Taft & American Imperialism

  • The Election of President Woodrow Wilson

    The Election of President Woodrow Wilson
    Wilson defeated incumbent Republican William Howard Taft and third-party nominee Theodore Roosevelt to easily win the 1912 United States presidential election, becoming the first Southerner to do so since 1848.
  • The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand: The Outbreak of WWI

    The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand: The Outbreak of WWI
    The alliances between countries helped start the war. When Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia,and Russia's alliance declares war on Austria Hungary, Germany declares war on Russia.
  • America Proclaims Neutrality in World War I

    America Proclaims Neutrality in World War I
    President Woodrow Wilson declared U.S. neutrality on August 4, 1914, and many Americans saw little reason to entangle themselves in what they viewed as European quarreling and intrigue.
  • The Battle of the Marne

    The Battle of the Marne
    The First Battle of the Marne succeeded in pushing the Germans back for a distance of 40 to 50 miles and thus saved the capital city of Paris from capture. In this respect it was a great strategic victory, since it enabled the French to renew their confidence and to continue the war.
  • The Sinking of the Lusitania

    The Sinking of the Lusitania
    The sinking of the Lusitania led to widespread criticism of Germany, and so Germany soon re-imposed its own restrictions on its submarines. But by early 1917, Germany was on the verge of losing the war.
  • The Battle of the Verdun

    The Battle of the Verdun
    the French repulsed a major German offensive. It was one of the longest, bloodiest, and most-ferocious battles of the war.
  • The Battle of the Somme

    The Battle of the Somme
    Allied offensive in World War I. British and French forces launched a frontal attack against an entrenched German army north of the Somme River in France.
  • The Sussex Incident

    The Sussex Incident
    torpedoing of a French cross-Channel passenger steamer, the Sussex, by a German submarine, leaving 80 casualties, including two Americans wounded.
  • The Re-Election of President Woodrow Wilson

    The Re-Election of President Woodrow Wilson
    The 1916 United States presidential election was the 33rd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 1916. Incumbent Democratic President Woodrow Wilson narrowly defeated former associate justice of the Supreme Court Charles Evans Hughes, the Republican candidate.
  • Armistice Day Ends World War I

    Armistice Day Ends World War I
    On Nov. 11, 1918, after more than four years of horrific fighting and the loss of millions of lives, the guns on the Western Front fell silent. Although fighting continued elsewhere, the armistice between Germany and the Allies was the first step to ending World War I.
  • The Interception of the Zimmermann Telegram

    The Interception of the Zimmermann Telegram
    On January 17, 1917 British signals intelligence intercepted and decrypted a coded German telegram from German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann that was intended for Germany's ambassador to Mexico.
  • The Declaration of New Unrestricted Submarine Warfare by Germany

    The Declaration of New Unrestricted Submarine Warfare by Germany
    On January 31, 1917, Bethmann Hollweg went before the German Reichstag government and made the announcement that unrestricted submarine warfare would resume the next day, February 1: "The destructive designs of our opponents cannot be expressed more strongly.
  • The United States Enters World War I

    The United States Enters World War I
    On April 4, 1917, the U.S. Senate voted in support of the measure to declare war on Germany. The House concurred two days later. The United States later declared war on German ally Austria-Hungary on December 7, 1917.
  • The Selective Service Act

    The Selective Service Act
    On May 18, 1917, Congress passed the Selective Service Act, which authorized the Federal Government to temporarily expand the military through conscription. The act eventually required all men between the ages of 21 to 45 to register for military service.
  • The Espionage Act

    The Espionage Act
    The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law enacted on June 15, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code but is now found under Title 18.
  • The Landing of the American Expeditionary Force in France

    The Landing of the American Expeditionary Force in France
    Although the first American troops arrived in Europe in June 1917, the AEF did not fully participate at the front until October, when the First Division, one of the best-trained divisions of the AEF, entered the trenches at Nancy, France.
  • The Beginning of the Spanish Flu Epidemic

    The Beginning of the Spanish Flu Epidemic
    The evidence seemed far stronger. One could see influenza jumping from Army camp to camp, then into cities, and traveling with troops to Europe. His conclusion: the United States was the site of origin. A later equally comprehensive, multi-volume British study of the pandemic agreed with Jordan.
  • 16.The Fourteen Points by President Wilson

    16.The Fourteen Points by President Wilson
    The fourteenth point proposed what was to become the League of Nations to guarantee the “political independence and territorial integrity [of] great and small states alike.” Though Wilson's idealism pervades the Fourteen Points, he also had more practical objectives in mind.
  • Russia Pulls Out of World War I

    Russia Pulls Out of World War I
    The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I.
  • The Passing of the Sedition Act

    The Passing of the Sedition Act
    The Sedition Act of 1918 curtailed the free speech rights of U.S. citizens during time of war. Passed on May 16, 1918, as an amendment to Title I of the Espionage Act of 1917, the act provided for further and expanded limitations on speech.
  • The Battle of Argonne Forest

    The Battle of Argonne Forest
    It's only special significance was that it was largely fought by American troops demonstrating their impact on the Allied war effort. The turning point battles of WWI were long in the past by the time of this offensive. The war ended less than two months after the battle began.
  • The Paris Peace Conference & Treaty of Versailles

    The Paris Peace Conference & Treaty of Versailles
    The Treaty of Versailles was the primary treaty produced by the Paris Peace Conference at the end of World War I. It was signed on June 28, 1919, by the Allied and associated powers and by Germany in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles.