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The Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand
While in Bosnia, the archduke and his wife were in a car going around touring through, a bomb is thrown at them and misses but they ignore it and keep going. Not to long later they are shot by supposedly a lone assassin.
This event is significant because it was the event that led to the start of World War One. -
Great Britain declares war on Germany
After Great Britain being tired of what Germany was doing and what they were going to do, decided to declare war on them, which also immediately dragged its various colonies like Canada and Australia in to the war.
This is significant because they were the big first part that dragged the rest of the war which would eventually get Germany to attempt to keep us out of the war. -
Germany sinks a British passenger boat
Germany attempting to anger and hurt their opponents in war decided to use U-boats (aka submarines) to sink other ships that weren't theirs using torpedo's. This ship sinking caused the drowning of 1,201 people which also included 128 Americans which led to Woodrow Wilson to send diplomats to Germany to protest this.
This impacted the US because since there was American citizens killed in it, it was considered an attack also on them and they weren't involved in the war at the time. -
Woodrow Wilson Re-Elected
In the election period of 1916, Woodrow Wilson ran with the slogan of the fact that he had kept America out of war and the people liked his and decided to keep him in office since it kept America on the sidelines and out of direct trouble.
This impacted the US because it postponed the joining of the US into WWI since if there was a different president elected, they might have thrown us immediately into the war which would have caused an upset in the American people. -
Telegram from Germany to Mexico Intercepted
A telegram going from Germany to Mexico was intercepted by Britain talking about how Germany wanted Mexico to attack the US and they would provide support to them while they invade the US. This was then passed on from Britain to America and made public which caused an outrage amongst them. America then cut ties with Germany and started preparing.
This impacted America because it was the first major event that got them involved in the war and caused them to side against Germany. -
War declared on Germany
On April 6th, America officially declared war on Germany, causing them to automatically be on the side of Triple Entente which was opposing Germany and Austria-Hungary.
This was a major event to the US because it was our official entrance to the war and it showed who's side that we were on and who our enemies were. -
American troops land in france
The day of June 25th, America has troops officially in France and starting the attack on Germany's position in Europe.
This was important because it would lead to America's first battles in the war and would mean that we were indeed heading to the front. -
Sedation Act is Passed
This was an act that surpressed the free speech that went against what the government was doing like people talking about the government and the war effort in a negative area.
This helped with keeping the people on the side that the war was the right thing to do because people would have protested it and would have attempted to stop the US and keep them out of the war. -
Germany signs Armistice
In the morning in a train car in France, Germany signs an armistice which essentially is like a treaty but it puts the blame of the war on a specific party and this caused Germany to be put under restrictions and it also ended the fighting.
This helped the US because it meant that the war was officially over and that soldiers could stop fighting since what was essentially a treaty of peace was created. -
The Versailles Peace Treaty
On June 28th, Germany and other leaders of countries sign a big treaty called the Versailles Peace Treaty. This treaty did many things like limit the power of miltaries of the parties who signed and that declaring war would be done by a single committee over the world, except America because it would violate one of our constitutional rights.
This impacted us because it meant the official end of the war and that because we didn't sign it, we kept our constitutional right to declare wars.