The term "world war" was first used in September 1914 by German biologist and

philosopher Ernst Haeckel, who claimed that "there is no doubt that the course and
character of the feared 'European War' ... will become the first world war in the
full sense of the word,"[26] citing a wire service report in The Indianapolis Star
on 20 September 1914.

Prior to World War II, the events of 1914–1918 were generally known as the Great
War or simply the World War.[27][28] In October 1914, the Canadian magazine
Maclean's wrote, "Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War."[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]
Background
Main article: Causes of World War I
Political and military alliances
Map of Europe focusing on Austria-Hungary and marking the central location of
ethnic groups in it including Slovaks, Czechs, Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, Romanians,
Ukrainians, Poles.
Rival military coalitions in 1914: Triple Entente in green; Triple Alliance in
brown. Only the Triple Alliance was a formal "alliance"; the others listed were
informal patterns of support.

For much of the 19th century, the major European powers had tried to maintain a
tenuous balance of power among themselves, resulting in a complex network of
political and Military alliances.[32] The biggest challenges to this were Britain's
withdrawal into so-called splendid isolation, the decline of the Ottoman Empire and
the post-1848 rise of Prussia under Otto von Bismarck. Victory in the 1866 Austro-
Prussian War established Prussian hegemony in Germany, while victory over France in
the 1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War unified the German states into a German Reich
under Prussian leadership. French desire for revenge over the defeat of 1871, known
as revanchism, and the recovery of Alsace-Lorraine became a principal object of
French policy for the next forty years (see French–German enmity).[33]

In 1873, to isolate France and avoid a war on two fronts, Bismarck negotiated the
League of the Three Emperors (German: Dreikaiserbund) between Austria-Hungary,
Russia and Germany. Concerned by Russia's victory in the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish
War and its influence in the Balkans, the League was dissolved in 1878, with
Germany and Austria-Hungary subsequently forming the 1879 Dual Alliance; this
became the Triple Alliance when Italy joined in 1882.[34][35]

The practical details of these alliances were limited, since their primary purpose
was to ensure cooperation between the three Imperial Powers, and to isolate France.
Attempts by Britain in 1880 to resolve colonial tensions with Russia and diplomatic
moves by France led to Bismarck reforming the League in 1881.[36] When the League
finally lapsed in 1887, it was replaced by the Reinsurance Treaty, a secret
agreement between Germany and Russia to remain neutral if either were attacked by
France or Austria-Hungary.

In 1890, the new German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, forced Bismarck to retire and
was persuaded not to renew the Reinsurance Treaty by the new Chancellor, Leo von
Caprivi.[37] This allowed France to counteract the Triple Alliance with the Franco-
Russian Alliance of 1894 and the 1904 Entente Cordiale with Britain, while in 1907
Britain and Russia signed the Anglo-Russian Convention. The agreements did not
constitute formal alliances, but by settling long-standing colonial disputes, they
made British entry into any future conflict involving France or Russia a
possibility. These interlocking bilateral agreements became known as the Triple
Entente.[38] British backing of France against Germany during the Second Moroccan
Crisis in 1911 reinforced the Entente between the two countries (and with Russia as
well) and increased Anglo-German estrangement, deepening the divisions that would
erupt in 1914.[39]
Arms race
SMS Rheinland, a Nassau-class battleship, Germany's first response to the British
Dreadnought

The creation of the German Reich following victory in the 1871 Franco-Prussian War
led to a massive increase in Germany's economic and industrial strength. Admiral
Alfred von Tirpitz and Wilhelm II, who became Emperor in 1890, sought to use this
to create a Kaiserliche Marine or Imperial German Navy to compete with Britain's
Royal Navy for world naval supremacy.[40] In doing so, he was influenced by US
naval strategist Alfred Mahan, who argued possession of a blue-water navy was vital
for global power projection; Tirpitz translated his books into German, and Wilhelm
made them required reading.[41] However, it was also driven by Wilhelm's admiration
of the Royal Navy and desire to outdo it.[42]

This resulted in the Anglo-German naval arms race. Yet the launch of HMS
Dreadnought in 1906 gave the Royal Navy a technological advantage over its German
rival, which they never lost.[40] Ultimately, the race diverted huge resources to
creating a German navy large enough to antagonise Britain, but not defeat it. In
1911, Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg acknowledged defeat, leading to the
Rüstungswende or ‘armaments turning point', when Germany switched expenditure from
the navy to the army.[43]

This was driven by Russia's recovery from the 1905 Revolution, specifically
increased investment post-1908 in railways and infrastructure in its western border
regions. Germany and Austria-Hungary relied on faster mobilisation to compensate
for fewer numbers; it was concern at the closing of this gap that led to the end of
the naval race, rather than a reduction in tension elsewhere. When Germany expanded
its standing army by 170,000 men in 1913, France extended compulsory military
service from two to three years; similar measures taken by the Balkan powers and
Italy, which led to increased expenditure by the Ottomans and Austria-Hungary.
Absolute figures are hard to calculate, due to differences in categorising
expenditure, while they often omit civilian infrastructure projects with a military
use, such as railways. However, from 1908 to 1913, defence spending by the six
major European powers increased by over 50% in real terms.[44]
Conflicts in the Balkans
Photo of large white building with one signs saying "Moritz Schiller" and another
in Arabic; in front is a cluster of people looking at poster on the wall.
Sarajevo citizens reading a poster with the proclamation of the Austrian annexation
in 1908

In October 1908, Austria-Hungary precipitated the Bosnian crisis of 1908–1909 by

officially annexing the former Ottoman territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which
it had occupied since 1878. This angered the Kingdom of Serbia and its patron, the
Pan-Slavic and Orthodox Russian Empire. The Balkans came to be known as the "powder
keg of Europe".[45] The Italo-Turkish War in the 1911–1912 was a significant
precursor of the World War I as it sparked nationalism in the Balkan states and
paved the way for the Balkan Wars.[46]

In 1912 and 1913, the First Balkan War was fought between the Balkan League and the
fracturing Ottoman Empire. The resulting Treaty of London further shrank the
Ottoman Empire, creating an independent Albanian state while enlarging the
territorial holdings of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece. When Bulgaria
attacked Serbia and Greece on 16 June 1913, it sparked the 33-day Second Balkan
War, by the end of which it lost most of Macedonia to Serbia and Greece, and
Southern Dobruja to Romania, further destabilising the region.[47] The Great Powers
were able to keep these Balkan conflicts contained, but the next one would spread
throughout Europe and beyond.
Prelude
Sarajevo assassination
Main article: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
This picture is usually associated with the arrest of Gavrilo Princip, although
some[48][49] believe it depicts Ferdinand Behr, a bystander.

On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian

Empire, visited the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo. A group of six assassins (Cvjetko
Popović, Gavrilo Princip, Muhamed Mehmedbašić, Nedeljko Čabrinović, Trifko Grabež,
and Vaso Čubrilović) from the Yugoslavist group Mlada Bosna, who had been supplied
with arms by the Serbian Black Hand, gathered on the street where the Archduke's
motorcade was to pass, with the intention of assassinating him. The political
objective of the assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary's South Slav
provinces, which Austria-Hungary had annexed from the Ottoman Empire, so they could
be combined into a Yugoslavia.

Čabrinović threw a grenade at the car but missed. Some nearby were injured by the
blast, but Ferdinand's convoy carried on. The other assassins failed to act as the
cars drove past them.

About an hour later, when Ferdinand was returning from a visit at the Sarajevo
Hospital with those wounded in the assassination attempt, the convoy took a wrong
turn into a street where, by coincidence, Princip stood. With a pistol, Princip
shot and killed Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. Although they were reportedly not
personally close, the Emperor Franz Joseph was profoundly shocked and upset. The
reaction among the people in Austria, however, was mild, almost indifferent. As
historian Zbyněk Zeman later wrote, "the event almost failed to make any impression
whatsoever. On Sunday and Monday (28 and 29 June), the crowds in Vienna listened to
music and drank wine, as if nothing had happened."[50][51] Nevertheless, the
political effect of the murder of the heir to the throne was significant, and was
described by historian Christopher Clark on the BBC Radio 4 series Month of Madness
as a "9/11 effect, a terrorist event charged with historic meaning, transforming
the political chemistry in Vienna."[52]
Expansion of violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Crowds on the streets in the aftermath of the anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo, 29 June
1914

The Austro-Hungarian authorities encouraged the subsequent anti-Serb riots in

Sarajevo, in which Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks killed two Bosnian Serbs and damaged
numerous Serb-owned buildings.[53][54] Violent actions against ethnic Serbs were
also organised outside Sarajevo, in other cities in Austro-Hungarian-controlled
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. Austro-Hungarian authorities in
Bosnia and Herzegovina imprisoned and extradited approximately 5,500 prominent
Serbs, 700 to 2,200 of whom died in prison. A further 460 Serbs were sentenced to
death. A predominantly Bosniak special militia known as the Schutzkorps was
established and carried out the persecution of Serbs.[55][56][57][58]
July Crisis
Main articles: July Crisis, German entry into World War I, Austro-Hungarian entry
into World War I, and Russian entry into World War I

The assassination led to a month of diplomatic manoeuvring between Austria-Hungary,

Germany, Russia, France and Britain, called the July Crisis. Austria-Hungary
correctly believed that Serbian officials (especially the officers of the Black
Hand) had been involved in the plot to murder the Archduke, and wanted to finally
end Serbian interference in Bosnia.[59] However, the Austrian-Hungarian foreign
ministry had no proof of Serbian involvement, and a dossier that it belatedly
compiled to make its case against Serbia was riddled with errors.[60] On 23 July,
Austria-Hungary delivered to Serbia the July Ultimatum, a series of ten demands
that were made intentionally unacceptable, in an effort to provoke a war with
Serbia.[61] Serbia decreed general mobilisation on 25 July. Serbia accepted all the
terms of the ultimatum except for articles five and six, which demanded that
Austrian-Hungarian representatives be allowed to assist in suppressing subversive
elements inside Serbia's borders and to participate in the investigation and trial
of Serbians linked to the assassination.[62][63] Following this, Austria broke off
diplomatic relations with Serbia and, the next day, ordered a partial mobilisation.
Finally, on 28 July 1914, a month after the assassination, Austria-Hungary declared
war on Serbia.
Ethno-linguistic map of Austria-Hungary, 1910. Bosnia-Herzegovina was annexed in
1908.

On 25 July, Russia, in support of Serbia, declared partial mobilisation against

Austria-Hungary.[64] On 30 July, Russia ordered general mobilisation. German
Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg waited until the 31st for an appropriate response, when
Germany declared Erklärung des Kriegszustandes, or "Statement on the war status".
[19][65] Kaiser Wilhelm II asked his cousin, Tsar Nicolas II, to suspend the
Russian general mobilisation. When he refused, Germany issued an ultimatum
demanding its mobilisation be stopped, and a commitment not to support Serbia.
Another was sent to France, asking her not to support Russia if it were to come to
the defence of Serbia. On 1 August, after the Russian response, Germany mobilised
and declared war on Russia. This also led to the general mobilisation in Austria-
Hungary on 4 August.

The German government issued demands to France that it remain neutral whilst they
decided which deployment plan to implement, it being extremely difficult to change
the deployment once it was underway. The modified German Schlieffen Plan, Aufmarsch
II West, would deploy 80% of the army in the west, while Aufmarsch I Ost and
Aufmarsch II Ost would deploy 60% in the west and 40% in the east. The French did
not respond, but sent a mixed message by ordering their troops to withdraw 10 km (6
mi) from the border to avoid any incidents, and at the same time ordered the
mobilisation of their reserves. Germany responded by mobilising its own reserves
and implementing Aufmarsch II West. The British cabinet decided on 29 July that
being a signatory to the 1839 treaty about Belgium did not oblige it to oppose a
German invasion of Belgium with military force.[66]

On 1 August, Wilhelm ordered General Helmuth von Moltke the Younger to "march the
whole of the ... army to the East" after being informed that Britain would remain
neutral if France was not attacked (and, possibly, that her hands might, in any
case, be stayed by crisis in Ireland).[67][68] Moltke told the Kaiser that
attempting to redeploy a million men was unthinkable, and that making it possible
for the French to attack the Germans "in the rear" would prove disastrous. Yet
Wilhelm insisted that the German army should not march into Luxembourg until he
received a telegram sent by his cousin George V, who made it clear that there had
been a misunderstanding. Eventually the Kaiser told Moltke, "Now you can do what
you want."[69][70]
Cheering crowds in London and Paris on the day war was declared.

For years, the French had been aware of intelligence indicating that Germany
planned to attack France through Belgium. General Joseph Joffre, chief of staff of
the French military from 1911, inquired about the possibility of moving some French
troops into Belgium to pre-empt such a move by Germany, but France's civilian
leadership rejected this idea. Joffre was told that France would not be the first
power to violate Belgian neutrality and that any French move into Belgium could
come only after the Germans had already invaded.[71] On 2 August, Germany occupied
Luxembourg, and on 3 August declared war on France; on the same day, they sent the
Belgian government an ultimatum demanding unimpeded right of way through any part
of Belgium, which was refused. Early on the morning of 4 August, the Germans
invaded; King Albert ordered his military to resist and called for assistance under
the 1839 Treaty of London.[72][73][74] Britain demanded Germany comply with the
Treaty and respect Belgian neutrality; it declared war on Germany at 19:00 UTC on 4
August 1914 (effective from 23:00), following an "unsatisfactory reply".[75]
Progress of the war
Further information: Diplomatic history of World War I
Opening hostilities
Confusion among the Central Powers

The strategy of the Central Powers suffered from miscommunication. Germany had
promised to support Austria-Hungary's invasion of Serbia, but interpretations of
what this meant differed. Previously tested deployment plans had been replaced
early in 1914, but those had never been tested in exercises. Austro-Hungarian
leaders believed Germany would cover its northern flank against Russia.[76]
Germany, however, envisioned Austria-Hungary directing most of its troops against
Russia, while Germany dealt with France. This confusion forced the Austro-Hungarian
Army to divide its forces between the Russian and Serbian fronts.
Serbian campaign
Main article: Serbian Campaign of World War I
Serbian Army Blériot XI "Oluj", 1915

Austria invaded and fought the Serbian army at the Battle of Cer and Battle of
Kolubara beginning on 12 August. Over the next two weeks, Austrian attacks were
thrown back with heavy losses, which marked the first major Allied victories of the
war and dashed Austro-Hungarian hopes of a swift victory. As a result, Austria had
to keep sizeable forces on the Serbian front, weakening its efforts against Russia.
[77] Serbia's defeat of the Austro-Hungarian invasion of 1914 has been called one
of the major upset victories of the twentieth century.[78] The campaign saw the
first use of medical evacuation by the Serbian army in autumn of 1915 and anti-
aircraft warfare in the spring of 1915 after an Austrian plane was shot down with
ground-to-air fire.[79][80]
German Offensive in Belgium and France
Main article: Western Front (World War I)
German soldiers in a railway goods wagon on the way to the front in 1914. Early in
the war, all sides expected the conflict to be a short one.
A French bayonet charge at the Battle of the Frontiers; by the end of August,
French casualties exceeded 260,000, including 75,000 dead.

When the war began, the German Order of Battle placed 80% of the army in the West,
with the remainder acting as a screening force in the East. The plan was to quickly
knock France out of the war, then redeploy to the East and do the same to Russia.

The German offensive in the West was officially titled Aufmarsch II West, but is
better known as the Schlieffen Plan, after its original creator. Schlieffen
deliberately kept the German left (i.e. its positions in Alsace-Lorraine) weak to
lure the French into attacking there, while the majority were allocated to the
German right, so as to sweep through Belgium, encircle Paris and trap the French
armies against the Swiss border (the French charged into Alsace-Lorraine on the
outbreak of war as envisaged by their Plan XVII, thus actually aiding this
strategy).[81] However, Schlieffen's successor Moltke grew concerned that the
French might push too hard on his left flank. Consequently, as the German Army
increased in size in the years leading up to the war, he changed the allocation of
forces between the German right and left wings from 85:15 to 70:30. Ultimately,
Moltke's changes meant insufficient forces to achieve decisive success and thus
unrealistic goals and timings.[82][dubious – discuss]

The initial German advance in the West was very successful: by the end of August
the Allied left, which included the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), was in full
retreat; French casualties in the first month exceeded 260,000, including 27,000
killed on 22 August during the Battle of the Frontiers.[83] German planning
provided broad strategic instructions, while allowing army commanders considerable
freedom in carrying them out at the front; this worked well in 1866 and 1870 but in
1914, von Kluck used this freedom to disobey orders, opening a gap between the
German armies as they closed on Paris.[84] The French and British exploited this
gap to halt the German advance east of Paris at the First Battle of the Marne from
5 to 12 September and push the German forces back some 50 km (31 mi).

In 1911, the Russian Stavka had agreed with the French to attack Germany within 15
days of mobilisation; this was unrealistic and the two Russian armies that entered
East Prussia on 17 August did so without many of their support elements.[85] The
Russian Second Army was effectively destroyed at the Battle of Tannenberg on 26–30
August but the Russian advance caused the Germans to re-route their 8th Field Army
from France to East Prussia, a factor in Allied victory on the Marne.[citation
needed]

By the end of 1914, German troops held strong defensive positions inside France,
controlled the bulk of France's domestic coalfields and had inflicted 230,000 more
casualties than it lost itself. However, communications problems and questionable
command decisions cost Germany the chance of a decisive outcome, and it had failed
to achieve the primary objective of avoiding a long, two-front war.[86] This
amounted to a strategic defeat; shortly after the Marne, Crown Prince Wilhelm told
an American reporter; "We have lost the war. It will go on for a long time but lost
it is already."[87]
Asia and the Pacific
Main article: Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I

New Zealand occupied German Samoa (later Western Samoa) on 30 August 1914. On 11
September, the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force landed on the
island of Neu Pommern (later New Britain), which formed part of German New Guinea.
On 28 October, the German cruiser SMS Emden sank the Russian cruiser Zhemchug in
the Battle of Penang. Japan seized Germany's Micronesian colonies and, after the
Siege of Tsingtao, the German coaling port of Qingdao on the Chinese Shandong
peninsula. As Vienna refused to withdraw the Austro-Hungarian cruiser SMS Kaiserin
Elisabeth from Tsingtao, Japan declared war not only on Germany, but also on
Austria-Hungary; the ship participated in the defence of Tsingtao where it was sunk
in November 1914.[88] Within a few months, the Allied forces had seized all the
German territories in the Pacific; only isolated commerce raiders and a few
holdouts in New Guinea remained.[89][90]
World empires and colonies around 1914
African campaigns
Main article: African theatre of World War I

Some of the first clashes of the war involved British, French, and German colonial
forces in Africa. On 6–7 August, French and British troops invaded the German
protectorate of Togoland and Kamerun. On 10 August, German forces in South-West
Africa attacked South Africa; sporadic and fierce fighting continued for the rest
of the war. The German colonial forces in German East Africa, led by Colonel Paul
von Lettow-Vorbeck, fought a guerrilla warfare campaign during World War I and only
surrendered two weeks after the armistice took effect in Europe.[91]
Indian support for the Allies
Main article: Indian Army during World War I
Further information: Hindu–German Conspiracy, Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition, and
Third Anglo-Afghan War
The British Indian infantry divisions were withdrawn from France in December 1915,
and sent to Mesopotamia.

Germany attempted to use Indian nationalism and pan-Islamism to its advantage,

instigating uprisings in India, and sending a mission that urged Afghanistan to
join the war on the side of Central Powers. However, contrary to British fears of a
revolt in India, the outbreak of the war saw an unprecedented outpouring of loyalty
and goodwill towards Britain.[92][93] Indian political leaders from the Indian
National Congress and other groups were eager to support the British war effort,
since they believed that strong support for the war effort would further the cause
of Indian Home Rule.[citation needed] The Indian Army in fact outnumbered the
British Army at the beginning of the war; about 1.3 million Indian soldiers and
labourers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, while the central
government and the princely states sent large supplies of food, money, and
ammunition. In all, 140,000 men served on the Western Front and nearly 700,000 in
the Middle East. Casualties of Indian soldiers totalled 47,746 killed and 65,126
wounded during World War I.[94] The suffering engendered by the war, as well as the
failure of the British government to grant self-government to India after the end
of hostilities, bred disillusionment and fuelled the campaign for full independence
that would be led by Mohandas K. Gandhi and others.[95]
Western Front
Main article: Western Front (World War I)