't start the war, they were blamed for all of it. The treaty instigated military, economical, and territorial provisions on Germany.
