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Archduke Assassination
Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo. This event is what sparked the World War 1 -
Russia Mobilization
Russia mobilizes its army to intervene in favor of its ally Serbia, against Austria-Hungary. This lead to a chain reaction of mobilization to the rest of Europe's Great Powers, and inevitability to the outbreak of hostilities -
The beginning
Germany invaded Belgium -
Germans react
The Germans fire shells that are full of chlorine gas at allied lines. This was the first time that large amounts of gas were used in battle, and it nearly collapsed French lines. Germans were not able to take advantage of the breach -
The sinking
German submarine sinks the passenger liner Lusitania. It carried 1,198 people with 128 of them being americans -
Limitation of Submarines
Reacting to the international outrage about the sinking of Lusitania and other neutral passenger lines, Kaiser Wilhelm suspends unrestricted warfare. This attempted to keep the United States out of the war, but it severely hampers German efforts to prevent American supplies from reaching Britain and France. -
The First Tanks
British employed the first tanks to ever be used in battle, at Delville Wood. Although they are useful at breaking through barbed wire and clearing a path for the infantry, tanks are still primitive and they fail to be the decisive weapon, as their designers thought they would be -
They're back
Germany resumes unrestricted submarine warfare in European waterways. This act is what drew the United states into the war and caused the defeat of Germany -
The Telegram
The Zimmermann Telegram was given to Wilson by the British Intelligence. It was a message from German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann proposing that Mexico was siding with Germany in case of war between Germany and the United States. Mexico declined the offer but pushed American public opinion to support entering the war -
President Wilson
Wilson outlines his case for war to Congress -
U.S. Enters the war
Congress authorized the declaration of war against Germany. United States entered World War 1 on France and Britain's side -
Selective Service Act
Congress passes the Selective Service Act authorizing the draft. Wilson claimed that he saw no other option and signed the bill into law -
Armistice Day
An Armistice is signed ending the fighting on the Western Front -
Russia and Germany's Peace
The Germans signed a peace treaty with the new Bolshevik government of Russia. The terms gave Germany huge tracts of land that had been the Ukraine and Poland, and peace on the Eastern Front allows Germany to shift soldiers to the Western Front, causing serious problems for the French, British, and Americans. -
Battle of Cantigny
The first major American offensive war. Although it was small scale, the Americans fought bravely and soon went onto larger attacks against Germans -
Chateau-Thierry
The Americans attack the Germans at Chateau-Thierry. This battle would morph into the larger battle of Belleau Wood. -
Belleau Wood Battle
Began as the U.S. Marine Corps attacked the Germans across an open field of wheat, suffering huge casualties -
Belleau Wood Ends
Ended with the final expulsion of the Germans form the wood, which marks the farthest German advance on Paris. The area has changed hands 6 times during the 3 week battle, which had caused nearly 10 thousand American casualties -
Battle of St. Mihiel
Began when 30 thousand American troops under the direct command of General Pershing fling themselves into the German lines -
Wilhelm Abdicates
Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates, ending all German hope for a victory. He and his retinue quietly slip over the border into the Netherlands where he lived out the remainder of his life in relative peace and writes a self promoting memoir defending his actions in the war