World War One (referred to henceforth as WWI) was the second largest military conflict to date, only being outmatched by the Second World War, just a short time later. The war started as a small conflict between Austria-Hungry and the small country of Serbia, and escalated into a war that involved countries and settlements across the globe. First, I am going to go through a list of countries that were involved in the war. I will then give a brief summary of the war in chronological order with names of battles and dates, and then I will summarize the effects that the war had on the world.
The war began when Austria-Hungary had some problems with the small country of Serbia. Serbia called on their ally Russia to help protect them from Austria-Hungary. Austria-Hungary then, in turn, called on Germany to aid them in taking down Russia and Serbia. See where this is going? Russia called on their ally France, and then Austria-Hungary called on the dying Ottoman Empire to aid them. Later on in the war, the British Empire, Japan, Belgium, Italy, and the United States of America would join the Allies. The Central Powers remained as just Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottomans.
The first conflict in the war happened when the Germans tried to go around the French defenses through Belgium, but the Belgians put up a good defense. This battle was called the Battle of Liege, and occurred in August of 1914. Belgium immediately joined the allies. Britain was pissed that Germany had attacked a neutral country, and this prompted them to join the war on the side of the Allies as well. Already, the Central Powers were getting ganged up on by the rest of the world. Throughout the rest of the war, the Germans would not be able to make much headway in France.
Russia started on the offensive shortly after this, gaining some territory. Serbia was also able to repel the Austria-Hungarian army’s attempts at invasion. The British also create a naval blockade across the north sea so that Germany can not import via the ocean. The entirety of the allies also attacked German colonies; Australia took care of new guinea quickly, and the other allied colonies in Africa attacked the German colonies there as well. Around this time, Japan and Italy also joined the allied forces, and they began to conquer some more German colonies.
Italy started an offensive against Austria-Hungary, but they were also caught in a stalemate. The ottomans attempted to go on the offensive against Russia, but they were to weak, and Russia pushed them back. The ottomans also tried to take the Suez canal from the
British, which also failed miserably.
This is when the Germans started to use nuclear warfare against the Allies, and they also started using submarines to sink the allied ships. The Allies also started using the same sort of tactics, but only because the Germans did the same.
Bulgaria also joined the war on the side of the central powers, because of the promise of some of Serbia’s land. Serbia was finally conquered by Austria-Hungary with help from Germany and Bulgaria.
Greece then joined the war, also on the side of the allies. The allies transferred lots of troops to Greece, and they started pushing their way into Austria-Hungarian territory.
The next major turning point in WWI was the Russian Revolution. Under the new government, Russia backed out of the war, and would no longer trouble the Central Powers.
Germany realized that it was likely that the United States of America would join the war, so Germany got a head start by trying to get Mexico to attack America. The letter was intercepted by the British, who showed it to the Americans, and that was the last straw. The Americans joined in the war on the side of the allies. Not long after this, the fresh reinforcements from the Americans were able to push back the Germans out of France. The war was at a close.
One by one, all the Central Powers surrendered. Germany got the short end of the peace treaty, and they were forced to keep their army small and they also had lots of other punishments. They also now had a grudge with the many of the allies, and this would go on to spark World War 2: The Sequel. The war also caused the final downfall of the Ottoman Empire, and it was split up into smaller nations and provinces. The war also strengthened the economy of the United States, and also led to new advancements in war technology, including tanks and fighter planes.
WWI was also one of the bloodiest in history, with over seventeen million soldiers dead, and over twenty million wounded. After WWI, everybody called it the Great War, and thought that nothing could top it. Little did they know, there would be a sequel before too long.