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Asassination of Franz Ferdinand
Franz agreed to attend a series of military exercises in June of 1914. In Belgrade a group called the Young Bosnians received: Six handheld bombs, four semi-automatic pistols, and cyanide suicide capsules from the so called “Black Hand”. Even after hearing all of the warnings of possible danger in Bosnia, Ferdinand and his wife departed. During a motorcade, seven Young Bosnians fanned out down a man avenue. Princip was the one who shot the Archduke and his wife Sophie. -
The Christmas Truce
All across the western front, the sound of war fell silent on Christmas day. On Christmas Eve, the opposing sides started singing carols to the enemies. At first light on Christmas day, some German soldiers approached the Allied lines yelling “Merry Christmas” in their enemies’ native tongues. At first, the allies thought it was a trick until they saw that they Germans were unarmed. After seeing this sign of temporary truce, the allies shook hands with the enemy. -
Gas attacks
Poison gas was a weapon developed due to Trench warfare. The first significant gas attack was in April of 1915 at Ypres. The Germans released poison gas into the trenches of the British and Canadian sides. Originally, poison gas was released from cylinders, but it had to be perfect conditions, so from 1916, gas was in the form of shells. Gases include: chlorine, mustard gas, bromine, and phosgene; moreover, the most prolific users of the poison gases were the Germany Army. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
The captain of the Lusitania ignored the warnings to avoid certain areas of Germany, and a torpedo sent by a German U-boat struck the starboard side of the Lusitania. It killed 1,128 people, 128 of them being Americans. The disaster set tension between Germany and Britain and eventually a chain of events led to the United States entering the war. As the news spread about the Lusitania sinking, Americans became outraged. They were ready to rush into war. -
Trench Foot
Trench foot is a condition that occurs when your feet are wet for too long. Trench foot killed a total of 77,000 soldiers in World War 1. Trench foot symptoms are as follows: Blisters, blotchy skin, redness, and skin tissue that dies and falls off. Also, some sensations a person with Trench foot will feel are: coldness, heaviness, numbness, pain when exposed to heat, persistent itching, prickliness, and tingling. Trench foot can be easily avoided as long as you keep your feet dry. -
Battle of the Somme
British forces had more than 57,000 casualties. 19,000 soldiers were killed on just the first day of battle. At the end of the war more than 1 million of the 3 million total soldiers had been killed. Before the attack, the Allies launched a week-long artillery bombardment using 1.75 million shells. On the morning of July 1st, 11 divisions of 4th British army began the trek to a front 15 miles north of the Somme. -
Leo Joseph Bailey's letter to sister
He talks about on Saturday and Sunday he spent the day at West dale, taking a fifty-mile car ride to the Salmon River power dam. While there he saw about 65 homesick guards. He left the dam at about 9 p.m. and on Monday he helped out in the kitchen. He and the other people working the kitchen have been expecting a paycheck for three weeks now. He says how they go bating in the Erie Canal and don’t wear bathing suits. -
The Zimmerman telegram
The letter was pinned by Arthur Zimmerman. Letter was penned on January 16, 1917. Eckardt gave Mexico’s president an offer including military and financial support.
A British cryptographic office “Room 40” decoded the Zimmerman Telegram and handed it over to the United States in late February, 1917. On March 1st, the contents of the telegram was put on the front pages of newspapers nationwide. -
Leo Joseph Bailey's letter to sister
He talks about how he’s been traveling for over two weeks and has finally reached his destination. We stopped for thirty hours at an American Port. They stayed on lookout for submarines all the way during travel but saw none. During the last part of the trip they were protected by destroyers for the last part of their trip. They could have made the trip faster if it weren’t for the slower vessels traveling with them. -
Leo Joseph Bailey's letter to sister
He talked about how he left the fairgrounds the day before and marched to the location they are currently at. He told how he carried his friend's gun on the way up. He and four other people were tasked to get water from a location half a mile away and carry it back for dinner. He talked about how his hands are sore from pulling grass from the ground. He talked about how he went to see a show in Syracuse and while he was gone, a young soldier from his regiment drowned in a river. -
Leo Joseph Bailey's letter to sister
He writes about how he moved camp to a location just over a mile away from the fairgrounds. He wrote that it took them about a week to get their camp together, cut the grass, dig ditches, etc. It is hard to keep clean because there is no place to bath or wash clothes other than a creek about half a mile away. He said that during this day, some of them are unloading timber and sweating profusely. One of their squads left last Saturday in order to be back on Monday. -
Leo Joseph Bailey's letter to sister
He talks about how he was taking French lessons at the YMCA three evenings per week and how it rained almost every day. He also says that he attended mass at the little church in their village. He talks about how they always have plenty of food to eat and that their only shortages are of tobacco and candy. He expects to get his paycheck on Sunday and should be receiving two months worth of pay. He got a raise and said he should be getting paid $36 per month now. -
The Fake city of Paris
This replica of Paris built by France to fool German bombers is situated on the northern outskirts of the real Paris. The replica was decked out with streets lined with electric lights, replica buildings, and even a replica of a train station. Despite all the hard work that was put in to making the city look like the real one, it never got tested. They painted detail into all of the buildings. They never got tested. -
Battle of Belleau Wood
The battlefield is just barely 50 miles northeast of Paris. By June 4, more than 20,000 Germans soldiers with at least 30 machine guns had places themselves in Belleau Wood. The marines had to make a decision, either advance in close quarter fighting, or make the march across the field of green wheat. In June, some marines dug a line just southwest of Belleau Wood. The Marines embraced open warfare, expecting that their highly accurate rifle fire would give them the advantage. -
French explosion heard in London
Multiple high explosives were placed under the German lines and the explosion was so loud it could he hear some 130 miles away in London. It happened during the beginning of the battle of Messiness. The explosion that along with killing 10,000 German soldiers, it created an artificial earthquake. Directly following the explosion was a hurricane bombardment by 2,000 guns. This all happened on June 7th.
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