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Murder of Archduke Franz
Archduke Franz was heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and visiting a newly taken over Sarajevo in Bosnia. The second attempted that day, by Serbian terroists, succeeded and several shots killed Archduke Franz and his wife. With weeks, Austria-HUngary declared war on Serbia. This is singificant because offical started the war and at that time the U.S. was not involved or interested in the conflict. (From the textbook) -
U.S. Neutrality
President Wilson to a messenge to the Senate, pleaded that the U.S. stay neutral because he did not want to choose allies before enemies. Also, it would greatly effect the American way of living and refered to the fact that a great many of us came from European nations. (Document 1) This is signgificant because Europeans would not have support and the U.S. choose to stay out of the conflict. -
A German warning
Germany sent Washington D.C. a warning Americans about European waters being unsafe for travel. This was important because it run prior to the sailing of the Lusitania. This is significant because it showed the danger to both sides of the war. The U.S. was still not involved in the war. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
A German U-Boat sank the British liner Lusitania. 1,198 dead and 128 Americans were dead. The American's reacted saying it was murder on the high seas. However, the US did not get involved and instead sent Germany a warning note. (From the textbook) (Document 4) THis is signgificant because it made the U.S. mad but the U.S. did not do anything about it. -
Germans continue U-boat attacks
Germans sank a second British ship, the Arabic, killing two Americans.
SInking of the French liner, Sussex, that left several AMerican's injured. This called for the Sussex pledge, Germans would stop sinking merchant ships, if the U.S. would force Britian to stop there naval blockade. (From the textbook and Document 4) This is significant because the U.S. did not do anything even though this has been an ongoing problem. -
The Zimmerman Note
Britian got hold of this note going between a German foriegn minister to another German foriegn minister is Mexico. It said that if the U.S. entered the war then Germany and Mexico would ally and help Mexico regain lost territory, New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. This is significant because it stirred anti-german feelings in the U.S. and made the U.S. made. The U.S. starts considering going to war with Germany. -
Declaration of War
Senate voted 82 to 6 to declare war on Germany and the House followed on April 6 by vote of 373 to 50.(Document7) President Wilson was for it when he spoke at a session of Congress on April 2.(Document 6) This is significant because it sends American's into the conflict. The U.S. is offical involved.