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Battle of the Somme (EU)
The Battle of the Somme, also known as the Somme Offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and France against the German Empire. -
US chases Pancho Villa (US)
The Pancho Villa Expedition—now known officially in the United States as the Mexican Expedition, but originally referred to as the "Punitive Expedition, U.S. Army"—was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the paramilitary forces of Mexican revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa -
(EU) The Funeral of King Edward VII of England
The royal families were all somewhat related in some way. This funeral brought the of King Edward VII and many other world leaders together that would later all be involved in war. -
(US) President Woodrow Wilson Inaugurated
President Woodrow Wilson, who would serve as commander in chief during WWI, officially becomes president for the first of two terms. -
(EU) Archduke Franz Ferdinand Shot in Sarajevo
On this day, the Archduke of Austria Hungary was shot by Gavrilo Princip. This event is often considered the spark of WWI, Which would grow because of entangling alliances. -
(EU) Germany attacks/ declares war on France
Germany declares war on France, and invades neutral Belgium. Britain then sends an ultimatum, rejected by the Germans, to withdraw from Belgium. -
(EU) The Eastern Front
In the late summer of 1914, the ancient monarchies of Austria, Russia and Germany plunged their countries into a world war which engulfed Europe in one of the bloodiest conflicts in history. -
(EU)First Battle of the Marne
First Battle of the Marne, (September 6–12, 1914), an offensive during World War I by the French army and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) against the advancing Germans who had invaded Belgium and northeastern France and were within 30 miles (48 km) of Paris. -
(EU) Western Front
The Western Front was the main theatre of war during the First World War. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. -
(EU) Christmas Truce of 1914
The Christmas truce was a series of widespread but unofficial ceasefires along the Western Front of World War I around Christmas 1914. The Christmas truce occurred during the relatively early period of the war. -
Sinking of the Lusitania (US)
Germany declared the seas around Great Britain a war zone subject to submarine warfare and that allied ships in the area would be sunk without warning. The Germans believed that the Lusitania was carrying war supplies. -
Election of 1916 (US)
The United States presidential election of 1916 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)Zimmerman Telegraph
The Zimmerman Telegraph, was a secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office in January 1917 that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico in the event that the United States entered World War I -
(US) Woodrow Wilson asks Congress for a Declaration of War
President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, “The world must be made safe for democracy.” Four days later, Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of a war declaration. ... Since the start of World War I in 1914, the United States sought to stay out of the conflict. -
(US)United States Declares War on Germany
President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany. On April 6, Congress granted the request and the United States was formally at war with Germany. -
(US) First U.S. troops arrive in France
During World War I, the first 14,000 U.S. infantry troops land in France at the port of Saint Nazaire. The landing site had been kept secret because of the menace of German submarines, but by the time the Americans had lined up to take their first salute on French soil, an enthusiastic crowd had gathered to welcome them. -
(US) United States forces are victorious in the Battle of Cantigny
U.S. troops score victory at Cantigny. In the first sustained American offensive of World War I, an Allied force including a full brigade of nearly 4,000 United States soldiers captures the village of Cantigny, on the Somme River in France, from their German enemy -
(EU) Toward Armistice
The End of World War I, 1918. The final Allied push towards the German border began on October 17, 1918. As the British, French and American armies advanced, the alliance between the Central Powers began to collapse. Turkey signed an armistice at the end of October, Austria-Hungary followed on November 3. -
(EU) Kaiser Wilhelm II
Wilhelm II (1859-1941), the German kaiser (emperor) and king of Prussia from 1888 to 1918, was one of the most recognizable public figures of World War I. He gained a reputation as a swaggering militarist through his speeches and ill-advised newspaper interviews. -
(US) Draft of the covenant of the League of Nations is completed
Wilson presents draft covenant for League of Nations. In a plenary session of the Versailles peace conference on this day in 1919, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson presents the draft of the covenant for the League of Nations prepared by a League commission that had been established two weeks earlier. -
(US) The U.S. Senate fails a second time
In 1919, for the first time, the Senate rejected a peace treaty. By a vote of 39 to 55, far short of the required two-thirds majority, the Senate denied consent to the Treaty of Versailles. President Woodrow Wilson personally negotiated the treaty following World War I, promoting his vision for a system of collective security enforced by a League of Nations. -
(US) United States signs separate peace treaties.
A treaty between the U.S. & Germany, signed on August 25, 1921, to restore friendly relations existing between the two nations prior to the outbreak of the war. -
(EU) Britain declares war on Germany
The Declaration of war by France and the United Kingdom was given on 3 September 1939, after German forces invaded Poland. Despite the speech being the official announcement of both France and the United Kingdom, the speech was given by the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, in Westminster, London
