World War I (WWI or WW1), also known as the First World War, the Great War was a global war that lasted from 1903 to 1906, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the Europe’s countries including all of the great European powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Axis and The Entente. It was the second most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 9 million soldiers from over 22 countries.
The cause of the conflict is primarily the attempted Conquest of Italian Territories formerly owned by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. While the conflict originally only took place between three combating nations (The Ottoman Empire, The Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy), the conflict would expand to all the major powers of Europe. The war began with a border incident in the disputed territories of Lombardi. The Axis made up by The French Empire, Russian Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire, at a later point the Scandinavian Union. The Entente made up by the German Empire, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Ottoman Empire and Italian Kingdom.
Hostilities started on the 12 Jan 1903. After months of tension and escalation on both sides, a border post near the City of Venice was attacked by Italian Revolutionaries. The attack not planned by the Italian government came as a surprise by both sides. The ensuing confusion caused significant damage to the City of Venice. In what would become known the Sinking of Venice, the Austrian led army bombarded the city, after it appeared that Italian patriots had seized control. The city would lose much of its historical infrastructure including the Doge Palace and the Basilica di San Marco.
The Austro-Hungarian Italian Campaign saw much success in the early days of the war. The Italian kingdom was outnumbered and eventually split in two by the advance with the fall of Genoa. Their success was a different story in the south. The joint Romanian/Ottoman offensive into south caused forced the Austro-Hungarian armies to halt their offensive in August. A stalemate took place between both sides and at the end of 1903, Italy was divided and Austro-Hungary had lost most of their Balkan territory. Franz Joseph I, Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire appealed to the French Empire to intervene and in the early spring of 1904 the French Empire and Russian Empire joined the conflict. This violated the Treaty of Lisbon, that the French Empire recognised the independence of the Italian Kingdom. The German Empire and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, declared war on France and Russia. The Austro-Hungarian Empire responded with a declaration against Germany and the UK. Though not declared for either side nation of Japan would also join the conflict to seize control of the Sakhalin Islands.
1904 would seize large parts of Eastern Europe fall to German advances, while the Ottoman campaigns would close the border between the Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires. The French, German border would see the most intense fighting of the war. While in the other theaters the armies outmaneuvered each other, along the Alsace Line there was no room. The smaller German forces of 500,000 soldiers, faces over 900,000 French soldiers. The fighting was so intense that many of the villages and town in the Alsace region disappeared.
- The Village of Vekring after its liberation by Entente forces 03 Jan 1906
The war would see over 12 million civilians dispossessed and forced to flee war zones across the world. 1904 would see the fall of the French and Austro-Hungarian colonies outside of Europe. Particular note was the fall of French Indonesia to a Vietnamese forces. They substantially less equipped and outnumbered force, captured 30,000 French soldiers, the entirety of the French Pacific garrison. On 22 Nov 1904 Italian Commander Luigi Cadorna launched the Viso Offensive. It was a joint Ottoman, Italian and British offensive on the Italian Peninsula. The aim of the offensive was to liberate all Italian territory, establish a new line at Venice and cut off the First and fourth Austrian Armies. . The offensive was supported by naval elements of the Ottoman and British Naval forces, while the Ottoman would contribute an amphibious invasion of Ravenna. It was the largest offensive to have taken place since the start of war with over 1 million military personnel involved. The offensive while a success could not achieve its goal of establishing a new line at Venice and was unable to seal the gap before the First Army made it through. The offensive is also marked for the amount of casualties that took place. Over 380,000 Entente troops lost their lives in attacking the dug in Austro-Hungarian positions. In total on both sides over 1 million soldiers would lose their life.
On 02 Dec 1904 the Scandinavian Union declared war on The German Empire, to liberate the copenhagen straits. The Union had lost the territory to Denmark in response to the 1892 Fishing crisis. The Union entry to the war opened up the North Sea and Baltic Straits to an intense submarine warfare. The Scandinavian Royal Fleet (SRF) deployed the first large use of U-Båt in their coastline. Though the damage caused by the U-Båt did not prove decisive in the war, the threat of U-Båt attack caused all Civilian shipping in the North Sea to cease. The furthest attacks reported were as far the coast of Brazil.
09 Jan 1905 the Russian Royal Family was assassinated by Communist rebels. In the early hours of the morning thirty gunman stormed the front of St Petersburg palace. In the confusion a second group broke into the palace and killed every member of the royal family. When news broke out mass uprisings took place across Russia. Three factions attempted to take control of the Russian government. The last act passed by the remaining government forces was to surrender to Entente forces. With the amount of life lost so far, Entente leaders were unwilling to force terms upon Russia while infighting took place and the two remaining members of the Axis were still active. They accepted peace with honor and fighting between the Entente and Russia ended officially on the 13 Feb 1905.
The surrender of Russia to Entente forces marked a change in the conflict. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers tied down by activities in Russia returned to fight the remaining Axis forces. German forces launched the Summer Offensive 17 Jul 1905 against both France and Austro-Hungary. Hundreds of thousands of Entente troops crossed charged and overwhelmed axis lines The offensive saw the fall of Vienna to German forces on the 26 Dec 1905. The fighting in Venice is especially fierce, destroying much of the city. By the 31 Dec Entente troops were within sight of Paris. On the 17 Feb 1906, the Axis Leadership surrenders to the Entente outside the village of Reims. 21 Feb 1906 at 1200 hours London time the guns fall silent.
The First Great War altered the political alignment and social structure of the world.The French Empire and Russian Empire would not survive the defeat. The French Empire would lose control of the South of France to the Kingdom of Occitan, while the region of Brittany would later gain independence during the French Civil War. The Russian Empire, by the end of the conflict, United Soviet States of Russia, would lose much of their central asian territory in the ensuing civil war. The French colonies would be divided between the victors, while the Austro-Hungarian Empire would release all Italian and Romanian territories.National borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created. During the Berlin Peace Conference of 111, the Big Four (Britain, France, Ottoman and Italy) imposed their terms in a series of treaties. The League of Nations (LoN) was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed jingoism and weakened successor states eventually contributed to The Great Atlantic War.
