The event that sparked the beginning of World War I for Europe was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife of Austria- Hungary by a radical militant Bosnian Serb named Garvrilo Princip. This event took place while the Archduke was visiting the town of Sarajevo, located in Serbia. This incident sparked already buidling tensions between the two countries, and Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia July 8 th, 1914, blaming them for the incident and for not meeting demands that Austria-Hungary government officials had proposed to the Serbian government.

 The countries involved in this dispute were involved indirectly because there were existing treaties between the countries to help if they were threatened with war.  Because of this fact, when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia promised to come to the aid of Serbia because of religious, and political ties.  Austria-Hungary, after realizing that Russia had joined the conflict contacted the Emperor of Germany who had agreed to help them in the event of a war.  The major participants of the Allies included the British Empire, French, and Russian. The U.S. didn’t join the Allies until  The major participants of the Central Powers included the German Empire, the Austro- Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria

 Prior to the United State’s involvement in World War I, President Woodrow Wilson declared the U.S. neutral in the war.  However, the United States was one of the major suppliers to Allied Powers during the beginning of the war.  This fact led to the sinking of the Lusitania, a British liner with 128 Americans on board.  A German U-boat fired on the Lusitania because it was believed to have been transporting munitions to the Allied powers under the impression as a passenger ship.  After this incident President Wilson warned Germany of unrestricted submarine warfare targeting passenger ships  Germany agreed to Wilson’s warning and ceased for a short time

 The public opinion of the American public was divided  Until early 1917 the major opinion of the public was to stay out of the war  The general public which included different religions throughout the country, and leaders of the women’s movement’s, among others did not support the idea of the United States becoming involved in the war in Europe. They were for peaceful resolutions in order to end the war.  However, public opinion changed with continued German attacks on ships carrying U.S. civilians  Because of this the United States began to prepare for the possibility of war.

 In 1917 the British intercepted a telegram sent by the Germans to Mexico  The “Zimmerman Telegram,” informed Mexico of Germany’s intention to make an alliance between the two  The telegram stated that if Mexico would help Germany in attacking the U.S. that they would send money to Mexico and reclaim the lost territories like Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona that were lost during the Mexican-American War

 The British sent the intercepted telegram to Washington and the telegram was released to the public  The telegram was seen by itself a cause for war  President Wilson went to Congress asking for a declaration of war on Germany and on April 6, 1917 Congress voted and a declaration of war was made.

 The Food Administration launches campaigns to teach Americans to grow Victory Gardens and manage the nation’ food distribution and prices in order to prepare for war  Propaganda also began to rise during this point, in where different groups over the country gave pro-war speeches, and printed various newsreels, photos, and posters designed to persuade Americans to be pro-war in various ways.

 Although the U.S. entered the war at the end, the contributions made had a major effect on the outcome of the war.  After the Selective Service Act, the U.S. military increased to around 2.8 million.  Because of this the U.S. sent around 10,000 troops a day to France in order to relieve our allies.  This increase of manpower overwhelmed the Germans, who were unable to replace their own losses as fast as the Allies were.  The United States also contributed by the Navy sending battleships and submarines to different allies

 Towards the end of the war the Central Powers collapsed quickly  The first to sign an armistice was Bulgaria on September 29, 1918  Other Central Powers such as the Ottoman Empire, and Austria-Hungary signed armistices as well  The final armistice signed was with Germany who signed on November 11, 1918 in which a ceasefire was made.

 The signing of the Treaty of Versailles with Germany on June 28, 1919, which was a peace treaty that ended war between Germany and Allied powers.  The treaty had conditions where it required Germany to accept responsibility for causing the war along with Austria-Hungary, downsize its military, make substantial territorial concessions, pay heavy reparations to certain countries, and dividing up of different territories in Germany

 World War I was the first war of its kind in terms of advancements in military technology contributing to the largest deaths and injuries experienced by both sides as seen in the chart in the previous slide  Advancements in technology included:  Chemical Warfare (Mustard, and Chlorine gas)  Machine guns  Trench Warfare  Tanks  Airplanes

 Although the use of chemical warfare was new, and devestating, it was however ineffective over time because of the invention of gasmasks.  Machine guns were a major advancement in WWI  Trenches warfare was a big development as well in World War I. The trenches were long connected ditches built by soldiers to take cover from enemy fire  Trench Warfare consisted of machine guns, and gas would be utilized with trenches to create what’s called, “No Man’s Land,” in which enemy soldiers would get cut down by machine gun fire trying to reach the other enemy’s trenches

 Tanks made their first appearance in WWI but were later found ineffective due to slow speed, low firepower, etc.  Planes also began to be utilized but were however ahead of their time and faded out of the war

 n_World_War_I n_World_War_I  med_forces_mobilized_and_casualties_in_Wor ld_War_I med_forces_mobilized_and_casualties_in_Wor ld_War_I  (Casualties Chart)