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Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated
Archduke Franz Ferdinand went to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. Him and his wife rode down the city. A man named Gavrilo Princip went to their car and shot the Archduke along with his wife. Princip, that was apart of a Serbian nationalist group named “Black Hand”, hoped that this would start a war that would bring down the Austro-Hungarian throne. -
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
Austrians ask their allies, Germany, for support. Germany accepted the request and promised to support them if the war happened. The Serbians counted on Russia to support them if war happened and the Russians counted on France. French leaders thought they might be in a war with Germany so they agreed to support Russia. On July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. -
Germany declares war on Russia
After Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia mobilized its army. Germany declared war on Russia. Two days later, it declared war on France. This was the beginning of World War I. Germany planned to knock the French out of the war by launching a massive attack. A problem was they were required to go through neutral Belgium to get to French Troops.
https://www.historyonthenet.com/world-war-one-causes-2/ -
First Trenches of the Western Front were built
The trenches stretches across 25,000 miles of land. 12,000 of those miles belonged to the allies while the rest was owned by the Central Powers. A historian, Paul Fussell, describes it as lines of 3 trenches guarded by barbed wire. There were different types of trenches such as firing trenches and communication trenches. Trenches were terrible conditions to be living in due to the rotting bodies, enormous rats, and every possible disease you could get. -
Close trenches
"Our trenches was only about 75yrds away from the Boche Trench. At some places it was closer-we had to whisper to each other so they don't hear us" said Harry Freiman. He described the trenches again by saying 'There were many dead american soldiers laying out in front of our guns for about one to two weeks". This showed how horrific these conditions were. They would be around their dead comrades for weeks and had to stand the smell of rotting bodies. . -
The Friedrichshafen Raid
German airship, such as the Zeppelin, were considered a significant threat. It could fly high, fast and long distances. Captain Murray Sueter approved the first raids against the bases at Dusseldorf. The next target was the main Zeppelin which was at Friedrichshafen. They did this because there was no better way to destroy these unless they were on the ground. -
Christmas Truce on the Western Front
This was a day to celebrate and stop the killings. Some men would exchange “gifts” or played football in no man's land. If they did not have a ball they would use a lump of straw tied together with string. This day there was no gun fire. They came out of their trenches to trade food or good the opposite side wanted. -
Germany blocked the sea using submarines
Germany declared the waters a “war zone”. They had planned to destroy every merchant ship that went in this area. Anyone in this area would not be safe. Whether you were an enemy or just a ship passing by, the danger of the boats being sunk and people being killed was at risk. -
Lusitania was sunk
British ships with Americans aboard got destroyed. 1,100 people drowned to death. German U-boats were the cause of this sinking. A torpedo hit the side causing a gaping hole. The ship was carrying around 173 tons of war munitions for Britain. After this, the German declared they would not sink any more ships but on November that same year, they sunk a Italian killing fore than 270 people -
Conditions for a soldier
Harry Freiman said that he would eat 3 meals a day but very poor. The storekeepers would try to overcharge U.S. soldiers but they would steal more than they actually bought. They hiked 3 hours in pouring rain on this date. The dates around this day were very rainy and miserable. He got sick with grippe and had a temperature of 103 and was in the hospital for 3 days. -
Battle of Verdun
German forces advanced in February 1916. They claimed for Douaumont and Fort Vaux. The Germans then called off their offensive in mid-July. Falkenhayn was not given his normal position and the French retook their forts and pushed back the line. Both sides were left with more than 600,000 deaths. -
Full of drills
For the first weeks of war, soldiers went through many tough drills. In Harry Freiman's diary, they ran drills everyday. On Sundays they had rest days. These meant they would relax and regain energy for the weeks to come. During his training, they took a train through a tunnel and witnessed many German prisoners. He says the food on the train was very bad and he experienced drinking wine for the first time and got drunk. -
U.S Entry into the War
President Woodrow Wilson requested a declaration of war against Germany. Wilson did not like Germany's violation of its pledge to suspend unrestricted submarine warfare. On April 4, 1917, the U.S Senate voted in to get into the war. This was the main reason Wilson wanted to get involved with the war. German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hogweg protested the use of the U-Boats however due to the fact the U.S. would be drawn to the war. -
Dog Tags
Dog tags were very helpful in World War I. They were used to identify the remains of fallen soldier on the battle field. They consisted of name, rank, serial number, unit and religion. Harry Freiman had a dog tag and luckily he did not have to use it because he survived. -
Medical Treatments
Harry Frieman, serviced in France, came to have a tooth ache. On Thursday, May 1st, he had that tooth filled. Saturday, he had this wisdom tooth pulled. After this he went on with his inspections he had to do occurring around the time the war ended. Towards the signing of the Armistice, his unit became surrounded by German troops. Luckily however they made it through this situation. -
Ottoman Empire signs treaty with Allies
First week of this October, both Ottoman government and some Turkish leaders contacted Allies to try to settle out peace possibilities. This would also end the participation of the Ottoman in the First World War. The Ottoman Empire wanted to stay neutral in the war. It concluded when an alliance with Germany and they entered the war on the side of the central powers.
https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-I/Other-developments-in-1918#ref512543 -
End of WWI (The Great War)
At 5 a.m., Germany signed an armistice agreement with the allies in a railroad car. This First World War left around 9 million people dead and 21 million wounded. Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, France, and Great Britain each losing nearly a million or more. Around 5 million civilians died from disease or starvation. World War I was known as the “War to End All Wars” due to the killings and destruction it caused.
