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World War I

World War I (WWI or WW1), also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. More than 9 million combatants and 7 million civilians died as a result of the war, a casualty rate exacerbated by the belligerents' technological and industrial sophistication, and tactical stalemate. It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, paving the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved.

The war drew in all the world's economic great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the United Kingdom, France and the Russian Empire) and the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. Although Italy had also been a member of the Triple Alliance alongside Germany and Austria-Hungary, it did not join the Central Powers, as Austria-Hungary had taken the offensive against the terms of the alliance. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war: Italy, Japan and the United States joined the Allies, and the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria the Central Powers. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. The trigger for war was the 28 June 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo. This set off a diplomatic crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia, and entangled international alliances formed over the previous decades were invoked. Within weeks, the major powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world.

On 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia and subsequently invaded. As Russia mobilised in support of Serbia, Germany invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, leading Britain to declare war on Germany. After the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that would change little until 1917. Meanwhile, on the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, but was stopped in its invasion of East Prussia by the Germans. In November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. Italy joined the Allies in 1915 and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers in the same year, while Romania joined the Allies in 1916, and the United States joined the Allies in 1917.

The Russian government collapsed in March 1917, and a subsequent revolution in November brought the Russians to terms with the Central Powers via the Treaty of Brest Litovsk, which constituted a massive German victory until nullified by the 1918 victory of the Western allies. After a stunning Spring 1918 German offensive along the Western Front, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. On 4 November 1918, the Austro-Hungarian empire agreed to an armistice, and Germany, which had its own trouble with revolutionaries, agreed to an armistice on 11 November 1918, ending the war in victory for the Allies.

By the end of the war, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire had ceased to exist. The maps were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germany's colonies were parceled out among the winners. During the Paris Peace conference of 1919, the Big Four (Britain, France, the United States and Italy) imposed their terms in a series of treaties. The League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such an appalling conflict. This, however, failed with weakened states, economic depression, renewed European nationalism, and the German feeling of humiliation contributing to the rise of Nazism. These conditions eventually contributed to World War II.

en.wikipedia.org

World War I

Neil M. Heyman.


  1. GENERAL ROBERT NIVELLE
  2. THE POLITICIANS FACE NIVELLE
  3. THE PREPARATIONS ON BOTH SIDES FOR THE NiVELLE OFFENSIVE
  4. APRIL I9I7:THE FINAL DEBATE
  5. THE NIVELLE OFFENSIVE AND CATASTROPHE
  6. THE COST OF OFFENSIVE WARFARE
  7. THE MEMORY OF CATASTROPHE
  8. SUBMARINE WARFARE AGAINST THE ENEMY'S FLEET
  9. THE GERMANS ATTACK MERCHANT SHIPPING
  10. GERMANY'S USE OF UNLIMITED SUBMARINE WARFARE
  11. THE ALLIED NEED TO RESPOND
  12. EARLY BRITISH COUNTERMEASURES AND THEIR LIMITATIONS
  13. THE DEBATE OVER CONVOYS
  14. THE ESCALATING CRISIS
  15. THE ADOPTION OF THE CONVOY SYSTEM
  16. WHY THE CONVOYS SUCCEEDED
  17. OTHER MEASURES AGAINST THE SUBMARINE
  18. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE UNDERSEA WAR
  19. WAR COMES TO THE UNITED STATES
  20. AMERICA'S INITIAL RESPONSE TO THE WAR
  21. THE ISSUE OF THE SUBMARINE
  22. AMERICAN PREPAREDNESS AND THE ELECTION OF 1917
  23. WILSON HOPES TO MEDIATE
  24. EARLY 1917: UNLIMITED SUBMARINE WARFARE AND THE ZIMMERMANN TELEGRAM
  25. AMERICAN WOMEN AND AMERICAN BLACKS
  26. AN EXPANDING ROLE FOR GOVERNMENT
  27. The Propaganda War
  28. The Food War
  29. The Federal Government and the Wartime Economy
  30. INDUSTRY RESPONDS TO THE WAR
  31. BUILDING THE ARMED FORCES
  32. THE WAR AGArNST DOMESTIC DISSENT
  33. WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE IN THE UNITED STATES
  34. PROHIBITION
  35. AMERICA'S INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC POWER
  36. AMERICAN FORCES IN ACTION
  37. Overview of the War
  38. THE WAR'S ORIGINS
  39. Tensions in Eastern Europe
  40. Tensions in Central and Western Europe
  41. Germany and Russia
  42. International Alliances
  43. Civilian and Military Leadership: The July Crisis
  44. Historians View the Origins of the War
  45. THE CRISIS LEADS TO WAR
  46. CIVILIAN AND MILITARY LEADERSHIP: WARTIME
  47. THE WAR PLANS
  48. THE FAILURE OF THE SCHLIEFFEN PLAN
  49. 1914: THE WAR IN EASTERN EUROPE
  50. CASUALTIES AND THE DETERMINATION TO CONTINUE
  51. 191 5:THE ELUSIVE VICTORY
  52. Italy Enters the War
  53. Germany Defeats Russia
  54. I9I6:WAR OF DESPERATION
  55. The Battle of Verdun
  56. The Battle of the Somme
  57. The Brusilov Offensive, Italy, and Rumania
  58. Greece Enters the War
  59. Changing Leadership
  60. The Strains of the War Appear
  61. The Determination to Go On
  62. THE WAR AT SEA
  63. Prewar Naval Plans
  64. The British Blockade and the First Surface Actions
  65. The Battle of Jutland and Submarine Warfare
  66. 1917: THE COLLAPSE BEGINS
  67. The Fall of the Russian Monarchy and the NIvelle Offensive
  68. Third Ypres
  69. The Bolsheviks Come to Power in Russia
  70. The Italian Defeat at Caporetto
  71. The Close of 1917
  72. Woodrow Wilson and the Fourteen Points
  73. The Final German Offensive
  74. The Allied Counterattack on the Western Front
  75. The Collapse of the Central Powers
  76. WAR OF STALEMATE ON THE WESTERN FRONT
  77. THE MACHINE GUN WAR
  78. THE NEED TO TAKE THE OFFENSIVE
  79. THE SEARCH FOR A SOLUTION
  80. STAGNATION IN TECHNOLOGY AND IDEAS
  81. THE FINAL GERMAN OFFENSIVE
  82. GENERAL DOUGLAS HAIG AND THE NEW ARMY
  83. PLANNING THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME
  84. THE FIRST DAY ON THE SOMME
  85. THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME GRINDS ON
  86. PRESSURE ON THE FRENCH TO ATTACK IN 1 9 17
  87. Anatomy of Success: The War Against the Submarine
  88. THE FUTURE OF SUBMARINE WARFARE
  89. THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT AND WARTIME SOCIAL CHANGE
  90. AMERICAN WARTIME DIPLOMACY
  91. WILSON AND THE PEACE CONFERENCE
  92. THE COST OF THE WAR
  93. THE CHANGING EXPECTATIONS OF BLACK AMERICANS
  94. WAR AND THE INTELLECTUALS
  95. THE PEACE SETTLEMENT
  96. A VARIETY OF CHANGES AT HOME
  97. The Home Front
  98. CIVILIANS GREET THE WAR
  99. CIVILIAN CASUALTIES
  100. ENEMY OCCUPATION
  101. FOOD SHORTAGES AND RATIONING
  102. IMPROVED LIVING STANDARDS IN WARTIME
  103. OTHER WARTIME SHORTAGES
  104. ECONOMIC HARDSHIPS
  105. CENSORSHIP AND THE WAR AGAINST DISSENT
  106. WOMEN IN WARTIME
  107. WORKERS AND EXPANDING INDUSTRY
  108. CIVILIANS AND THE PROPAGANDA WAR
  109. NEW MORAL STANDARDS
  110. LABOR UNREST
  111. TEMPORARY AND PERMANENT CHANGES
  112. WOMAN»S SUFFRAGE
  113. War and the Collapse of the Old Order: Russia and Austria-Hungary
  114. WAR SHAKES THE OLD ORDER
  115. THE RUSSIAN MONARCHY
  116. THE RUSSIAN POPULATION AND INDUSTRIAL GROWTH
  117. MILITARY DEFEAT AND FORCED EVACUATION
  118. THE TSAR TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY
  119. CIVILIANS' HARDSHIPS AND THE OUTBREAK OF REVOLUTION
  120. THE TSAR'S ABDICATION AND THE FORMATION OF A PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
  121. THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION
  122. NATIONALISM IN THE HABSBURG EMPIRE
  123. THE HABSBURG MONARCHY
  124. THE WAR AND THE WARTIME ALLIANCE WITH GERMANY
  125. THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN MILITARY FORCES
  126. NATIONALIST LEADERS AND THE EMPIRE'S ENEMIES
  127. THE FINAL YEAR OF THE WAR AND THE EMPIRE'S COLLAPSE
  128. THE AFTERMATH
  129. Consequences of the War: A Contemporary Perspective
  130. HISTORIANS' RETROSPECTIVE
  131. THE WAR'S COST
  132. THE PEACE SETTLEMENT
  133. THE VICTORS' SIDE
  134. POSTWAR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
  135. THE PROBLEM OF NATIONAL MINORITIES
  136. REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA AND THE NEW NATIONS OF EASTERN EUROPE
  137. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
  138. THE DECLINE OF EMPIRE
  139. CHANGING EUROPEAN DOMESTIC POLITICS
  140. FADING LONG-RANGE EFFECTS
  141. THE WORLD OF IDEAS AND THE ARTS
  142. THE WAR AND SCIENCE
  143. Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg (1856-1921)
  144. Alexis Brusilov (1853-1926)
  145. Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929)
  146. Franz Conrad von Hotzendorf (1852-1925)
  147. Erich von Falkenhayn (1861-1922)
  148. Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929)
  149. Douglas Haig (1861-1928)
  150. John Jellicoe (1859-1935)
  151. Joseph Joffre (1852-1931)
  152. V.I.Lenin (1870-1924)
  153. David Lloyd George (1863-1945)
  154. Erich Ludendorff (1865-1937)
  155. Thomas G. Masaryk (1850-1937)
  156. Nicholas II (1868-1918)
  157. Vittorio Orlando (1860-1952)
  158. John J. Pershing ( 1 860- 1 948)
  159. Philippe Retain (1856-1951)
  160. Gavrilo Princip ( 1 894- 1918)
  161. William S. Sims ( 1 858- 1 936)
  162. Wilhelm II (1859-1941)
  163. Woodrow Wilson ( 1 856- 1 924)
  164. Chronology of Events