The Ottoman Empire was disintegrating due to military losses prior to the war and the push for nationalism within its borders. The same drive toward nationalism occurred in Austria-Hungary. People of different nationalities wanted to live in their own independent nations rather than being forced into an empire that did not serve their needs. When Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a Bosnian Serb in June 1914, it caused Austria-Hungary to undertake a war against Serbia, which it blamed for his death. This war drew in Serbia’s ally Russia, and Austria-Hungary’s ally Germany. Treaty and alliance obligations then brought more countries into the conflict.         

In the first months of war, the invasion of Belgium painted Germany as the aggressor nation, and fierce fighting through Belgium and northern France forced civilians to evacuate. With the Battle of the Marne in September 1914, a system of trench warfare was established on the western front. On the eastern front, Russian troops were poorly equipped and poorly trained and therefore experienced heavy losses. The United States planned to maintain its isolationist foreign policy and continued trading with both sides in the conflict, but Britain’s naval blockade of German ports meant that U.S. trade with Germany was somewhat limited.            

All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/11-2-the-collapse-of-the-ottomans-and-the-coming-of-war            

Welcome to A Journey into Human History.    

This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.       

The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.     

Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction    

Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production.