PRESENTATION OUTLINE
The Start of the War
World War I started July 28, 1914 when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. This seemingly small conflict between the two countries spread really fast. Soon Germany, Russia, Great Britain, and France were all involved in the war. They were involved in treaties that obligated them to defend certain other nations. Western and eastern fronts quickly opened along the borders of Germany and Austria-Hungary. In the west, Germany attacked Belgium first and then France. In the east, Russia attacked both Germany and Austria-Hungary. In the south, Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia.
The Ottoman Empire
Late 1914, the Ottoman Empire was brought into the battle as well. It was because Germany had tricked Russia into thinking that Turkey had attacked it. So much of 1915 was dominated by Allied actions against the Ottomans in the Mediterranean. First, Britain and France launched a failed attack on the Dardanelles. This campaign was followed by the British invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula. Britain also launched a separate campaign against the Turks in Mesopotamia. Although the British had some successes in Mesopotamia, the Gallipoli campaign and the attacks on the Dardanelles resulted in British defeats.
Trench Warfare
The middle part of the war was dominated by continued trench warfare in both the east and the west. Soldiers fought from dug-in positions, striking at each other with machine guns, heavy artillery, and chemical weapons. Though soldiers died by the millions in severe conditions. Neither side had any success or gained any advantage.
The United States’ Enters and Russia Exits
Two important developments in the war occurred in 1917. In April, the United States, angered by attacks upon its ships in the Atlantic, and declared war on Germany. Then, in November, the Bolshevik Revolution prompted Russia to pull out of the war.
The End of the War and Armistice
In 1918 in an all-or-nothing effort to win the war, both efforts failed. The fighting between exhausted and disheartened troops continued to stomp along until the Germans lost a number of individual battles. Meanwhile a deadly outbreak of influenza took heavy rolls on soldiers of both sides. The governments of both Germany and Austria-Hungary began to lose control as both countries experienced much rebellion from within their military structures.
The war ended in the year of 1918. After the member countries of the Central Powers signed the armistice agreements one by one. Germany was the last in signing the armistice on November. As a result of these agreements, Austria-Hungary was broken up into several smaller countries. Germany, under the Treaty of Versailles, was severely punished with huge economic reparations, territorial losses, and strict limits on its rights to develop a militarily.
