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barbed wire invented in the 1870s, gave defenders a major advantage in the trenches -
Germany did not become a unified nation until 1871, which finished a distant third to Great Britain and France in the scramble for colonies. This outcome did not sit well with ambitious German leaders. -
"The United States annexed Hawaii and seized the Philippines from Spain in the 1890s, American attention focused on U.S. business investments in Latin America."
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“To stand dreamily to one side while other people split up the pie, we cannot and we will not do that,” proclaimed German foreign secretary Bernhard von Bulow in 1899. “If the English speak of a ‘Greater Britain;’ if the French speak of a ‘Nouvelle [New] France;’ if the Russians open up Asia; then we, too, have the right to a greater Germany.” -
In the early 1900s, Russia seized Chinese Manchuria and established a protectorate over Mongolia, which had declared independence from China.
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Russia’s Trans-Siberian Railroad was completed in 1904. It was the first to link Europe and Asia. It also fueled Russian dreams for expanding trade, landholding, and influence in East Asia. -
In 1904 Russia and Japan went to war over Manchuria and Korea which were areas of rivalry between the two nations.
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In 1904, the United States announced that it would take charge in any Latin American nation that could not properly manage its affairs.
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"The war went badly for Russia and ended in 1905 when the United States, with German and British support, forced a settlement. Manchuria was returned to China, and Russia agreed to respect Japan’s control over Korea."
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Japanese became a colony in 1910.
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The war, which began in August 1914 and ended in 1918, was an international conflict that almost every nation in Europe took part in. Nearly 8.5 million soldiers and 13 million civilians died in the war.
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The resources were severely strained for nations on both sides, due to the unexpected long war in 1914.
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Hoping to gain Germany’s colonies in Asia, Japan declared war on Germany
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Italy, which remained neutral when war broke out, joined the Allies in 1915.
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"In South Africa, a rebellion by South African officers who fought against the British and were pro-German stalled the fighting there. The rebellion ended in February 1916."
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A battle in 1917, where the French army lost 130,000 men in 10 days, ended when troops refused to make yet another attack.
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The first planes were used to spy on the enemy. By 1917, planes were directing artillery fire and dropping bombs on military and civilian targets.
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In 1917, a huge number of lives and resources were lost which caused the Russian government to collapse. Months of unrest followed until, in December, a new government signed a peace agreement with the Central Powers and pulled Russia out of the war.
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The British captured Jerusalem in December 1917
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Russia’s withdrawal from the war at the end of 1917 had allowed Germany to move troops from the Eastern to the Western Front.
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In German East Africa, 12,000 African soldiers defended against 130,000 Allied troops for three years until they were finally forced to surrender in November 1918.
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At exactly 11:00 a.m. on November 11, the “war to end all wars” had finally ended
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an international conference that began in Paris, France, in January 1919, it was to set the terms of the peace. There were Twenty-seven nations that were represented.
