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Electon of Woodrow Wilson
Wilson defeated incumbent Republican William Howard Taft and third-party nominee, Theodore Roosevelt, to win the United States presidential election, on Tuesday, November 5, 1912, becoming the first Southerner to do so since 1848. Wilson handily defeated Taft and Roosevelt winning 435 of the 531 available electoral votes. Wilson also won 42% of the popular vote, while his nearest challenger, Roosevelt, won just 27%. SPLIT THE VOTE -
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand: The Outbreak of WW1
Ferdinand was assassinated on June 28, 1914, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo (the capital of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia-Herzegovina) on 28 June 1914 eventually led to the outbreak of the First World War. -
America Proclaims Neutrality in WW1
As World War I erupts in Europe, President Woodrow Wilson formally proclaims the neutrality of the United States, a position that a vast majority of Americans favored, on August 4, 1914. When war broke out in Europe, the United States immediately declared its neutrality. President Woodrow Wilson stated that America must be “impartial in thought as well as in action.” For a century, the U.S. had stayed out of European affairs. Most Americans preferred to continue this policy. -
The Sinking of the Lusitania
The disaster set off a chain of events that led to the U.S. entering World War I. A German U-boat torpedoed the British-owned steamship Lusitania, killing 1,195 people including 128 Americans, on May 7, 1915. The disaster set off a chain of events that led to the U.S. entering World War I. -
The Battle of Verdum
The Battle of Verdun was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front in France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north of Verdun-sur-Meuse. World War I engagement in which the French repulsed a major German offensive. -
The Sussex Incident
Sussex Incident, (March 24, 1916), the torpedoing of a French cross-Channel passenger steamer, the Sussex, by a German submarine, leaving 80 casualties, including two Americans wounded. The attack prompted a U.S. threat to sever diplomatic relations. -
The Battle of the Somme
It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on both sides of the upper reaches of the Somme, a river in France. The Battle of the Somme was one of the largest battles of World War I, and among the bloodiest in all of human history. A combination of a compact battlefield, destructive modern weaponry, and several failures by British military leaders led to the unprecedented slaughter of wave after wave of young men. -
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. Wilson prevailed in the 1916 election, becoming the first Democrat to win a second consecutive term since Andrew Jackson. -
Unrestricted Warfare
Unrestricted submarine warfare was first introduced in World War I in early 1915 when Germany declared the area around the British Isles a war zone, in which all merchant ships, including those from neutral countries, would be attacked by the German navy. They hoped to break the British stranglehold blockade of crucial German supply ports and knock Britain out of the war within the year. -
Zimmerman Telegram
In January 1917, British cryptographers deciphered a telegram from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German Minister to Mexico, Heinrich von Eckhardt, offering United States territory to Mexico in return for joining the German cause. The telegram was considered perhaps Britain's greatest intelligence coup of World War I and, coupled with American outrage over Germany's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, was the tipping point persuading the U.S. to join the war. -
US Enters WW1
The entry of the United States was the turning point of the war, because it made the eventual defeat of Germany possible. It had been foreseen in 1916 that if the United States went to war, the Allies' military effort against Germany would be upheld by U.S. supplies and by enormous extensions of credit. -
Selective Service Act
Fairness and Equity. By registering all eligible men, Selective Service ensures a fair and equitable draft, if ever required. Exemptions and deferments apply only in the event of a draft. -
Passing of The Espionage Act
The espionage Act limited dissent to the war. The act also created criminal penalties for anyone obstructing enlistment in the armed forces or causing insubordination or disloyalty in military or naval forces. -
American Expeditionary Force in France
In May 1917, General John Pershing was made commander of the American Army in France. The AEF was created to fill the need for troops in Europe, especially for the weary British and French troops who had been fighting since 1914. The AEF when they first began had a standing army of 127,500 officers and soldiers. -
Spanish Flu
The 1918 Influenza Pandemic. The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the Great War, known today as World War 1, at somewhere between 20 and 40 million people. It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. -
Fourteen Points
Wilson's 14 Points were designed to undermine the Central Powers' will to continue, and to inspire the Allies to victory. The 14 Points were broadcast throughout the world and were showered from rockets and shells behind the enemy's lines. -
Russia Pulls out of WW1
Lenin believed that Russia must end its participation in the war so that the nation could focus on building a communist state based on the ideas of Karl Marx, a German philosopher who lived in the mid-1800s. -
Sedition Act
Sedition Act of 1918 (1918) 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 the Marne
Second Battle of the Marne, (July 15–18, 1918), the last large German offensive of World War I. Today, a century after the outbreak of World War I, the Second Battle of the Marne is considered the pivotal battle of the First World War, as Allied troops blunted the German advance and started the counteroffensive that would ultimately win the war. -
The Battle of Argonne Forest
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive was the largest operations of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in World War I, with over a million American soldiers participating. It was also the deadliest campaign in American history, resulting in over 26,000 soldiers being killed in action (KIA) and over 120,000 total casualties. -
Armistice Day
These memorial gestures all took place on November 11, giving universal recognition to the celebrated ending of World War I fighting at 11 a.m., November 11, 1918 (the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month). The day became known as “Armistice Day.” -
Paris Peace Confrence and Treaty of Vesailles
The Treaty of Versailles is one of the most controversial armistice treaties in history. The treaty's so-called “war guilt” clause forced Germany and other Central Powers to take all the blame for World War I. This meant a loss of territories, reduction in military forces, and reparation payments to Allied powers.