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WWI Timespan
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Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), the 28th U.S. president, served in office from 1913 to 1921 and led America through World War I (1914-1918). An advocate for democracy and world peace, Wilson is often ranked by historians as one of the nation’s greatest presidents. Wilson was a college professor, university president and Democratic governor of New Jersey before winning the White House in 1912. Once in office, he pursued an ambitious agenda of progressive reform that included the establishment of the -
Archduke Franz Ferdinand Assassination
video of archduke ferdinandIn an event that is widely acknowledged to have sparked the outbreak of World War I, Archduke 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, on this day in 1914. -
Allied and Central Powers
The Allied Powers in WWI were Britain, France, Italy, US and Russia. The Central Powers were Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire (Turkey), and Bulgaria. -
US Neutrality
As World War I erupts in Europe, President Woodrow Wilson formally proclaims the neutrality of the United States, a position that a vast majority of Americans favored, on August 4, 1914. -
Lusitania
On May 7, 1915, less than a year after World War I (1914-18) erupted across Europe, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the RMS Lusitania, a British ocean liner en route from New York to Liverpool, England. Of the more than 1,900 passengers and crew members on board, more than 1,100 perished, including more than 120 Americans. Nearly two years would pass before the United States formally entered World War I, but the sinking of the Lusitania played a significant role in turning public opinion agai -
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John J. Pershing
John J. "Blackjack" Pershing (1860-1948) was promoted to General of the Armies during World War I, the highest rank ever held in the United States Army. After unsuccessfully pursuing Pancho Villa through northern Mexico during the Punitive Expedition in 1915 and 1916, Pershing was given command of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War I. In his later career, he was instrumental in formulating the plan that would later form the basis for the Interstate Highway System. -
Zimmermann Telegram
On this day in 1917, the text of the so-called Zimmermann Telegram, a message from the German foreign secretary, Arthur Zimmermann, to the German ambassador to Mexico proposing a Mexican-German alliance in the case of war between the United States and Germany, is published on the front pages of newspapers across America. -
U.S. Enters The War
On April 6, 1917, two days after the U.S. Senate votes 82 to 6 to declare war against Germany, the U.S. House of Representatives endorses the decision by a vote of 373 to 50, and the United States formally enters the First World War. -
14 Points
On this day in 1918, President Woodrow Wilson delivers his Fourteen Points speech to Congress. In it, he articulated the ideas that would form the backbone of American foreign policy as the nation inched toward superpower status in the early 20th century. The First World War grimly illustrated to Wilson the unavoidable relationship between international stability and American national security. At the same time, he sought to placate American isolationist sentiment by stating that the world [must -
Armistice Agreement
The final Allied push towards the German border began on October 17, 1918. As the British, French and American armies advanced, the alliance between the Central Powers began to collapse. Turkey signed an armistice at the end of October, Austria-Hungary followed on November 3. -
Versailles Treaty
The Treaty of Versailles, signed in the Versailles Palace outside Paris on June 28, 1919, between the Allied and Associated Powers on the one hand and Germany on the other, brought World War I to an end. From the moment of its signature, the treaty ignited a continuing controversy over its treatment of Germany, with some arguing from the beginning that it was far too harsh, and others that it was too lenient to ensure a lasting peace. -
League of Nations
On January 10, 1920, the League of Nations formally comes into being when the Covenant of the League of Nations, ratified by 42 nations in 1919, takes effect. -
German Reparations
World War I ended over the weekend. Germany made its final reparations-related payment for the Great War on Oct. 3, nearly 92 years after the country's defeat by the Allies. That's not to say that Germany has been paying its dues consistently over the decades; the country defaulted on its loans many times and the current payouts have only been happening since the 1990s. What took Germany so long to pay for the war? Didn't World War I end long ago? Does this mean we're all survivors of the Great
