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The Sinking of Lusitania
The RMS Lusitania was a British-registered ocean liner that was torpedoed by an Imperial German Navy U-boat during the First World War on 7 May 1915, about 11 nautical miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland -
The Election of President Woodrow Wilson
Wilson defeated incumbent Republican William Howard Taft and third-party nominee Theodore Roosevelt to easily win the 1912 presidential election, becoming the first Southerner to do so since 1848. -
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand: The Outbreak of WWI
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was one of the key events that led to World War I. Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated on 28 June 1914 by Bosnian Serb student Gavrilo Princip. -
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. Incumbent Democratic President Woodrow Wilson narrowly defeated former associate justice of the Supreme Court Charles Evans Hughes, the Republican candidate. -
The Battle of the Verdun
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. -
America Proclaims Neutrality in World War I
President Woodrow Wilson declared U.S. neutrality on August 4, 1914, and many Americans saw little reason to entangle themselves in what they viewed as European quarreling and intrigue. As the war persisted and the destruction spread, many Americans could not ignore the crisis. -
The Battle of the Marne
The First Battle of the Marne or known in France as the Miracle on the Marne was a battle of the First World War fought from 5 to 12 September 1914. The German army invaded France with a plan for winning the war in 40 days by occupying Paris and destroying the French and British armies -
The Sussex Incident
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 German government responded with the so-called Sussex pledge -
The Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme, also known as the Somme offensive, was a major battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on both sides of the upper reaches of the river Somme in France. -
The Interception of the Zimmermann Telegram
British signals intelligence intercepted and decrypted a coded German telegram from German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann that was intended for Germany's ambassador to Mexico. -
The Declaration of New Unrestricted Submarine Warfare by Germany
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. A string of attacks on merchant ships followed, culminating in the sinking of the British ship Lusitania by a German U-boat on May 7, 1915. -
The United States Enters World War I
On April 4, 1917, the U.S. Senate voted in support of the measure to declare war on Germany. The House concurred two days later. -
The Selective Service Act
On May 18, 1917, Congress passed the Selective Service Act, which authorized the Federal Government to temporarily expand the military through conscription. The act eventually required all men between the ages of 21 to 45 to register for military service. -
The Landing of the Expeditionary Force in France
The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was shipped to Le Havre in France and then entrained to a concentration area on the left of the French 5th Army near Maubeuge on the Belgian frontier. This placed the BEF squarely in the path of the German 1st Army as it advanced through Belgium. -
Armistice Day Ends World War I
On November 11, 1918 an armistice was signed between the Germans and the Allies, ending World War I. Video Transcript: ABMC SECRETARY MAX CLELAND: On this day in history, November 11th, 1918, the armistice was signed between the Axis and Allies ending the First World War. -
The Beginning of the Spanish Flu Epidemic
The pandemic occurred in three waves. The first apparently originated in early March 1918, during World War I. Although it remains uncertain where the virus first emerged, it quickly spread through western Europe, and by July it had spread to Poland. The first wave of influenza was comparatively mild. -
The Fourteen Points by President Woodrow Wilson
The Fourteen Points was a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I. The principles were outlined in a January 8, 1918 speech on war aims and peace terms to the United States Congress by President Woodrow Wilson -
Russia Pulls Out of World War I
Russian Communists (Bolsheviks) took power on November 7, 1917, having promised to withdraw Russia from the war. They signed a ceasefire with Germany on December 15, 1917. Yet, Russia formally withdrew from the war only with the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918. -
The Passing of the Sedition Act
Passed by a Federalist-controlled Congress on July 14, the Sedition Act of 1798 was part of a series of measures, commonly known as the Alien and Sedition Acts, ostensibly designed to deal with the threats involved in the “quasi-war” with France. -
The Espionage Act
The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law enacted on June 15, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code but is now found under Title 18: 18 U.S.C. ch. 37. -
The Battle of Argonne Forest
The Meuse–Argonne offensive was a major part of the final Allied offensive of World War I that stretched along the entire Western Front. It was fought from September 26, 1918, until the Armistice of November 11, 1918, a total of 47 days. -
The Paris Peace Conference and Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the primary treaty produced by the Paris Peace Conference at the end of World War I. It was signed on June 28, 1919, by the Allied and associated powers and by Germany in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles and went into effect on January 10, 1920.