The First World War, or World War I, was a great armed struggle of planetary proportion. It began in Europe and spread into other continents, where their natives were used as cannon fodder by the European powers as they fought for their colonial possessions. It was fought between the Triple Entente's nations (France, United Kingdom, Russia, plus the USA) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungarian Empire, Turkey). Contrary to what would happen in WW2, Italy and Japan joined France and Great Britain to fight against the Central Empires in the Great War, as it was also known.
This armed conflict brought huge consequences as it precipitated great political and social upheavals, marking the end of the German Empire, ushering in the Weimar Republic, and contributing to the Russian Revolution in 1917. Also, the end of the Great War was a historical paradox, because the way peace was reestablished in Europe sowed the seeds of WW2. And the way WW1 was put to an end was through the Treaty of Versailles, which represented a huge territorial loss for Germany and an economic catastrophe, deeply sowing the seeds of resentment in the hearts of the German population. The reason for this is that this infamous 'peace' treaty was forged with the hammer of cultural prejudices and hatred, as the Germans were always regarded as the 'Huns' or the 'barbarians' by the British and French.
Characteristics
This armed conflict was characterized by the massive use of machine guns, hand grenades, and mortars, which gave the infantry devastating fire power. These new weapons, along with the introduction of modern artillery pieces fitted with the new hydrau-pneumatic recoil system, wiped the cavalry out of the battlefield and stopped the infantry offensive in their tracks, turning the dynamics of the war into a static armed struggle. To protect the infantrymen from the lethal fire power of the machine guns and cannons, the commanders had their men dig deep trenches that ran for hundreds of miles. Thus, the war turned into a stalemate, where offensives were futile, with no substantial territorial gains, as the battlefield became a meat grinder and a no-man's land bristling with barbed wire.
Causes
The spark that triggered WW1 was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist, on June 28, 1914. This political assassination is often referred to as the 'spark' because it set in motion a complex system of political and military alliances, making the conflict ignite and spread like gunpowder throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia. Therefore, the second cause of WW1 was this system of alliances, with the Triple Entente (Great Britain, France, Russia) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austro-Hungary, and Turkey) being the main ones. The third cause was the great geopolitical and economic rivalry and cultural prejudices between the United Kingdom and Germany; this rivalry grew in the 2nd half of the 19th century, during the Second Industrial Revolution, when the German Empire began establishing colonies in Africa; a continent where Great Britain had already founded colonies to exploit their natural resources.
Summary
Three weeks after Gavrilo Princip assassinated Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, the Austrian government sent an Ultimatum to Serbia, on July 23, 1914, since they thought Serbian government's officials were involved in the assassination. As the Serbians did not accept their demands, Austro-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28. Because Russia was bound by an alliance with Serbia, she in turn declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As a result, Germany declared war on Russia on August 1. Germany's declaration of war on the Czar's government brought Great Britain and France into the maw of this planetary confrontation.
Western Front
On August 12, the Austro-Hungarian forces invaded Serbia, and then they marched into Russia the following week. However, Germany did not attack eastward right away, not accompanying the Austrian Army, for the German chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann, decided to literally implement the Schlieffen Plan. As a result, the German Army divisions, led by Helmuth von Moltke, attacked westwards first to defeat the French and be able to concentrate on the Eastern Front later. Thus, sweeping across Belgium, the Germans defeated the Belgian Army at the Battle of Liege and destroyed their fortresses before making their way into France.
The Imperial German Army was victorious against the French forces at the Battle of the Frontiers in Lorraine and the Ardennes, in late August 1914. However, as the German 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Army advanced towards Paris, they were stopped in their tracks by the French and British forces at the First Battle of the Marne on September 12. But this Anglo-French counteroffensive was short-lived as the Germans dug in to hold onto their conquered ground. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Army also began digging trenches to stubbornly hang onto their positions. This is how a long war of attrition ensued as both sides would launch futile attacks and counterattacks across no-man's land, all along the Western Front, giving way to vicious battles where millions of soldiers would die.
The longest military engagement of the war was the Battle of Verdun, which was a powerful German offensive, under Erich von Falkenhayn, against the French forts at Verdun, on February 21, 1916. In order to relieve the French forces under attack at this point, the British decided to launch a large offensive against the German positions on the Somme River on July 1; this caused the second biggest military encounter of the Great War, which was the Battle of the Somme, ending on November 18, 1916. There was no clear victor as both sides lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers killed in the battlefield of Verdun and the Somme.
The stalemate of trench warfare between the Anglo-French forces and the Central Powers armies continued on the Western Front throughout 1917, with the Battle of Arras, the Battle of Cambrai, and the Second Battle of the Aisne being the main military encounters of that year. However, in March 1918, the Germans would launch a powerful attack on the Anglo-French positions to put an end to the stalemate as the imperial armies had been reinforced by German troops from the Eastern Front. The German reinforcement was possible because the new government of Russia had just signed a cease fire agreement due to the 1917 Revolution. This German assault was called the Spring Offensive and it was led by Erich Ludendorff.
Although the Germans conquered a big chunk of French territory, the Spring Offensive ground to a halt as the French Army and the BEF managed to stop them at the Second Battle of the Marne in early August, 1918. Immediately, on August 8, the Anglo-French armies would launch a final counteroffensive, under the command of Ferndinand Foch and Douglas Haig. Using large numbers of French Renault FT-17 and British Mark VI tanks, the French, British, and American armies managed to open breaches in the German lines and advanced hundreds of kilometers, breaking the stalemate of the war, and forcing the Germans to sign the Armistice on November 11, 1918, which put an end to this armed conflict.
Southern Front
This war front was viciously disputed between the Austro-Hungarian forces and the Italian Army. At first, reinforced by German troops, the Austrians gained the upper hand, defeating the Italians, under Luigi Cadorna, at the Battle of Caporetto. However, Cadorna was replaced by General Armando Diaz, who led the Italian forces to victory at the Battle of the Piave River and the famous Battle of Vittorio Benetto on November 3, 1918, ending the war on this Front.
Eastern Front
Although the Russian Army had invaded Prussia, the Germans, under the command of Paul von Hindenburg, defeated the Russians at the Battle of Tannenberg and the Massurians Lakes in 1914. Meanwhile, the Germans and Austrians had a hard time driving the Russians forces out of Poland.
Meanwhile, the British attempt at dealing a blow to the Ottoman Empire ended up in a great fiasco. Effectively, the Australian and New Zealander forces were thoroughly defeated by the Turkish at the Battle of Gallipoli, on the Gallipoli peninsula, Anatolia, Turkey. This military encounter took place between April 25, 1915, and January 9, 1916.
Below, map of Europe at the start of WW1. Those in green are neutral countries.
American Expeditionary Force troops in 1917 right before the Battle of Cantigny.
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