The Great War

On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife Sophie, were assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist.  The reason was his opposition to the Austro-Hungarian Empire ruling over parts of the Balkans, in south-eastern Europe.  

Austria-Hungary blamed the Serbian government for the attack.

The Russian Empire supported Serbia.  Germany was an ally of Austria-Hungary.  France and Great Britain were allies of Russia.  In August 1914, with each side having long been preparing, the Great War began.  It was not until World War II that it became known as World War I.

During the 1916 US presidential campaign, the Democratic Party  used the slogan, "He (President Woodrow Wilson)  kept us out of war."  This was significant because German submarines had attacked cruise ships travelling the high seas around Great Britain, their enemy.

In April of 1915, a German submarine sank the British cruise ship, Lusitania, near the British coast after having left New York. Almost 1,200 people perished in the attack, including many Americans.  Prior to its departure, the German Embassy in Washington published a warning to travelers on ships flying the British flag found to be in waters around Great Britain did so at great risk.  In fact, material to support its war effort was put on the Lusitania in New York by the British government.  

Obviously, there was a great anti-German outcry in the USA as a result of the Lusitania.  However, the Wilson administration successfully pressured the German government "to suspend unrestricted submarine warfare."

In November of 1916, Wilson won re-election.  Early in 1917, Germany again started attacking neutral shipping (which could be carrying valuable cargo to its enemy) in areas around Great Britain.  Five American merchant ships were sunk.  American public opinion shifted to favoring war.  On April 2, 1917, President Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany, which would "make the world safe for democracy."  Really?  Such a war would be "a war to end war."  Really?  

By this time, the Great War had been going on for three bloody years with no military victory in sight.  It was a stalemate with German, French and British armies facing each other across trenches in western Europe.  Germany feared the entry of thousands of fresh American troops could tip the balance against it.  

Before things got worse, Germany launched an offensive in the spring of 1918.  Its army pushed the front westward to within 75 miles of Paris.  The French capital was shelled forcing some residents to flee.  However, the offensive stalled.  British, French and American forces (the Allies) started pushing the Germans back to where they had started before their offensive began.  

In the summer of 1918, Allied forces launched their own campaign which kept pushing the Germans further and further back.  Finally, on November 11, 1918 (100 years ago today), an armistice was signed signaling a German surrender and an end to the Great War.  US involvement won the war but the US suffered over 300,000 casualties in one year of fighting.  Was it worth it?

A final peace treaty (The Treaty of Versailles) was signed on June 28, 1919 (5 years after the assassination).  It required Germany "to disarm, make ample territorial concessions, and make reparations."  This German humiliation and its aftermath led to the rise of the Third Reich a mere fourteen years later.  Twenty years after the above treaty was signed, Europe was at war again.  

America's entry into the Great War "most likely foreclosed the possibility of a negotiated peace among belligerent powers that were exhausted from years mired in trench warfare."  How the history of the world would have been different had America stayed home we'll never know.