World+War+One

**Ethan and Macire** **Grade 4**
 * By Taylor, Jabari****,**

The First World War began in 1914. It was a brutal and bloody war, and this is how it all started. Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. That was an excuse for Austria-Hungary to attack Serbia. Since Germany had an alliance with Austria-Hungary, and France and Russia had alliances with Serbia, there were already five countries involved at the beginning of the war. Without alliances, there would have been a battle between two countries. But since there were alliances, it eventually became a World War. Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated by a man named Princip. Princip was part of a gang called the Black Hand, which was a group of Serbs who lived in Bosnia-Herzogovina. The Serbs who lived in Bosnia wanted to be part of Serbia, so they could be independent. Bosnia was under the control of Austria-Hungary, and Archduke Ferdinand was going to be the ruler of Austria-Hungary, so the Black Hand planned to kill him. And they succeeded. Archduke Ferdinand was in a car in Sarajevo; when he was just about to make a u turn, Princip jumped out of a bush and shot him and his wife with an automatic pistol. They did not survive. That’s how Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated and how World War I began.

This assassination led to World War I because Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia, and both countries had alliances. There were two main powers: the Allies and the Central Powers. At the beginning of the war the Allied Powers were France, Russia, Serbia, England and Italy. The Central Powers were Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria. France and Russia promised to protect Serbia when Austria-Hungary attacked. So Germany declared war on France and Russia. Germany wanted to go through Belgium to attack France, and Belgium said no because it was neutral. England declared war on Germany because France was allied with England.

World War I was one of the deadliest wars because of the new technology of the early 1900’s. Machine guns were one of the new technologies. They shot well over 200 bullets per minute. Before the machine gun was invented, soldiers used rifles for warfare, which were slower than machine guns. The warplane was also a new technology of the early 1900’s. Warplanes had guns on the wings, or near the propellers. Warplanes could shoot in all directions, and drop bombs on enemies. Another new weapon was mustard gas. Mustard gas was a chemical weapon which burned the skin and lungs. People who were harmed by mustard gas couldn’t defend themselves. Germans also used a new invention called the u boat, which was a warfare submarine. U boats were deadly because they could destroy boats from below water without the boats detecting them. These were some of the new technologies of the early twentieth century which made World War I so deadly.

Trenches were very important for offense and defense in World War I. The trenches were dugout ditches that were 6 to 14 feet deep. They were used for frontline warfare. Soldiers equipped as snipers could shoot from the trenches, and the trenches were their cover. They had sandbags, barbed wire and mines between each trench to keep their enemies out, and to protect themselves. Some trenches were to keep the wounded, and some were to keep soldiers on reserve. There were series of trenches going all across France, because that’s where most of the war went on. Germany built trenches to block allied soldiers from attacking the land the Germans had taken over. The Allies made trenches to protect their soldiers, and to stop the Germans from taking more territory. That’s why trenches were useful in the war.

The United States was an ally supporter, but it didn’t join the war until April 6, 1917. One of the two major reasons the United States joined the war was that a German u boat had attacked a British ship, called the Lusitania, and 128 American citizens had died. The second reason was that the Germans sent a telegram saying they wanted an alliance with Mexico, and they wanted Mexico to tell Japan to join the Central Powers. The telegram was called the Zimmerman telegram because it was sent to the German ambassador to Mexico by Arthur Zimmerman. Because of the telegram, Woodrow Wilson changed his mind about the US not fighting, and made a speech. He said that the world must be made safe for democracy, and he wanted the United States to declare war on Germany. And that is how and why the United States entered the war.

One of the regiments getting ready to fight in World War I was a group of Black soldiers from Harlem, New York. They were called the 369th Regiment, also known as the Harlem Hellfighters. The Harlem Hellfighters had to train with broomsticks because the United States didn’t give them guns to train with. The US government didn’t think they were good enough to get weapons because of the color of their skin. When the US had to go to France to fight in the war they gave the Harlem Hellfighters a ship that was old and over-used. The ship broke down as soon as it left the harbor. It got fixed, and the Harlem Hellfighters made it to France. When they got to France, the US made them unload ships instead of fighting. The reason the Harlem Hellfighters couldn’t fight with the United States army was that they were Black, and the US judged people by the color of their skin. Since the Harlem Hellfighters didn’t get to fight with the Americans, they fought with the French troops. The Harlem Hellfighters were good soldiers. None of their troops was taken prisoner by the Central Powers. The Harlem Hellfighters helped the Allies win the war. After the war, the 369th Regiment got medals of honor from the French.

In 1918 the Central Powers were having difficulties with famines and the rapid loss of their troops. So they signed an armistice with the Allied Powers, telling the Allied Powers that they surrendered. Finally, the deadly, destructive war ended on November 11, 1918. About 8,500,000 people had been killed, and 21,000 were wounded. People thought that World War I would be the war to end all wars, but they didn’t know that there would be an even more brutal war in about twenty years.

After the war ended, the Allied Powers made a treaty to punish Germany for all the damage they had done. It was called the Treaty of Versailles, because it was created in France, in the Palace of Versailles. The treaty said that Germany had to take full responsibility for the war, and pay the damages. Germany was not allowed to be allied with Austria-Hungary anymore. They were not allowed to have poison gas, aircraft for war or tanks. Their troops were decreased to 100,000 men. The west of the Rhineland had to be a demilitarized zone. The Allies thought the Treaty of Versailles was going to stop Germany from starting any wars. Little did they know that it would be the cause of World War II, twenty one years later.