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By 1907 there were two major defense alliances in Europe.
The Triple Entente, later known as the Allies, consisted of France, Britain, and Russia. The Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy -
Germany and Austria-Hungary, together with the Ottoman Empire—an empire of
mostly Middle Eastern lands controlled by the Turks—were later known as the
Central Powers -
g” was ready to explode.
In June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to
the Austrian throne, visited the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. As
the royal entourage drove through the city, Serbian nationalist
Gavrilo Princip stepped from the crowd and shot the
Archduke and his wife Sophie. -
On August 3, 1914, Germany invaded Belgium, following
a strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan. This plan called
for a holding action against Russia, combined with a quick
drive through Belgium to Paris; after France had fallen, the
two German armies would defeat Russia. -
One of the worst disasters occurred on May 7, 1915, when a U-boat sank the British liner Lusitania off the southern coast of Ireland
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Three months later, in August 1915, a U-boat sank another British liner, the Arabic, drowning two Americans
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March 1916 Germany broke its promise and torpedoed an unarmed French passenger steamer, the Sussex. The Sussex sank, and about 80 passengers, including Americans, were killed or injured
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During the First Battle of the Somme—which began on July 1, 1916, and lasted until mid-November—the British suffered 60,000 casualties the first day alone.
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the Zimmermann note, a telegram from the German foreign minister to the German ambassador in Mexico that was intercepted by British agents. The telegram proposed an alliance between Mexico and Germany and promised that if war with the United States broke out, Germany would support Mexico in recovering “lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.”
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To popularize the war, the government set up the nation’s first propaganda agency, the Committee on Public Information (CPI).
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To meet the government’s need for more fighting power, Congress passed the Selective Service Act in May 1917. The act required men to register with the government in order to be randomly selected for military service.
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the convoy system, in which a heavy guard of destroyers
escorted merchant ships back and forth across the Atlantic in groups. By fall of 1917, shipping losses had been cut in half. -
By May they were within 50 miles of Paris. The Americans arrived just in time to help stop the German advance at Cantigny in France. Several weeks later, U.S. troops played a major role in throwing back German attacks at Château-Thierry and Belleau Wood. In July and August, they helped win the Second Battle of the Marne.
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Austria-Hungary surrenders to the Allies
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the WarIndustries Board (WIB). It was established in 1917 and reorganized in 1918 under the leadership of Bernard M. Baruch
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To deal with disputes between management and labor, President Wilson established the National War Labor Board in 1918.
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Tohelp produce and conserve food,Wilson set up the Food Administration under Herbert Hoover.
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S In June 1917 Congress passed the Espionage Act, and in May 1918 it passed the Sedition Act.
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That same day, German sailors mutinied against government authority. The mutiny spread quickly. Everywhere in Germany, groups of soldiers and workers organized revolutionary councils. On November 9, socialist leaders in the capital, Berlin, established a German republic.
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at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, in the eleventh month
of 1918, Germany agreed to a cease-fire and signed the armistice, or truce, that ended the war.
