| The proximate catalyst for the war was the 28 June 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, by a Bosnian-Serb nationalist, [[Gavrilo Princip]]. Austria-Hungary's resulting demands against the Kingdom of Serbia led to the activation of a series of alliances which within weeks saw all of the major European powers at war. Because of the global empires of many European nations, the war soon spread worldwide. | | The proximate catalyst for the war was the 28 June 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, by a Bosnian-Serb nationalist, [[Gavrilo Princip]]. Austria-Hungary's resulting demands against the Kingdom of Serbia led to the activation of a series of alliances which within weeks saw all of the major European powers at war. Because of the global empires of many European nations, the war soon spread worldwide. |
− | By the war's end, four major imperial powers - Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire - had been militarily and politically defeated, with the latter two ceasing to exist as autonomous countries.The revolutionized [[Soviet Union]] emerged from the Russian Empire, while the map of central Europe was completely redrawn into numerous smaller states The [[League of Nations]] was formed in the hope of preventing another such conflict. The European [[nationalism]] spawned by the war, the repercussions of Germany's defeat, and the Treaty of Versailles would eventually lead to the beginning of [[World War II]] in 1939. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I] | + | By the war's end, four major imperial powers - Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire - had been militarily and politically defeated, with the latter two ceasing to exist as autonomous countries.The revolutionized [[Soviet Union]] emerged from the Russian Empire, while the map of central Europe was completely redrawn into numerous smaller states The [[League of Nations]] was formed in the hope of preventing another such conflict. The European [[nationalism]] spawned by the war, the repercussions of Germany's defeat, and the Treaty of Versailles would eventually lead to the beginning of [[World War II]] in 1939. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I] |