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The Impact of World War 1
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on Europe. Borders changed dramatically
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World War I (1914–1918) had a major impact with the creation of many new countries.
Emperors and kings lost their thrones and political revolutions broke out in many
countries. We’ll look briefly at the war and
Soldiers returning home from the war found a muchchanged world.
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World War I
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the peace treaties that followed it.
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The war was sparked by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of the Austrian empire, in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. He was shot by a Serb who hoped to see the Austrian province become part of the Kingdom of Serbia. Austria attacked Serbia and this triggered a crisis between Europe’s main powers that plunged Europe into war by the start of August 1914. During the war, the main European powers were divided into two alliances:
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The Central Powers of Germany, Austria–Hungary and Turkey.
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The Allies, led by Britain, France and Russia. Italy joined them in 1915.
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The Germans advanced into France but were stopped at the first Battle of the Marne. Trenches were then constructed by both sides. Conditions in these trenches were very poor. For the next four years, generals found it difficult to make a decisive breakthrough and battles usually resulted in heavy casualties. In 1916, two of the worst battles occurred at Verdun and the Somme. It is estimated that one million men lost their lives during the Battle of the Somme. On the Eastern Front, the Germans defeated the initial Russian invasion and advanced into the Russian Empire. The Russians had more success against the Austrians, but any gains they made were lost when the Germans sent men to help their Austrian ally. There was fighting in the Alps between the Italians and the Austrians. In Turkey, an attempted landing by British troops was defeated at Gallipoli. The Balkans was also the scene of bloody struggles between the Allies and the Central Powers.
THE IMPACT OF WORLD WAR 1 ❘ 1
Dictatorship and Democracy_Case Study A_2.indd 1
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