-
Kaiser declares “open season” on ships
Germany uses U-Boats to sink all ships. -
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand nephew of Emperor Franz Josef and heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is shot to death along with his wife by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia. -
Great War begins
The trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. WWI Begins. -
Lusitania sank
German U-Boats sank the Lusitania which was a civilian ship that was carrying american people on board. -
Battle of the Somme
First battle of WWI. Ends Nov.18, 1916 -
Wilson re-elected
The United States presidential election of 1916 was the 33rd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 1916. Incumbent Democratic President Woodrow Wilson defeated Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes, the Republican candidate. -
Zimmerman note intercepted
Germany tells Mexico to declare war on U.S. -
US declares war on Germany
The German U Boats sunk the Lusitania. -
Selective Service Act
This Act gives the U.S. president the power to draft soldiers. -
Convoy system
On this day in 1917, driven by the spectacular success of the German U-boat submarines and their attacks on Allied and neutral ships at sea, the British Royal Navy introduces a newly created convoy system, whereby all merchant ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean would travel in groups under the protection of the British navy. -
Espionage Age passed
This act states that people are not allowed to speak freely during wartime. -
Flu Epidemic
The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, the deadliest in history, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide—about one-third of the planet's population—and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims, including some 675,000 Americans. -
Fourteen Points Speech
The Fourteen Points was a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I. The principles were outlined in a January 8, 1918 speech on war aims and peace terms to the United States Congress by President Woodrow Wilson. -
Russia pulls out of the war
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between the new Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia and the Central Powers that ended Russia's participation in
World War I. -
Sedition Act passed
Designed to protect America's participation in WWI. -
Germany signs armistice
It ended the fighting on the western front.
