What started World War 1 was the assassination of the archduke of Austria-Hungary and his wife.
- Happened on July 28, 1914
- Supposedly, nobody actually cared about the assassination.
- They used the assassination as an excuse to wage war, they didn't realize that the treaties, would turn it into all out warfare.
- Serbia gave them an ultimatum with only a few changes, but Austria-Hungary thought that was a good enough reason to go to war.
- Russia mobilized an army in Serbia's defense.
- Germany and Austria had come up with a treaty before they decided to wage war.
- France had an agreement with Russia and went to war with Germany. Germany declared war against Belgium so they would have access to France.
- Britain was allied to France, so they declared war on Germany. Germany did not expect that to happen because they were not closely bonded to France. But, Britain had an old alliance with Belgium so they decided to help.
- Britain had colonies in Canada, India, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand.
- Japan had a treaty with Britain.
- The United States were supposed to be neutral but the German submarines were hindering our ships, who were helping our allies, so we went to war.
- The war ended on November 11, 1918.