Ww1

Stretching over 5 years and devouring countless lives, WWI brought numerous nations into conflict and helped shape European history into its modern structure. Militarism, nationalism, and the urge to diminish internal dissent were all contributors to the outbreak of war. Yet the determining cause of World War I occurred during the summer of 1914 when Serbia (backed by Russia) and Austria fought for control of new Slavic states in order to please their respective Slavic population. During this intense conflict the Austrian Archduke, Francis Ferdinand was assassinated on June 28th, 1914 by a member of the Serbian terrorist organization, the Black Hand. During July of the same year Germany grants Austria-Hungary a "blank check," which in turn means that Germany is willing to back Austria-Hungary if they decide to retaliate against Serbia. Austria-Hungary decides to issue an ultimatum in July 1914, listing fifteen demands. Unable to tolerate all demands, Serbia is left with limited options. Realizing the possibility of war Serbia successfully gains the banking Russia. Two days after gaining Russia's support Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. On August 1st Germany follows its ally's lead and declares war on Russia. Italy responds to Germany's declaration of war, with a plea of neutrality which undermines the triple alliance formed thirty two years ago. On August 3rd, only two days after declaring war Russia, Germany declares war on France a Russian Ally. Planning ahead, Germany had already devised a plan countering France's involvement in the war. The Shlieffen Plan called for a swift defeat of France. Yet to achieve this Germany would be forced to mobilize troops through neutral and more importantly Britain backed Belgium. Yet feeling that a swift defeat of France was imperative, Germany persisted, causing for Great Britain to declare war on August 12th.* In only a few weeks war had engulfed almost all of Europe. Entangled in a thick web of alliances Europe prime for a World War

Sucked in by feelings of nationalism and government propaganda, nations were diagnosed with war fever. For a short period in time nations were united by a common feeling of nationalism and pride. These feelings of nationalism along with deceitful propaganda helped drastically booster armies like that of Great Britain who saw their army registration rise by 2 million by the beginning of 1915. New weapons also gave this war a distinctive feel. Two new hozitzers, the German Big Bertha and the Austrian Skoda 30.5 allowed solders to fire much heavier shells over a wider trajectory. Yet weapons were not the key to success, strategy was far and away more important, and Germany had one, the Schlieffen plan. Abiding strictly to the plan Germans had already marched through Belgium and made it within 20 miles of Paris near the Marne River when they were met by a combined British and French army. The armies battled for three days, and at time it seemed bleak for the allied forces. After the German Defeat the war in the west quickly fell into a stalemate. Halted by strenuous and unbeneficial trench warfare as well as the rise of mobility in the east, the west became less crucial. At a key battle in the east, the Battles of Tannenberg, Russian forces invaded east Prussia. One army began in the south west while the other made their way along the north east. After encountering some success one of the Russian brigades (the one that invaded the S.west), led by Alexander Samsonov, was surrounded by German troops. The brigade was slaughtered only 10,000 of the 150,000 solders survived. Traumatized by the event, Samsonov committed suicide shortly after. Russians endured another devastating loss in September of 1915 in the east at the battles at the Masurian Lakes. The Germans launched two attacks, the German eighth army attacked from the south while the tenth attacked from the north. The blizzard like weather did not aid the depleted Russian army, and with only one battalion to hold the line the Russians were