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Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
Franz was an Archduke for Austria Hungry. Serbia was worried about Ferdinand's plan to grant concessions to South Slavs which would make independent Serbia more difficult to achieve. The chief of intelligence from Serbia sent 3 members of the Black hand to carry out the assassination of Ferdinand. After they committed the assassination the 3 members committed suicide. -
Austria- Hungry declares war on Serbia
Austria demanded to look into the Archduke's death and Serbia let them fully look into it. After Austria looked into it, they decided to let go of all relations with Serbia. Austria started preparing its military for the war. Serbia found out, so the country called Russia and started planning against Austria. -
Germany declares war on Russia
The general mobilization was directed towards Austria, but Germany thought it was towards them so they declared war on Russia. Germany demanded that Russia stopped mobilizing but Russia didn't listen to Germany's commands. By August 1st, 1914 both France and Germany started mobilizing. -
Germany invades Belgium. Britain declares war on Germany
Belgium served diplomatic relations with Germany before Germany invaded them. German troops crossed the Belgian frontier and attacked Liege. Germany violated the Treaty of London which is why Great Britain entered the war. Belgium announced if a huge war were to come up they would stay neutral. -
Allen Melancthon- veteran
The veteran I chose said that this war he fought in was between French and British vs Germany. He said that his troops got dropped off in the middle of nowhere and walked for miles before they reached their destination. He was the Captain of the Battalion troops and was positioned at the 6th Machine gun. -
Germans began to use submarines against Allied ship merchants
The boats the Germans used were called U-boats. The U.S. declared neutrality, but America was one of Britain's main trading partners. Germany decided that they would start bombing boats that carried goods. Then on May 7th, the Lusitania sunk which included 128 Americans. -
Battle of Verdun begins
Germany forces advanced conquering more land. Within two miles of the Verdun Cathedral when the Germans called off their offensive. The French retook their forts and won the war. Both countries were at least left with 600,000 casualties. -
Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme was known as one of the bloodiest battles known to man-kind. More than 3 million soldiers fought in this battle. It was against the French and the Germans, and the battle reached all the way to river Somme in France. Allied powers gained more territory which was the result of this battle. Over 1 million soldiers died. -
United States enters the war
The U.S, decided to join the war because the Germans violated the policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. Not only that but there was a secret message called the "Zimmerman telegram" that the British cracked which explained how Germany wanted Mexico to attack the U.S. 2 million U.S soldiers fought in ww1, and those lives will always be remembered. -
Marine Barracks- veteran
Allen Sumner was called to begin active duty training on July 5th, 1917. He went to active Marine barracks to further his training. He then trained in the Vosges and was on the front lines. After Major Cole was wounded, Allen took his place as commander in the right front for Battalion front lines. -
Letters- veteran
Sumner wrote to his wife that day about everything the Allied powers had planned. In the letter, he explained how he was always on a tight schedule and barely had time for writing anymore. Also, he said every night he would sit and wait for intruders to come. In his letters he always had top secret information that he only told his wife, he always said: "don't tell anyone." -
Fragmentary Letters- veteran
In this letter, he said to his wife to not tell his family anything he says in the letter. "I don't want them to know where I am, and what I am doing." Everything was "top secret" and his family would just be worried and try to find him. Sumner seemed like a very private guy who cared a lot for his country. -
Second battle of the Marne- veteran
This battle was an attempt to draw allied troops south from Flanders to facilitate an attack in that region. Captain Allen Sumner was killed during action on this day. The platoon he was at came under fire and he was watching for the signal to advance. He was killed by doing this task. -
Germany agrees to an armistice
Germany agreed to an armistice and fighting ended at 11 a.m on the 11th day of the 11th month. It was signed between France, Britain, and Germany. It ended the war that went on for 4 years. There were 32 countries that fought in ww1. -
Treaty of Versailles
The treaty was a peace treaty that included Germany and all the Allied nations. In the treaty, Germany lost all of its colonies besides Togoland and German East Africa. Germany had to pay $6.6 billion in reparations to those countries destroyed during the war. Germany finally paid off the debt after 42 years. WW1 was supposed to be the "war to end all wars" but that didn't happen.
