Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28th, 2014…100 years ago today. Four days later Germany and Russia declared war on each other.

The powers of Europe were divided into two main divisions with Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy comprising one camp and France and Russian making up the other. If Germany backed Austria-Hungary against Serbia and the Russians backed Serbia, then Germany would be forced to go to war against Russia and Russia’s ally, France. This is exactly what happened.

The majority of those who enlisted did so eagerly because they thought it would be a glorious war…one that would be over by Christmas. They thought it was the War to End All Wars.

WWI was the first major war in over 40 years. It became a global war that reached beyond the countries of Europe into the Balkans and South Africa. This was a war fought in trenches, in deserts, in mountains, at sea and by air. The vast distances and in many cases the difficult terrain created great challenges to both sides in terms of effective communication, transporting supplies and troops, and simply protecting their interests.

WW1 was the first major war in over 40 years. It lasted 4 years, 3 months and 14 days!