Causes
What started World War I was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, on June 28, 1914 by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian terrorist. Austria-Hungary then delivered an ultimatum (a proposal or statement of conditions) to Serbia. When Serbia only accepted 8 of the 10 conditions, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. This was the beginning of the war.
Artifacts
This is the pistol that Gavrilo Princip used to kill Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife while they were driving in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Princip assassinated the archduke as a protest against the annexation of Bosnia by Austria-Hungary.
This is a model of the bomb that Cabrinovic, another Serbian terrorist, threw at the archduke's car. It bounced off and blew up the car behind it. Princip thought the assassination failed, so he left. It was decided to change the route for the rest of the day, but nobody told the driver, so he took the original route. When he was notified, he stopped right in front of where Princip was standing and was about start backing up when Princip shot the archduke and his wife.
This is the Triple Alliance, a treaty made between Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary in 1882 that made them all allies. This made the war a world war because since one of the countries was fighting, the others in the alliance fought , too.
This is an entente cordiale, an informal treaty made between France and Britain that made them allies in 1904(Russia joined in 1907), creating the Triple Entente.
This is a British recruiting poster. It caused men to enroll in the army to fight in World War I, which caused more war.
This is another British recruiting poster. It caused more men to enroll in the army because of nationalism, which caused more war.
This is the Lusitania, a British ship that was sunk by a German submarine in 1915 without warning. 128 Americans were killed. This is one of the reasons the United States entered the war in 1917.
This is the USS Housatonic. It was also sunk by the Germans in 1917 without warning. This is another reason the United States entered the war.
This is the Zimmermann Telegram. The German secretary of state for foreign affairs sent it to the German Minister of Mexico in 1917. The telegram proposed a Mexican-German alliance if the United States entered the war in return for the states of Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. This is another reason the United States entered the war.
This is the decoded copy of the Zimmermann Telegram.