World War 1 Started when Archduke Franz Ferdinand heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne was assassinated in Sarajevo. He was killed by Gavrilo Princip a member of the Black Hand. A Balkan war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia was considered inevitable. The rise of ethnic nationalism coincided with the growth of Serbia, where anti-Austrian sentiment was perhaps most apparent. Austria-Hungary had occupied the former Ottoman province of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which had a large Serb population, in 1878. President Woodrow Wilson of the United States and others blamed the war on militarism. Some argued that aristocrats and military élites had too much power in countries such as Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary. War was thus a consequence of their desire for military power and disdain for democracy. This theme figured prominently in anti-German propaganda. The retaliation by Austria-Hungary against the Kingdom of Serbia activated a series of alliances that set off a chain reaction of war declarations. Do to a lot of the propaganda in news papers people felt nationalism towards there countries.
Do to the alliance system to groups emerge. The Triple Entente (Allies) witch consisted of Britain, France, and Russia. The Triple Alliance (Central Powers) consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungry, and Italy. The Balkans was known as a powder keg When Germany declared war on Russia and France they faced a two front war. The plan to avoid this was known as the Schlieffen Plan. The plan was to go through Belgium take France and then go to Russia and defeat them. Germany was unable to take France; a new kind of warfare was used trench warfare which bogged down the war. Trench stretched from the North Sea to the Swiss Alps on the border of France and Germany. The land separating the trenches was known as “no man’s land” a barren expanse of mud pockmarked with shell crates and filled with barbed wire.
Britain put a blockade on Germany so no supplies could go in or out. About 750,000...