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Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
assassination of Ferdinand set off a rapid chain of events: Austria-Hungary, blamed the Serbian for the attack and use the incident as justification for settling the question of Slav nationalism once and for all. (powder keg) -
Kaiser declares “open season” on ships
Kaiser Wilhelm proclaimed the North Sea a war zone where all merchant ships including those who are from neutral countries could be sunk without warning.Germany wanted to sink all ships sailing under the flags of Britain, Russia, or France found in the British waters. He warned neutral countries that it was not safe traveling around the British Isles but if they chose to enter after February 18, they would be doing so at their own risk -
Lusitania sank
the British ocean liner Lusitania is torpedoed without warning by a German submarine off the south coast of Ireland. Within 20 minutes, the vessel sank into the Celtic Sea. Of 1,959 passengers and crew, 1,198 people were drowned, including 128 Americans. -
Battle of the Somme
Also known as the Somme Offensive, was one of the largest battles of the First World War. Fought between July 1 and November 1, 1916, near the Somme River in France, it was also one of the bloodiest military battles in history. On the first day alone, the British suffered more than 57,000 casualties, and by the end of the campaign the Allies and Central Powers would lose more than 1.5 million men. -
Wilson re-elected
The United States presidential election of 1916 was the 33rd quadrennial presidential election -
Zimmerman note intercepted
In the telegram, intercepted and deciphered by British intelligence, Zimmermann instructed the ambassador, Count Johann von Bernstorff, to offer significant financial aid to Mexico if it agreed to enter any future U.S-German conflict as a German ally. -
convoy system
a group of ships sailing together for protection, was designed to help protect cargo in passenger ships -
Selective Service Act
authorized the United States federal government to raise a national army for service in World War I through conscription. (draft) -
Espionage Age passed
US law passed shortly after the U.S. entry into World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It originally made it illegal for any utterance that was considered disloyal toward the U.S. government, the Constitution, or the military. -
Flu Epidemic
(The influenza) deadliest in modern history, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide–about one-third of the planet's population at the time–and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims. -
Fourteen Points speech
a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I. A speech on war aims and peace terms to the United States Congress by President Woodrow Wilson. -
Russia pulls out of the war
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty between the new Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), that ended Russia's participation in World War I. -
Sedition Act passed
Act of the United States Congress that extended the Espionage Act of 1917 to cover a broader range of offenses, notably speech and the expression of opinion that cast the government or the war effort in a negative light or interfered ... -
Great War begins
WWI begins with the assassination of Austrian Imperial heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand -
Germany signs armistice
the armistice that ended fighting on land, sea and air in World War I between the Allies and their last opponent, German -
US declares war on Germany
four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States declaration of war against the Japanese Empire, Nazi Germany declared war against the United States, in response to what was claimed to be a series of provocations by the United States
