World War I
Four years of war that killed millions, destroyed four empires and redrew the map of Europe and the Middle East.
Key dates
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The spark
In Sarajevo, a 19-year-old Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip shoots Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie.
Austria-Hungary blames Serbia. With Germany’s backing, it sends Serbia an ultimatum written to be rejected.
Alliances pull everyone in
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia on 28 July. Russia mobilizes to protect Serbia. Germany declares war on Russia on 1 August and on France on 3 August, then invades neutral Belgium to reach Paris. Britain declares war on Germany on 4 August.
Within a week, a Balkan crisis has become a European war. In late 1914 the Ottoman Empire joins Germany’s side and the war reaches the Middle East.
Allies
- France
- British Empire
- Russiato 1918
- Serbia
- Belgium
- Japan
- Italyfrom 1915
- Arab Revoltfrom 1916
- United Statesfrom 1917
Central Powers
- Germany
- Austria-Hungary
- Ottoman Empirefrom 1914
- Bulgariafrom 1915
Trenches and stalemate
France and Britain stop the German advance at the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914. Both sides dig in, and soon a line of trenches runs about 700 km from the North Sea to Switzerland.
Attacks across no man’s land cost huge numbers of lives for very little ground. At Verdun in 1916, French and German armies fight for about 300 days. On the first day of the Somme, 1 July 1916, the British Army suffers about 57,000 casualties, the worst day in its history.
A world war
Fighting spreads far beyond Europe. At Gallipoli in 1915, Allied troops try to knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war and withdraw after eight months.
In Mesopotamia (today’s Iraq), a British-Indian army is besieged at Kut and surrenders in April 1916. In June 1916, Sharif Hussein of Mecca launches the Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule with British support. Meanwhile Britain and France secretly agree, in the Sykes–Picot Agreement, how to divide the region after the war.
1917, the turning point
German submarines sink merchant ships without warning, and a secret German offer of an alliance to Mexico, the Zimmermann Telegram, is exposed. The United States declares war on Germany on 6 April 1917.
In Russia, revolution topples the tsar. The new Bolshevik government signs a separate peace with Germany at Brest-Litovsk in March 1918.
The end
Germany moves its eastern armies west for a final Spring Offensive in March 1918 and comes close to Paris. The Allies stop it, then launch the Hundred Days Offensive on 8 August.
Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire sign armistices, Austria-Hungary collapses, and Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates. The guns fall silent at 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918.
The aftermath
The Treaty of Versailles is signed on 28 June 1919, five years to the day after Sarajevo. It blames Germany for the war and demands heavy reparations.
The German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Ottoman empires are gone. New states appear in Europe, and Britain and France take control of former Ottoman lands as League of Nations mandates, drawing borders that still shape the Middle East. Anger over the peace helps set the stage for World War II twenty years later.
Key people
- Franz FerdinandHeir to Austria-Hungary. His murder started the crisis.
- Kaiser Wilhelm IIGerman emperor. Abdicated in November 1918.
- Tsar Nicholas IIRussia’s last tsar. Abdicated in March 1917.
- Mustafa KemalOttoman commander at Gallipoli. Later founded modern Turkey.
- Sharif HusseinEmir of Mecca. Launched the Arab Revolt in 1916.
- Woodrow WilsonUS president. Proposed the Fourteen Points for peace.
- Georges ClemenceauFrench prime minister at the Versailles talks.
What it led to
Topics
People
Adolf Hitler1889 – 1945Dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945 (1889–1945).jpg/330px-Vlad%C3%ADmir_Lenin_(fotograf%C3%ADa_coloreada).jpg)
Vladimir Lenin1870 – 1924Founding leader of the Soviet Union (1870–1924)
Joseph Stalin1878 – 1953Politician and leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 1924 to 1953.jpg/330px-Sir_Winston_Churchill_-_19086236948_(restored).jpg)
Winston Churchill1874 – 1965British statesman, soldier and writer (1874–1965)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt1882 – 1945President of the United States from 1933 to 1945 (1882–1945)
Charles de Gaulle1890 – 1970French general and statesman (1890–1970)
Walt Disney1901 – 1966American animator, producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor and entrepreneur, founder of The Walt Disney Company (1901–1966)
Ernest Hemingway1899 – 1961American author and journalist (1899–1961)
Figures are historians’ estimates and vary by source. Text is drafted from Wikipedia and reviewed before publishing.