Annotation: World War I
World War I [wèrld-wawr-wun]
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The assassination of the Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo was the cause of World War I, or "the Great War", as it was known at the time. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia one month after the acrchduke's assassination, which awas on July 28, 1914. The war between two countries quickly involved other European forces and eventually spread around the world. The War was split into two groups; The Allies, which consisted Russia, Britain, and France, and the Central Powers, which consisted Austria-Hungary and Germany. Other countries later joined one of the groups. The Central Powers took adcvantage in the early stages of the War. However, they were unable to break the Western Front that stressed from Belgium to northeastern France. The deadlock broke when the United States became involved in 1917. The German submarines sank unarmed ships and continued the hosility, thus the US declared war on Germany in April, 1917. Once the United States joined the Western Front, the Allies gained strength and eventually led to their victory. As a result the German, Austrian, and Turkish empires were dismembered, increased the tension in Russia, which ultimately led to the Russian Revolution, and cost the lives of over 8 million people. The literature at that time was also influenced by World War I. Many novels were written about the war, including William Faulkner's Soldiers Pay (1926), Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front (1929), and Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms (1929). Nonfiction books were also written to express the life during war. One of the best nonfiction book was E.E. Cummings' The Enormous Room, explaining the author's experience in the French prison camp. Bibliography "World War I", Academic American Encyclopedia "World War I", The World Book 2000, "World War
I and II, and the Korean War.", The Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature,
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1914
June 28 Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo, Serbia. Jul 28
1915
1917
Dec 3
1918
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