what happened at the beginning of world war 1
World War I On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb supporter of Yugoslav nationalism, assassinated the Austro-Hungarian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand while he was visiting Sarajevo. The instability caused by competing Russian and Austro-Hungarian objectives in the Balkans meant this led to a diplomatic crisis, which ended with Austria-Hungary issuing an ultimatum to Serbia. [12][13] Interlocking alliances meant the crisis ultimately involved all the major European powers as well as their respective colonial empires and the conflict rapidly spread across the globe.
Alexander I of Russia The campaign was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars. The reputation of Napoleon was severely shaken, and French hegemony in Europe was dramatically weakened. The Grande ArmÃ©e, made up of French and allied invasion forces, was reduced to a fraction of its initial strength. These events triggered a major shift in European politics. France's ally Prussia, soon followed by Austria, broke their imposed alliance with France[32] and switched sides. This triggered the War of the Sixth Coalition.
World War I In January 1917, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, realizing it would mean American entry. The German Foreign Minister, in the Zimmermann Telegram, invited Mexico to join the war as Germany's ally against the United States. In return, the Germans would finance Mexico's war and help it recover the territories of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.[150] The United Kingdom intercepted the message and presented it to the U.S. embassy in the U.K. From there it made its way to President Wilson who released the Zimmermann note to the public, and Americans saw it as casus belli. Wilson called on antiwar elements to end all wars, by winning this one and eliminating militarism from the globe. He argued that the war was so important that the U.S. had to have a voice in the peace conference.[151] After the sinking of seven U.S. merchant ships by submarines and the publication of the Zimmermann telegram, Wilson called for war on Germany,[152] which the U.S. Congress declared on 6 April 1917.
World War I Prior to World War II, the events of 1914â€“1918 were generally known as the Great War or simply the World War.[28][29] Contemporary Europeans also referred to it as "the war to end war" or "the war to end all wars" due to their perception of its then-unparalleled scale and devastation.[30] After World War II began in 1939, the terms became more standard, with British Empire historians, including Canadians, favouring "The First World War" and Americans "World War I".[31]