It was on July 28, 1914 that the first hostilities of World War One commenced. That means that yesterday (pretty much still today for me since I am still up and about) was the 100th anniversary of its first hostilities. The first artillery salvo of the war was fired on Serbia by the Austro-Hungarian Empire in preparation for an invasion of Serbia to avenge the death of Franz Ferdinand, the heir presumptive to that empire, and his wife Sophie who was assassinated in Sarajevo by a Yugoslav national, Gavrilo Princip, exactly one month before on June 28th.
The irony of WWI was that when it commenced it was thought by the most of involved world leaders that it would be over quickly, within months at most, with minimal losses. The war lasted until November 11, 1918 and was one of the bloodiest conflicts ever. There were 38,880,500 military casualties consisting almost 10,000,000 dead, 7,750,000 missing in action and almost 21,220,000 wounded in action. Those were only the military casualties (source).
It is often referred to as the first modern war and many of the weapons we use in warfare today were first used in battle in WWI. Those weapons included large scale gas warfare, the tank, the submarine fired torpedo, the depth charge and so on. Read about it here or at any of the many available websites covering it or in many more books published about the War to End All Wars.
All the best,
Glenn B
The irony of WWI was that when it commenced it was thought by the most of involved world leaders that it would be over quickly, within months at most, with minimal losses. The war lasted until November 11, 1918 and was one of the bloodiest conflicts ever. There were 38,880,500 military casualties consisting almost 10,000,000 dead, 7,750,000 missing in action and almost 21,220,000 wounded in action. Those were only the military casualties (source).
It is often referred to as the first modern war and many of the weapons we use in warfare today were first used in battle in WWI. Those weapons included large scale gas warfare, the tank, the submarine fired torpedo, the depth charge and so on. Read about it here or at any of the many available websites covering it or in many more books published about the War to End All Wars.
All the best,
Glenn B
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