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Cataclysmic in scope and loss of life, the four years of what came to be called World War I, would take the lives of 8 million military troops and reshape empires and the world map. While conflicts raged across the glove, the major countries engaged in the war were Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. From July of 1814 through November of 1918, more than half of the world’s population would be impacted by the battlefield victories and defeats of WW I. 

 

During this era of European colonial imperialism and fervent nationalism, Europe’s most powerful nations controlled far-off continents and trading rights stretching from India and Africa to Asia. Tensions increased between rival European factions as each sought to broaden their access to world trade and raw materials. With eyes ever on expansion, the European nations focused tremendous resources on building up armies and stockpiling ammunition and equipment.

 

Shifting alliances in Europe resulted in mutual defense treaties which assured that when a partner nation was attacked, the other countries or empires would send troops to defend their allies. The spark that ignited the worldwide war stemmed from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by a terrorist with allegiance to a Serbian-nationalist movement called the Black Hand who demanded independence for Bosnia from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. 

 

Following the assignation, Russia mobilized troops to defend its ally Serbia. Germany stood by it’s partner Austria-Hungary and declared war on Russia. Like dominoes lined up to fall, the European heads of state quickly chose sides along lines defined by their national interest and treaties. Germany then declared war on Fance and within days, Great Britain declared war on Germany. By the end of 1914, the Ottoman Empire was involved and war raged on the eastern front from Mediterranean to Mesopotamia. While President Woodrow Wilson held that the United States would remain neutral, American troops entered the war in 1917.

 

WWI saw armies mowed down by heavy artillery with soldiers dug into unending battles of trench warfare with heavy losses on all sides. To add to the loss of life, 1918 marked the outbreak of a pandemic known as the Spanish Flu which decimated the fatigued troops on all sides.

 

In the autumn of 1918, both Austria and Germany were facing loss of territory, resources, and manpower. On November 11, 1918, Germany signed an armistice and, with a stroke of a pen, the “War to End All Wars” would be over – but the enormous task of rebuilding nations amid social upheaval had just begun.

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