AP

• World War One was an international brutal conflict

  1914-1918
• Central Powers


  • Germany
  • Austria-Hungary
  • Bulgaria
  • Ottoman Empire
• Allied Powers


  • Great Britain
  • France
  • Russia
  • Italy
  • Romania
  • Japan
  • United States
• World War One


  • New military technologies
  • Horrors of trench warfare
  • Unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction
• Germany's unification and annexation of French territories after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870


  Germany's rise upset the European balance of powers and led to a game of alliances
• Assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Bosnia


  Austria-Hungary supported by Germany blamed the Serbian government and declared war on Serbia which was backed by Russia
• Germany's strategy (Schlieffen Plan)


  1. War on two fronts against France and Russia

  2. Rapidly concentrate bulk of army in the west to defeat France first

  3. Then shift forces to the east before Russia could fully mobilize
• Western Front


  1. Three years-long war of attrition

  2. First use of chemical weapons and gases
• Important World War One battles


  • Verdun
  • Battle of the Somme
  • Battle of Jutland
• European colonies and British dominions such as India engaged in war from 1914 to 1916
• Russia's Army mounted several offensives on the Eastern Front but was unable to break through the German lines to support geographically isolated Russia
• Allied Forces tried to open a sea supply route via the Dardanelle Strait and then later launched a land invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula, both campaigns failed against Ottoman resistance
• Italy which was initially part of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary had stayed neutral until 1915 as it turned against Austria-Hungary to annex new territories
• The 12 Italian offensives along the Isonzo River yielded little result
• Bulgaria joined the Central Powers in invading Serbia
• The Royal Navy imposed the naval blockade on Germany while German submarines were used to sink military and commercial ships supplying the Allies including those coming from the U.S.
• Britain intercepted and transmitted the German telegram to Mexico offering an alliance against the United States which decided to go to war in 1917
• The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 ended Russian involvement in World War One and later led to the creation of the Soviet Union
• The Ottoman victory at Gallipoli was later followed by defeats and the Arab Revolt backed by the British, forcing the Ottomans to sign a treaty with the Allies in October 1918
• Austria-Hungary dissolving from within due to growing nationalist movements among its diverse population reached an armistice facing dwindling resources on the battlefield and the surrender of its allies
• The Treaty of Versailles was considered the humiliation by the German people and laid the groundwork for World War II
• Despite the creation of the League of Nations that aimed at promoting peace