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The Death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Wife Sophie
The last day of Franz Ferdinand and wife Sophie was spent in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. They were in a street where they were gunned down by a 19 year old named Gavrilo Princip of Serbia. As a result, the Austrians "punished" Serbia by presented them with rules and demands to make up for the killing. Serbia agreed to most of the demands but Austria was already plotting for war and in late July, declared war on Serbia. -
The Sides are Set
By the middle of August, Europe was set into two differetn sides, Centeral Powers and the Allies. The Central Powers were mainly Germany and Austria-Hungary. They were later joined by Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. On the other hand, the Allies were built mainly of Great Britian, France, and Russia, and were later joined by Italy. -
The Schlieffen Plan
In the fall of 1914, the German General Alfred Graf von Schlieffen came up with a plan to defeat Russia and France. His plan was to attack and defeat France and then run east to fight Russia. In this battle plan, speed was very important to be able to overtake the Russians. Fortunately, Russia's wasn't very involved in the railroad and was slow compared to the rest of Europe. -
The Battle of the Marne
The Battle of Marne was supposed to be a major defeat of the allies for Germany. But, because the allies reacted fast, they were able to attack the Germans in the valley of the Marne River. The allies drafted as many soldiers as they could get into this war to defeat the Germans. A few days later, the Germans retreated, weary of fighting. This victory for the allies proved the Schlieffen Plan a failure. -
The Gallipoli Campaign
As the war continued, the Allies came up with a plan to take over Constantinople. Their dreams for the Dardanelles was to get control over Constantinople, defeat the Turks, and establish a supply line to Russia. This plan was called the Gallipoli Campaign. -
The Terrain of Death
The Terrain of Death is described as a "living hell". Countries were constantly trying to come up with new ways to improve their army and win quickly but even technologys like poison gas, larger artillery, armored tanks, and machine guns did not help improve the situation. German tried to end it by attacking the French, but, it actually caused both sides to lose more than 300,000 men. Another attack was launched this time from the British to Germans. Both sides lost large amounts of soldiers. -
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
In 1917, because most of the fighting continued on the sea, the German navy wanted to make the submarine warfare even stronger. They decided that they were going to sink every ship in the Alantic Ocean. They called this unrestricted submarine warfare. Although this plan had been used before, Germany's goal was to starve Britian before the U.S. could come help. Once Arthur Zimmermann's letter reached officials hands, the U.S became enraged and together with the Allies, started the World War 1. -
The Effect on the World
Once the war began, many countries gave their resources to their sides of the fighting. This meant that the world was now in a total war. Austria, Russia, Britian, Germany, and France together turned all their power to winning. This caused many civilizians to begin to work and factories to be converted to munition factories. All of this eventually caused use of rationing and propaganda in many countries. Because of the total war effect, many women began working, changing the view of themselves. -
A Plan for Peace
While the war was still going on, President Woodrow Wilson came up with a plan to keep international peace. This proposal was known as the Fourteen Points. Four of the points included the end to secret treaties, freedom of the seas, free trade, and reduced armies and navies. Also, he wanted to adjust the colonial claims with fairness to the people. Seven of the points were about changing borders and creating new nations. The last point was to protect small and large states equally. -
The Treaty of Peace
On June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versallies was signed by Germany and the Allies. Using Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, a League of Nations was built within the treaty. Although the League was meant to keep international peace, Germany was blamed in the treaty. Germany lost a large amount of land and it's military became restricted. Along with these, came Article 231, placing the responsibility of the war on Germany. Also, Germany had to pay the Allies and lost all of its territories in Africa.
