World War I

World War One, also known as The First World War and known as The Great War until 1939, was an armed military conflict between several nations all around the world. It began in 1914 and lasted until 1918.

History
Although a resurgance in imperialism by several European nations was a contributing factor, the war's main flashpoint was the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June, 1914 by Bosnian activists. After the Archduke's death, a complex series of international military and political alliances kicked in, escalating the conflict from an Austrian-Serbian war to one that quickly spread from Russia to Great Britian.

The two main alliances were the Central Powers of Germany, Austria, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria, and the Allied Powers of France, the British Empire, Russia, and Italy (and eventually the United States). Within a year, the war had spread around the globe to places such as China and Australia to Africa and India, with Central Germany acting as a large invasionary force.

From the outset, most of the fighting in Europe was generally done from trenches, with the areas between the enemy lines often totally decimated by crossfire. This sort of fighting took place on two fronts, one in France and the other in Russia. However, the new technologies of submarines and torpedos also made the seas a war zone. In fact, aggressive naval tactics on Germany's behalf eventually led to American involvement in the war. It was also the first war to feature aerial combat.

In 1918, the Central Powers began to collapse. First Austria, then the Ottoman Empire, signed independent armistices with the Allies, allowing the coalition to redirect their materiel and armies to a direct invasion of Germany. The German Kaiser quickly surrendered, although the German people maintained that their defeat came not from an inability to continue fighting, but through sabotage and diversion on the part of social groups such as the Jews and Bolsheviks.