History of The Causes of World War I in Europe

INDEPHEDIA.com - World War I upheaval beginning until later the onset of World War II. This first world war was a centralized global war in Europe, which began on July 28, 1914 until November 11, 1918. This war was often called the World War or the Great War since it occurred until the start of World War II in 1939.

This war involved all the major powers of the world, which were divided into two opposing alliances, namely the Allies (based on Entente Three which consisted of Great Britain, France, and Russia) and the Central Powers (centered on Alliance Three which consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, but when Austria-Hungary carried out the attack while the alliance was defensive, Italy did not go to war).

The two alliances reorganized (Italy was on the Allies) and expanded when many countries took part in the war. More than 70 million military troops, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the greatest wars in history.

More than 9 million soldiers have died, mainly due to technological advances that have increased the lethal rate of weapons without considering improvements in protection or mobility. World War I is the sixth deadliest conflict in world history, thus paving the way for various political changes such as revolutions in some of the countries involved.

The long-term causes of this war include the imperialist foreign policy of major European powers, including the German Empire, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire, the British Empire, the French Republic and Italy.



The June 28, 1914 assassination of Duke Duke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne, by a Yugoslav nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina was the originator of this war. The killing led to the Habsburg ultimatum against the Kingdom of Serbia.

A number of alliances formed during the previous decades were shaken, so that within a matter of weeks all the major powers were involved in the war; through their colonies, this conflict soon spread throughout the world.

On July 28, the conflict opened with an invasion of Serbia by Austria-Hungary, followed by a German invasion of Belgium, Luxembourg, and France; and Russian attacks on Germany. After the German march in Paris faltered, the Western Front engaged in static attrition battles with trench lines that changed the atmosphere slightly until 1917.

In the East, the Russian army successfully defeated the Ottoman Empire, but was forced to withdraw from East Prussia and Poland by the German army. Other fronts were opened after the Ottoman Empire participated in the 1914 war, Italy and Bulgaria in 1915, and Romania in 1916.

The Russian Empire collapsed in March 1917, and Russia withdrew from the war after the October Revolution at the end of that year. After German attacks along the western front in 1918, the Allies forced German troops to retreat in a series of successful attacks and US troops began entering the trenches.

Germany who had problems with the revolution at that time agreed to a ceasefire on 11 November 1918 which would later be known as Armistice Day. This war ended in victory on the Allies.

The events on the British front were as chaotic as the front, because the parties involved tried to mobilize their human power and economic resources to wage a total war. At the end of the war, four major imperial powers - the German Empire, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottomans - broke up.

The successor states of the first two empires lost a great deal of territory, while the last two were completely dispersed. Central Europe is divided into several small countries. The League of Nations was formed with the hope of preventing conflicts like this in the future.

European nationalism which arose due to war and the dissolution of the empire, the impact of German defeat and problems with the Treaty of Versailles is believed to be a contributing factor to the outbreak of World War II. (SJ.IN/ENG/*)