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Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie are assassinated by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo.
Ferdinand was the Archduke of the Austria-Hungarian throne. The Serbians thought they should be apart of Austria-Hungary instead of being annexed. Earlier in the day, a Serbian threw a bomb at their open car and wounded an officer that was guarding the couple. On their way to visit him later, the car took a wrong turn and they ended up being assassinated. -
WWI Begins.
The nations needed to get their militaries, supplies, territories, and other things together before the war could officially begin. A few days before (the 30 of July) the Russians mobilized its army and moved to intervene against Austria-Hungary since Serbia was its ally. Because of this other powers came into play and started up more hostility. -
Germany fires.
Tensions continue rising as more powers gather bigger and bigger armies, causing hostility. On this day Germany fires shells filled with chlorine gas at the Allied lines. Since gas has never really been widely used before in battle, the effects of this are horrible and the French are at the point of collapse from the deadly attack. -
Germany stops submarines.
Because of the sinking of the Lusitania on May 7, Germany was determined to stop all unrestricted submarine warfare within their borders. It was an attempts to keep the US out of the way, but also to prevent American supplies to reach France and Britain since the US was sort of helping, but also staying out of it. -
The first tanks appear.
The British deploy the first tanks ever seen in war. They were extremely useful at getting past barbed wire, clearing paths, and getting past other defenses, the tanks were still very new and can be considered primitive by our standards today. -
Submarines are still being stopped.
This may not seem like a big deal, but during this time the US still could not their allies, and because the Russians continued with their plan, this was one of the main reasons why the US entered the war in the first place. It was a bad move on Germany’s part. -
The Zimmerman Telegram is sent.
Arthur Zimmerman, foreign secretary of Germany, sent a message to Mexico, trying to persuade and bargain with them to join the war, or at least take Germany’s side. They try to make promises with Mexico to make the deal even better, but in the end Mexico declines the offer. This is another cause of the US entering the war since there was outrage amongst American’s and opinions change on whether they should enter the war or not. -
The US enters WWI.
A few days before this, President Wilson made an outline for Congress on how the US should enter the war. Congress approves the outline and declares war on Germany. It is then the US enters the war and they are sided with France and Britain. -
The draft is created.
Since they didn’t have enough military personnel to fight in the war, Congress passed the Selective Service Act, which forced well-bodied men to join in the fighting. Many American’s criticized this act, saying it was unfair and not democratic, but there were very few options so Wilson signs the bill into a law. -
Chateau Thierry
Ted Beach and his comrades are travelling a great distance to get to the main war spot. They passed through Chateau Thierry to the country and were witness to the destruction of what the Germans had done. The diary goes on to explain the many bodies that were left after the attack, as well as all of the destruction of the buildings. Things of importance were looted and others were left behind. -
Victorious Americans and Gas Masks
They left Chateau T. and travelled ten kilometers from there. The men had to wear gas masks just in case of an attack, or because of smoke, but when Beach saw there were no signs of smoke, he shed his mask and the others soon followed. He explains how his Americans have a lot of pep, since while one of the injured ones was being carried away, he yelled how they were victorious against a group of German soldiers. -
"Aeroplanes"
They fired at around 3:30 and more in the afternoon. It was quiet so when the soldiers got up from their positions “aeroplanes” swooped down and fired a barrage of bullets on them. All of them were lucky enough not to be hurt, and instead they fired on the airplane and it was seen going down. After that attack, the German’s were slowly and steadily being pushed back by the Americans. -
Bodies and Bombs
They passed many bodies along the way on their furthered journey. Beach counted at least 40 wounded and the rest of the bodies past them in truckloads. Later in the night bombs were being sent down into the village the outfit was staying in, but no one got hurt. They all laid on the ground or in muddy holes to keep guard and fire if necessary. -
On Guard
Beach was on guard from nine to one, where many gas alarms were sounding, but most were just false, giving all of the soldiers a scare. He explains how dirty he is, how he and many others have been stuck in the mud for more than a week, and how they don’t have a change of clothes or shoes so they just sleep in what they have on. He’s writing letters to home but none of them are getting sent out. Prisoners come in and are surprised by all of the weaponry the Americans have. Beach is amused by it. -
Great Monarch Steps Down
Kaiser Wilhelm, the monarch of Germany, steps down from his throne and throws in the towel. Seeing no hope in the German’s winning the war, he quickly leaves his position and leaves everything all together. He traveled around 230 miles to the Netherlands and lived the rest of his life in peace while Germany as a whole dealt with the aftermath.
