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Archduke Assassination
Cabrinovic hurled a bomb at the carriage carrying Ferdinand and Sophie, but the bomb bounced off the top and rolled underneath another carriage. Two other people got too scared to try to assassinate the archduke, so they didn't. After that though, three cars zipped around the corner to then shoot the archduke in the throat and Sophie in the abdomen. They both died inside the carriage. This got many countries including America very mad. -
World War I Begins
Germany invades Belgium for the first time getting many countries angry in Germany. Russia, Belgium, France, Great Britain, and Serbia had lined up against Austria-Hungary and Germany ready for battle. However, America won't join the war for another 2.5 years. -
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First Battle of Ypres
This will be the first of three battles to take control of the Belgium country of Ypres. The fighting went for a while until eventually, winter came to then end the First Battle of Ypres. -
Battle of Somme
The Battle of the Somme was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British and the French Third Republic against Germany. There was no definite winner of the battle, but the Allies made some territorial gains. -
Zimmerman Telegram
A message from German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann proposing that Mexico side with Germany in case of war between Germany and the United States. In return, Germany promises to return to Mexico the "lost provinces" of Texas and much of the rest of the American Southwest. Mexico declines the offer, but the outrage is one of the key factors in convincing America to join the war. -
America Enters War
America enters the war joining Britain, France, and Russia to fight in WWI. The major commander was General John J. Pershing. The majority of Americans didn't want to join the war, but they still did anyways. -
Buckles Goes to Basic Training
Frank Woodruff Buckles had originally enlisted into the army but was later rejected by the Marine Corps for being too short, and the Navy because he had "flat feet." -
Buckles Enlists Again
Buckles went through basic training at Fort Riley in Kansas. Later that year, he embarked for Europe aboard the RMS Carpathia, which was being used as a troopship. During the war, Buckles drove ambulances and motorcycles for the Army's 1st Fort Riley Casual Detachment, first in England and then France. -
Buckles Belt Buckle
After the Armistice in 1918, Buckles escorted prisoners of war back to Germany. One German prisoner gave him a belt buckle inscribed "Gott mit uns" (God with us), which he kept for the rest of his life. -
Buckles Becomes Doughboy
After driving ambulance and motorcycles, Buckles was later recalled and became a doughboy . -
Germany and Russia Peace
The Germans sign a peace treaty with the new Bolshevik government of Russia. The terms of the treaty give Germany huge tracts of land that had originally been Ukraine and Poland, and peace on the Eastern Front allows Germany to shift soldiers to the Western Front, causing serious problems for the Allies. -
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Battle of Belleau Wood
The Battle of Belleau Wood begins as the U.S. Marine Corps attacks the Germans across an open field of wheat, suffering huge casualties. The Battle of Belleau Wood ends with the final expulsion of the Germans from the wood, which marks the farthest German advance on Paris. The area has changed hands six times during the three-week battle, which had caused nearly 10,000 American casualties. -
Wilhelm Abdicates
Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates, ending all German hope for a victory. He and his retinue quietly slip over the border into the Netherlands where he lives out the remainder of his life in relative peace and writes a self-promoting memoir defending his actions in the war. -
Armistice Day
The armistice was signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on the land, sea, and air in World War I between the Allies and the Axis in the Western Front. Although the armistice ended the fighting on the Western Front, it had to be prolonged three times until the Treaty of Versailles -
Buckles gets an Honorable Discharge
He got his honorable discharge after being promoted to Corporal on September 22, 1919. He returned to America aboard the USS Pocahontas. He then later attended the dedication of the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri, in honor of the Americans who died in WWI, and met John Pershing
