World War I Begins

Today, I'm going to look at what is, in my opinion, the most crucial event in human history. No, it is not World War II.

Argh!

That event is the original World War, World War I!

"Wunderbar!"

As any history savant will tell you, yesterday was the 99th anniversary of the start of the "Great War". What caused this monumental conflict? Let's take a look.

Let's set the scene: Europe in the Spring of 1914. It was, to put it bluntly, a total powder keg.

Europe 1914

Also Europe 1914

Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia were the main players in Europe. They all had militaries that were way too big, and they all hated each other.

Which brings me to my next point. The MAIN causes of World War I:

M-Miltarism(very big militaries, itching to fight)

A-Alliances(see below)

I-Imperialism (each country wanted to establish colonies in Africa and Asia)

N-Nationalsim(Each country thought they were way cooler than the others)

So let's explore the alliances aspect, because that was the major driving force behind the escalation of the war. In Spring, 1914 Germany and Austria-Hungary were allies. Russia was in an alliance with Serbia, a small country who despised and was despised by Austria-Hungary. France and Russia were allies, and France and Britain were allies. Then there was Italy. They did what possibly only Italy can do. They made alliances with both sides!

If Italy played Big Brother, it would be the ultimate "floater"

While the Italians were firmly in an alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, forming the "Triple Alliance", it also had a working relationship with Britain, France, and Russia, aka the "Triple Entente". The other players in Europe didn't share Italy's diplomacy. They straight up hated each other. And they were all ready to use their military power at the drop of a hat. No, seriously. Kaiser Wilhelm II (Germany's leader) once dropped his hat, and Germany almost invaded Lichtenstein!

Don't mess with the Kaiser's hat!

Everyone knew that war was looming in Europe. It was only a matter of time before something set off continental conflict. That event finally occurred on June, 28 1914 in Sarajevo, Bosnia (then part of Austria-Hungary). It was on that day that Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Austrio-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne, while the archduke was on an official visit to the Balkan state.

Gavrilo Princip. &*^$#@#

So unfortunately, the archduke was killed. And Austria-Hungary was not happy. Enraged, they delivered an ultimatum to the Serbian government. The requests were so severe (i.e. virtual annexation of Serbia), that the Serbians would never have accepted. Even if they had, Austria-Hungary might have declared war anyway out of a fit of anger. Bottom line, they hated each other so much they were just looking for an excuse to start a fight. Austira-Hungary gave Serbia until the 28th of July to agree to the terms, and when Serbia only agreed to 8 of the 10, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

In order to defend their ally, Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary. In order to defend Austria-Hungary, Germany declared war on Russia. France then decided to join the fray, and declared war on both Germany and Austria-Hungary, who in turn declared war on France.

When Germany attempted to attack France, they went through Belgium in order to avoid French defenses, which sparked the anger of Britain, who decided to defend their French allies and neutral Belgium by declaring war on Germany.

A good example of WWI propaganda

Italy, being Italy, decided not to join in on either side. They wanted to join the winning side, so they stayed back a little bit and let the war play out. A little while later, the Ottoman Empire joined the war on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary, partially because France, Russia, and Great Britain preferred recliners.

Yeah, that joke was awesome. But World War I was not. It caused millions of lives, and we are still living with the unresolved consequences of the War. I'm not going to go further into the war at this time. That is for another day. But today, I showed you how complex alliances led to the war barreling out of control, eventually becoming the most catastrophic event in human history. It may be a forgotten war, but it never should be. We must all always remember the "Great War".

P.S.: Where was the US? They joined in 1917. But that's for another post.

P.P.S.: Bulgaria also joined Germany and co., but who really cares about Bulgaria?