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Period: to
1914-1919
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The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip while visiting Sarajevo, the Bosnian capitol. Ferdinand was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne and Princip was a Serbian nationalist. -
Battle of the Marne
Germany had invaded Belgium one month prior, they had planned to go through Belgium to hit Paris and take France out of the Allied powers. The Allied powers were unable to save Belgium from Germany, but they did manage to stop their advances before they could reach France. This was one of the only main battles, the rest of the war was trench warfare. -
The Lusitania Disaster
The Lusitania was a British passenger liner that was carrying around 2,000 people when it was attacked. A German U-boat sank the Lusitania claiming that the ship was carrying Allied powers ammunition. 128 American tourists were among the shipwreck, and America was outraged. -
Battle of The Somme
This battle started in July of 1916 and went on till November. It was four months of vicious trench warfare. The British were hit the hardest with 60,000 casualties on the first day. In total, this part of the war racked up 1.2 million casualties, but only 7 miles of ground was gained. -
The Zimmerman Note
The Zimmerman note was a telegram from the German foreign minister to the German ambassador in Mexico. Germany proposed an alliance with Mexico and promised to return Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona to them. This was one of the factors that drove America into WWI. -
America Declares War
President Wilson declared war saying, “The world must be made safe for democracy.” Days later, the resolution was passed and America joined in WWI with the Allied powers. -
Russia Surrenders
After the Russian Revolution, Vladimir Lenin took over and pulled Russia out of the war. Russia had a crumbling economy, but this also took a lot of power away from the Allies. -
Germany Collapses
Pictured are the sailors who took Germany out of the war
Austria-Hungary surrendered to Allies, leaving Germany to fight the rest of the war. On that same day, German sailors mutinied against their government. More revolts followed, and Germany could no longer continue. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles did many things. Including establishing nine new nations; Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia to name a few. It also broke of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. It disallowed Germany from maintaining an army, forced them to give Alsace-Lorraine back to France, and pay $33 billion in reparations to the Allied powers. This treaty also began the League of Nations, a promotion of piece through collective security.
