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riggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand,
the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire,
World War I began in August 1914 when Germany invaded
Belgium and France. On the Eastern Front, Russia agreed
to stop fighting late in 1917 following the Russian
Revolution. The Western Front was stalemated in trench
warfare for three-and-a-half years before the United
States intervened in 1917 on the side of the Allies.
Several events led to U.S. intervention: the sinking
of the Lusitania, a British passenger liner; unrestricted
German submarine warfare; and the Zimmerman note, which
revealed a German plot to provoke Mexico to war against
the United States.
Consequences
1. Nearly 10 million soldiers died and about 21 million
were wounded. U.S. deaths totaled 116,516.
2. Four empires collapsed: the Russian Empire in 1917,
the German and the Austro-Hungarian in 1918, and the
Ottoman in 1922.
3. Independent republics were formed in Austria, Czechoslovakia,
Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, and Turkey.
4. Most Arab lands that had been part of the Ottoman
Empire came under the control of Britain and France.
5. The Bolsheviks took power in Russia.
6. Under the peace settlement, Germany was required
to pay reparations eventually set at $33 billion; accept
responsibility for the war; cede territory to Belgium,
Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, and Poland; give up
its overseas colonies; and accept an allied military
force on the west bank of the Rhine River for 15 years.
Background
World War I killed more people--9 million combatants
and 5 million civilians--and cost more money--$186 billion
in direct costs and another $151 billion in indirect
costs--than any previous war in history. Politically,
it resulted in the downfall of four empires and contributed
to the Bolshevik rise to power in Russia in 1917 and
the triumph of fascism in Italy in 1922. The war allowed
the United States to become the world's leading creditor
and industrial power. Its consequences included the
mass murder of Armenians in Turkey and an influenza
epidemic that killed over 25 million people worldwide.
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