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Dreadnought sparks arms race between Germany and Great Britain
"In 1906, HMS Dreadnought was launched. Described as a deadly fighting machine, it transformed the whole idea of warfare and sparked a dangerous arms race." -
Franz Ferdinand assassinated
Franz Ferdinand was archduke of Austria and heir to the throne -
Austria declares war on Serbia- WW1 begins
"One month after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were killed by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, effectively beginning the First World War" -
Battle of Tannenberg
"[The] battle was a heavy defeat for the Russians with thousands of men killed and 125,000 taken prisoner. Although the Germans won the battle, 13,000 men were killed." -
The first Zeppelins appeared over the English coast.
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Sinking of the RMS Lusitania
"The British ocean liner Lusitania is torpedoed without warning by a German submarine off the south coast of Ireland. Within 20 minutes, the vessel sank into the Celtic Sea. Of 1,959 passengers and crew, 1,198 people were drowned, including 128 Americans." -
Battle of Somme
"The Battle of the Somme, also known as the Somme Offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and France against the German Empire."
Over 1 million casualties -
The Zimmerman Telegram
"The Zimmermann Telegram was a secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office in January 1917 that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico in the event that the United States entered World War I against Germany. Mexico would recover Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico" -
America Joins The War
"On February 22, Congress passed a $250 million arms appropriations bill intended to make the United States ready for war. In late March, Germany sunk four more U.S. merchant ships, and on April 2 President Wilson appeared before Congress and called for a declaration of war against Germany. Four days later, his request was granted." -
Russia Leaves The War
Russia draws out because of the Revolution of 1917 and didn't want to spread their resources too thin. This was accomplished through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (a peace treaty) -
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The Mandate System
"The mandate system was a compromise between the Allies' wish to retain the former German and Turkish colonies and their pre-Armistice declaration (November 5, 1918) that annexation of territory was not their aim in the war. The mandates were divided into three groups on the basis of their location and their level of political and economic development and were then assigned to individual Allied victors (mandatory powers, or mandatories)" -
The Great War Ends
The Treaty of Versailles marked the end of the war. It wasn't signed until June 1919 but the war was considered over before that. The Treaty severely punished Germany: they had to accept full responsibility, lost all their territories, reduced to a small military, and must pay for reparations. -
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Affects on America
"Unlike the countries of Europe, the factories and home of the US had not been destroyed. Manufacturing, production and efficiency had increased through necessity during the Great War. America had emerged as a world industrial leader and the US economy was booming, profits were increasing which led to the period in American history called the Roaring Twenties with a massive rise in consumerism for the wealthy."
