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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was supposed to be assassinated earlier on June 28th. However, they were unsuccessful in doing so. Later that day, Archduke Franz Ferdinand's driver took the wrong turn and conveniently the group called "Black Hand" who was supposed to kill him that morning and spotted him and shot him dead. -
WW1 begins
Austria-Hungary seeks help from Germany where Austria-Hungary then declares war on Serbia which then causes a chain reaction of alliances fighting for each other. -
Period: to
WW1
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Christmas Truce
A brief moment of peace during the war where both sides agreed upon not fighting and celebrating the day: They played games and shared tobacco, cognac, and chocolate. -
Italy joins Central Powers; The Treaty of London
Italy signed a secret treaty called "The Treaty of London" where they joined the Central Powers and gained control over the territory of their boarders. -
The Lusitania
A British passenger liner ship that was sunk by a German submarine; 1,200 died including 128 Americans. Germany defended themselves with persistent warnings and the U.S. demanded they stopped firing at unarmed passenger and merchant ships and they did. -
Battle of Verdun
The battle of Verdun lasted 10 months(Feburary 21st to December 18th, 1916) and was the bloodiest battle of WW1. It was where Germans used total war to destroy French morale and caused 400,000 French casualties. The purpose of this attack was to waste supplies and resources of the French. Nobody ended up winning this battle. -
Battle of Jutland
A battle between British and German ships: the longest naval battle. Germany succeeded in this battle but it eventually led and contributed to their defeat of the war. -
Battle of Somme
A battle on July 1st to November where the British attacked the area of the Somme River. Both sides ended up losing over a million troops, especially the British with 19,000 casualties upon the first day. Tanks were first used in this battle. -
Germany declares unrestricted ship and submarine warfare
After almost 2 years of keeping a truce with the U.S. on ship and submarine warfare, Germany again declared unrestricted warfare to all ships that would try to sail to Great Britain since Germany was hoping to starve Great Britain and make them give up before the United States could be ready for war. -
Zimmermann Telegram
The Zimmermann Telegram was a coded message sent shortly after the declare of unrestricted ship and submarine warfare, it was from Germany's foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann to Mexico. They were asking Mexico to join them if the United States ever joined war and to help regain Arizona, New Mexico and Texas as they were taken away in the Mexican-American War. -
Selective Service Act
An act that helped greatly increase the number of soldiers in the U.S. Army; going from 200,000 to 4 million by the end of the war. -
U.S. declares war
United States Congress finally declares war on Germany and its allies. -
Russia's Revolution
Valdimir Lenin lead the Bolsheviks, overthrew Tzar, and signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk along with Germany which officially pulled Russia out of the World War. -
Armstice
The official end of fighting that led to world economy damages and Europe breaking apart; creating 9 new nations. -
The Treaty of Versailles
Signed on June 28th, 1919, the 1st World War had officially ended. Germany was given harsh punishments like taking responsibility for starting the war, paid for all the damages caused by their forces, and was demilitarized: limited army, no ships, submarines, or planes, and no troops in Rhineland.