Encyclopedia entry: First World War

First World War. The first world war of the twentieth century raged from 1914 to 1918. Every statesman and senior commander in the Second World War vividly remembered the first; all major policies were influenced by it.

The conflict began in July 1914 with an Austro-Hungarian attack on Serbia. Russia indicated such strong support for Serbia that Germany declared war on Russia, and on Russia's ally France; the German war plan involved an immediate invasion of neutral Belgium. The UK therefore entered the war also, against Germany, in defence of the Belgian neutrality that all the European Great Powers had long guaranteed. By mid-August 1914 there was a European civil war raging, with ...

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