World War I began with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, leading to a conflict between the Central Powers and Allied Powers. Trench warfare caused significant loss of life, and the war ended with the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The war changed political, cultural, and social orders, and unexploded ordnance still remains in parts of France.
The spark that unleashed the Thousand Fires, which became the fiery hell of World War I (WWI), also known as the Great War, officially began with the June 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne committed by a Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip. Fought from 1914 to 1918, World War I broke out under Europe’s archaic treaty system. These intricate alliances brought the Central Powers of the time, namely Austria-Hungary, Germany and Turkey, into direct conflict with the allied powers, namely France, Great Britain, Russia, the United States, Japan and Italy.
The first skirmish of World War I began when Germany overran neutral Belgium and invaded France. The Allies stabilized the defensive lines in France during the First Battle of the Marne, 1914. World War I is characterized by trench warfare by infantry with machine guns and other, at the time considered modern artillery. This style of military warfare did not gain much ground and resulted in terrible loss of life on both sides. This was especially true at the battles of Verdun and The Somme, both fought in 1916.
On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was repeatedly driven back, unable to break through the defensive lines established by Germany and Austria-Hungary. Russia’s dismal failure and huge losses caused widespread discontent which eventually led to the Russian Revolution of 1917. World War I was fought on other fronts as well, including the Dardanelles campaign against Turkey, Mesopotamia, Italy and Egypt, and at sea where German and British fleets fought the inconclusive Battle of Jutland.
A ceasefire occurred at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the 11th and all opposing armies began withdrawing their troops from the Western Front. However, the state of war still persisted and World War I did not officially end until the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28,1919 on June 28, 1919. Some historians argue that the signing of this treaty marked not only the end of World War I, but also the prelude to World War II some twenty years later.
World War I drastically changed the political, cultural and social order of the day. Old towns disappeared and new ones popped up, like from a conjurer’s magic wand. International organizations have been established, such as the League of Nations. Germany was forced to make economic reparations for the start of World War I, and France would pay dearly for it some twenty years under the murderous regime of a madman named Adolph Hitler.
The ghosts of World War I still haunt parts of France, particularly the Champagne region, where many of the trench lines were. Quantities of unexploded ordnance and other munitions remain, and they continue to be plowed up by farmers who sardonically refer to them as the “iron crop”. These bullets cause occasional deaths to this day. According to some estimates, France will not be completely cleared of World War I shells for several hundred years.
Too bad the modern world can’t say the same about war.
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