World War 1

World War One was a global war that primarily took place in Europe from 1914 to 1918. Over 40 million casualties resulted from this war, with around 20 million civilian casualties.

The act that is considered to have triggered the events leading to the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne. He was killed by Gavirlo Princip, a Bosnian Serb citizen of Austria-Hungary.

The retaliation by Austria-Hungary against the Kingdom of Serbia activated a series of alliances that set off a chain reaction of war declarations. Within a month most of Europe was in a state of open-warfare.

The war was fought between two major alliances. The Entente Powers which was consisted at first of France, Great Britain, Russia. Later joined by Japan,Italy and the Untited States.

They fought against the Central Powers (named after their location in central Europe). They included Germany and Austria-Hungary and their associated empires.

One of the striking results from the war was a large re-drawing of the map of Europe. Mainly the Central Powers lost land and new nations were formed.

Here is a picture of the map Europe before and after WW1. See how the Central Countries have lost land and new countries have been formed.