Did You Know 10,000,000 People Died in WWI?

World War I began in 1914. However, the causes of the war started much earlier than this. Many different reasons lead to the war and they all eventually linked into one.

Otto von Bismarck was the Emperor and Commander of Prussia. Prussia consisted of multiple countries mostly in the German area. Prussia was influenced greatly by Nationalism and Imperialism. Nationalism is when a country thinks it's better than another country, and Imperialism is when a country conquers another country in order to steal it's resources. Prussia had its eye on French territories, and during the late 1800's, the Prussian wars began. Successfully breaching the borders, they took almost 1/3 of the eastern French territories. This caused Germany and France to go into a time of great struggle between each other.

The Industrial Age began in the early 1800's, and everyone was looking for resources to construct a new way of living. Great Britain was the first to really start changing due to their extra amount of resources. However, Germany soon decided they wanted to rival with Britain and began revolutionizing as well.

Meanwhile, down in the Austrian area, the Serbians were undergoing a difficult time holding their borders to the Austrians. The Austrians joined forces with the Ottoman Empire and conquered the Serbians. However, the Russians, or Soviets, were not very fond of the fall of their allies and decided to go against the two nations. Germany joined the Austrians in order to gain an easier route to control things.

By 1914, Austria snapped. The Arch Duke, Ferdinand was assassinated by a group of Austrian rebels. The Austrians immediately turned at Russia and became their enemies due to the recent happenings with Serbia. The German Kaiser declared war on France in August of 1914...The War To End All Wars began.

Prussia, Austria, and the Ottoman Empire joined forces and created what was called the Triple Alliance. And France, Great Britain, and Russia joined forces to create the Triple Entente. Once Germany declared war on France, Great Britain and Russia quickly followed to fight for the French.

The Kaiser had an ultimate plan which would finish the war within a couple of years. 3/4's of the German armies would rush the French borders. From there they would control Paris. After conquering France, they would take the rest of the armies and backtrack all the way back to Russia and defeat them with technology. However, Germany underestimated the French and their ability to defend on their own ground. By mid August, the German armies were in place and began attacking the French borders. However, no one was going anywhere. It was a stalemate. So, Germany took matters beyond the polite code and invaded Belgium, in which they could make an easier entrance into France. Once they got in, they pushed through hundreds of miles of ground. They reached 60 miles from Paris until the French recruited all the soldiers they could and held them. After a few weeks of fighting, the Germans were pushed back out a few hundred miles. The Plan was already ruined.

The stalemate quickly resulted in the construction of trenches. Since the armies were fighting head on, instead of the old fashion way (standing in lines and whoever has the biggest army wins) hiding in Trenches were much more efficient. The soldiers would be shielded from most of the gun fire and could shoot while being protected.

Trench hopping became a way of moving up and down the fronts. During Trench hopping, The armies in the trenches would line up, climb out of the trenches, run about a quarter mile to the next trench while getting shot, cut down the barb wire and kill anyone who was still in the trench. However, with the invention of the machine gun, running into bullets wasn't the best idea. And if you decided to stay in the trench and hide, you would probably get destroyed by an 80mm mortar round.

Because of the machine gun, chemical warfare was introduced. they would release a chemical much like today's pepper spray to blind the enemies in the trenches and while they are dazed, they would move over and kill them. This caused for the use of gas masks and many machine gunners would wear them.

During WWI, the two main areas of trench warfare where known as the Eastern Front, and the Western Front. The Eastern Front was where the British and French would fight against the Germans, and the Western was the Germans, and the Austrians against the Russians. Most of the death toll consisted of the western front due to Russia's over population and lack of technology.

Along with new ways of fighting, came new things to fight with. The Howitzer cannon was a powerful artillery cannon used by the Germans. An artillery cannon is a cannon which can fire up to 2 miles within range and destroy large amounts of people. When combined with trench warfare, these weapons could clear out an entire army if fired in the right spot. The mortar was a new invention as well. Much like the artillery cannon, a mortar is a smaller version which launches rounds up and creates an arch to destroy the enemy.

The first tanks were used by the British and the Germans. Maybe not as quick as the ones used today, with a top speed of 4 miles per hour, they could easily scare the enemy by just moving towards them. This was because, during the early 20th century, Tanks had never been seen before, so they could easily be used as a scare tactic. Armed with a 40mm gun, these machines could create a mighty roar, even though they would often get stuck and captured by enemies due to their lack of speed and maneuverability.

The Airplane was invented in 1902. By 1915, it was already being used as a powerful weapon of the skies. Armed with machine guns, planes could give a beating to infantry on the ground and bombers could easily clear a town. Dogfights consisted of two squads of fighter planes from different nations battling it out head to head. The Ace of the squad would usually have the most kills and lead the rest. However, the planes back then were easily brought down after a few shots due to their fragile structure. However, all these new weapons made the war 10x more deadly.

The Germans were held up in a dangerous position. With their entire western front weakened from a lack of soldiers, they had difficulty holding the Russian armies. Further out in Asia, the Japanese joined on the Triple Entente's side in order to gain territories to convince the world they were strong. Engaging in naval battles with Germany, by December, the Japanese had eliminated most of the German colonies in Asia and took them for themselves.

Meanwhile, on the Eastern Front, Germany and France had been tied for two years. However, once Great Britain stepped in in June of 1916, After only 6 hours of fighting, both Germany and Britain lost half a million soldiers. The borders evened out and the stalemate continued.

In 1915, a British cruise ship sailing along the English Chanel (a hot spot for the war) was struck down by a German submarine. On the ship was thousands of civilians, including 128 U.S. civilians. The United States began to look twice at Germany but never took action.

Germany at a loss for soldiers, looked towards their old ally Italy for help. However, Italy turned them down due to the earlier invasion of Belgium. Instead, Italy remained neutral.

By 1917, the Kaiser was desperate for a new ally to relieve the German soldiers from so much fighting. Germany turned to Mexico. A telegram was sent to Mexico stating that if they joined Germany, they would help Mexico gain control over all of America, including both North and South. However, Mexico never got that message because the United States accidentally intercepted it. In return, The Yankees joined the war.

Russia was losing way too many people. By mid 1917, the death toll was over 4,000,000 soldiers and civilians. Russia decided to surrender to Germany and signed a treaty which gave Germany control over much of the Polish territories. Russia later changed into a Communist Nation after

During 1916, the war became the first Total War ever. A total war is when a country's factories stop making things like cars and boats, and instead make war machines. And of course, with the men out at battle, the women were mostly the ones who worked in the factories. However, this movement allowed a change in the way the world viewed women. They became known as capable of more than just cleaning the house.

In Russia, women were already put into combat. Mostly as snipers, they were scattered all over the Eastern Front. Over 3,000 women were put into combat and proved to be quite useful. And The United States reviewed the services of women from the war and allowed them to vote for the first time in 1920, a few years after the war had ended.

All in all, the first Great War opened up positions for women in the world, other than what it expected of them.

By 1918, the Kaiser of Germany decided to kick it into high gear. With the loss of the Russians on the Entente's side, the Germans could reinforce the Western Front with more soldiers. And when they did, they overwhelmed the French and the British. Pushing back into the French territories, the Germans moved quickly through hundreds of miles of soldiers. After two weeks, they were only 40 miles away from Paris, the key point to the success of winning the war. However, once they got there, they were weak and unrested from 4 years of fighting. Both sides were exhausted, however, the United States was fresh and ready to fight. Armed with 140,000 soldiers, the United States massacred the 60,000 Germans and forced them to move back out of France and Belgium, however, they met another stalemate after hitting a key defense point. Finally, the Kaiser said, enough. The Treaty of Versaille was signed in Versaille (A French town center built during the 1700's by Louis XIV for the nobles). The war was over.

The Treaty of Versaille wasn't any ordinary treaty. It stated that Germany is unable to hold an army, as well as take full responsibility for the war. In return, they had to pay billions of dollars to pay for damages in all the countries in which battles occurred. The result, was a poor country called, Germany.

However, this treaty may have stopped that war, but it provoked WWII, the rise of Nazism and Hitler into the world. So, the War to End All Wars, instead created an entirely new one.