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Assassination
Assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand by serbian nationalist triggers alliance systems -
Russia mobilizes
Russia mobilizes its vast army to intervene against Austria-Hungary in favor of its ally, Serbia. -
WWI begins
Germany invades Belgium, beginning WWI -
Germans fire
The Germans fire shells filled with chlorine gas at Allied lines. -
The Lusitania sinks
A German submarine sinks the passenger liner Lusitania. The ship carries 1,198 people, 128 of them Americans. -
Italy
Italy joins the allies -
first tanks
The British employ the first tanks ever used in battle, at Delville Wood. -
Zimmerman telegram
British intelligence gives Wilson the so-called Zimmerman Telegram, a message from German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmerman proposing that Mexico side with Germany in case of war between Germany and the United States. -
U.S. Enters War
Congress authorizes a declaration of war against Germany. The United States enters World War I on the side of France and Britain. -
Trench Warfare
Western front at an impasse; trench warfare immobilizes both sides -
Wilhelm abdicates
Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates, ending all German hope for a victory. He and his retinue quietly slip over the border into the Netherlands where he lives out the remainder of his life in relative peace and writes a self-promoting memoir defending his actions in the war.
