World War I

From Infoshop OpenWiki

World War I was a War primarily limited to Europe and to some extent the Middle East. The main contenders of the war were Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey against France, Great Britain, Russia (and to some extent Italy, the United States, and Japan). It ended with the defeat of the Central Powers.

This was the first war fought by capitalists, all wars thereto were fought by feudal empires, and with the great technological advances created by the new class of working people, this war would be the world's most deadly. Germany had established itself as the most powerful nation in Europe after the Franco-Prussian War, and was eager to flex its muscles once again and win more territory and thus economic power. An excuse for war was needed, and for this the old fashioned aristocracy retained some usefulness to the capitalists. When a Serbian nationalist assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria at Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, this was reason enough.