User:Climie.ca/Sandbox/WWI
World War I | |
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Pacific Islands ) | |
Result | Allied victory; end of the German, Russian, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian Empires; foundation of new countries in Europe and the Middle East; establishment of the League of Nations. |
5,525,000
Military wounded: 12,831,500
Military missing: 4,121,000[1]
...further details.
4,386,000
Military wounded: 8,388,000
Military missing: 3,629,000[1]
...further details.
World War I, or the First World War, (often referred to as The Great War and The War to End All Wars) was a global conflict which involved the
The catalyst for the war was the 28 June 1914
By the war's end, four major imperial powers—Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia—had been militarily and politically defeated.[6] The Soviet Union emerged from the Russian Empire, while the map of central Europe was completely redrawn into numerous smaller states.[7] The League of Nations was formed in the hope of preventing another such conflict. The European nationalism spawned by the war, along with the repercussions of Germany's defeat and the Treaty of Versailles, would eventually lead to the beginning of World War II.[8]
Background
In the 19th century, the major European powers had gone to great lengths to maintain a "balance of power" throughout Europe, resulting in a complex network of political and military alliances throughout the continent.
As German industrial power grew, Kaiser Wilhelm II devoted significant economic resources to the establishment of the
In 1909, Austria-Hungary annexed
On 28 June 1914,
Course of the War
Entente and Central Powers' forces
The strategies of the Central and Entente Powers on both the western and eastern fronts was primarily influenced by the nature of the terrain.[18] In the east—terrain that allowed for open and moving combat—the Austro-Hungarian First, Fourth, Third and Second Armies were concentrated in Galicia, while the Fifth and Sixth Armies surrounded the Serbian border.[19] Facing this was the Russian Third, Fourth, Fifth and Eighth Armies, while the Second, First, and Fourth Russian Armies opposed the German Eighth Army in the north.
In the West, the German Schlieffen Plan of 1905 dictated that German First and Second Armies would invade Belgium, bypssing French fortifications along the Alsace-Lorraine Region.[20] To the south, the Third through Seventh German Armies would engage the French First through Fifth armies, as the First and Second bypassed Entente defenses in a drive on Paris. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was mobilized and sent to France to assist the French in the defense of the Calais-Cambrai area.[21]
The Outbreak of War: 1914
On 4 August 1914, the German First and Second Armies—having completed their mobilization—attacked the Belgian fort-city of Liège, as the Third Army moved through Luxembourg to the south.[22] By 16 August, Liège had been captured, and six days later the entire country had been neutralized.
The War becomes Global: 1915
Europe
Africa
Asia
The Attrition Battles: 1916
Mutiny and Revolution: 1917
The Tide Turns: 1918
Aftermath
Impact of the War
Casualties
Ending Treaties
National Identities
War Crimes
Advances in Technology and Warfare
Footnotes
- ^ a b Evans 2004, p. 188
- ^ Willmott 2003, p. 10
- ^ Willmott 2003, p. 15
- ^ Keegan 1988, p. 8
- ^ Willmott 2003, p. 307
- ^ Willmott 2003, p. 6
- ^ Keegan 1988, p. 7
- ^ Keegan 1988, p. 11
- ^ a b c Willmott 2003, p. 15
- ^ a b Keegan 1998, p. 52
- ^ a b Willmott 2003, p. 21
- ^ Prior 1999, p. 18
- ^ a b Keegan 1998, pp. 48–49
- ^ Willmott 2003, pp. 22–23
- ^ a b Willmott 2003, p. 26
- ^ Willmott 2003, p. 27
- ^ Willmott 2003, p. 29
- ^ Esposito 1995, p. 8
- ^ Esposito 1995, p. 9
- ^ Willmott 2003, p. 31
- ^ Esposito 1995, p. 7
- ^ Willmott 2003, p. 43
References
- Devries, Kelly; et al. (2008), Battles that Changed Warfare; 1457 BC—1991 AD, Phoenix, Arizona: Amber Books, )
- Esposito, Brigadier General Vincent (1995), The West Point Atlas of War: World War I, New York: Tess Press, OCLC 263846388
- Groom, Winston (2002), A Storm in Flanders, the Ypres Salient, 1914-1918, New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, OCLC 49285528
- OCLC 40261114
- Johnson, John Henry, Stalemate! the Great Trench Warfare Battles of 1915-1917, London: Arms and Armour Press, OCLC 32508799
- Prior, Robin (1999), The First World War, London: Cassell, OCLC 55146939
- Willmott, Hedley Paul (2003), World War I, New York: Dorling Kindersley, OCLC 52541937