Download Introduction A major international conflict fought from 1914 to 1918

Introduction
A major international conflict fought from 1914 to 1918, World War I was the most ---the world
had ever seen to that time. More than --- countries eventually participated, aligned with either the
Allied or the Central powers. The Allies—---—included primarily France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy,
Japan, and, from 1917, the United States. The --- consisted mainly of Germany, Austria-Hungary,
and the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). World War I felled four great imperial dynasties, in Germany,
Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey. It led to revolution in Russia, destabilized Europe, and laid the
foundations for World War II.
On a human scale, the scope of the war was just as monumental. More than --- soldiers were
mobilized for the armies, navies, and emerging air forces. Some --- lost their lives, and more than -- were wounded. In addition, civilian populations worked as never before to produce enormous
quantities of guns, munitions, and other supplies. Because civilians played such an important role,
World War I was the first conflict to be called --The War During 1917 > The United States Declares War
U.S. public opinion had been slowly but steadily setting against Germany since 1914. In January 1917
Germany launched an --- campaign. All vessels, neutrals included, were to be sunk without warning if
found in a zone off the Allied coasts. This was a violation of ---. Further, it was discovered that the
German foreign minister, Arthur Zimmermann, had secretly sent a telegram to the Mexican
government that promised to reward Mexico with vast areas of the southwestern United States in
return for Mexican support against the Americans. Although President Woodrow Wilson's great
desire was for peace, he felt the United States was ---. War was declared on April 6, 1917 (see
United States history; Wilson, Woodrow).
How the War Came to the United States
The United States was a neutral nation when World War I started in 1914. It was an American
tradition that the wars of Europe were not the ---. Under international law the United States as a
neutral had the right to continue its trade with any of the nations at war (see blockade;
international law).
Events soon brought a change in the attitude of the United States toward the war. Germany's
actions caused this change. Most Americans objected to Germany's violation of Belgian neutrality,
and Germany's --- was a violation of international law. Acts of German sabotage in the United
States and the use of --- also helped to change American public opinion. But the trigger of the
nationwide demand for war against Germany was the publication of the Zimmermann Telegram in the
American press on March 1, 1917, revealing Germany's secret overture to Mexico for support in war
against the United States. Americans came to believe that ---would be unsafe if Germany won the
war.
The Peace and Its Results > Period of Totalitarian Aggression
The territorial problems of Europe, however, had never really been settled. In 1929, a --- set in
(see Great Depression). As it spread more and more of the treaty agreements broke down.
Adolf Hitler became head of the German government in 1933 (see Hitler, Adolf). He soon announced
that he intended to reject all the military limitations of the Versailles Treaty. The Allied nations
protested and tried to meet the German challenge by increasing their own armaments.
It soon became clear that --- was in the making. Italy under Benito Mussolini allied itself with
Germany (see Mussolini, Benito). It seized Ethiopia and Albania. Further, the peace settlements at
the end of World War I had forbidden the union of Austria with Germany. In 1934, however,
Hitler's Nazis assassinated Austria's Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss. A few years later Germany
occupied --- Next it moved into Czechoslovakia. Meanwhile, in the Far East, --- invaded Manchuria
and then China.
The major Allied nations offered no military resistance to these acts of totalitarian aggression.
However, when Hitler's troops invaded --- on Sept. 1, 1939, France and Great Britain declared war
on ---.