The Beginning Of The Carnage
In late June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in the capital of Sarajevo, Bosnia. A great escalation of threats and mobilization orders followed this incident, leading by mid-August to the outbreak of World War I, this pitted Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire (the so-called Central Powers) against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Japan (the Allied Powers). These Allies were joined after 1917 by the United States. The four years of the Great War–as it was well known–saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction, thanks to trench warfare and the introduction of modern weaponry like machine guns, tanks and chemical weapons. By the time World War I ended in the defeat of the Central Powers in November 1918, more than 9 million soldiers had been killed and 21 million more were horrifically wounded.
EuropeOn August 1, 1914, four days after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, two more great European powers—Russia and Germany—declare war on each other; the same day, France orders a general mobilization. The so-called “Great War” that ensued would be one of unprecedented destruction and loss of life, resulting in the deaths of some 20 million soldiers and civilians and the physical devastation of much of the European continent.
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Middle EastThe partitioning of the Ottoman Empire
(30 October 1918 – 1 November 1922) was a political event that occurred after World War I. The huge conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empirewas divided into several new states. |
North AmericaThe United States declared war on the German Empire on April 6, 1917. The U.S. was an independent power and did not officially join the Allies. It closely cooperated with them militarily but acted alone in diplomacy. The U.S. made its major contributions in terms of supplies, raw material and money starting in 1917. American soldiers under General John J. Pershing arrived in large numbers on the Western Front in summer 1918.
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