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Archduke is Assassinated
Princip, a Serbian 19 year old, shot the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie. After being arrested, he had admitted to assassinating Ferdinand but said he did not mean to assassinate Sophie on purpose. Cabrinovic, a member of the same group Princip was in, The Black Hand, had threw a bomb, meaning to assassinate the Archduke but instead the bomb had rolled under the wrong car, injuring two police officers and surrounding bystanders. These events sparked the start of the war. -
The First Battle of the Marne
The Germans who were marching towards Paris through the Marne river valley were caught in a surprise attack by French and British forces. Their advance was ground to a halt and the French and British were able to stall out the German offensive. This critical battle set the stage for the years of deadly trench warfare which was to come. The battle took 6 days. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
A German U-boat launched a torpedo at the Lusitania, which sunk in 20 minutes. The Lusitania was making it's way to England, from New York and had a death toll of over 1,000. Germany had declared submarine warfare on England. The sinking also made a big impact on public opinion across Europe and especially the United States. -
Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun was between the German army and the French army. It was the bloodiest and longest war of World War 1. The battle had amounted to 600,000 to 700,000 casualties in total of both sides. The battle was fought in Verdun near the Meuse river because it had advantaged the French army. The skeletons of the troops that had perished are located at the Douaumont Ossuary. -
Battle of Jutland
This battle was between the British and the German navy. Altogether, there were 250 ships and 100,000 men from both sides. This is considered the most major naval involvement in World War 1. The British successfully fired several times at the main German warships, which caused the German navy to flee. Although both sides had claimed winning the battle, the British had gained full control of the North Sea in the end. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/battle-of-jutland -
Battle of the Somme
The trench warfare-involved battle was fought between the French and British, and the German army. It took place near the Somme River which is located in France. The British took a bad fall on the first day, with losing 57,000 at once in one day. The French had stepped in with better military skills and with fewer deaths than the British. The war ended with 420,000 British deaths, 200,000 French deaths, and approximately 465,000 German deaths. -
The Zimmerman Telegram
The British had discovered an encrypted letter from a German secretary named Zimmerman, meant to be sent to Heinrich Von Eckardt, who is a German ambassador to Mexico, and was additionally told to have the Japanese support the Germans. The note instructs these things: Mexico would attack the United States if they enter the war with the Allies. The Germans would support their military fully. Mexico would get back territory from Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona after attacking the United States. -
Eugene A. Curtin: Arrival to London
Eugene tells of travelling to London in a letter to his uncle. He went to Europe from the US to become a medic. It took 21 days on a ship to travel to London, while six of the days being spent at a port in Canada. He spent two days in London then was sent to Salisbury, a location twelve miles from Birmingham and in the middle of England. He was sent to a hospital with up to 800 beds. Eugene tells of the bravery of the men that come in and out of the hospital. -
Eugene A. Curtin: Helping in France
Eugene A. Curtin stayed in England for two months. Suddenly he was ordered to go to France to be on duty. He traveled 150 miles in two days and two nights. He went with a Lieut. Colonel, seven medical officers, 250 men, and 25 ambulances. Eugene was assigned to go into the battle zone along with other medics to help wounded soldiers. From then on for a while he would move along battle lines with others, helping the French. -
United States Declares War on Germany
The current president of the U.S., Woodrow Wilson, had went to Congress to request a declaration of war on Germany, on April 2, 1917. Wilson stated how Germany did not honor their vow on restricting submarine warfare in the Mediterranean and the North Atlantic, and also stated the Zimmerman telegram, in defense of his request to declare war. On April 4, 1917, the U.S. Senate also agreed upon this inquiry. It was only until December 7 that the declaration would be official. -
Eugene A. Curtin: Easter
Eugene is off in the fields and has said to be living in tents in previous letters. It is Easter week. In this specific letter to his mother, he tells of losing his friends, the combatant officers he got to know dearly. This letter, along with a few others before are less than a page long compared to others being three pages long because he states he is more busy being a medic and more exhausted mentally. The combatant officers died in the battlefields in France. -
Eugene A. Curtin: 4th of July
Eugene has been very busy in these past few letters but he is now revealing info about the battle. He speaks of the nights looking like 4th of July because of all of the "signal lights and shapes" lighting up the sky. He said that it would be quiet and then an uproar of machine guns would happen. "Artillery fire of a raid cost about fifteen or twenty thousand but if you bring back a prisoner and kill a couple of Huns is is considered success". He also talked about how dangerous his job is. -
Eugene A. Curtin: Second Phase
"I suppose the casualty list is bringing the war pretty close to a good people in the States these days in a sad way". "The second phase of the battle which started in August is now on; this is the third days and I have been in it since the starts".He is near the Cambrai Cathedral in Cambrai, France. He is a bearer officer which helps soldiers get back to the Brigade from the regimental aid post to an ambulance. http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.01379/ -
Kaiser Wilhelm II is Abdicated
Wilhelm II was the last kaiser (emperor) of Germany and the last king of Prussia from 1888-1918. In the summer of 1914, Wilhelm held back German generals to move their army, because he did not think war was such a good idea. He then lost support from the army. The Socialist Party in Germany had then demanded he be exiled. Wilhelm then agreed and was pronounced abdicated from Germany by Prince Max on November 9. He then fled to the Netherlands and died at the age of 82. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the document to officially end World War 1. The Allies negotiated on a punishment for Germany, which was forcing them to pay for reparations of the war and appointed liability of all damage from the war. Germany signed the treaty but rejected it. The United States Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, as well as the United States Government, which did not want to take any responsibly for damage. In 1935, Hitler had completely impeached the treaty.
