World War 1

World War I

After the Archduke Francis Ferdinand of the Austria-Hungarian throne and his wife were assassinated, on June 28, 1914, Austria pulled in Germany for help and declared war on Serbia. Since Austria was getting help from Germany, Serbia pulled in Russia for help, and then Russia got France to join Serbia's side as well. This was a problem for Germany because they had to fight a two-sided front, since France was located on their western boundary, and Russia located in the east of the Germans. So, Germany's strategy was to knock out France fast, then attack Russia. But, the boarder of Germany and France was forested, therefore, hard to pass through. That did not stop Germany invading France. Germany, first, invaded neutral Belgium to pass through to attack France on August 4, 1914. This was a much easier route for Germany to get to France. There was a problem with this plan. Belgium's neutrality was guaranteed by Britain. When Great Britain found out about Germany's invasion on a neutral country, they were not very happy. So, on August 4, 1914, Britain declared war on Germany. Great Britain became a part of the Allies, and, on August 23, 1914, Japan joined the war with Great Britain and became allied as well.

On the Eastern Front, Germany was fighting against Russia, and Germany was winning. From 1914 to 1916, around two million Russians died and around four to six million Russians were wounded. Russia was not ready for war because they did not have that many guns. This was not the only brutle battle in the long war. In the Battle of Verdun, from 1916 to 1917, 700,000 soldiers from both sides were killed all together. In the Battle of Somme, on the first day of battle, in November of 1916, 19,240 British soldiers were killed. This long war ended up losing so many lives of inosent people and soldiers.

As the war progressed, the Triple Entente, Great Britain, France, and Russia, became the Allies after Japan joined them. The Triple Alliance included Germany, Austria and Italy. Italy did not decide to fight though, so they switched over to the Allies after being promised land in Austria. Being out-numbered, the Alliance turned its name in the Central Power in October of 1914 after the Ottoman Empire joined the side of Germany and Austria. Ottoman Empire joined because they had a feud with Russia. In September of 1915, Bulgaria joined the Central Power because they had a conflict with Serbia.

The United States had tension with Germany was because German submarines were attacking U.S. Civilian ships without any warning, which was Unrestricted Submarine Warfare. On May of 1915, Germans sunk the British Lusitania, a civilian passenger ship, while killing 139 Americans who were on board. The Germans claimed there were weapons on board. Since this was happening, trade was being threatened between the United States and Great Britain. So, the U.S. was triggered to