WWI - The Basics.

In the early 1900s the world was divided into nations ruled by empires, most of them European. These empires strove to gain land for reasons such as power, resources and reputation. There were constant feuds over land and the empires began to form alliances. Europe was divided into two dominating powers; the triple entente and the triple alliance. The triple entente included Britain, France and Russia while the triple alliance included Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.

The violence began when the Serbians living under Austria-Hungarian rule became restless for their independence. On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, a young Serbian. This violent outburst led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia. However, the Russians’ alliance with Serbia meant that Russia would help with defence. Germany saw Russia mobilizing and declared war against them. In turn, France was drawn into the war through its alliance with Russia. The Germans then devised the Shlieffen plan, an attempt to attack France via Belgium which led to Brittan being pulled into the war too.

British colonies and dominions such as Australia, Canada and India offered military and financial assistance to the British Empire and eventually people from all over the world were involved in the war.

In places like Australia the idea of going to war was popular. This was until they realized that war is violent and horrific and left both mental and physical scars. The government resorted to propaganda in order to recruit men.

image from:http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/europe/02/euro_borders/img/map3.gif