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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand was an Archduke of Austria-Este, Austro-Hungarian and Royal Prince of Hungary and of Bohemia, and from 1889 until his death, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. -
Germany Declares War on Russia and France
On the afternoon of this day in 1914, two days after declaring war on Russia, Germany declares war on France, moving ahead with a long-held strategy, conceived by the former chief of staff of the German army, Alfred von Schlieffen, for a two-front war against France and Russia. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
Unfortunately, on May 7, 1915, Captain William Thomas Turner slowed the Lusitania down because of fog and traveled in a predictable line. Approximately 14 miles off the coast of Southern Ireland at Old Head of Kinsale, neither the captain nor any of his crew realized that the German U-boat, U-20, had already spotted and targeted them -
Woodrow Wilson re-elected president
Narrowly re-elected in 1916, he had full control of American entry into World War I, and his second term centered on World War I and the subsequent peace treaty negotiations in Paris. -
Zimmerman Note
The Zimmermann Telegram (or Zimmermann Note) was a 1917 diplomatic proposal from the German Empire to Mexico to make war against the United States -
Wilson proposes the League of Nations
In front of the U.S. Congress on January 8, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson enumerated the last of his Fourteen Points, calling for a “general association of nations…formed on the basis of covenants designed to create mutual guarantees of the political independence and territorial integrity of States, large and small equally.” -
Congress Passes the Sedition Act
On May 16, 1918, the United States Congress passes the Sedition Act, a piece of legislation designed to protect America s participation in World War I. -
WWI ends
World War I (WWI) was a global war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. -
The Selective Service Act becomes law
The Selective Service System is an independent agency of the United States government that maintains information on those potentially subject to military conscription. -
The U.S. Declares War
Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the declaration of war against Japan on December 8, 1941.
