World War I was an international military conflict that took place between 1914 and ended in 1918 between the Allies (Russia, France, British Empire, Italy, United States, Japan, Romania, Serbia, Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Montenegro) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, Bulgaria). The United States did not enter the conflict until April 1917. American troops first saw combat in October 1917.
Although the cause is often thought to be the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo by a Serbian nationalist on June 28, 1914, that event was merely the spark which ignited a conflict which had been building for decades. The reason that World War I (also called The Great War) drew in so many countries was the number of existing treaties and military alliances which had been formed since the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-1871. Historians still debate whether other causes were empire building, an arms race, or the Industrial Revolution and its associated social pressures.
In any case, within a month of the assassination, a general war existed between the major European powers. Although the heads of state had originally anticipated a short war to be over by Christmas 1914, the conflict lasted until the official Armistice ended it on November 11, 1918. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles imposed disarmament, required reparations, and altered territorial boundaries between France and Germany which were to be a contributing factor leading to the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany and ultimately to World War II.
The war caused the dissolution of the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Ottoman Empires, creating a number of new states in Eastern and Central Europe. The horrific nature of the war motivated U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to propose the founding of the League of Nations at the Paris Peace Conference of 1918.
Web Sites
- National Archives: Military Resources World War I
- American Battle Monuments Commission
- Ed Tech Teacher – Best of History
- Teacher Oz: World War I
Catalog
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World War I,
World War, 1914-1918 - Causes,
World War, 1914-1918 - Children's Material,
World War, 1914-1918 - Peace,
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924
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