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Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary is assassinated
On June 28th, 1914, the Archduke of Austria-Hungary and his wife were assassinated at the hands of a Serbian army reject will a gun at point-blank range. The assassination is somewhat of the Emperor’s fault due to dislike for Franz’s wife and neglect of security. But we also cannot excuse that fact that they did not flee after they were attacked earlier that day. The shooter, who was nineteen, was too young for the death sentence and was sentenced to 20 years. It was this that started the war. -
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War spreads
A lot of thing went down between August 1st and 28th of 1914. Germany declared war on Russia, France, and Belgium. Then Britain declared war on Germany. Feeling left out, Austria declared war on Russia. Then France and Britain declared war on Austria. Japan joined the war by declaring war on Germany. And Austria finishes it out with a bang by declaring war on Belgium. -
Lusitania Sinks
When the war broke out, Britain began weaponizing passenger and merchant ships. Germany found out and declared the waters surrounding the British Isles a war zone, breaking naval laws. Passengers were warned that Britain and Germany were at war but went ignored as they thought Germany would allow them to board lifeboats before attacking. They were wrong. A U-boat fired a torpedo at the Lusitania, which sank in 20 minutes, killing 128 Americans and stained relations between the US and Germany. -
US declares War
US declared war on Germany on April 6th 1917. Shockingly, they did hold off two years after the first event in the process, much longer than I would’ve thought.