World War I - The Background Story

If you are new to the First World War - or are rusty after many years since history class - the reasons for the so-called 'Great War' can be shrouded in confusion. The Second World War was rather more straightforward: no questions there who did what and who was at fault. But the First World War? I believe many students would find this topic rather boring compared to the Second. But its just gonna have to wait its turn.

World War I was, let's say, a huge argument, lasting from 1914 to 1918, which involved nearly all the biggest powers of the world. It involved two opposing alliances - the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance. The countries of the Triple Entente included France, British Empire and Serbia. The countries of the Triple Alliance included Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.World War I was triggered on 28 June 1914 by the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (heir to the throne of Austria and Hungary) and his pregnant wife Sophie. The assassination was planned by a Serbian terrorist group, called The Black Hand. The man who shot Franz Ferdinand and his wife was a Bosnian revolutionary named Gavrilo Princip. This quickly led to a full-scale war as Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Both country's allies became involved in the war, and soon most of Europe became involved.

The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I, were over 35 million. There were over 15 million deaths and 20 million wounded ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in human history.

By the end of the war the four empires — the Russian, the Ottoman, the German, and the Austro-Hungarian had collapsed because of the war.