What Was World War I?

World War I was an extremely bloody war that engulfed Europe from 1914 to 1919, with huge losses of life and little ground lost or won. Fought mostly by soldiers in trenches, World War I
saw an estimated 10 million military deaths and another 20 million wounded. While many
hoped that World War I would be "the war to end all wars," in actuality, the concluding peace treaty set the stage for World
War II.

Dates: 1914-1919

Also Known As: The Great War,
WWI, the First World War

The Start of World War I

The spark that started World War I was the assassination of Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie.
The assassination occurred on June 28, 1914 while Ferdinand
was visiting the city of Sarajevo in the Austro-Hungarian province
of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Although Archduke Franz
Ferdinand, the nephew of
Austria's emperor and heir- apparent to the throne, was not very well liked by most, his assassination by a Serb
nationalist was viewed as a great excuse to attack Austria- Hungary's troublesome neighbor, Serbia. However, instead of reacting quickly to the incident, Austria- Hungary made sure they had the
backing of Germany, with whom they had a treaty, before they proceeded. This gave Serbia time
to get the backing of Russia, with whom they had a treaty.
The calls for back-up didn't end there. Russia also had a treaty with France and Britain.
This meant that by the time Austria-Hungary officially declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914, an entire month after
the assassination, much of Europe had already become entangled in the dispute.
At the start of the war, these were the major players (more countries joined the war later):

Schlieffen Plan vs. Plan XVII
Germany didn't want to fight both Russia in the east and France in the west, so they enacted their long-standing
Schlieffen Plan. The Schlieffen Plan was created by Alfred Graf
von Schlieffen, who was the chief of the German general staff from 1891 to 1905.
Schlieffen believed that it would take about six weeks for Russia to mobilize their troops and
supplies. So, if Germany placed a nominal number of soldiers in the east, the majority of Germany's soldiers and supplies
could be used for a quick attack in the west.
Since Germany was facing this exact scenario of a two-front war at the beginning of World
War I, Germany decided to enact the Schlieffen Plan. While Russia
continued to mobilize, Germany decided to attack France by going through neutral Belgium.
Since Britain had a treaty withBelgium, the attack on Belgium officially brought Britain into the
war.
While Germany was enacting its Schlieffen Plan, the French enacted their own prepared plan,
called Plan XVII. This plan was created in 1913 and called for quick mobilization in response to a German attack through Belgium.
As German troops moved south into France, French and British troops tried to stop them. At the
end of the First Battle of the Marne, fought just north of Paris in September 1914, a stalemate was reached. The Germans, who
had lost the battle, had made a hasty retreat and then dug in.
The French, who couldn't
dislodge the Germans, then also dug in. Since neither side could
force the other to move, each side's trenches became increasingly elaborate. For the
next four years, the troops would fight from these trenches.
A War of Attrition
From 1914 to 1917, soldiers on each side of the line fought from
their trenches. They fired artillery onto the enemy's position and lobbed grenades. However, each
time military leaders ordered a full-fledged attack, the soldiers
were forced to leave the "safety" of their trenches.
The only way to overtake the other side's trench was for the soldiers to cross "No Man's
Land," the area between the trenches, on foot. Out in the open, thousands of soldiers raced across this barren land in the hopes of reaching the other
side. Often, most were hewn down by machine-gun fire and artillery before they even got
close.
Because of the nature of trench warfare, millions of young men were slaughtered in the battles
of World War I. The war quickly became one of attrition, which meant that with so many soldiers being killed daily, eventually the side with the most men would
win the war.
By 1917, the Allies were starting to run low on young men.

U.S. Enters the War and Russia Gets Out

The Allies needed help and they were hoping that the United States, with its vast resources of
men and materials, would join on their side. However, for years, the
U.S. had clung to their idea of isolationism. Plus, the U.S. just didn't want to be involved in a
war that seemed so far away and that didn't seem to affect them in
any great way.

However, there were two
major events that changed American
public opinion about the war.

The first occurred in 1915,
when a German U-boat (submarine) sunk the British ocean liner RMS
Lusitania. Considered by
Americans to be a neutral ship that carried mostly
passengers, Americans were furious when
the Germans sank it, especially since 159 of the passengers were Americans.

The second was the
Zimmermann Telegram. In early 1917, Germany sent Mexico a coded message promising
portions of U.S. land in return for Mexico joining World War I against the United States. The
message was intercepted by Britain, translated, and shown to the United States. This brought
the war to U.S. soil, giving the U.S. a real reason to enter the war on
the side of the Allies.
On April 6, 1917, the United States officially declared war on Germany.
As the United States was
entering World War I, Russia was getting ready to get out.

In 1917, Russia became swept up in an internal revolution that removed the czar from power.
The new communist
government, wanting to focus on internal troubles, sought a way to remove Russia from World War I. Negotiating separately
from the rest of the Allies,
Russia signed the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty with Germany on March
3, 1918.

With the war in the east
ended, Germany was able to divert those troops to the west in order to
face the new American
soldiers.

Armistice and the Versailles Treaty

The fighting in the west
continued for another year. Millions more soldiers died, while little land was gained.
However, the freshness of the American troops made a huge difference.
While the European troops were tired from years of war, the Americans remained
enthusiastic. Soon the
Germans were retreating and the Allies were advancing. The end of
the war was near.
At the end of 1918, an
armistice was finally agreed upon. The fighting was to end on the 11th
hour of 11th day of 11th
month (i.e. 11 am on Nov. 11, 1918).

For the next several months, diplomats argued and compromised together in order
to come up with the Versailles Treaty. The Versailles Treaty was
the peace treaty that ended World War I; however, a number
of its terms were so controversial that it also set the stage for World War II.

The carnage left behind by the end of World War I was staggering. By the end of the war, an estimated 10 million
soldiers were killed. That
averages to about 6,500
deaths a day, every day. Plus, millions of civilians were also killed.

World War I is especially
remembered for its slaughter for it was one
of the bloodiest wars in history.

Source: history1900s.about.com/od/worldwari/p/World-War-I.htm?utm_content=buffera6e6a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=cmsocialposting_aboutmain

OK

...........modified.........
thanks to the Lord for keeping awake and thanks to my pastor for telling me to pray in the midnight and to my one and only lepacious gf love ya pupo pupo.

last stone: always keep it 100

FTC

Okay
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change your phone and sim the same day a beg

...I'll check back later

Religion will be the cause of WW3

I usually tell myself , there is no amount too much to prosecute peace !!!

If not for silliness and greediness on the part of some folks , war should be avoidable @ all cost !!

The cost of peace far outweigh the benefits of war !

Nice 1 @ Op, its 1 of the stories I promise to tell my grand children.

Wow!!! 100 years already, and i rmber lyk it was yest'. My children gather around and lemme tell u d stories.....

Ok. Let's hope boko haram won't be celebrating for us.

I say to you today be ready the world is coming to an end

Many part of this isnt true however.

Thanks for sharing

and some people want nigeria to kick start worldwar 3 who so ever wants nigeria to go to war its ur papa and mama that will fight them selves and u will be the casualty of the war
pls who sagem or alcatel charger

War is never a good thing.

None of my business,
EBOLA IS MORE BETTER THAN EBELE.

NOTED!

And the world hasn't been safe we've had many wars since then. And more is coming. Man by nature is a brute.

.ok

Lovely piece! So educating.

Too bad we never learnt from our mistake.

WWIII doesn't seem very far-fetched as it is

I always wondered why WWII was called "II" since I didn't know there was a WWI. I thought WWII was called that because it was so big that it was like two wars, one in Europe and one in Asia.

So if WWI was in Europe, and WWII was in Europe and Asia, then WWIII must be in Africa!!!

The War that changed the world

History must be a very boring subject. Geeze I didn't understand anytin thr. Sha who cares

onitshaigbo: I always wondered why WWII was called "II" since I didn't know there was a WWI. I thought WWII was called that because it was so big that it was like two wars, one in Europe and one in Asia.

So if WWI was in Europe, and WWII was in Europe and Asia, then WWIII must be in Africa!!!

world war 1 & 2 were fought in Europe, Africa , Asia and the seas

Wisdomkosi: I say to you today be ready the world is coming to an end

OmGosh really? And keeps scrolling.

Missy89: Many part of this isnt true however.

Thanks for sharing

seems you are a historian,please share your own version of the war.