-
Period: to
World War I
-
Germany declares war on France
Germany had been drawing up their plan for war, the Schlieffen plan.The Germans thought that France would be weak and easy to capture, whereas Russia would be much stronger, but very slow to mobilise. So in essence the Germans could nip over to France, defeat it, and then come back and finish off the Russians. -
Total War
Total War is when the entire resources and population are mobilized towards the war effort,which takes priority over everything else.Further, Total War also involves prosecuting the war against the entire population of the enemy, not just against its military. -
Lusitania sinks
U-boat sinks the Lusitania. 1,198 civilians, including 128 Americans die. -
Zimmermann Note
British cryptographers deciphered a telegram from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German Minister to Mexico, von Eckhardt, offering United States territory to Mexico in return for joining the German cause. This message helped draw the United States into the war and thus changed the course of history. -
President Woodrow Wilson declares his 14 points as the path to permanent world peace.
Wilson reluctantly made several concessions,yet he successfully protected the Fourteenth Point, the League of Nations, which was written into the Versailles Treaty. Despite obvious Senate reservations about the League of Nations, Wilson was certain the Versailles Treaty would be ratified. He was wrong.
