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

And, finally, the only war left for Prussia-Germany to wage will be a world war, a world war, moreover, of an extent and violence hitherto unimagined. Eight to ten million soldiers will be at each other's throats and in the process they will strip Europe barer than a swarm of locusts. The depredations of the Thirty Years' War compressed into three to four years and extended over the entire continent; famine, disease, the universal lapse into barbarism, both of the armies and the people, in the wake of acute misery; irretrievable dislocation of our artificial system of trade, industry and credit, ending in universal bankruptcy; collapse of the old states and their conventional political wisdom to the point where crowns will roll into the gutters by the dozen, and no one will be around to pick them up; the absolute impossibility of foreseeing how it will all end and who will emerge as victor from the battle. Only one consequence is absolutely certain: universal exhaustion and the creation 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.