While wars have always been devastating, and catastrophic for the fighters, none is more devastating than the two World Wars. These were not just regular wars, between a few countries, but instead spread to nearly every continent on Earth. Also, these wars were the first and only to be global, and to be fought with advanced weapons, including machine guns. Today, I’m going to be talking to you about one of the two most devastating wars to world.
The first World War started extremely differently than the second one did. In the first World War, it wasn’t because of a countries actions, but because of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir of the Astro-Hungarian empire. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was traveling to the Bosnian capital: Sarajevo. While he was driving down the road, a group of six Serbian assassins awaited him. They attacked him while on the road, but didn’t succeed. Instead, the only people that were harmed were innocent people. Those innocent people were rushed to the hospital, and the Archduke, escaped unharmed. However, the Archduke, worried about the casualties, went to the hospital to see them. When leaving, he accidentally turned the wrong corner, and there the assassins were. The Archduke and his wife were both shot and killed.
As imagined, Franz Ferdinand’s dad, the ruler of Astro-Hungarian empire: Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria, was outraged. Therefore, one July 28th, 1914, the Astro-Hungarian empire declared war on Serbia. The Serbians, however, gained the friendship of many countries, including the British, Japanese, Romanian, Italian, and Soviet forces. The Astro-Hungarian forces acquired the help of Germany, Bulgaria, and the Ottomon Empire. They Astro-Hungarian forces became known as the Central Powers, and the Serbian forces became the Allie Power.
On the 12th of August, 1914, the Astro-Hungarian empire attacked Serbia. The Astro-Hungarian empire originally believed that the German Forces would be with them, but because of some misunderstanding, that was not the case. Serbia, with the help of some of it’s allies, forced the Astro-Hungarians out of the land. Many battles took place, such as the first battle of Marne, and the Second Battle of Ypres, and the Battle of Verdun, which lasted 10 months. Two years into the war, nobody had made much of a gain. It was in late 1916 when the Germans and the Central powers finally started losing. After ten months of the brutal Battle of Verdun, the German forces tried for a truce. However, they rejected the offer. In 1917-1918, the German forces were defeated, over and over, largely due to the United States, which had decided to join the war after Germany had offered Mexico an offer to help it regain old territory, in return for help against the allies. In the summer of 1918, the Central Forces finally surrendered. That ended the 4 years of battle amongst the world.
That is what happened in what was supposed to be the war that ended all wars. However, only a couple of years later, the second world war started. Hopefully, there will never be another one of these wars ever again.
DEC-XZ 