Today in History

Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and his wife...

Sofia were assassinated in Sarajevo by a Bosnian Serb on June 28, 1914 setting off a chain of events that would culminate in a world war by August. Five years later, on June 28, 1919, Germany and the Allies signed the Treaty of Versailles, formally ending the war and providing for the creation of the League of Nations. After the 1914 assassinations, an elaborate network of treaties among the nations of Europe led to a rapid escalation in the "Great War" between the Central Powers, including Germany, the Austro-Hungarian and the Ottoman Empires, and the Allied nations of Britain, France, Italy, and Russia. On April 6, 1917, the United States entered the war.

In this selection from an American Life Histories, 1936-1940 interview, a veteran recalls his experiences in the First World War:

I spent some time in Paris. Stayed at the Hotel Continental there. I remember the Crystal Palace . . . the soldiers and girls promenaded on the make for each other. It was a great war--but not for the poor guys up front in the mud and blood.

"No Bombs Dropping,"
Montpelier, Vermont,
Roaldus Richmond, interviewer,
circa 1936-1940.
American Life Histories, 1936-1940

Germany eventually sought an armistice which went into effect in November 1918. The peace agreement was to be structured around the Fourteen Points of reconciliation developed by President Woodrow Wilson.

The Fourteen Points, which included a provision for the formation of the League of Nations, were meant to prevent "the crime of war," but the actual terms of the Treaty were harshly punitive. Secret arrangements for the distribution of German territories among the allied nations violated the principle of open diplomacy proposed by Woodrow Wilson, contributing, in the view of many historians, to the chain of events that led to World War II.

In a speech just after the First World War, Senator Gilbert M. Hitchcock spoke of the need for international cooperation to forestall another massive war in Europe:

The late war cost seven million lives . . . It has destroyed hundreds of towns . . . it has brought in its train . . . pestilence and famine. Massacre, torture, and assassinations have accompanied it . . .The confidence of men in government has been shaken. It will never be restored until governments devise some way to end war. The League of Nations is that way.

Senator Gilbert M. Hitchcock,
"The Trouble with Senators Who Oppose the League of Nations,"
circa 1918-1920.
American Leaders Speak, 1918-1920

The U.S. Congress refused, however, to ratify a treaty that included a provision for membership in the League. Opponents to membership feared an international organization which would have the power to impose sanctions on its members in the interest of collective security. Presented with a watered-down version which attempted to separate the League from the treaty, Wilson refused to sign and convinced supporters to vote against the treaty's ratification. Thus, U.S. participation in the organization Wilson had worked so hard to create was nullified.