The History of~World War 1 (Part 1: Prelude to War)

World War 1. Known to some as *"The Great War"*, it was also supposed to be *"The War to end all wars."*

This is the first of a 5-part wiki page series of World War 1.

Part 1 will cover the prelude to war. Events in Europe which led up to the so-called "*Great War."*

## The assassination of Franz Ferdinand

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Empire of Austria-Hungary was trying (and failing) to solve the problem with Serbia (as the nation declared independence from Austria-Hungary who never officially recognized Serbian Independence. So, in hopes to solve this problem, Franz travels to the city of *Sarajevo* (the modern-day capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina).

While in Sarajevo on June 17, 1914. A Serbian separatist movement tried (and failed) to kill the archduke by throwing a small bomb into Franz's open car as it bounced off of Franz's car and blew up the car behind him.

But, Franz decides to stay in Sarajevo to visit the injured people.

The next day (June 18), the driver has taken an unplanned detour and onto a street leading to the Latin Bridge (a bridge in Sarajevo), and a separatist member named Gavrillo Princip (coming out of a bar) saw the Archduke driving along, and seeing an opportunity to assassinate him, took out his gun and shot him fatally in the neck.

More than a month after Franz's assassination, Serbia officially declares war on Austria-Hungary.

But there was more to it than that. Relations in Europe were already deteriorating before the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. You can even say Franz's assassination merely lit a long-smoldering fuse. Other factors also led to the start of the war.

## Arms Race

Europe was also in the middle of an arms race. Especially in the industrial age where weapons such as guns were rapidly evolving. Every nation had its own bolt-action rifle (based off the German Mauser), the European nations also bought into the Maxim Machine Gun (which would become a huge factor in the impending war).

Great Britain and Germany were also in competition in terms of warships, which again would prove to be a huge factor in the war.

## Germany's Jealousy

Great Britain and France had a lot of global colonies, even by the early 20th century, and though Germany did as well (having modern-day Namibia and Tanzania in Africa). Germany wanted more, in fact in terms of colonies, Germany wants to be an equal to its western neighbors (especially Britain which even by the early 20th century held the lion's share of the colonies).

## Land Disputes

Even within the continent of Europe, there were land disputes between countries. Apart from the aforementioned Serbian independence from the empire of Austria-Hungary, France also wants back the region of Alsace-Lorainne which they previously lost to Germany in the *Franco-Prussian War* 30 years before.

Apart from Serbia, Austria-Hungary was also having problems with other ethnic groups living in the empire (some of them heavily and even violently suppressed), likewise, the Ottoman Empire which has been on the decline for some time before the war with the regions in the Balkans rising up against their imperial occupiers.

## Treaty problems

The countries of Europe had alliances with one another (almost like precursors to future treaty organizations such as NATO). But, a lot of these alliance treaties were too much open for interpretation, or which country can back up what. When Serbia declares war on Austria-Hungary, this prompts Serbia's ally at the time: Russia to also declare war on Austria-Hungary and mobilize troops to help Serbia. Because Germany is also an ally of Austria-Hungary, it declares war on Russia, and because of this, France declares war on Germany, and the Germans did the same with France.

Even with this, there were several countries that have officially declared neutrality such as The Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Sweeden, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, and (for the time being) Italy and the USA. Britain took the "hold on, let me think about it" approach.

Confusing, isn't it?

## The first punch

Knowing that a war on this kind of scale was coming, Germany came up with a "battle plan" 2 years before the war. Specifically, it was called the

Knowing that Germany would be dabbed-smacked in the middle of 2 enemies, the high command wanted to come up with a plan where they can effectively fight against both France and Russia.

This plan was to attack France first, and then focus on Russia (which for the time posed a greater threat to Germany than France did). But there were a few problems. France had their border with Germany heavily fortified, the area around it is a natural defense (especially the Ardennes with a thick forest, hills and unpredictable local weather). So this plan was to have Germany invade France by going through Belgium, and that is where the second problem comes in. Belgium is neutral and wasn't willing to let German forces just march into their country.

Belgian forces moved quickly to defend themselves against the German invaders. Though they were defeated easily by the Germans, and this allowed German forces to take Brussels.

This also prompted France to defend its northern border into Belgium so they can protect Paris from Germany (and to prevent a repeat of the Franco-Prussian War).

The German invasion of Belgium also had widespread effects. The big thing is that Great Britain who was considering helping its former enemy (France) in the war, have finally decided to do so as they also declared war on Germany.

So now, the war has begun. But, it wouldn't be a fast-moving war, pretty soon, things will quickly turn into a stalemate with some of the war's biggest and notable battles taking months (even years) to end.

That is what the next page will try to cover. In Part 2, we'll talk about the few battles on both fronts in Europe and how quickly turned into a stalemate, on both fronts. Until Next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.