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The Triple Entente is Formed
The Triple Entente was the name given to the alliance among Britain, France and Russia after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907.
At the start of World War I all three members of the Triple Entente entered it as Allies against Germany and Austria-Hungary. -
Austria-Hungary Takes Control of Bosnia
Austria-Hungary Takes Control of Bosnia also known as The Bosnian Crisis of 1908–1909, also known as the Annexation crisis, or the First Balkan Crisis, erupted into public view when on 6 October 1908, Austria-Hungary announced the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In April 1909 the Treaty of Berlin was amended to accept the new status quo bringing the crisis to an end.
The crisis permanently damaged relations between Austria-Hungary on the one hand and Russia and the Kingdom of Serbia on -
Archduke Franz Ferdinand is Assassinated in Sarajevo
On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot dead in Sarajevo.
They were killed by Gavrilo Princip, one of a group of six Bosnian Serb assassins coordinated by Danilo Ilić. -
Austria-Hungary Declares War on Serbia
On July 28, 1914, one month to the day after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were killed by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, effectively beginning the First World War. Threatened by Serbian ambition in the tumultuous Balkans region of Europe, Austria-Hungary determined that the proper response to the assassinations was to prepare for a possible military invasion of Serbia. -
Germany Invaded Belgium
At the outbreak of the First World War, the German Army executed a modified version of the Schlieffen Plan, designed to quickly attack France through neutral Belgium before turning southwards to encircle the French army on the German border. Belgium's neutrality was guaranteed by Britain under the 1839 Treaty of London; the invasion brought the British into the war. -
The Triple Alliance is Formed
The Triple Alliance was an alliance of British Trade Unions comprising the Miners Federation of Great Britain, the National Union of Railwaymen and the National Transport Workers' Federation
The onset of the First World War, however, curtailed any imminent action by the Alliance. -
A German U-Boat Sinks the Lusitania
Lusitania was a British ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland.
The ship entered passenger service with the Cunard Line on 26 August 1907 and continued on the line's heavily-traveled passenger service between Liverpool, England and New York City. -
The First Battle of the Somme Begins
The first day on the Somme, 1 July 1916, was the opening day of the Battle of Albert.
The first phase of the British and French offensive that became known as the Battle of the Somme.
The middle day of the middle year of the First World War, it is remembered as the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army. -
The Zimmerman Note is Discovered
The Zimmermann Telegram (or Zimmermann Note) was a 1917 diplomatic proposal from the German Empire to Mexico to make war against the United States.
On January 19, Bernstorff, per Zimmermann's request, forwarded the telegram to the German ambassador in Mexico, Heinrich von Eckardt. Zimmermann sent the telegram in anticipation of the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare by Germany on February 1, an act which German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg feared would draw the neutral U.S. -
The United States Declares War on Germany
A declaration of war is a formal declaration issued by a national government indicating that a state of war exists between that nation and another.
For the United States, Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution says "Congress shall have power to ... declare War".
that passage provides no specific format for what form legislation must have in order to be considered a "Declaration of War" nor does the Constitution itself use this term.
