This great war, known as the “war to end all wars,” was fought from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918, so about 4 years and 3 1/2 months.
The war was fought between the Allies on one side, consisting of Great Britain, France, and Russia, and the Central Powers on the other side, consisting of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Later in the war, the United States and Italy would join the Allies, while the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria would join the Central Powers.
9 peace treaties were signed within 4 years of the war ending, but the most famous one is the Treaty of Versailles, signed 28 June 1919.
The war was fought in several locations around the world, including Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Pacific Islands, China, and off the coast of South and North America, but the most prominent battles took place in Europe.
There were several world-changing events that happened during this war, and as a result of this war. It brought about the end of the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the German Empire, and the Russian Empire. The Russian Revolution took place during this war, leading to the formation of the Soviet Union. Since the empires were broken up, by the end of the war Allied leaders redrew the map of Europe, creating several new nations based on ethnic groups – if you look at maps of Europe before this war, and about 5 years after this war ended, they look very different.
When the war ended, the Allied powers had lost over 5.5 million people, and the Central powers had lost almost 4.4 million people – a total of almost 10 million people. Another 7 million civilians died because of the war.
The belligerent powers in this war used a new technique called trench warfare that led to a tactical stalemate on both sides over long periods of time, meaning very little ground was won or lost over a period of months or years. This was especially true in the European fronts of the war.
So, how did World War 1 start? The story goes like this: after the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was assassinated in Serbia, an act that, by itself, would not have single-handedly started the war, except for the fact that the nations and empires of Europe had formed entangling alliances with each other – this is never a good thing. But, because of these entangling alliances, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia. The Germans, anticipating what would happen next, invaded Belgium and Luxembourg, and was moving towards France – an advance that was stopped before it got to Paris, leading to trench warfare on what became known as the Western Front. This German aggression led the United Kingdom to declare war on Germany. The Russians then attacked the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany from the east, in what became known as the Eastern Front.
In 1917, after the Russians were successful in defeating the Austro-Hungarians, at about the same time that the United States entered the war, the Russian government collapsed, leading to the Russian Revolution later that year. Because the Russians backed out, the Germans were victorious on the Eastern Front, and this led to the Germans regrouping and becoming more offensive on the Western Front, as their forces in the east were sent to the west to help with their military effort. Eventually though, as American troops helped the Allies, Germany was pushed back, eventually leading to the end of the war as an armistice was signed in November 1918, leading to an Allied victory.
Since the Ottoman Empire had joined the Central Powers four years earlier in 1914, this meant that they lost too. Of course, there is much more to this story than is being explained here.
So, by the end of World War 1, the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist because they lost the war, and the Russian Empire ceased to exist as the Russian Revolution transformed their nation into the Soviet Union. The Allies used their victory to redraw the map and boundaries of Europe.
Germany’s colonies were given to the victors, and the League of Nations was formed – the forerunner to the later United Nations. The League of Nations was meant to ensure that no further wars of this magnitude took place in the future, there was a mistake – the Germans were put under such humiliating conditions that hindered the nation from rebuilding its economy, and created political, social, and economic conditions that led to the rise of the Nazis and to World War 2, which we all know was even worse than the first world war.
And that’s a short summary of World War 1.
