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Wilson re-elected
Election of 1916 was the 33rd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 1916. Incumbent President Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic candidate, was pitted against Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes, the Republican candidate. -
Kaiser declares “open season” on ships -
Germany uses U boats to sink ships -
Zimmerman note intercepted
In the telegram, intercepted and deciphered by British intelligence in January 1917, Zimmermann instructed the ambassador, Count Johann von Bernstorff, to offer significant financial aid to Mexico if it agreed to enter any future U.S-German conflict as a German ally. -
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
Serbian nationalist gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, as their motorcade maneuvered through the streets of Sarajevo -
The Great War Begings
It started because the assassination of Franz Ferdinand happened. A nationalist with ties to the secretive military group known as the Black Hand and propelled the major European military powers towards war. -
Lusitania sank
U boats sink the Lusitania. Germany torpedoes a British passenger ship believed to be smuggling arms -
Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme, also known as the Somme Offensive, was one of the largest battles of the First World War. Fought between July 1 and November 1, 1916 near the Somme River in France, it was also one of the bloodiest military battles in history. -
US declares war on Germany -
President Woodrow Wilson went before a joint session of Congress to request a declaration of war against Germany. Wilson cited Germany’s violation of its pledge to suspend unrestricted submarine warfare in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, as well as its attempts to entice Mexico into an alliance against the United States, as his reasons for declaring war. -
Convoy system
Group of merchant vessels sailing together, with or without naval escort, for mutual security and protection, has a much longer history than sometimes suggested.Dec -
Selective Service Act
Authorized the federal government to raise a national army for the American entry into World War 1 -
The Espionage Act
Made it a crime for any person to convey information intended to interfere with the U.S. armed forces prosecution of the war effort or to promote the success of the country’s enemies. -
Flu Epidemic
The 1918 flu pandemic was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus -
Fourteen Points speech
This speech contained the War Aims and Peace Terms, President Wilson set down 14 points as a blueprint for world peace that was to be used for peace negotiations after World War I. -
Sedition Act passed -
Act of the United States Congress that extended the Espionage Act of 1917 to cover a broader range of offenses, notably speech and the expression of opinion that cast the government or the war effort. -
Germany signs armistice
An armistice during the First World War between the Allies and Germany, also known as the Armistice of Compiègne after the location in which it was signed and the agreement that ended the fighting on the Western Front. -
Russia pulls out of the war
Communists led by Vladimir Lenin, the Bolsheviks, overthrew the government in November 1917 and created a Communist government.
