Monday marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I, a date that ushered in a century of wars, bloodshed and the destruction of empires.

History tells us the “War to End All Wars” was started by the June 28, 1914, assassination of Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in the city of Sarajevo in the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

But by the time, Austria-Hungary officially declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914, an entire month after the assassination, much of Europe had already become entangled in the dispute, said Robert Clemm, assistant professor of history at Grove City College.

A complicated web of alliances and antagonism between the European powers led to World War I.

The two sides facing off, said Clemm, were the Triple Alliance of Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy and the Triple Entente of France, Russia and England.

But Clemm said the sides were fluid. For example, Italy at least initially wouldn't honor its treaty commitments and stayed neutral when the war broke out, before eventually being drawn onto the Triple Entente's side, and the Ottoman Empire came into the war on the side of the Triple Alliance.

Part of the cause of World War I was France's enmity toward the German Empire, said Clemm.

“France was defeated in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, and Germany had taken French territories,” said Clemm. “France realized it had lost the war because it was isolated and didn't have allies. It found one in Russia which gave Germany the prospect of fighting a two-front war.”

“Germany was allied with Austro-Hungary. Even though they had fought a war in 1866, they were united by a common culture,” said Clemm.

“England always tried to stay apart from the continent, but then it sees Germany as a threat because of Germany's big ship-building program,” said Clemm. “England allied with France after they had settled their differences in Africa.”

“Ultimately, the German invasion of Belgium brings England into the war, despite its divided Cabinet,” said Clemm.

Deborah Kruger, history instructor at Butler County Community College, agreed alliances and militarism contributed to the war's start and added two more factors: imperialism and nationalism.

Kruger said Britain and Germany were active in Africa as they were involved in the last of the imperialist land grabs which became yet another source of friction between the two nations.

And nationalism, Kruger added, “This was extremely important in the late 19th century. Ethnic groups went on to destabilize the Austro-Hungarian Empire. (German Chancellor Otto von) Bismarck said, 'The Balkans were the powder keg of Europe.'”

Kruger said there had been two minor wars in 1912, the first and second Balkan wars between Serbians, Croatians and the Ottoman Empire. These wars didn't spill over into all of Europe.

When the war did start, she said, “Everyone assumed it would be over by Christmas. Looking back we know the misguidedness of that.”

The start of hostilities ushered in three and a half years of trench warfare and a horrific number of casualties.

Partly, Kruger said, it was because the car, machine gun, modern artillery and airplane were all introduced in this war.

“Nobody had any idea they could be used for warfare,” said Kruger.

“In the Battle of the Somme (July 1 to Nov. 8, 1916) in the first few hours there were 60,000 casualties to the British alone,” Kruger said. “It was complete carnage. The officers were blamed for fighting an old-style war and leading their men like lambs to the slaughterhouse.”

Clemm said that while the Treaty of Versailles contained a war guilt clause blaming Germany, “a more nuanced view is there is more than enough guilt to go around” for a conflict that killed an estimated 17 million military personnel and civilians and left another 20 million “wounded, scarred and broken.”

Clemm said 4 percent of the population of Germany was killed and 4.3 percent of France. In contrast, the United States lost 0.1 percent of its population in World War I.

As an illustration of the carnage, in today's American population of 313 million, Germany and France's proportional losses would equal 12.5 million dead, he added.“Look at how much social fracture we had in Vietnam with the loss of 50,000 in the war,” said Clemm.“It hit a generation, it really did,” said Kruger. “We can say that in the first year, every household in France got a letter. Women never married, there just weren't any men.”“In Britain,” Kruger added, “at first they were excited, this was going to be our war, a chance for the nobility to make names for themselves. They led charges.”The entire class structure starts to spiral downward as a result of the war, she said.Clemm said during the Battle of Verdun (Feb. 21-Nov. 18, 1916) eight entire villages were eradicated.More than 2 million French and German soldiers were locked in the 10-month struggle.On the Somme front alone, 400,000 men died, Clem said.“Technology equals industrial war equals massive operations,” he said.By 1917, the third year of the war, which by now was a true world war with troops from Australia, India, the French African colonies and Vietnam involved, the Americans, remained on the sidelines.“The U.S. had an isolationist sentiment,” Clemm said. “The feeling was 'This isn't our war, why do we need to care?'”Kruger pointed out a large portion of the American population wasn't disposed to be allied with France or England. There were about 8 million Americans of German descent and a large Irish-American population that hated the British.“President Wilson was aligned with Britain and France and began the slow process of pushing America to get involved,” Clemm said.Germany was viewed in a poor light in the United States, Clemm added, because it had invaded neutral Belgium as part of a plan to defeat France.“The problem is they invade Belgium. The Belgians fight back. It was called the Rape of Belgium. It made Germany look like the aggressor,” said Kruger.“There were the German submarine attacks and German attacks on land that were seen as being brutal, harsh methods to deal with civilians. Germany was seen as not doing the proper thing,” Clemm said.Clemm said at the beginning of 1917 Germany resumed all-out submarine warfare on all commercial ships headed toward Britain.And Germany also offered Mexico a military alliance against the United States, which became public in the infamous “Zimmermann Telegram.” This outraged Americans. Congress declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917.The U.S. committed a token force initially as it transitioned to a full mobilization, Clemm said.“In 1917 Russia pulls out of the war,” said Kruger. “The Germans gamble they can wrap things up before the U.S. can mobilize.”Germany launched a massive offensive in March 1918, Clemm said, and while it made initial gains, eventually the German Army collapsed.“The German offensive doesn't work, it takes the wind out of their sails,” Clemm said. “They know America is coming. Morale in the army starts to collapse, units start to surrender.”“After the war, the soldiers claim the German government stabbed them in the back.” Clemm said, but it wasn't the case.The first action for American forces was in May 1918 in the Battle of Cantigny.Eventually, 2 million men of the American Expeditionary Force, including 2,600 from Butler County, were in France at the end of the war on Nov. 11, 1918.According to Luanne Eisler, genealogist at the Butler Public Library, records indicate that 7,075 Butler County men registered for the draft and 2,600 were called up.“This war saw a great change in the organization and development of military units,” said Eisler. “A unit wasn't made up entirely of men from one town or locality.”However, Kruger said, a lot of county men wound up in the 323rd Field Artillery Regiment.Eisler said 36 are listed as casualties, either killed in action, succumbed to wounds or other causes.The Americans lost 116,000 men, making it the third-largest loss of life for the American military after the Civil War and World War II.The armistice created a changed world, Clemm said.“Germany was defeated. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was split. The Ottoman Empire was destroyed. Russia was in revolution. Britain had lost a generation and France had a devastated economy and a devastated countryside,” he said.The war led to far-reaching changes in society.For example, Kruger said, the United States passed the Espionage and Sedition Acts of 1917-18 which put restrictions on free speech.“If we were in danger, the government can retract the First Amendment right to speech,” said Kruger. “Today we would consider it way out of bounds.”“The Sedition Act was never repealed. Edward Snowden (wanted for allegedly revealing classified security documents) was charged under it,” Clemm said.American veterans came back to unemployment as the war industries scaled back.“We focus so much on World War II, we tend to forget World War I, especially in America. We forget about the carnage and how it completely sets the stage for World War II,” said Kruger.“We do not have the 20th century without World War I. It's such an understudied war. I'm personally fascinated by it,” said Kruger.

June 28, 1914: Franz Ferdinand assassinated at SarajevoJuly 5, 1914: Kaiser William II promised German support for Austro-Hungary against SerbiaJuly 28, 1914: Austro-Hungary declared war on SerbiaAug. 1, 1914: Germany declared war on RussiaAug. 3, 1914: Germany declared war on France and invaded Belgium.Aug. 4, 1914: Britain declared war on GermanyAug. 23, 1914: Germany invaded FranceAug. 26, 1914: Russian army defeated at Tannenburg and Masurian LakesSept. 6, 1914: Battle of the Marne startedOct. 18, 1914: First Battle of YpresOct. 29, 1914: Turkey entered the war on Germany’s side. Trench warfare started to dominate the Western FrontJan. 19, 1915: The first zeppelin raid on Britain took placeFeb. 19, 1915: Britain bombarded Turkish forts in the DardanellesApril 25, 1915: Allied troops landed in GallipoliMay 7, 1915: The Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boatMay 23, 1915: Italy declared war on Germany and Austro-HungaryAug. 5, 1915: The Germans captured Warsaw from the RussiansSept. 25, 1915: Start of the Battle of LoosDec. 19, 1915: The Allies started the evacuation of GallipoliFeb. 21, 1916: Start of the Battle of VerdunApril 29, 1916: British forces surrendered to Turkish forces at Kut in MesopotamiaMay 31, 1916: Battle of JutlandJune 4, 1916: Start of the Brusilov OffensiveJuly 1, 1916: Start of the Battle of the SommeAug.. 10, 1916: End of the Brusilov OffensiveFeb. 1, 1917: Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare campaign startedApril 6, 1917, United States declared war on GermanyApril 16, 1917: France launched an unsuccessful offensive on the Western FrontJuly 31, 1917: Start of the Third Battle at YpresOct. 24, 1917: Battle of Caporetto – the Italian Army was heavily defeatedNov. 6, 1917: Britain launched a major offensive on the Western FrontNov. 20, 1917: British tanks won a victory at CambraiDec. 5, 1917: Armistice between Germany and Russia signedDec. 9, 1917: Britain captured Jerusalem from the TurksMarch 3, 1918: The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed between Russia and GermanyMarch 21, 1918: Germany broke through on the SommeApril 9, 1918: Germany started an offensive in FlandersJuly 15, 1918: Second Battle of the Marne started. The start of the collapse of the German armyAug. 8, 1918: The advance of the Allies was successfulSept. 19, 1918: Turkish forces collapsed at MegiddoOct. 4, 1918: Germany asked the Allies for an armisticeOct. 29, 1918: Germany’s navy mutiniedOct. 30, 1918: Turkey made peaceNov. 3, 1918: Austria made peaceNovember 9, 1918: Kaiser William II abdicatedNov. 11, 1918: Germany signed an armistice with the Allies – the official date of the end of World War ISOURCE: www.history learningsite.co.uk