At the beginning of the 20th century, the great Europeans powers were in competition for dominance of the continent, for the colonial expansion and for financial control of the world. Between Great Brittany, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia there were agreements and tensions to defend their economic and territorial interests. Nationalist ambitions grew and the naval rivalry between countries, especially between Britain and Germany which aspired to break the British dominance over the seas.

The spark that ignited World War I was struck in Sarajevo, Bosnia, where Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was shot to death along with his wife, by the Serbian nationalist on June 28, 1914. In the middle of the second decade of the century, the countries were prepared for the war. For many countries, that was the “only solution”. Any incident would be motived to break up the war. June 28 of 1914, Franz Ferdinand heir to Austro-Hungarian throne was assassinated by a Bosnian student who wanted to free his nation and bring it back to Serbia. Consequently, Austria-Hungary declared war to Serbia. The student and other nationalists were struggling to end Austro-Hungarian rule over Bosnia and Herzegovina

For many years, they fought from trenches dug into the ground. Germany and had started the First World War. In this war, trucks, large-caliber guns, hot air balloons and airplanes were used for the first time. Under an aggressive military strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan, Germany began by fighting World War I on two fronts, invading France through neutral Belgium in the west and facing Russia in the east. On August 4, 1914, German troops crossed the border into Belgium. World War I, the Germans stormed the heavily fortified city of Liege, using the most powerful weapons in their arsenal to capture the city. Belgian priest who had been accused of inciting civil resistance
THE EASTERN FRONT
Germans and Austro-Hungarians faced to the Russian armies, numerous but poorly equipped and armed. Russian forces invaded the German-held regions of East Prussia and Poland, but were stopped short by German and Austrian forces. Despite that victory, Russia’s assault had forced Germany to move two corps from the Western Front to the Eastern, contributing to the German loss in the Battle of the Marne. Combined with the fierce Allied resistance in France, the ability of Russia’s huge war machine to mobilize relatively quickly in the east ensured a longer, more grueling conflict instead of the quick victory Germany had hoped to win under the Schlieffen Plan...

By the fall of 1918, the Central Powers were crumbling on all fronts. Despite the Turkish victory at Gallipoli, subsequent defeats by the invading forces and an Arab revolt had combined to destroy the Ottoman economy and devastate its land. The Turks signed a treaty with the Allies in late October 1918. November 4. Facing increasingly scarce resources on the battlefield, discontent on the home front, and the surrender of her allies, Germany was finally forced to seek an armistice on November 11, 1918, ending World War I. Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany lost about a tenth of its territory. He resigned from AlsaceLorraine and ceded the Saar coal basin to an international administration under the League. Germany lost Eupen-Malmédy to Belgium and North Schleswig to Denmark. In the east he lost the "Polish corridor" and Danzig, which became autonomous under the League. Although most of the ceded populations were non-German speaking, the losses were bitterly resented. Furthermore, Germany kept only small and weak armed forces and had to pay reparations to the countries it had invaded and whose ships it had sunk. World War I officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919.

The countries were exhausted and bleed to death. • 9 million died because of the war. • 22 million get injured. • 7 million were left disabled • 5 million were declared missing. Four empires were dismembered with the war: Russia, Autria-Hungary, Turkish and Germany. There were revolutions in four of the warring countries in 1918, and the attention of the new governments was shifted away from the grim problem of war losses. A completely accurate table of losses may never be compiled. New States appeared in the European Map. Two great characters emerged: Woodrow Wilson (USA President and proposed the creation of Society of Nations) and Vladimir Lenin (leader of the Bolshevik revolutionaries and proclaimed the world socialist revolution). Similar uncertainties exist about the number of civilian deaths attributable to the war. There were no agencies established to keep records of these fatalities, but it is clear that the displacement of peoples through the movement of the war in Europe and in Asia Minor, accompanied as it was in 1918 by the most destructive outbreak of influenza in history, led to the deaths of large numbers. It has been estimated that the number of civilian deaths attributable to the war was higher than the military casualties, or around 13,000,000. These civilian deaths were largely caused by starvation, exposure, disease, military encounters, and massacres