The causes of WWI weren't really the causes. They are actually a reason to start the war. In June 1814, Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the thrown of Austria Hungary and his wife are shot and killed in Bosnia by a member of the Black Hand. His name is Principe. These events cause a landslide of actions. Austria blames Serbia for it. Russia said that they would back Serbia. On August 1, 1914, Germany declares war on Russia. All alliances kicked in. this is when WWI begins.
WWI lasted 4 years. It was naturally called “The Great War” because of its size. Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire went against Britain, France, and Russia. The US came in with 20 other countries. Many battlefronts or battle zones were used in this war. The Eastern Front was where Russia and Serbia Fought Germany, Austria, and the Ottoman Empire.
The western Front was where France and Britain fought with trench warfare, or digging trenches protected by mines and barbed wire.
Each side was bombed then people crawled out can charged.
This ended the romantic idea of the war. They were horrible because rats and diseases crawled, and rotten flesh everywhere, because if you died, you were left there. Soldiers sometimes got trench foot.
In addition, 1000's of men were killed because of the new machine guns. In 1917, Russia withdrew form the war. Russia left because they didn't have enough weapons for their large army. They lost many and couldn't fight. The US came into the war on April 6, 1917, because of three reasons. One was the Lusitanian is torpedoed and sunk for no reason, along with the Sussex getting shot up for no reason killing Americans aboard. The thing that put the US over the edge was the Zimmerman Note, or the note supposedly written to Mexico by Germany, telling them to ally with them and attack the US. After this note, more ships were attacked for no reason, making the US declare war on Germany. This brings a new life to the war, and the US helps the Allies win allot of battles.
At 11:00, November 11, 1918, the war was over. The war ended with the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 stating that Germany has to pay 56 billion dollars, and has to admit to starting the war. They also had to give their land back, and are disarmed. Then the League of Nations was started to settle disagreements and avoid future wars. This was an early UN.
The effects of WWI were devastating, large amounts of property were destroyed. Millions of people were killed and millions of people were wounded. There was a lot of fear of the future, and there were new dictators coming to power that scared the people. Recovering was a big problem because many countries couldn't overcome economically. Soldiers were also affected hugely by the war.
New dictators came about after the war to try to help rebuild. Benito Mussolini becomes leader in the fascist party, believing in 6 things, glorifying the state, support expansion, despise communism, support private property controlled by government, hating democracy, and glorifying violence. Mussolini takes the title Il Duce, and kept power with his secret police, and one of the first things he does with power is invade Ethiopia for colonies.
In Germany they have to return from paying $56 billion and the rebuilding of the city. They constantly print money to pay the price, making the money worthless and the people mad. They blamed the government. In the 1920's a man named Adolph Hitler rises to power in the German Workers Party. He renames this power the Nazi Party. They were also a fascist group very similar to the Italian fascists. They also believed in anti-Semitism, or the hatred or fear of the Jewish race. Their symbol is the swastika.
He blamed the Jews for all the problems and the things that go wrong. He starts attacking and terrorizing all of the opponents with the Storm Troopers. In the 1930's, the great depression hit the world and Germany the worst, making them blame the Jews even worse. He is liked because he said what the people wanted to hear. He becomes chancellor and then his government takes control of the Reichstag, and then he becomes a dictator, controlling all aspects of life. Storm troopers become the SS and started a campaign against the Jews sending millions of them to concentration camps to be killed and worked to death. Germany wanted land so the allied countries responded with appeasement or made concessions to the aggressor to make peace.
In 1939, Hitler signs the non-aggression pact saying that he won't attack the Soviet Union. On September 1st 1939, Hitler invaded Poland, making the allies declare war on Germany.
