World War 1 Interactive Timeline

Timeline

May 7. 1915

June 7, 1917, June 24, 1917

Declaration of War

Additional information:

• Selective service: founded shortly before WWI started for the US to find men who could fight in the war, this was later used when the US entered WWII and had to draft many young men to ship off to the European and Pacific theaters. The way it works is by collecting information from every man in the United States who are between the ages of 18 and 25. All men at 18 are legally required to have registered their information within 30 days of their 18th birthday.
• Reelection President Wilson: Wilson ran on a peace platform to get reelected, his campaign slogan was quite literally "He kept us out of War" and this slogan was effective enough that it helped him get elected back into office, however; shortly after he was reelected the country was thrust into the bloodiest war we'd ever seen
• Trench warfare: World War I was a war of trenches, with both the allies and central powers utilizing them to fight each other. This type of warfare resulted in use of gas, artillery, and other massively destructive weapons. Due to new weapons like the machine gun trench warfare became even more deadly with droves of young men being cut down by machine gun fire, however; most of the American deaths actually came from disease and illness. One of the biggest problems soldiers in the trenches faced was trench foot resulting from the abhorrent conditions and the dirty water they were forced to stand in which often, if left untreated, resulted in amputation. Many soldiers would use planks, sandbags, or even the bodies of their fellow soldiers to stay out of the water, but trench foot and other illnesses still persisted and took many lives.
• New weapons and technology: Over the course of the war many new weapons were developed and many technological advancements were made, but these advancements were only used to cause further death at the time. Some of these include: heavy artillery, machine guns, tanks, motorized transport vehicles, high explosives, chemical weapons (such as gas), airplanes, field radios and telephones, aerial reconnaissance cameras, and rapidly advancing medical technology and science
• Great Migration: The great migration was caused by a halt of new immigrants to the US and without the surplus of a workforce many African Americans from the South migrated North to find better lives and better jobs working in factories to support the war effort.
• Shenck vs United States: Charles Schenck had been speaking out against the war the United States found themselves involved in and was charged with espionage by the US, this was a major shift in understanding of the first ammendment and the right to free speech which amny people saw as unlimited, however; this established that the government could limit the extent to which these rights stayed in effect during wartime

The Lusitania was sunk

A German submarine sank the British ocean liner Lusitania, resulting in the deaths of nearly 1,200 people, including 128 Americans. The incident resulted in tourn relations between the US and Germany, this helped turn public opinion against Germany.

President Wilson demanded that the Germans stop unannounced submarine warfare; however, he still would not support any military action against Germnay.

The first declaration of war was made by Austria-Hungary on Serbia on July 28,1914, this was followed by Germany declaring war on Russia on August 1st, 1914, then on France two days later. Britain then declared war on Germany on August 4th, 1914, followed by Austria declaring war on Russia, Japan joined later in August of 1914. The US wouldnt join until April 6th, 1917

June 7th - U.S. forces arrive in England

However, the American Expedianary Force did not participate at the front until October 23, 1917, when the 1st Division fired the first American shell of the war toward German lines, although they participated only on a small scale.

June 24 - The first American division to arrive in France, entered the trenches near Nancy, France, in Lorraine. Only 14,000 American soldiers had arrived in France, and the A. E. F. had only a minor participation at the front up, but by May 1918 over one million American troops were stationed in France.

Timeline

Feb. 3, 1917

June 28, 1914

Sept. 26, 1918

11, 11, 11

The Armistice,

The armistice was an agreement to end all fighting and hostilities, this occurred on November 11th during the eleventh hour, this has now become to be known as the holiday 11/11/11 or Armistice Day.

This drew an end to the bloodiest war fought in the history of the world and, at the time, seemed like the last time the world would go to war in such a way; unfortunately, the "peace" negotiations made by the allied European powers would lead to a war even more terrible than anyone had previously thought possible.

The spark that started the bloodiest war the world had ever seen was the assassination of the Archduke of Austria Hungary by Serbian Nationalists in Bosnia.

The motivation for the assassination was to signal to other surrounding Slavic countries that they should unite to form a Slavic State based upon their principles and beliefs.

August 2-7 1914,

Invasions begin and alliances are solidified

Final Offensive of the war

The Meuse-Argonne Offensive was one of the final campaigns of World War I (1914-1918) and was fought between September 26 and November 11, 1918. The Meuse-Argonne was the largest American operation of the war and involved 1.2 million men. The offensive saw attacks through the difficult terrain between the Argonne Forest and the Meuse River. While the First US Army made early gains, the operation soon devolved into a bloody battle of attrition. Lasting until the end of the war, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive was the deadliest battle in American history with over 26,000 killed.

The United States severs diplomatic ties with Germany

This took the United States a step closer toward entering World War I. Wilson choose to act after Germany declared they would resume unlimited submarine warfare.The president announced his decision in a two-hour speech to a joint session of Congress. While Wilson maintained that “we do not desire any hostile conflict with the German government,” he nevertheless asserted that if Germany followed through on its threat to sink American ships without warning it would find itself at war with the United States.

The United Kingdom declared war upon Germany occurred on 4 August 1914. The declaration was a result of German refusal to remove troops from neutral Belgium.

United States economy begins producing war machines. The US still remains neutral.

American companies ship food, raw materials and munitions to both the Allies and Central Powers, although trade between the Central Powers and the United States was limited due to Britain’s naval blockade of Germany. U.S. banks also provided loans, the bulk of which went to the Allies.