World War I: U.S.A road to war social studies lesson for kids

World War I: U.S.A road to war social studies lesson for kids -  social studies skills studied in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th grades.

The First World War started in 1914, and lasted through until 1918. It wasn’t until 1917 that America got involved.
The war involved all of the world’s major countries, and were split into two groups.
It was sparked by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. It was in April of 1914 that this happened in Sarajevo. The assassination had far-reaching consequences, and increased the tensions that were already present between several countries. They did not have much evidence, but that didn’t stop Austria-Hungary from blaming the Serbian government for the assassination of Ferdinand.
The choice Austria-Hungary made to punish this action was to declare war on Serbia, however, Russia was closely linked to Serbia. So, even though Russia didn’t have a well-trained or heavily armed military at the time, they had a large number of soldiers and Austria-Hungary knew they would come to the aid of Serbia during war. Germany agreed to aid Austria-Hungary’s military attempts if Russia did join Serbia in war. This is what is known as Germany’s blank check.
The first act of war took place on the 29th of July, and Russia mobilized troops on the 30th. Germany took this to mean that Russia would be joining the war, and also mobilized their troops.
It was at this point that Britain got involved, trying to end things diplomatically. This action failed, and Germany officially declared war on Russia on the 1st of August, and on France on the 3rd of August. Britain retaliated, by declaring war on Germany on the 4th of August. On the 10th of August, France declared war on Austria-Hungary.
So, in less than a month 6 countries become involved in World War I. It didn’t stay at 6, though, as in an act of solidary with Britain, Japan declared war on Germany on the 23rd of August.
The war raged on for years, taking place on land, in the air, and at sea. It was raged between two sides, the Allied forces and the Central powers. Continue reading below>>>

US Enters World War I
The US had remained uninvolved throughout the war, though they did offer material support to allied forces. Even when the German’s sank the Lusitania, a British ocean liner, which resulted in the death of 128 Americans- the US remained neutral.
It was at the start of 1917 that the US became involved, after Germany sank the US cargo ship, Housatonic. The US declared war on Germany on the 4th of April, 1917, and the 24th of May when the first troops were sent. The first US casualties came on the 4th of September.
By the time the US joined the allied forces, the German’s submarines were causing mayhem to food supplies and more. It was in December that President Woodrow Wilson announced his Fourteen Points, which would bring peace to Europe.
Germany and Austria were surrounded in October of 1918, and President Wilson took control of the peace talks. This led to an agreement for all troops to be withdrawn, bringing the war to an end. This was on the 11th of November, 1918. It was in June of 1919 Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles, which forced them to take total responsibility for the financial and diplomatic fallout of the war. Millions of lives were lost in the first World War.