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ASSASSINATION OF FRANZ FERDINAND
Serbian nationalist gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, as their motorcade maneuvered through the streets of Sarajevo. His death quickly set off a chain reaction of events culminating in the outbreak of World War I. -
GREAT WAR BEGINS
Known as the First World War, was a global war originating in Europe. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. -
CONVOY SYSTEM
A group of merchantmen or troopships traveling together with a naval escort -
LUSITANA SANK
The sinking turned public opinion in many countries against Germany, contributed to the American entry into World War I and became an iconic symbol in military recruiting campaigns of why the war was being fought. -
BATTLE OF THE SOMME
Was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British and French empires against the German Empire. -
WILSONS RE-ELECTED
Wilson defeated Hughes by nearly 600,000 votes in the popular vote. Wilson's re-election marked the first time that a Democratic Party candidate had won two consecutive Presidential elections -
ZIMMERMAN NOTE
Internal diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico in the event of the United States' entering World War I against Germany. -
KAISER DECLARES "OPEN SEASON"
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. -
US DECLARES WAR ON 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. -
SELECTIVE SERVICE ACT
Authorized the federal government to raise a national army for the American entry into World War I through the compulsory enlistment of people. -
ESPIONAGE ACT PASSED
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. -
RUSSIA PULLS OUT OF THE WAR
Communists wanted to focus on internal rather than external problems after they seized power in the February Revolution of 1917. -
FOURTEEN POINTS SPEECH
In his speech, Wilson itemized 14 strategies to ensure national security and world peace. -
SEDITION ACT
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 in a negative light or interfered with the sale of government bonds. -
FLU EPIDEMIC
The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the World War I (WWI), at somewhere between 20 and 40 million people. It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. -
GERMANY SIGNS ARMISTICE
An agreement that ended the fighting on the Western Front.
