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Western Front
The Western Front was a main battleground for France and Britain against Germany. The main use of the Western Front was from the start of 1914 to the end of around 1917. On the Western Fron,t it was a very slow stalemate because the main movement was through trenches in order for Germany to encircle France. -
Eastern Front
The main battles on the eastern front were between Russia and Romania against Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria. On this front, there was much more movement with little to no trenches. The main thing that took place was the central powers walking up and through the beginning of Russia in the cold weather. -
The Central powers
The central powers were made up of the German Empire, Autrian-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria. Italy was also a part of the central powers for most of the war, but switched sides near the end. The start of the central powers was in 1879 when Germany and Austria-Hungary created the first alliance in this group. -
The assassination
One of the large reasons the war started was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Franz was assassinated because of a radical group of people who saw him as a threat to Serbian independence. His death caused one group to declare war on the next and getting more involved through treaties. -
War on Serbia
One month after the assassination the war is kicked off with Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia. Hungary declared the war because they felt the threat of Serbian nationalism to their own country. They were also encouraged by one of their only allies, Germany, to declare war. -
War on Russia
Germany jumped into the war declaring war on Russia as one of the first in the Great War. They were sided with the Austrian-Hungarian country against Serbia and Russia at this time. Russia was moving troops in order to help their allies Serbia and told to stop. When they didn't Germany declared war. -
Britain Joins War
Britain, an Allie of Russia was on the French about joining the war to support them to not. When Germany invaded Belgium on September 4th they saw this as enough of a reason to join the war. Britain was a powerful nation and would side with France and Russia. -
Schlieffen Plan
Germany was surrounded by France and Russia at the start of the war. Fearing that war with Russia meant war with France, Germany decided that they would make the first move. While Russia was getting troops ready to Germanys east, Germany was sending troops west to try and capture Paris, France. -
The Allied powers
The origin of the Allied powers was Britain, France, and Russia, known as the Triple Entente. Many other countries join the Allies later in the war like Italy and America. The Allies won the war in the end and set the punishments for the future. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
The Lusitania was a ship that was sailing from New York the England was hit and sunk by a German submarine. There were many casualties and many of the people that died were not a part of the war in any way including U.S. citizens. The Germans claimed that it had weapons going to their opposing side and so they were justified. This was a main reason for America to join the war. -
Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun was one of the longest and most deadly battles in the war. The battle went on from late February to mid-December. There were around 700,000 casualties trying to move up and claim the next wave of trenches. -
Battle of the Somme
The first day of the Battle of the Somme was the bloodiest battle in British history and had the most amount of causalities or deaths in one day. The total battle went on for over three months. This battle was between France and Britain against Germany. -
Zimmerman Telegram
The Zimmerman Telegram was a message from the Central Powers to Mexico asking for help. They said that they wanted Mexico to join the war against America and attack them. Germany claimed that if they did this and they won the war, Mexico would gain back all the land they lost from America in the wars prior. -
America Joins the war.
The United States declared war on Germany for the sinking of the Lusitania and for the Zimmerman Telegram. They later declared war on other Cental Powers like Austria-Hungary in December. America was having an impact on the war before they officially declared war through selling weapons, but now we see an even larger impact with large spending, high amount of deaths caused, and low amount of casualties. -
Balfour Declaration
The Balfour Declaration was a letter sent by the then Foreign Secretary to the Jewish community leader Lord Rothschild. The letter expressed support for the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. This was very controversial and cause many bad things in the future like wars to this day. -
Russian Revolution (Bolsheviks)
This was the first revolution in Russia in this time and was also called the Great October Socialist Revolution. This was the first Marxist coup that was successful leading to the Soviet Socialist Republic. The first leader was Lenin and he was seen and still today as a hero of the time by some groups and hated by others. -
Russian Civil War
This civil war was between the Red and White Armies in Russia. The Red Army was with the government and Lenin, while the White Army was a more loosely put-together allied force. The Red Army ended the war in 1923, establishing the Soviet Union. Many of the people that sided with the White army were killed, put to death, or forced to keep quiet, and the Communist political system was put into place as an example for other countries. -
Russia leaves the War
Russians had a new government take over and decided that they could be better off not being in the war. They left the war when they finalized the treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The soldiers were to done though because they would be put to work protecting leaders or stopping revolutions. -
Treaty of Versailles
On June 28th, 1919, the Germans and the Allies signed the peace Treaty of Versailles. The treaty stated that Germany would need to pay financial reparations, disarm, lose territory, and give up all of its overseas colonies. With the other powers in the Central powers either switching sides (Italy) or not existing anymore (Ottoman Empire) Germany needed to pay for everything. This could be a leading reason that WWII happened. -
Hitler speech
On October 16, 1919, Adolf Hitler gave his first speech as part of the German Workers' Party. Hitler was a soldier in the war and talked about how they were treated by the other European powers and the Allies. Hitler spoke in a strong way and tried to show that they should not be treated this way. This gave some people hope and helped Hitler come into power.