The German government was asking Mexico to join the war. TIM: In February of nineteen-seventeen, the Zimmerman Telegram was discovered. TIM: On May seventh, nineteen-fifteen, a German submarine sank a British ocean liner called the Lusitania, and one-hundred-twenty-eight American civilians died.Īn animation shows the ship, the Lusitania, sinking in the ocean, and a submarine's periscope sticking above the water. But two major events forced him to enter the war. Along with many Americans, he saw this as a European conflict, and wanted nothing to do with it. TIM: Woodrow Wilson, the American president, tried to keep the U.S. Some three-hundred-thousand soldiers died, and about a million more were injured, and the Allies gained less than ten kilometers of land!Ī political map shows the location in northern France of the Battle of the Somme. TIM: The Battle of the Somme, in nineteen-sixteen, lasted for months. Battles raged on without either side gaining an inch.Īn image shows soldiers crouching in trenches, their rifles aimed at the enemy. TIM: Up-close fighting in trenches, called trench warfare, was a big part of World War One. The countries of Belgium and France are shown in close-up. The political map shows the countries in the Allied Powers and the Central Powers, as Tim names them. Most of the fighting took place in Belgium and France, with the German Army doing most of the work for the Central Powers.

On the other side, the Central Powers were Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. On one side, the Allied Powers included Serbia, France, Belgium, Russia, and Great Britain. Europe had so many alliances going on that what began as a conflict between two countries became a huge war between many. TIM: An alliance is an agreement between two or more countries to help each other out. The political map shows Europe with Russia highlighted. Russia had an alliance with Serbia, so it joined the war. TIM: When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, all the other countries started choosing sides. It was really just a matter of time before war broke out.Īn animation shows a pulsating political map of Western Europe that blows up. Different countries were competing for land and power. Before World War One, there was a lot of tension brewing in Europe. The nations of Austria-Hungary and Serbia are highlighted. A month after the assassination, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.Ī political map shows the nations of Central Europe as they existed in nineteen-fourteen. TIM: Ferdinand was in line to be king of Austria-Hungary, a powerful empire in the center of Europe. TIM: Well, it all started on June twenty-eighth, nineteen-fourteen, when a Serbian man assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Images show an airplane, a submarine, a machine gun, a tank, and a dark cloud of poisonous gas. Nine million soldiers died, and twenty-three million more were wounded. This new technology made for a lot of casualties. A lot of new military technology like airplanes, submarines, machine guns, heavy artillery, and even poison gas were used during World War One.

People called it the Great War because World War One was bigger than any war that came before it. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, Why was World War One called the Great War? From, Abby. TIM: I, uh, I don't know who he was named after. He was a medic in World War One.Īn image shows a picture of a World War One soldier. Tim is looking at a photo album he found in a box labeled 'U.S. Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and MobyĪ boy, Tim, and a robot, Moby are rummaging through a garage.

Are tim and moby brothers