Echoes of the Great Resonate a Century Later
On July 28,1914, World War I was started after Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was shot to death with his wife by the Bosnian Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo. That same day, France orders a general mobilization. They called it the “Great War” that ensued would be one of most destruction and loss of life, With the deaths of about 20 million soldiers and civilians. Over the weeks that, Austria-Hungary blamed the Serbian government for the attack, they were hoping to use the incident as justification for settling the problem of Slavic nationalism in the tumultuous Balkans region once and for all.
In 1914 Germans believed in a possible war with Russia if the war happened, France would come in to support Russia because they were allies. That implied that Germany would face attacks on both sides of the boarders. To Prevent such a situation from occurring. Germany had to create a plan. The plan to defeat France Quickly, then attack Russia, because they knew that Russia would take a long time to mobilize troops.
Using the Schlieffen Plan, the Germans had to defeat France before Russia could get prepared and mobilized. The plan was that Germany could mobilize its units, send them to France and crush France before Russia could finish its mobilization. Therefore, Germany had to mobilize first. But what happened in the war is, Russia mobilized their troops first onto the Austria Hungary's planned attacks on Serbia. So when the Germans began sending their men to France, Russia had already almost finished mobilizing its troops. When the Germans were nearing Paris, the Russians went into Germany's eastern frontline which was guarded by a few soldiers since most were in the war against France. Germany had no choice but to retreat some of their soldiers from France to protect against Russia, weakening their attacks against France.
The Treaty of Versailles ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of World War I signed separate treaties. Even though the armistice, signed on 11 November 1918, ended the actual fighting, it took six months of Allied negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. The treaty was registered by the Secretariat of the League of Nations on 21 October 1919.
In conclusion World War I began on July 28, 1914, when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. A Small conflict between two countries spread rapidly to Germany, Russia, Great Britain, and France The war was started as soon as Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, were assassinated and shot to death with his wife by the Bosnian Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo.