“The Great War”

How did the War start On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, were shot dead in Sarajevo (modern day Bosnia) by Gavrilo Princip, one of a group of six assassins. The reason why the assassination occurred is because the Serbians wanted southern Austria-Hungary to become its own free country Austria-Hungary and Serbia stared each other down and Austria-Hungary readied an invasion of Serbia. Serbia brought their friends in to help them (Russia, Great Britain, France, Italy) and Austria-Hungary did the same (Germany, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria)

How did the U.S. get involved? Before entering the war, Woodrow Wilson and the US had remained neutral, though the US had been an important supplier to Britain and other Allied powers. (Remember George Washington’s advice?) The US and it’s citizens increasingly saw the Germans as the villain as they sunk a passenger ship called the Lusitania because the Germans thought they were hiding weapons in it. Following this, the Germans threatened to sink any ship (even American) going to England with their U-Boat submarines. This combined with the Zimmermann Telegram,where the Germans tried to make an alliance with Mexico against the US, convinced the Americans to join WWI

End Result The world’s first global conflict, the “Great War” pitted the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire against the Allied forces of Great Britain, the United States, France, Russia, Italy and Japan. War lasted from 1914 to late 1918 The introduction of modern technology to warfare resulted in unprecedented carnage and destruction, with more than 9 million soldiers killed by the end of the war in November 1918.