The Split History of World War 1: 3/4/14

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Prompt: Summarize what you just read.

     The book I read is about World War 1. It tells the two points of view to help people better understand the war. The two sides have very different opinions about the war and a book telling each side separately is very informative. It allows for many new ideas to be explained. The first main event in WW1 is the murder of Franz Ferdinand. He was the next in line to lead Austria-Hungary. Serbia was blamed for the murder and Austria-Hungary wanted to punish them. The only thing stopping them was that Serbia was allied with the powerful Russia who had treaties with France and Britain. Austria-Hungary was not powerful enough to fight all of these countries so they asked their ally, Germany, to support them. Germany, who had a powerful military, agreed and sent Austria-Hungary a "blank check" saying that they would protect them from attack.

    Germany declared war on Russia and France and attacked France through the neutral Belgium. Britain had an alliance with Belgium and declared war on Germany. Germany had made a secret alliance with the Ottoman empire to help fight Russia. Soon most of Europe was at war. Germany attacked France to attempt to knock them out of the war quickly so they could focus on fighting Russia. They had taken most of Eastern France and had fought of Russian attacks. But there was a problem. The German army in France was advancing so quickly that supplies could not keep up with them. Britain and France's armies had built up defenses at the Marne River. When they got to this river the Allies attacked and pushed them back about 65 miles. Retreating the Germans were ordered to dig trenches along the Aisne River and defend the land they had already taken. When the French couldn't push them out they built trenches along the Germans lines to protect themselves from German attacks. This lead to trench warfare.

     The British blockaded Germany's ports keeping food and supplies from being given to them. This resulted in Germany using submarines, or U-boats, to sink ships going to the Allies. This was one of the causes for America entering the war. In 1915 a German submarine sank the Lusitania. Nearly 1,200 passengers died including 128 Americans. Another reason for the Americans entering WWI was the Zimmerman telegram which was sent from the German Foreign Minister to the German ambassador to Mexico. It was suggesting making a treaty with Mexico to help them fight America if they entered the war. Also some historians argue the America entered the war because investments in the Allied countries. When America entered the war their troops were fresh and ready to fight unlike the European armies giving them a large advantage. The Germans surrendered while they still had troops in France. The Ally leaders met and made a peace treaty for Germany to sign called the Treaty of Versailles. There were no German representatives at this meeting and Germany thought it was very unfair. They were forced to sign it by the Allies. It would eventually lead to the beginning of WWII.