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World War I was waged in Europe from 1914 to 1918. It was the first global war in history. World War I also saw the first use of [[Machine Gun]]s, poisonous gas, large artillery, and armored tanks. It was a "total war" because the governments involved took control over the economy and factories, giving first priority to the goods needed for war. Wage and price controls were imposed, there was rationing of goods for civilians, and free speech was limited. The governments put out propaganda to maximize support for the war and dislike of the enemy. World War I caused an entire generation of men to die. Yet, despite this great cost, the war accomplished very little and only set the stage for [[World War II]] twenty years later.
World War I, also known as '''The Great War''', was waged in Europe from 1914 to 1918. It was the first global war in history. World War I also saw the first use of [[Machine Gun]]s, poisonous gas, large artillery, and armored tanks. It was a "total war" because the governments involved took control over the economy and factories, giving first priority to the goods needed for war. Wage and price controls were imposed, there was rationing of goods for civilians, and free speech was limited. The governments put out propaganda to maximize support for the war and dislike of the enemy. World War I caused an entire generation of men to die. Yet, despite this great cost, the war accomplished very little and only set the stage for [[World War II]] twenty years later.
On one side of the war were the Central Powers, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. On the other were the Allies of Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Japan, and beginning in 1917, the United States. Although Germany was only forty-three years old when war broke out, it was confident that it could defeat any European opponent.
On one side of the war were the Central Powers, Austria-Hungary, the Second German Empire, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. The Allies consisted of the British and French Empires, the Tsarist Russian Empire, Italy, Japan, and after 1917, the United States. Although German Empire was only forty-three years in existence when war broke out, it's aim was to achieve domination of the European continent.
=== Great Battles of World War I ===
=== Great Battles of World War I ===
=== Russia ===
=== Russia ===
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As the United States was entering the war on the side of the Allies, Russia was having the [[Communist Revolution]] which would later cause it to withdraw from the side of the Allies and leave the war altogether. The Communist Revolution was in turn caused by lack of Russian success against German forces and hyperinflation caused by unsustainable military spending by the Russian government.
As the United States was entering the war on the side of the Allies, Russia suffered two succesive internal Revolutions which would later caused it to withdraw from the side of the Allies and leave the war altogether. The [[February Revoultion]] overthrew the centuries old monarchial regime of the Tsar; the [[October Revolution]] ended any hopes for democracy within the former Tsarist territories for another two generations. The lack of success against the German and Austrian Empires, and the hyperinflation caused by unsustainable military spending by the Russian government led to much internal discontent and economic chaos.
losses and hardship of the war had weakened Russian [[Czar Nicholas II]]. He abdicated the throne in March 1917 in favor of a provisional government heade by [[Alexander Kerensky]]. Hopes for a democratic revolution were existant at this time. But in October 1917, [[Vladimir Ilyich Lenin]], and the [[Communist Party]], which was never strong enough to challenge the Czar, overthrew the fledgling provisional government. The Communists later executed every member of the Czar's family including the children.
Lenin became the founder of the Soviet state. He was both a writer and a revolutionary, a rare combination. He was the brother the "bomb thrower" [[Alexander Ulyanov]] who was hanged for his involvement in terrorist activity and an assination attempt on Czar Alexander III in 1887. An atheist, he personally converted in 1889 to [[Marxism]]. He obtained a law degree shortly afterwards, and by 1895 was a subversive who was arrested and sent to the Tsarist gulag along the Lena River in frigid Siberia where he adopted the name Lenin after the place of his internment. Once he served his time he left for Zurich, where he developed his ideas further and became a leader of the [[Bolsheviks]]. He was returned to Russia by the Germans in the wake of chaos during the Kerensky regime with the hope to led the Bolsheviks to power and negotiate a peace settlement with the Germans. After the Versailles Treaty failed to recognize the settlement between Germany and the Soviet Unions in the [[Treaty of brest-Litovsk]], he then ruled the Soviet Union and imposed a system of Marxism-Leninism (communism) that remained in force there until the 1990s.
=== The Western Front ===
=== The Western Front ===