World War I

The First World War (also called the Great War up until World War II) was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. It was a massive conflict between the Allied Powers (including France, the British Empire, and the Russian Empire, and the United States, among others) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and later Bulgaria), as well as their respective colonies throughout the world.

The First World War was a monumental event in world history. It massively changed the political landscape of the world, and changed the geography of many nations forever. The war caused the Russian Revolution, which founded the Soviet Union. There were around 40 million total casualties from the war.

History

Background and causes

No war is any longer possible for Prussia-Germany except a world war and a world war indeed of an extent and violence hitherto undreamt of. Eight to ten millions of soldiers will massacre one another and in doing so devour the whole of Europe until they have stripped it barer than any swarm of locusts has ever done. The devastations of the Thirty Years’ War compressed into three or four years, and spread over the whole Continent; famine, pestilence, general demoralisation both of the armies and of the mass of the people produced by acute distress; hopeless confusion of our artificial machinery in trade, industry and credit, ending in general bankruptcy; collapse of the old states and their traditional state wisdom to such an extent that crowns will roll by dozens on the pavement and there will be no body to pick them up; absolute impossibility of foreseeing how it will all end and who will come out of the struggle as victor; only one result is absolutely certain: general exhaustion and the establishment of the conditions for the ultimate victory of the working class.

— Friedrich Engels, 1887

Prelude

The catalyst for the beginning of war was the assassination of Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand during a visit to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was assassinated in protest, as many Bosnians wanted to be free from the empire to unite with neighbouring Serbia. In retaliation, Austria invaded Serbia.

Ending

By the beginning of 1918 German armies started to surrender, as the tide of war was going swiftly against them. The German proletariat, suffering from both food and fuel shortages, threatened a socialist revolution at home. German leaders feared that potential revolution and eventually asked the allies for peace. The armistice went into effect at 11 AM on 11 November, 1918.

Aftermath

Many Germans felt as if they were cheated out of victory by the German military leaders, as they surrendered. A result of the war was also the liberal February Revolution and Bolshevik October Revolution of 1917 which started the Russian Civil War that would lead to the creation of the USSR.

The war resulted in a global wave of unrest, including workers' revolutions in Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Finland, as well as national and anti-monarchist struggles the world over.