Germany declared war on Russia and began to carry out its plan to fight a war in Europe. Russia feared Germany, which was becoming stronger. Since Russia is so large, it had to move soldiers closer to the war, but Germany feared that Russia's soldiers would attack Germany as well. Russia joined the war to help Serbia because both both Serbs and Russians are Slavs. The countries had allies that became involved in the war in a matter of days. Serbia agreed to most of the conditions, but Austria-Hungary still declared war on Serbia, which quickly led to a full-scale war. Many historians think that Austria-Hungary already wanted a war with Serbia. Austria-Hungary sent the very harsh July Ultimatum to Serbia and threatened war unless Serbia agreed to all of its terms.
When was world war iii full#
Germany supported Austria-Hungary and promised full support in case of war. However, one of them, a Serbian student, Gavrilo Princip, shot him and his pregnant wife with a pistol.Īustria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the assassination. All of them failed to kill him with grenades while he passed through a large crowd. The Black Hand was an organization that agreed with the idea and sent men to kill Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria while he was visiting Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. Some of those who lived in Bosnia were Serbs and wanted to be part of Serbia. In 1908, Austria-Hungary had taken over Bosnia, a region next to Serbia. France and Russia became allies in 1894 and later formed the Triple Entente with Britain. Germany and Austria-Hungary had been allies since 1879 and formed the Triple Alliance with Italy in 1882. Countries formed alliances to protect themselves, but that divided them into two groups. For example, Germany was becoming increasingly powerful, and British Empire saw that as a threat. Instead, it led to another, larger world war 21 years later.īy 1914, trouble was on the rise in Europe, and many countries feared invasion from others. They hoped it would be the war "to end all wars". People were shocked by the size of the war, how many people it killed and how much damage it caused. It also led to the creation of the League of Nations, which was meant to prevent wars. The war was ended by the signing of many different treaties, the most important being the Treaty of Versailles. The German government collapsed, and a new government was forced to agree to stop the fighting on 11 November. Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire then agreed to stop fighting. In August to November 1918, the Allied Powers won a large victory against the Germans during the Hundred Days Offensive. From the Russian departure to the American arrival, the Germans launched a huge attack in March 1918 to try to win the war, but it failed. Also in 1917, the United States entered the war, but it took a year for most of the army to arrive. In 1917, the Russian Revolutions led to Russia leaving the war in March 1918. World War I was the first major war in which tanks, airplanes and submarines (or U-boats) were important weapons. Fighting also took place in Africa and China and at sea and in the air. The other main areas of fighting were in the Middle East, in the Gallipoli region of the Ottoman Empire and between Italy and Austria-Hungary. Fighting was there not trench warfare but mobile warfare. The Russians fought the Germans and Austro-Hungarians on the Eastern Front in Central and Eastern Europe. Most of the fighting was then trench warfare. Germany had tried to defeat France quickly but was stopped in the First Battle of the Marne. The French and the British fought the Germans on the Western Front in France and Belgium. There was fighting in many different areas (fronts). The two sides were the Allied Powers (mainly Russia, France and the British Empire) and the Central Powers (mainly Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire). Russia then declared war on Austria-Hungary, which set off a chain of events in which members both groups of countries declared war on each other. When Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated on 28 June 1914, Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia and declared war on it. However, that made them divide themselves into two groups. īefore the war, European countries had formed alliances to protect themselves. There were 135 countries that took part in World War I, and nearly 10 million people died while fighting. Another names are the Imperialist War and the Four years War. Before World War II began in 1939, World War I was called the Great War, or the World War. Most of the fighting was in Europe, but soldiers from many other countries took part, and it changed the colonial empires of the European powers. It was a global war and lasted exactly 4 years, 3 months and 2 weeks. World War I ( WWI or WW1), also called the First World War, began on Jand lasted until November 11, 1918. Map of Europe at the start of World War I.