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Archduke Ferdinand assasinated
Ferdinand and his wife were touring Sarajevo, when a bomb was thrown into their car by Serbian nationalist, Nedjelko Cabrinovic . The bomb wounded an officer and some bystanders, but did not kill the Archduke and his wife. Later that day, 19 year-old Gavrilo Princip shot Ferdinand and his wife. This assassination ultimately started a chain of events that created WWI. -
WWI begins
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia for assassinating their archduke. Austria had waited to declare war because they wanted to make sure that before the did so, they wanted to make sure they had the support of Germany. Austria was aware that Serbia would have the aid of their ally, Russia, and a few of Russia’s other allies, and didn’t want to go into the fight alone. Germany declared their support on July 5th, 1914, so that gave Austria-Hungary the courage to finally declare war. -
Germany invades Belgium
In the afternoon, German troops began to assemble near the border of Belgium. Belgium was planned to be used as a way for Germany to get to France, but the would remain neutral. This angered the Allied forces, so that day British secretary, Sir Edward Grey, spoke out to the Parliament asking for British forces to get involve if Belgium was to be under attack. The idea was passed and the Allies were able to provide support to Belgium. Also on this day, France declared war on Germany. -
Battle of Tannenberg begins
Germany main focus in this war during the August of 1914 was France, which gave Russia a chance to send 2 armies into East Prussia. German forces arrived in East Prussia and began to order an attack on the Russians. Russian forces were frazzled because they were unable to communicate with each other at the time. On August 26th, German forces intercepted a coded message by Russian generals, so they were able to release an undetected attack on the Russians. -
The Christmas Truce of 1914
The idea of a Christmas truce was suggested by Pope Benedict XV, but no official truce was ever made. The soldiers on the battleground created their own unofficial truce, and instead of fighting, both German and British troops began to sing Christmas carols to one another that Christmas morning. Soldiers came out of their trenches and exchanged gifts, such as cigarettes and plum puddings. Some soldiers took advantage of this and collected bodies of men who had died in no-man's land. -
Lusitania sinks
The 32,000 ton British ship was torpedoed by a German U-Boat and sunk. Germany had just announced unrestricted submarine warfare in waters surrounding Britain. The ship was hauling about 173 tons of British war munitions. The U.S became very upset, and Germany denounced the unrestricted submarine warfare. 1,100 people drowned on the Lusitania, including 120 Americans. -
Battle of Verdun begins
German soldiers attacked French defense complexes on February 21st. They quickly gained control of Fort Douaumont and Fort Vaux. On July 14th, the Germans retreated and called off the attack because their commanding general, Falkenhayn, was relieved of his duties. Later that fall, the French reclaimed both of the forts. Their advance did not ground until mid-December. The causality count for both sides was between 600,000 and 700,000. -
Battle of Somme begins
This battle was fought between July 1st and November 1st and was one of the most deadly battles in WWI history. On the first day alone, there were 57,000 British casualties. During this war, the British got the chance to improve their offensive tactics. The battle ended when the German forces retreated. In the end, the Allies and Central powers lost more than 1.5 million soldiers. -
Zimmerman Telegram
The telegram stated that if the U.S entered the war on the side of the Allies, Heinrich von Eckardt would have to approach the Mexican government to devise a secret alliance so that German could fight the U.S on their soil. The message was intercepted by British code breakers. They handed it over to the U.S in late February, and the story had spread across the U.S by the first of March. -
U.S enters WWI
President Woodrow Wilson declared war against Germany. Woodrow Wilson had just been elected into his 2nd term as president, running with the slogan “He kept us out of war”. People were confused and surprised by his decision to declare war, but he told them “The world must be made safe for democracy”. -
Selective Service Act
When declaring war against Germany and agreeing to aid the Allies in the war, Woodrow Wilson was asked to supply fresh troops. Only 100,000 volunteers were currently in the U.S army, so Congress passed the Selective Service Act. This act required all U.S men that were between the ages of 21-30 to register in the armed services. Within a few months, the number of men registered in military service had grew to 10 million. About 2.8 million men were drafted during WWI. -
Russian reaches and armistice with Germany
Before the armistice was reached, the Russian military headquarters had been seized by the Bolsheviks. Immediately, they began to discuss an armistice with the Central Powers. They wanted completely out of the war, and encourage British and French forces to do the same. The others did not want to do so, so the Bolsheviks proceeded as planned. -
Gleeson boards his ship
Joseph hiked from camp to camp for 10 days until he finally boarded a ship that was shipping soldiers across the sea. On the way there, him and his good friend, Littler, became very ill. The soldiers had to stay under the deck for a long time. They also had to scout for Destroyers while out on sea. His illness disappeared shortly after they sailed ashore at Liverpool. -
Wilson's 14 Points of Peace
WWI opened Wilson’s eyes to how American security is affected by global stability, so he constructed 14 Points of Peace to ensure American security in the future. Most of the points covered post-war American stability. Some of them also covered border issues in Europe. The most important thing that came out of the 14 Points was the formation of the United Nations. -
Gleeson returns to camp
Gleeson had not been at camp for nearly a month. He had been in the Verdun Sector fighting the "Boches". "Boches" is a term that American soldiers used to call German soldiers. Gleeson had fought in a trench during this battle. He also spent a lot of that time testing out machinery. -
Gleeson's Battle of Belleau Wood
According to Gleeson's diary, the actual fighting began on June 3rd. The objective of the battle was to protect France from German forces. Gleeson stayed on the front lines for the most of the month, but had to leave and go back to camp for about a week because he was feeling ill. He kept a record of how many shells he had shot each day for the whole month of June. The amount totaled to 9,112 shots. In his own words, "June was a month of hell". -
Gleeson at St. Mihiel
The battle of St. Mihiel is one of the first major offensive attacks. Gleeson described the weather to be rainy and hot, which I can imagine had some effect of the conditions. according to Gleeson, the mud was knees deep. The Allied forces took lots of prisoners, which forced the German armies to fall back. Gleeson also says that several air battles took place during the attack. The battle finally ended on September 15th. -
Gleeson at Compiègne
October was along month for Gleeson. On the first day of fighting, the army lost 4,000 troops alone. Gleeson describes this battle as one of the most gruesome ones he has ever seen. He talks about how they are thousands of dead bodies laying in the trenches and how sickening the sight and smell was.The fighting did not end until Armistice day. -
WWI Ends
Germany signed an armistice with the Allies in a railroad car. American soldiers and supplies on the western front really ensured a victory for the Allies. The war had no officially ended until June 28th, 1919, because that is when the Treaty of Versailles was signed. The Central Powers ultimately lost the war which meant a victory for the Allies. This day is now known as Armistice Day. -
Treaty of Versailles
he Treaty of Versailles consisted of 15 parts and 440 articles written by the Allies. The treaty redistributed German land and set an amount of reparations that Germany needed to pay. The treaty also created the United Nations, a group with representation from each country designed to avoid war in the future. Although this document was designed to end the war and prevent future world wars, it basically set up WWII perfectly.
