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Sep 30, 2014 · As the first pan-European War since Napoleon, 'Great' simply indicated the enormous scale of the conflict, much as we might today talk of a 'great storm' or a 'great flood'. However, the term also had moral connotations. The Allies believed they were fighting against an evil militarism that had taken hold in Germany. 'Great War' carried echoes ...
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World War I[b] or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in Europe and the Middle East, as well as in parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific, and in Europe was characterised by ...
World War I (WWI) was known as “the war that will end all war.”. President Woodrow Wilson had hopes that would be true. The armistice came on Nov. 11 at eleven o’clock in 1918. While other conflicts have gotten more notice, we live in an America shaped by WWI.
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- The outbreak of war
World War I began after the assassination of Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand by South Slav nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914.
Read more below: The outbreak of war
Balkan Wars
Read more about why the Balkans became the “powder keg of Europe.”
What countries fought in World War I?
The war pitted the Central Powers (mainly Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey) against the Allies (mainly France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, and, from 1917, the United States).
With Serbia already much aggrandized by the two Balkan Wars (1912–13, 1913), Serbian nationalists turned their attention back to the idea of “liberating” the South Slavs of Austria-Hungary. Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević, head of Serbia’s military intelligence, was also, under the alias “Apis,” head of the secret society Union or Death, pledged to the pursuit of this pan-Serbian ambition. Believing that the Serbs’ cause would be served by the death of the Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph, and learning that the Archduke was about to visit Bosnia on a tour of military inspection, Apis plotted his assassination. Nikola Pašić, the Serbian prime minister and an enemy of Apis, heard of the plot and warned the Austrian government of it, but his message was too cautiously worded to be understood.
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At 11:15 am on June 28, 1914, in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, Franz Ferdinand and his morganatic wife, Sophie, duchess of Hohenberg, were shot dead by a Bosnian Serb, Gavrilo Princip. The chief of the Austro-Hungarian general staff, Franz, Graf (count) Conrad von Hötzendorf, and the foreign minister, Leopold, Graf von Berchtold, saw the crime as the occasion for measures to humiliate Serbia and so to enhance Austria-Hungary’s prestige in the Balkans. Conrad had already (October 1913) been assured by William II of Germany’s support if Austria-Hungary should start a preventive war against Serbia. This assurance was confirmed in the week following the assassination, before William, on July 6, set off upon his annual cruise to the North Cape, off Norway.
The Austrians decided to present an unacceptable ultimatum to Serbia and then to declare war, relying on Germany to deter Russia from intervention. Though the terms of the ultimatum were finally approved on July 19, its delivery was postponed to the evening of July 23, since by that time the French president, Raymond Poincaré, and his premier, René Viviani, who had set off on a state visit to Russia on July 15, would be on their way home and therefore unable to concert an immediate reaction with their Russian allies. When the delivery was announced, on July 24, Russia declared that Austria-Hungary must not be allowed to crush Serbia.
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a faked attack. When a preliminary bombardment ceased, the defending troops would return to their trenches to meet the presumed attack, whereupon the artillery would start firing again and catch the defenders out of their shelters. chit. British slang for a piece of paper; popularized by the Anglo-Indian army.
Oct 29, 2009 · World War I, also known as the Great War, started in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. His murder catapulted into a war across Europe that lasted until 1918 ...
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What did the name 'Great War' mean?
Why was the Great War called 'the Great War for civilisation'?
Was World War 1 a war between the Allies and Central Powers?
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Was the Great War a war to end all wars?
When was the First World War?
Reply. [deleted] • 8 yr. ago. Well again it was called such because, up until 1945, it was the most deadly war in history with the largest scale. Now it's common to call it the First World War/World War I but homers like me still call it the Great War because all the literature of the time calls it such and it's habit. 4.
