Questions about WWI

Sources

firstworldwar.com 

americaslibrary.gov

history.com

Questions and Answers 

1. When did World War I (The Great War) begin, and Why?  (What was the immediate cause?) Between what two groups of allies was it fought?  Give the name and member countries for each of the opposing sides.

            

            1. The spark that actually caused World War I to happen was on June 28 1914 when Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which whom was the heir of Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated. The two groups that fought were the Allies and the Central Powers. The Allies were Great Britain, Russia, and France and the Central Powers were Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Turkey.

1. When and why did the United States enter the war?

2. The United States finally entered the war on April 6, 1917 when Germany’s policy of unrestricted submarine warfare seriously threatened America’s commercial shipping.

1. When and why did World War I come to an end?  

3. World War I finally came to halt on November 11, 1918 when Germany had formally surrendered and all the nations agreed to stop fighting while they negotiated terms of peace. On June 28 1919, Germany and all the Allied Nations signed the Treaty of Versailles which formally ended the World War I. 

1. What were the terms of the major agreement ending the war?  Why did the United States not ratify this treaty, even though President Wilson had played such a major role in negotiating it?

             4. The terms of the major agreement that ended the war were negotiated among the Allied powers its 15 parts and 440 articles reassigned German boundaries and assigned liability for reparations. After five years, Germany agreed to pay reparations under the Dawes Plan and Young Plan. But those plans were soon cancelled in 1932, and Hitlers rise to power rendered moot the remaining terms of the treaty. The United States did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles because it objected to its terms, specifically, the responsibility that Germany was going to claim since they were the aggressor. 

1. Come up with a question of your own.  What would you like to know?  What do the facts about World War I make you wonder?

               

 5. When I started these questions I automatically compared World War I to World War II and it crossed my mind do the people in Germany, now a days, still talk about the two wars and the major losses of both of them. It also dawned on me the differences of allies in the two wars, and how the allies are completely different in World War II….weird. 

 Images 

                                               A chart of World War military 1 Deaths

                                                                          A chart of World War 1 causality rates