The First World War

Date: 1914 - 1918
Location: France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Serbia, Russia, and the Atlantic Ocean.

Europe in 1914

The First World War, also known as the Great War, began as a small conflict in Serbia, when a group of rebels assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914. Austria-Hungary directly sought revenge and declared war on Serbia. Russia, Serbia's ally, then declared war on Austria-Hungary. Germany and the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary's allies, declared war on Russia. Finally, France and Britain, Russia's allies, declared war on the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey). The very first of conflicts occured when the German Keiser Wilhelm II began building a huge navy to compete with and destroy the British. At first, the German fleet was crushed completely at the Battle of the Falklands in the southern Atlantic; one German ship, Dresden, fled! The British never found Dresden, and so they built two new ships both named HMS Invincible. Dresden no longer had a chance of survival. Later on, the two alliances (Entente and Central) built trenches on their borders. Day and night, soldiers fought in these trenches to protect their frontiers. By 1918, a treaty at Versailles took place and ended the war, also threatening an allied attack on Germany if it made any sudden movements or acquisitions.