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The Balkan Wars lasted from 1912 to 1913 in Balkan Peninsula, one year before the Great War. The nationalist states of Europe in the southeast wanted to claim more territory and resorted to declaring war on the Ottoman Empire. The second war was an attack on Bulgaria by rival countries and resulted in Bulgaria losing parts of its territory. These events brewed the beginning of WWI. This explains the hatred Archduke Franz Ferdinand had for Serbians. (Richard C Hall, 2014) -
Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were riding in a carriage to the Bosnian Capital. Then all of a sudden, a boy came up to the carriage and shot Ferdinand and his wife with a pistol killing them both. This event was the leading cause that started WWI. It was believed that the boy was a Serbian teenager. Ferdinand called Serbians "pigs", "thieves", "murderers" and so on. Being deeply offended, the boy killed Ferdinand (Jesse Greenspan, 2014). -
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand caused a war in Europe to come underway. Ferdinand's death marked the beginning of the Great War. The first country to make the first hit was Austria who declared war on Serbia. Countries made alliances and rivalries with other countries. Mainly the two allies, The Central Powers and the Allied Powers (Willy Stower, 2009). -
A plan was made to kick Ottoman Turkey out of the Great War. British ships were sent out by Winston Churchill to attack the Dardanelles. Allied ships arrived at Gallipoli on the land of Peninsula and Turkish soldiers took their positions. Due to a huge loss of casualties, the battle was cut off. The campaign resulted in failure since problems occurred. Ships couldn't get through the straits of Dardanelles and the conditions were harsh (history.com editors, 2009). -
The Lusitania was a British ship that launched in 1906. On one of its voyages, the ship was attacked. A German U-boat submarine launched torpedoes onto the ship. This caused the ship to sink and took hundreds of lives. They did this to sabotage the British income of military defenses such as the ship itself. The ship was transformed and used as a military vessel but still remained a ship for passengers (Annette McDermott, 2018). -
In the country of Verdun, war between the French and the Germans was taking place. The land had great value for both sides as it was the perfect spot to gain territory on the Western Front. The Germans planned on trapping the French with a surprise attack but weather conditions held them back. After many advancements and troubles, they managed to get into positions. The battle resulted in thousands upon thousands of casualties for both sides (Evan Andrews, 2016). -
British code breakers intercepted an anonymous encrypted message by someone. The message was sent by Arthur Zimmerman, a German foreign secretary. He intended on giving the message out to another German secretary in Mexico but the code breakers got to it first. The letter was a secret set of instructions saying that if America decides to join the war, he will offer Mexico's president to form an alliance. The code breakers handed the letter to the United States afterward. (Evan Andrews, 2014). -
During the war, countries in Europe were struggling against the fight against Germany. The U.S. decided to step in to aid them in their battle. The U.S. became one of their main suppliers for the war. Resources and troops were shipped to Europe to help. For the most part, the U.S. was on the sidelines during the war but decided to take part (David Longenbach, 2017). -
This was an uprising of Russia's people against their former leader. The revolution started as they had a corrupt Imperial Government, low-wage workers were treated unfairly, and many promises for the people were broken. This made the people furious and so they demanded a change. Many tragedies occurred during the revolution. This ruined the self-image of the Imperial government further. In the end, they overthrew the government and replaced them with the Bolsheviks (Isaak Brodsky, 2009). -
A treaty named "Treaty of Brest-Litovsk" was signed between Russia and the Central Powers in 1918. Russia decided to not partake in WWI any longer. They did this as the country was struggling. Resources and troops were low from the fight against Germany and the aftermath of Russia's decline from Tsar II's rule has affected the people. And so they began to rebuild their country (history.com editors, 2009). -
Chateau-Thierry, a town in the east of Paris, has been used as a trench battlegrounds. The U.S. Army and Marine Corps arrived to the town to defend off the Germans. The Germans wanted to take advantage of the capabilities of the American forces. Both forces clashed with the Germans eventually retreating due to a major loss in casualties. The U.S forces managed to save the French army during the battle with their artillery (Herald Bulletin and Melody Hull, 2018). -
Meuse-Argonne, an area in the Western Front, was used as a battleground during the final moments of WWI. The allies took there positions strategically to gain the upper hand against the Germans. The Americans however, went to the west through the Argonne Forest which was hard to traverse through. Once they were ready in there offensive positions, they attacked to advance further into the Germans territory. They managed to ambush the Germans and caused them to retreat. (Michael Neiberg, 2012). -
During this time, Germany and the Allies agreed upon a truce most notably known as an Armistice. The war on the Western Front between France, Belgium, and Alsace had finally stopped. This was revolutionary for the world as the war lasted more than four years. Not only did Germany and the Allies have an Armistice but several other countries did as well. The war was finally coming to a close and the world celebrated (Patrick J Kiger, 2018) -
Inside the Palace of Versailles in France, the Treaty of Versailles was signed. It was signed off by the allied powers of different countries, most importantly, America, France, and the United Kingdom. This was an agreement on keeping peace between Germany and the Allies. This put the blame on Germany for starting the war (war guilt). In return, Germany had to pay the cost of damages to the Allies (Helen Johns Kirtland and Lucian Swift Kirtland, 2022) -
The League of Nations was founded in 1919. An outbreak in 1914 influenced the creation of the organization. Representatives of 41 states all gathered in Geneva for the first ever meeting of the League of Nations. There goal was to bring peace amongst the nations. They ignored the allegations of the major powers (History.com Editors, 2010).