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(EU) The Funeral of King Edward VII of England
They royal families were all somewhat connected in the way that they had all been related in some way. This funeral brought the family of King Edward VII and many other world leaders together that would later all be involved in war. -
(US) President Woodrow Wilson Inaugurated
President Woodrow Wilson, Who would serve as commander in chief during World War I, officially becomes President for the first of two terms. -
(EU) Archduke Franz Ferdinand Shot in Sarajevo
On this day, the Archduke of Austria-Hungary was shot by Gavrilo Princip. This event is often considered the spark of World War 1, which would grow because of entangling alliances. -
(EU) Germany attacks/ declares war on France
Germany declared war on Russia then, 2 days later Germany declares war on France because France said they would help Russia. -
(EU) Britain declares war on Germany
Britain declares war on Germany because days before they had invaded Belgium to get to France. Belgium had remained neutral up until the invasion and was apart of a treaty with European powers which included both Britain and Germany. -
(EU) Battle of Liege in Belgium
This was one of the first battle of WW1 and it was an invasion of neutral Belgium. The Belgian army was greatly outnumbered by the German Army. The Germans had a big advantage. They had people and weapons. One of the most iconic weapons they had was a gun by the name of "Big Bertha". This artillery was the largest at the time. It was so powerful it could take down a whole fort. -
(EU) Battle of Ypres
The battle of Ypres was a long battle that introduced a new way to fight war. This was the beginning of trench warfare. Trench warfare is when you fight in wavy lines dug underground. Trench warfare was dangerous and unsanitary way of fighting war. -
(EU) Christmas Truce of 1914
The pope during the time wanted them to call a truce on Christmas. The leading officials would not make an official truce. The soldiers had formed their own truce and on that day they did not fight but rather sang carols and celebrated the holiday together in spirit. -
(US/EU) Near east relief
The Near East Relief was made after the United States got word of the Armenian Genocide. They didn't want the Armenian population to suffer. This organization help the Armenian people and other struggling people in the area by raising money to help get them water, food, clothes, medicine, and shelter. The money to support this group came from people, other organization, and the government. -
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(EU) Armenian Genocide
The Armenian genocide was a mass murder of the Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire. The Armenian people were killed for being Christian. The Ottoman Empire was apart of the central powers. This made many people think differently of the central powers during WW1. Some nations to this day deny that the Armenian genocide happened. -
(US) Sinking of the Lusitania
Britain had a civilian ship which was meant to secretly carry weapons over sea. Before they had sailed the Lusitania, Germany had already said that if they sail the ship to carry weapons 'secretly' they where going to take the ship down. Britain had sailed the ship anyway and told nobody on the ship it was carrying weapons. Germany took it down with it's submarines. Many people died because of this. -
(US) Election of 1916
Woodrow Wilson and Charles Evans Hughes were both running for president. Woodrow Wilson was a Democrat and Charles E. Hughes was a Republican. The race between the two was very close but in the end Woodrow Wilson won with the argument of, "he kept us out of war". American favored him because although they acknowledge the harsh war in Europe, American wanted to remain neutral as long as they could. -
(US) US chases Pancho Villa
Pancho was a bandit. Pancho was put in prison and escaped that too. At one point the US had cut off weapons for Pancho. This made Pancho mad so he attacked Americans. The US sent the army to find him. They couldn't find him. This was a sign for American. They knew that if they couldn't find 1 guy they couldn't fight in a war. -
(EU) Battle of Somme
This was one of the biggest and bloodiest battle of WW1. It was fought in France. Many lives were lost on both sides. This battle lasted 5 months straight. It too the lives of 420,000 British soldiers, 200,000 French soldiers and 500,000 German soldiers. -
(US/EU) Zimmerman Telegram
Zimmerman sent a telegram to the German ambassador of Mexico to try and convince Mexico to become alliance with them and then go to war against the U.S for economic help. When this message was passing through the U.S British spies in the U.S had cracked Germanys code and later told the U.S about the Germans plan. -
(EU) Unrestricted Submarine warfare declared by Germany
Unrestricted submarine warfare meant that Germany would sink any ship that wasn't from the central powers with one of there U-Boats. This challenged many countries neutrality because they weren't apart of the war yet they were still being punished. This also challenged the allies side. Since they couldn't get war supplies overseas from other countries the allies were low on materials and this lead to slight downfall to the allies. Many ships were sank and many people died because of this. -
(US) Woodrow Wilson asks Congress for a Declaration of War
Woodrow Wilson asked for a declaration of war from the house of senates. His argument for why needed to go to war was to keep the world "safe for democracy". -
(US) Selective draft act
This act required men ages 21 through 30 to register for the army. Random people would be selected to join the army if needed. During registration African American draft cards would be separated from American daft cards. The age limited later grew to men ages 18 through 45. This act ended on November of 1918. -
(US) War Industries board
The war industries board was one of Americas first government agencies. It was created on July 28, 1917. This agency helped increase war supply production by making industries more efficient by becoming more resourceful. It also limiting the amount of money spent on war supplies. This helped the United States waste less money. -
(US) United States Declares War on Germany
Congress votes in favor of war. The declaration of war is made. War has been declared on Germany. US army soldiers would soon be shipped to Europe to fight on the side of the allies. -
(US) Wilson shares his 14 points for his plan for peace
Woodrow Wilson left very strongly that these 14 points would lead to peace and stop another war from occurring. Wilson announced his points to congress before announcing it to other countries. In the 14 points he mentions fixing territorial issues, equal trade, freedom over seas, no more secret treaties, and getting rid of Imperialism and Nationalism. He also talks about forming a organization with all the nations to prevent war. -
(US) National war labor board created
This board was made to handle strikes going on in the work force during WW1. People went on strike for equal pay no matter the sex and 8 hour working shifts. It was created by Woodrow Wilson because he was worried about the production of war materials deceasing due to these strikes. The members of the board consisted of both business men and labor men. -
(US/EU) Germany signs an armistice
At 5am, Germany signed an armistice with the allies. Soon after a telegram was sent from France that said war should end at 11 o'clock French time. This was a truce and it did not guarantee war would not continue. -
(EU) Treaty of Versailles signing
This was signed by Germany and the Allie powers. This was not signed by the US. Germany and the US had their own treaty signed. This treaty meant Germany agreed to Woodrow Wilsons 14 points and Germany had to take the blame for the war.
