Questions about World War I

When and Why did it start

World War 1 timeline 

The US entering the War 

Treaty of Versailles

Casualty Rates 

1) The immediate cause of World War I was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the archduke of Austria Hungary on June 28th, 1914 and the war began one month later on July 28, 1914 when Austria declared war on Serbia. Not too many days later Germany declared war on Russia, then France, and then invaded Belgium which lead to Britain declaring war on Germany. Britain, France and Russia formed the Triple Entente, while Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy comprised the Triple Alliance. 

2) The US entered World War 1 on April 6, 1917. Unrestricted submarine warfare was the main reason President Wilson asked to declare war on Germany on April the 2nd. 4 days later, the US joined their allies (Britain, France, and Russia). 


3) On November 11, 1918, World War I came to an end due to the peace treaty named The Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles ended the war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on June 28, 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. 

4) "The main terms of the Versailles Treaty were:

(1) the surrender of all German colonies as League of Nations mandates;

(2) the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France;

(3) cession of Eupen-Malmedy to Belgium, Memel to Lithuania, the Hultschin district to Czechoslovakia,

(4) Poznania, parts of East Prussia and Upper Silesia to Poland;

(5) Danzig to become a free city;

(6) plebiscites to be held in northern Schleswig to settle the Danish-German frontier;

(7) occupation and special status for the Saar under French control; (8) demilitarization and a fifteen-year occupation of the Rhineland;

(9) German reparations of £6,600 million;

(10) a ban on the union of Germany and Austria;

(11) an acceptance of Germany's guilt in causing the war;

(11) provision for the trial of the former Kaiser and other war leaders;

(12) limitation of Germany's army to 100,000 men with no conscription, no tanks, no heavy artillery, no poison-gas supplies, no aircraft and no airships;

(13) the limitation of the German Navy to vessels under 100,000 tons, with no submarines" (The Terms) 

The United States did not sign the Treaty of Versailles because they disagreed with its terms, specifically, the high price that Germany was to pay for its role as aggressor. Instead, the U.S. negotiated its own settlement with Germany in 1921. 

5) Did Gavrilo Princip regret the assassination of Franz Ferdinand? Was it worth all the deaths?