World War I Timeline
1914-1918
Europe in 1914
Germany is enemies with France. Russia and France became allies. Germany needed back up so they allied with Italy. they paired up with the huge Austria-Hungry Empire. Which this became a tripe alliance.
June 1914
Archduke Franz Ferdinard took a ride with his wife. Someone ran up to the car and shot him dead. the Assassination occurred with the knowledge of Serbian officials who hoped to start a war that would damage Austria-Hungary.
February 1915
The Germans announced that they would use submarines called U-Boats to sink without warning any ships they found in the waters around Britain
May 7, 1915
a U- Boat sank the British passenger ship Lusitania killing over 1,000 passengers. Including 128 Americans. The Attack gave British Propanganda credibility and changed American's attitude about the war.
January 1917
United States declared war, after recieving the Zimmerman Telegram. German official Arthur Zimmerman sent a Telegram to Mexico promising the return of the lost territory in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. If it allied with Germany. British Intelligents intercepted the Telegram and ran in American Newspapers.
April 1917
The agency encouraged families to conserve food and grow their own vegetables in Victory Gardens. “Eat more corn, oats and rye products—fish and poultry—fruits, vegetables and potatoes, baked, boiled and broiled foods. . . . Eat less wheat, meat, sugar and fats to save for the army and our allies,” urged Food Administration posters.
The Espionage Act of 1917
made it illegal to aid the enemy, give false reports, or interfere with the war effort.
the Selective Service Act of 1917
all men between 21 and 30 to register for the draft. A lottery randomly determined the order in which they were called before a local draft board in charge of selecting or exempting people from military service.
Late 1917
the navy authorized the enlistment of women to meet its clerical needs. Women serving in the navy wore a standard uniform and were assigned the rank of yeoman. By the end of the war, more than 11,000 women had served in the navy. Although most performed clerical duties, others served as radio operators, electricians, pharmacists, chemists, and photographers. Army and Navy also let them be Nurses.
Spring of 1917
World War I had devastated Europe. Old-fashioned strategies and new technologies resulted in terrible destruction. Many Americans believed, however, that their troops would make a difference and quickly bring the war to an end.
Gas Mask
By 1917, Armies used Gas Mask. German's began using Gas in 1916 that would cause vomiting, blindness, and suffication.
March 1917
riots broke out in Russia. Czar Nicholas II, the leader of the Russian Empire, abdicated his throne, and the Russian Revolution began. A temporary government took command whose leaders wanted Russia to stay in the war.
March 21, 1918
the Germans launched a massive gas attack and artillery bombardment along the Western Front. Strengthened by reinforcements from the Russian front, the Germans pushed deep into Allied lines.
Late May - Early June of 1918
as the offensive continued, the Americans launched their first major attack, quickly capturing the village of Cantigny. On June 1, American and French troops blocked the German drive on Paris at the town of Château-Thierry. On July 15, the Germans launched one last massive attack in an attempt to take Paris, but American and French troops held their ground.
September 26, 1918
the most massive offensive for the American Expeditionary Force was launched in the region between the Meuse River and the Argonne Forest. Although the Germans inflicted heavy casualties, their positions slowly fell to the advancing American troops.
October 1918
Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia declared independence.
November 1918
on November 9, Germany became a republic. Two days later, the government signed an armistace. an agreement to stop fighting. On November 11, 1918, the fighting stopped.
January 1919
delegates from 27 countries traveled to the peace conference at the Palace of Versailles, near Paris. The treaty with Germany that resulted came to be called the Treaty of Versailles.
Early 1919
President Wilson arrived in Paris. with a peace plan known as the Fourteen Points. It was based on “the principle of justice to all peoples and nationalities.” In the first five points, Wilson proposed to eliminate the causes of the war through free trade, freedom of the seas, disarmament, an impartial adjustment of colonial claims, and open diplomacy.
June 28, 1919,
The Treaty of Versailles, reluctantly signed by Germany included many terms designed to punish and weaken Germany. Germany’s armed forces were greatly reduced and its troops were not allowed west of the Rhine River. The treaty also specifically blamed “the aggression of Germany” for the war. This allowed the Allies to demand that Germany pay reparation monetary compensation for all of the war damages it had caused. A commission decided that Germany owed the Allies about $33 billion. This sum far exceeded what Germany could pay all at once and was intended to keep its economy weak for a long time.
Summer of 1919
25 race riots broke out across the nation. The riots began in July, when a mob of angry whites burned shops and homes in an African American neighborhood in Longview, Texas. A week later in Washington, D.C., gangs of African Americans and whites fought each other for four days before troops got the riots under control.
Late 1919
While workers wanted higher wages to keep up with inflation, companies resisted because inflation was also driving up their operating costs. During the war, union membership had increased greatly. Business leaders, however, were determined to break the power of the unions. More than 3,600 strikes involving more than four million workers had taken place
End of 1919
in Boston, where roughly 75 percent of the police force walked off the job. Riots and looting forced Governor Calvin Coolidge to call in the National Guard. When the strikers tried to return to work, the police commissioner instead fired them. Despite protests, Coolidge agreed that the men should be fired, declaring: “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime.”
January 1920
Palmer ordered another series of raids on the headquarters of various radical organizations. Nearly 6,000 people were arrested. Palmer’s raids continued until the spring of 1920, and authorties detained thousands of suspects. The Red Scare, however, greatly influenced people’s attitudes during the 1920s. The New York state legislature expelled five members of the Socialist Party in January 1920, and within a few months, nearly 30 states passed sedition laws making it illegal to join groups advocating revolution. Many linked radicalism with immigrants, which led to calls to limit immigration.