World Was I & II : Origins, Course and Settlements
One of the greatest events of the 20th century was the outbreak of World War I in 1914 which was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. Many historians have noted at least three major reasons why the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand forced so many nations into war-first, the competition for colonies and for military and economic might was a prime concern among the major European powers; second, the ethnic and political conflicts between and within the empires in eastern Europe were steadily rising before the war began in 1914, and third, the system of military alliances that were present in Europe at the time of the outbreak of the war had left the continent divided into two armed and hostile camps (Arnold-Foster 89). For the United States, World War I was, at first, not taken seriously by America's political and social leaders, especially by President Woodrow Wilson who, along with some other prominent American politicians, wanted to stay out of the war. As Europeans from many nations on the western front fought in the trenches and Russia faced a political crisis in the form of the Bolshevik Revolution, Americans sought to determine exactly how and in what way
America's decision to enter World War I, despite the protests of those that favored an isolationist policy, came a very important time for the Allies that were fighting Germany. In 1917, Germany and its allies achieved several military successes that seemed to place them on the verge of total victory, due to Germany placing strong forces along the Western Front which for the Allies proved to be disastrous when efforts were made to crush the German resistance. Furthermore, the Allies suffered a major defeat on the Italian Front in the autumn of 1917 when Austria-Hungary defeated and forced back an invading Italian force in the Battle of Caporetto. The worst news for the Allies, however, came with the withdrawal of Russia from the war which was precipitated by the abdication of Czar Nicholas II and the takeover of the Russian government by the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin. The lessons learned from World War I were especially significant for the Allies, for they came to realize the importance of heavy ground-based artillery, the use of armored vehicles such as tanks and the power associated with the use of airplanes which greatly changed the face of warfare. Although the Allies had depended to a great degree on ground-based troops as in World War I, the theater of operations in Europe required new tactics in the form of aerial bombing by massive aircraft such as the B-52 and the British-made Lancaster bomber. These aircraft
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Approximate Word count = 968
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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