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(EU) Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
On this day the Archduke of Austria-Hungary was shot by Gavrilo Princip in Bosnia. This event had made a spark for WWI to start because of all the alliances coming together against the others. -
(EU) Germany declares war on France and Britain declares war on Germany
Germany invades Belgium and declare war on France. Britain then declares war on Germany due to this. -
First Battle of the Marne begins
The Germans had advanced to within 30 miles of Paris, but over the next two days, the French are reinforced by 6,000 infantrymen who are transported to the front by hundreds of taxis. The Germans dig in north of the Aisne River, and the trench warfare that is to typify the Western Front for the next four years begins. -
(EU) The Second Battle of Ypres begins
The German army starts the modern era of chemical warfare by launching a chlorine attack on Allied trenches. Some 5,000 French and Algerian troops are killed. By war’s end, both sides have used massive quantities of chemical weapons, causing an estimated 1,300,000 casualties, including 91,000 fatalities. -
(EU/US) The Sinking of the Lusitania
On this day, the Lusitania was torpedoed by a german u-boat and had killed 1,201 persons, including 128 Americans. This had Americans mad and yet President Wilson didn't declare war and only sent 3 letters to the germans. -
The Battle of Verdun begins
Over the next 10 months, the French and German armies at Verdun, France, suffer over 700,000 casualties, including some 300,000 killed. By the battle’s conclusion, entire villages were wiped out and they were memorialized as having “died for France.” -
(US) Woodrow Wilson elected President 1916
The 1916 United States presidential election was the 33rd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 1916. Incumbent Democratic President Woodrow Wilson defeated Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes, the Republican candidate. -
(EU/US) The Zimmerman Note
A secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office in January 1917 that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico. If the United States entered World War I against Germany, Mexico would recover Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. This telegraph was intercepted by the British -
(US) Wilson asks for Declaration of War
On this day, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, he said, “The world must be made safe for democracy.” -
(US) The United States Declares War/ Congress Votes to Declare War
On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked a special joint session of the United States Congress for a declaration of war against the German Empire. Congress responded with the declaration on April 6. -
(US) Congress passes the Espionage Acts
Congress passed the Espionage Act. Congress passed the Sedition Act of 1918, which made it a federal offense to use "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the Constitution, the government, the American uniform, or the flag. -
(EU) A British offensive at Cambrai, France, marks the first large-scale use of tanks in combat.
Attacking with complete surprise, the British tanks ripped through German defenses in depth and took some 7,500 prisoners at low cost in casualties. Bad weather intervened, however, and adequate infantry reinforcements were not available to capitalize on the breakthrough. Within two weeks the British had been driven back almost to their original positions. -
(EU) Spanish Influenza
Influenza pandemic was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus. It infected 500 million people around the world, including people on remote Pacific islands and in the Arctic. -
(EU) Soviet government concludes a separate peace with the Central Powers when it accepts the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
Russia surrenders its claim to Ukraine, to its Polish and Baltic territories, and to Finland. -
(EU) Armistice 1918
On this day the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea and air in World War I between the Allies and their opponent, Germany.
