World War 1

  • Allies

    Allies
    By 1907 there were two major defense alliances in Europe.
    The Triple Entente, later known as the Allies, consisted of France, Britain, and
    Russia.
  • Central Powers

    Central Powers
    Germany and Austria-Hungary, together with the Ottoman Empire—an empire of
    mostly Middle Eastern lands controlled by the Turks—were later known as the
    Central Powers.
  • Assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand

    Assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand
    In June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to
    the Austrian throne, visited the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. As
    the royal entourage drove through the city, Serbian nationalist
    Gavrilo Princip stepped from the crowd and shot the
    Archduke and his wife Sophie. Princip was a member of the
    Black Hand, an organization promoting Serbian nationalism.
    The assassinations touched off a diplomatic crisis.
  • Schlieffen Plan

    Schlieffen Plan
    On August 3, 1914, Germany invaded Belgium, following
    a strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan. This plan called
    for a holding action against Russia, combined with a quick
    drive through Belgium to Paris; after France had fallen, the
    two German armies would defeat Russia.
  • Sinking of British Liner Arabic

    Sinking of British Liner Arabic
    in August 1915, a U-boat
    sank another British liner, the Arabic, drowning two Americans.
  • Sinking of British liner Lusitania

    Sinking of British liner Lusitania
    One of the worst disasters occurred on May 7, 1915, when a U-boat sank the
    British liner Lusitania (lLQsG-tAPnC-E) off the southern coast of Ireland. Of the
    1,198 persons lost, 128 were Americans. The Germans defended their action on
    the grounds that the liner carried ammunition. Despite Germany’s explanation,
    Americans became outraged with Germany because of the loss of life.
  • Sinking of british liner sussex

    Sinking of british liner sussex
    Germany agreed not to sink any more passenger
    ships. But in March 1916 Germany broke its promise and torpedoed an unarmed
    French passenger steamer, the Sussex. The Sussex sank, and about 80 passengers,
    including Americans, were killed or injured. Once again the United States warned
    that it would break off diplomatic relations unless Germany changed its tactics.
    Again Germany agreed.
  • Battle of Somme

    Battle of Somme
    During the First Battle of the Somme—
    which began on July 1, 1916, and lasted until mid-November—the British suffered
    60,000 casualties the first day alone. Final casualties totaled about 1.2 million,
    yet only about seven miles of ground changed hands. This bloody trench
    warfare, in which armies fought for mere yards of ground, continued for over
    three years.
  • convoy system

    convoy system
    American Vice Admiral William S. Sims convinced the
    British to try the convoy system, in which a heavy guard of destroyers
    escorted merchant ships back and forth across the Atlantic in groups. By fall of
    1917, shipping losses had been cut
    in half.
  • Zimmerman note

    Zimmerman note
    the
    Zimmermann note, a telegram from
    the German foreign minister to the
    German ambassador in Mexico that was
    intercepted by British agents. The
    telegram proposed an alliance between
    Mexico and Germany and promised
    that if war with the United States broke
    out, Germany would support Mexico in
    recovering “lost territory in Texas, New
    Mexico, and Arizona.” Next came the
    sinking of four unarmed American merchant
    ships, with a loss of 36 lives.
  • Select service act

    Select service act
    To meet the government’s need for more
    fighting power, Congress passed the Selective Service Act in
    May 1917. The act required men to register with the government
    in order to be randomly selected for military service. By the end
    of 1918, 24 million men had registered under the act. Of this
    number, almost 3 million were called up. About 2 million troops
    reached Europe before the truce was signed, and three-fourths of
    them saw actual combat.
  • second battle of the Marne

    second battle of the Marne
    In July and
    August, they helped win the Second Battle of the Marne. The tide had turned
    against the Central Powers. In September, U.S. soldiers began to mount offensives
    against the Germans at Saint-Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne area.
  • Espionage abd Sedition Acts

    Espionage abd Sedition Acts
    S In June 1917 Congress passed the
    Espionage Act, and in May 1918 it passed the Sedition Act. Under the Espionage
    and Sedition Acts a person could be fined up to $10,000 and sentenced to 20
    years in jail for interfering with the war effort or for saying anything disloyal, profane,
    or abusive about the government or the war effort.
  • Commitee on public information

    Commitee on public information
    To popularize the war, the government
    set up the nation’s first propaganda agency, the Committee on Public
    Information (CPI). Propaganda is a kind of biased communication designed to
    influence people’s thoughts and actions. The head of the CPI was a former muckraking
    journalist named George Creel.
  • Austria-Hungary surrenders to the allies

    Austria-Hungary surrenders to the allies
    On November 3, 1918, AustriaHungary
    surrendered to the Allies. That same day, German sailors
    mutinied against government authority. The mutiny spread quickly.
    Everywhere in Germany, groups of soldiers and workers organized revolutionary
    councils. On November 9, socialist leaders in the capital,
    Berlin, established a German republic. The kaiser gave up the throne.
  • Establishment of the german republic

    Establishment of the german republic
    Although there were no Allied soldiers on German territory and no truly
    decisive battle had been fought, the Germans were too exhausted to continue
    fighting. So at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, in the eleventh month
    of 1918, Germany agreed to a cease-fire and signed the armistice, or truce,
    that ended the war.
  • Ceasefire and Armistice

    Ceasefire and Armistice
    Although there were no Allied soldiers on German territory and no truly
    decisive battle had been fought, the Germans were too exhausted to continue
    fighting. So at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, in the eleventh month
    of 1918, Germany agreed to a cease-fire and signed the armistice, or truce,
    that ended the war.
  • War industries board

    War industries board
    Wages in most industries rose during the war years. Hourly wages
    for blue-collar workers—those in the metal trades, shipbuilding, and meatpacking,
    for example—rose by about 20 percent. A household’s income, however, was largely
    undercut by rising food prices and housing costs.
  • National war labor board

    National war  labor board
    To deal with disputes between management and labor, President Wilson established
    the National War Labor Board in 1918. Workers who refused to obey board
    decisions could lose their draft
    exemptions. “Work or fight,” the
    board told them. However, the
    board also worked to improve factory
    conditions. It pushed for an
    eight-hour workday, promoted
    safety inspections, and enforced
    the child labor ban.
  • Food administration

    Food administration
    To
    help produce and conserve food,
    Wilson set up the Food Administration
    under Herbert Hoover.
    Instead of rationing food, he
    called on people to follow the
    “gospel of the clean plate.” He
    declared one day a week “meatless,”
    another “sweetless,” two
    days “wheatless,” and two other
    days “porkless.” Restaurants
    removed sugar bowls from the
    table and served bread only after
    the first course.