Introduction
World War I was the result of leaders’ aggression towards other countries which was supported by the rising nationalism of the European nations. Economic and imperial competition and fear of war prompted military alliances and an arms race, which further escalated the tension contributing to the outbreak of war.

Nationalism
At the settlement of the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the principle of nationalism was ignored in favor of preserving the peace. Germany and Italy were left as divided states, but strong nationalist movements and revolutions led to the unification of Italy in 1861 and that of Germany in 1871. Another result of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 was that France was left seething over the loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany, and Revanche was a major goal of the French. Nationalism posed a problem for Austria-Hungary and the Balkans, areas comprised of many conflicting national groups. The ardent Panslavism of Serbia and Russia’s willingness to support its Slavic brother conflicted with Austria-Hungary’s Pan-Germanism.

Imperialism
Another factor which contributed to the increase in rivalry in Europe was imperialism. Great Britain, Germany and France needed foreign markets after the increase in manufacturing caused by the Industrial Revolution. These countries competed for economic expansion in Africa. Although Britain and France resolved their differences in Africa, several crises foreshadowing the war involved the clash of Germany against Britain and France in North Africa. In the Middle East, the crumbling Ottoman Empire was alluring to Austria-Hungary, the Balkans and Russia.

Bismarck and Alliances
World War I was caused in part by the two opposing alliances developed by Bismarckian diplomacy after the Franco-Prussian War. In order to diplomatically isolate France, Bismarck formed the Three Emperor’s League in 1872, an alliance between Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary. When the French occupied Tunisia, Bismarck took advantage of Italian resentment towards France and created the Triple Alliance between Germany, Italy and Austria- Hungary in 1882. In exchange for Italy’s agreement to stay neutral if war broke out between Austria-Hungary and Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary would protect Italy from France. Russia and Austria-Hungary grew suspicious of each other over conflicts in the Balkans in 1887, but Bismarck repaired the damage to his alliances with a Reinsurance Treaty with Russia, allowing both powers to stay neutral if the other was at war.

Collapse of Bismarckian Alliances
However, after Bismarck was fired by Kaiser William II in 1890, the traditional dislike of Slavs kept Bismarck’s successors from renewing the understanding with Russia. France took advantage of this opportunity to get an ally, and the Franco- Russian Entente was formed in 1891, which became a formal alliance in 1894. The Kruger telegram William II sent to congratulate the leader of the Boers for defeating the British in 1896, his instructions to the German soldiers to behave like Huns in China during the Boxer Rebellion, and particularly the large- scale navy he was building all contributed to British distrust of Germany.

As a result, Britain and France overlooked all major imperialistic conflict between them and formed the Entente Cordiale in 1904. Russia formed an Entente with Britain in 1907 after they had reached an understanding with Britain’s ally Japan and William II had further alienated Russia by supporting Austrian ambitions in the Balkans. The Triple Entente, an informal coalition between Great Britain, France and Russia, now countered the Triple Alliance. International tension was greatly increased by the division of Europe into two armed camps.

Arms Race
The menace of the hostile division led to an arms race, another cause of World War I. Acknowledging that Germany was the leader in military organization and efficiency, the great powers of Europe copied the universal conscription, large reserves and detailed planning of the Prussian system. Technological and organizational developments led to the formation of general staffs with precise plans for mobilization and attack that often could not be reversed once they were begun. The German von Schlieffen Plan to attack France before Russia in the event of war with Russia was one such complicated plan that drew more countries into war than necessary.

Armies and navies were greatly expanded. The standing armies of France and Germany doubled in size between 1870 and 1914. Naval expansion was also extremely competitive, particularly between Germany and Great Britain. By 1889, the British had established the principle that in order to maintain naval superiority in the event of war they would have to have a navy two and a half times as large as the second-largest navy. This motivated the British to launch the Dreadnought, invented by Admiral Sir John Fisher, in 1906. The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 had demonstrated how effective these battleships were. As Britain increased their output of battleships, Germany correspondingly stepped up their naval production, including the Dreadnought. Although efforts for worldwide disarmament were made at the Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907, international rivalry caused the arms race to continue to feed on itself.

Crises in Africa
The friction of an armed and divided Europe escalated into several crises in Morocco and the Balkans which nearly ended in war. In 1905, Germany announced its support of independence for Morocco, the African colony which Britain had given France in 1904. The British defended the French, and war was avoided by a international conference in Algeciras in 1906 which allowed France to make Morocco a French protectorate.

Bosnian Crisis of 1908
Another conflict was incited by the Austria-Hungarian annexation of the former Turkish province of Bosnia in 1908. The Greater Serbian movement had as an object the acquisition of Slavic Bosnia, so Serbia threatened war on Austria-Hungary. Russia had pledged their support to Serbia, so they began to mobilize, which caused Germany, allied with Austria-Hungary, to threaten war on Russia. The beginning of World War I was postponed when Russia backed down, but relations between Austria- Hungary and Serbia were greatly strained.

Morocco II
A second Moroccan crisis occurred in 1911 when Germany sent a warship to Agadir in protest of French supremacy in Morocco, claiming the French had violated the agreement at Algeciras. Britain again rose to France’s defense and gave the Germans stern warnings. Germany agreed to allow France a free hand in Morocco in exchange for part of the French Congo. In the Balkan Wars of 1912-13, the Balkan States drove the Turks back to Constantinople and fought among themselves over territory. Tensions between Serbia and Austria-Hungary increased when Austria-Hungary forced Serbia to abandon some of its gains.

Assassination in Sarajevo
Europe had reached its breaking point when on June 28, 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austria-Hungarian throne, was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, by a Serbian nationalist belonging to an organization known as the Black Hand (Narodna Obrana). Immediately following the assassination Germany pledged its full support (blank check) to Austria-Hungary, pressuring them to declare war on Serbia, while France strengthened its backing of Russia. Convinced that the Serbian government had conspired against them, Austria-Hungary issued Serbia an unacceptable ultimatum, to which Serbia consented almost entirely.

Falling Dominoes
Unsatisfied, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. On July 29, Russia ordered a partial mobilization only against Austria-Hungary in support of Serbia, which escalated into a general mobilization. The Germans threatened war on July 31 if the Russians did not demobilize. Upon being asked by Germany what it would do in the event of a Russo-German War, France responded that it would act in its own interests and mobilized. On August 1, Germany declared war on Russia, and two days later, on France. The German invasion of Belgium to attack France, which violated Belgium’s official neutrality, prompted Britain to declare war on Germany. World War I had begun.

World War I At a glance

Impact of the Treaty of Versailles

–      The Treaty of Versailles radically altered the Geography of Europe. It had clauses that resulted in areas of land being taken from Germany. The maps on the next slide illustrate the scale of these losses.

– From the maps on the next slide it is clear that Germany suffered large territorial losses. The provinces of Alsace and Lorraine returned to France; parts of Schleswig were given to Denmark; to the east, new countries were created to roughly match the ethnic balance of the area and finally, ‘The Polish Corridor’ was created which gave the Poles a broad strip of land that connected it to the sea – and consequently separated Eastern Prussia from the rest of Germany. In total, Germany lost over one millions square miles of land (28,000 of which had previously formed part of European Germany) and 6 million subjects.

-The Treaty of Versailles blamed Germany for the First World War. As a result of this Germany was also held accountable for the cost of the war and the Treaty dictated that compensation would have to be paid to the Allies.

-These payments, called reparations, would be paid monthly and would total some £6,600 million (This figure was agreed by the Allies in 1921). Although Germany would also have to reconstruct her own economy at the same time as paying Reparations.

-In addition, Germany had lost some of her most precious sources of Raw materials as her colonies, and some of the areas that were given to other countries, were rich sources of income.

–      These factors would make it harder for the German economy to cope. Further to this it is important to note the casualties suffered during the war.

–      Germany lost some 1.7 million men during the war, and a further 4.2 million are listed as being wounded.

–      The Political IThe Treaty triggered a number of political reactions.

–      Firstly the government of the day resigned, having refused to sign it. The incoming government had no choice but to sign the Treaty but was accused by some, General Ludendorff for example, of stabbing the Germany people in the back. This Theory grew in popularity as the economy suffered and many, former soldiers in particular, believed that the politicians had lost the war rather than the army. This, amongst other things, led to a growth in the number of people who distrusted the WeimarRepublic and were unwilling to support it. This manifests itself in uprisings such as the Kapp Putsch and the Munich Putsch, though there are other factors which led to these uprisings.

-The Treaty also called for the trial of the former Kaiser. This never happened as the Dutch government refused to hand him over, but this effectively stopped any chance of a restoration of the monarchy in Germany.

– In Western Europe the Treaty signaled the beginning of a period of isolation for Germany. She became an outcast in international politics and was feared and distrusted by the Allies. This had a significant impact on the role that Germany would, and potentially could, play in European and World affairs in the early post war climate. However, whilst it is evident that Germany became politically isolated in the West, some historians would point out that their isolation has been exaggerated by Westerners.

Social, Political and Economic Effects of WWI

“Everywhere in the world was heard the sound of things breaking.” Advanced European societies could not support long wars or so many thought prior to World War I. They were right in a way. The societies could not support a long war unchanged. The First World War left no aspect of European civilization untouched as pre-war governments were transformed to fight total war. The war metamorphic Europe socially, politically, economically, and intellectually.

Social effects

European countries channeled all of their resources into total war which resulted in enormous social change. The result of working together for a common goal seemed to be unifying European societies. Death knocked down all barriers between people. All belligerents had enacted some form of a selective service which levelled classes in many ways. Wartime scarcities made luxury an impossibility and unfavorable. Reflecting this, clothing became uniform and utilitarian. Europeans would never again dress in fancy, elaborate costumes. Uniforms led the way in clothing change. The bright blue-and-red prewar French infantry uniforms had been changed after the first few months of the war, since they made whoever wore them into excellent targets for machine guns.

Women’s skirts rose above the ankle permanently and women became more of a part of society than ever. They undertook a variety of jobs previously held by men. They were now a part of clerical, secretarial work, and te! aching. They were also more widely employed in industrial jobs. By 1918, 37.6 percent of the work force in the Krupp armaments firm in Germany was female. In England the proportion of women works rose strikingly in public transport (for example, from 18,000 to 117,000 bus conductors), banking (9,500 to 63,700), and commerce (505,000 to 934,000). Many restrictions on women disappeared during the war. It became acceptable for young, employed, single middle-class women to have their own apartments, to go out without chaperones, and to smoke in public. It was only a matter of time before women received the right to vote in many belligerent countries.

Strong forces were shaping the power and legal status of labor unions, too. The right of workers to organize was relatively new, about half a century. Employers fought to keep union organizers out of their plants and armed force was often used against striking workers. The universal rallying of workers towards their flag at the beginning of the war led to wider acceptance of unions. It was more of a bureaucratic route than a parliamentary route that integrated organized labor into government, however. A long war was not possible without complete cooperation of the workers with respect to putting in longers hours and increasing productivity. Strike activity had reached its highest levels in history just before the war. There had been over 1,500 diffent work stoppages in France and 3,000 in Germany during 1910. More than a million British workers stopped at one time or another in 1912. In Britain, France, and Germany, deals were struck between unions and government to eliminate strikes and less favorable work conditions in exchange for immediate integration into the government process. This integration was at the cost of having to act more as managers of labor than as the voice of the labor. Suddenly, the strikes stopped during the first year of the war. Soon the enthusiasm died down, though. The revival of strike activity in 1916 shows that the social peace was already wearing thin. Work stoppages and the number of people on strike in France quadrupled in 1916 compared to 1915. In Germany, in May 1916, 50,000 Berlin works held a three-day walkout to protest the arrest of the pacifist Karl Liebknecht. By the end of the war most had rejected the government offer of being integrated in the beaurocracy, but not without playing an important public role and gaining some advantages such as collective bargaining. The war may have had a leveling effect in many ways, but it also sharpened some social differences and conflicts.

Political effects
soldiers were no longer willing to sacrifice their lives when shirkers at home were earning all the money, tkaing, the women around in cars, cornering all the best jobs, and while so many profiteers were waxing rich.

The draft was not completely fair since ot all men were sent to the trenches. Skilled workers were more important to industry and some could secure safe assignments at home. Unskilled young males and junior officers paid with their lives the most. The generation conflict was also widened by the war as Veterens’ disillusionment fed off of anger towards the older generation for sending them to the trenches.

Governments took on many new powers in order to fight the total war. War governments fought opposition by increasing police power. Authoritatian regimes like tsarist Russia had always depended on the threat of force, but now even parliamentary governments felt the necessity to expand police powers and control public opinion. Britain gave police powers wide scope in August 1914 by the Defence of the Realm Act which authorized the public authorities to arrest and punish dissidents under martial law if necessary.

Through later acts polices powers grew to include suspending newspapers and the ability to intervene in a citizen’s private life in the use of lights at home, food consumption, and bar hours. Police powers tended to grow as the war went on and public opposition increased as well. In France a sharp rise of strikes, mutinies, and talk of a negotiated peace raised doubts about whether France could really carry on the war in 1917. A group of French political leaders ! decided to carry out the war at the cost of less internal liberty.

The government cracked down on anyone suspected of supporting a compromise peace. Many of the crackdowns and treason charges were just a result of war hysteria or calculated politcal opportunism. Expanded police powers also included control of public information and opinion. The censorship of newspapers and personal mail was already an established practice. Governments regularly used their power to prevent disclosure of military secrets and the airing of dangerous opinions considering war efforts. The other side of using police power on public opinion was the “organizing of enthusiasm,” which could be thought of as:

Propaganda tries to force a doctrine on the whole people; the organization embraces within its scope only those who do not threaten on psychological grounds to become a brake on the further dissemination of the idea.

World War I provided a place for the birth of propaganda which countries used with even more frightening results during World War II. Governments used the media to influence people to enlist and to brainwash them war into supporting the war. The French prime minister used his power to draft journalists or defer them in exchange for favorable coverage. The German right created a new mass party, the Fatherland Party. It was backed by secret funds from the army and was devoted to propaganda for war discipline. By 1918, the Fatherland Party was larger than the Social Democratic Party. Germany had become quite effective at influencing the masses.

Economic effects

The economic impact of the war was very disproportioned. At one end there were those who profited from the war and at the other end were those who suffered under the effects of inflation. The opportunities to make enormous amounts of money in war manufacture were plentiful. War profiteers were a public scandal. Fictional new rich, like the manufacturer of shoddy boots in Jules Romains’s Verdun had numerous real-life counterparts. However, government rarely intervened in major firms, as happened when the German military took over the Daimler motor car works for padding costs on war-production contracts. Governments tended to favor large, centralized industries over smaller ones. The war was a stimulus towards grouping companies into larger firms. When resources became scarce, nonessential firms, which tended to be small, were simply closed down. Inflation was the greatest single economic factor as war budges rose to astronomical figures and massive demand forced shor! tages of many consumer goods. Virtually ever able-bodied person was employed to keep up with the demand. This combination of high demand, scarcity, and full employment sent prices soaring, even in the best managed countries. In Britain, a pound sterling brought in 1919 about one-third of what it had bought in 1914. French prices approximately doubled during the war and it only got worse during the 1920’s. Inflation rates were even higher in other belligerents The German currency ceased to have value in 1923. All of this had been forseen by John M. Keynes as a result of the Versailles Treaty:

The danger confonting us, therefore, is the rapid depression of the standard of life of the European populations to a point which will mean actual starvation for some (a point already reached in Russian and approximately reach in Austria).

Inflation affected different people quite differently. Skilled workers in strategic industries found that their wages kept pace with prices or even rose a little faster. Unskilled workers and workers in less important industries fell behind. Clerks, lesser civil servants, teachers, clergymen, and small shopkeepers earned less than many skilled labors. Those who suffered the most were those dependent on fixed incoming. The incomes of old people on pensions or middle class living on small dividends remained about the same while prices double or tripled. These dropped down into poverty. These “new poor” kept their pride by repairing old clothes, supplementing food budget with gardens, and giving up everything to appear as they had before the war. Inflation radically change the relative position of many in society. Conflicts arose over the differences in purchasing power. All wage earners had less real purchasing power at the end of the war than they had had at the beginning. To make matters worse some great fortunes were built during the wartime and postwar inflation. Those who were able to borrow large amounts of money could repay their debts in devalued currency from their war profit.

Four years of chaos and utter destruction had smashed the old world Europe. The most “advanced” quarter of the world had turned to violence and barbarism of its own accord. Progress and reason had been suppressed for destruction.

Moreover, it has brought to light an almost incredible phenomenon: the civilized nations know and understand one another so little that one can turn against the other with hate and loathing. Indeed, one of the great civilized nations is so universally unpopular that the attempt can actually be made to exclude it from the civilized community as “barbaric,” although it has long proved its fitness by the magnificent contributions to that community which it has made.

The early part of the war satisfied the fascination with speed, violence, and the machine as manifested in the pre-war Futurists. Many movements shared a resolute “modernist” contempt for all academic styles in the arts, a hatred for bourgeois culture, and a commitment to the free expression of individuals. All these feelings were given an additional jolt of violence and anger by the horrors of the wartime experience. During the war there was a loss of illusions as described in All Quiet on the Western Front. Poets, like others, had gone to war in 1914 believing in heroism and nobility. Trench warfare hardened and embittered many.

Freud said of disillusionment: When I speak of disillusionment, everyone will know at once what i mean. One need not be a sentimentalist; one may perceive the biological and psychological necessity for surrering in the economy of human life, and yet condemn war both in its means and ends and long for the cessation of all wars.

British poet, Wilfred Own, who was killed in 1918 was transformed from a young romantic into a powerful denouncer of those who had sent young men off to war. In “Dulce et Decorum Est” he mocked “the old lie” that it was good to die for one’s country, after giving a searing description of a gassed soldier coughing out his lungs. The anger of the soldier-poets was directed against those who had sent them to the war, not their enemy. The war experience did not produce new art forms or styles. It acted largely to make the harshest themes and the grimmest or most mocking forms of expression of prewar intellectual life seem more appropriate, and to fost experiments in opposition to the dominant values of contemporary europe. The Dada movement, which mocked old values and ridiculed stuffy bourgeois culture, was one of these movements. A mood of desolation and emptiness prevailed at the end of a war where great sacrifice had brought little gain. It was not clear where post-war anger would be focused, but it would definately be in antibourgeois politics.

The echoes of a world shattering were heard throughout the world as Europe collapsed into total war. These echoes were the sound of change as Europe was transformed socially, politicaly, economically, and intellectualy into a machine of complete destructionThe war in brief.

List of people associated with World War I

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Main article: World War I

[edit] Australia

(Entered the War on: August 4, 1914)

• C.E.W. Bean (1879-1968) Official Australian war correspondent
• Henry Gordon Bennett (1887-1962) Commander, 3rd Infantry Brigade
• William Throsby Bridges (1861-1915) Commander, Australian Imperial Force, Australian 1st Division
• Henry George Chauvel (1865-1945), Commander, Anzac Mounted Division, Desert Mounted Corps
• Arthur Cobby, Fighter ace
• Roderic Dallas, Fighter ace
• Henry (Harry) Dalziel, Victoria Cross recipient
• Pompey Elliott, General
• Andrew Fisher, Prime Minister
• Sir John Gellibrand, Commander, 3rd Division
• Sir Thomas William Glasgow, Commander, 1st Division
• Sir Talbot Hobbs, (1864-1938), Commander, Australian 5th Division
• Billy Hughes, (1862-1952), Prime Minister
• Godfrey Irving, Temporary Commander, 5th Division
• Albert Jacka, First AIF recipient of the Victoria Cross
• John Jackson, Victoria Cross recipient
• Elwyn King, Fighter ace
• John Simpson Kirkpatrick, (1892-1915), Stretcher bearer
• Robert Little, Fighter ace
• The Hon. James Whiteside M’Cay, (1864-1930), Commander, Australian 5th Division
• Sir John Monash, (1865-1931), Commander, Australian 3rd Division, Australian Corps
• Sir Keith Murdoch, (1885-1952), War reporter
• Sir Charles Rosenthal, (1875-1954), Commander, Australian 2nd Division
• Alfred Shout, Victoria Cross recipient
• Sir Brudenell White, General

[edit] Austria-Hungary

(Entered the War on: July 28, 1914)

[edit] Royalty

• Archduke Franz Ferdinand, (1863-1914), heir to the throne whose murder brought on the war.
• Emperor Franz Josef, (1830-1916)
• Emperor Karl, (1887-1922)
• Empress Zita, (1892-1989)

[edit] Military leaders

• Svetozar Boroevic von Bojna, field marshal
• Viktor von Dankl, Colonel General
• Franz Freiherr Rohr von Denta, field marshal
• Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, (1852-1925), Chief of Staff (1906-1911, 1912-1917)
• Hermann Kövess, field marshal
• Arthur Arz von Straussenburg, (1857-1935), Chief of Staff (1917-1918)
• Oskar Potiorek, (1853-1933), General

[edit] Politicians

• Friedrich Adler, Austrian Social Democratic leader
• Victor Adler, Austrian Social Democratic leader
• Count Gyula Andrássy the Younger (1860-1929), Foreign Minister (1918)
• Count Leopold von Berchtold, (1863-1942), Foreign Minister (1912-1915)
• Baron István Burian, (1851-1922), Foreign Minister (1915-1916, 1918), Finance Minister (1916-1918)
• Count Heinrich von Clam-Martinitz (1863-1932), Minister-President of Austria (1916-1917)
• Count Ottokar Czernin, (1872-1932), Foreign Minister (1916-1918)
• Count Moric Esterhazy (1881-1960), Minister-President of Hungary (1917)
• Ernst Ritter Seidler von Feuchtenegg (1862-1931), Minister-President of Austria (1917-1918)
• Baron Max Hussarek von Heinlein (1865-1935), Minister-President of Austria (1918)
• Count Mihály Károlyi (1875-1955), Hungarian Independence Party leader and Minister-President (1918)
• Ernst von Koerber (1850-1919), Minister-President of Austria (1916)
• Heinrich Lammasch (1853-1920), Minister-President of Austria (1918)
• Karl Renner, (1870-1950), Austrian Social Democratic leader, and later Chancellor
• Count Karl von Stürgkh (1859-1916), Minister-President of Austria (1911-1916)
• Count István Tisza (1861-1918), Minister-President of Hungary (1913-1917)
• Sandor Wekerle (1848-1921), Minister-President of Hungary (1917-1918)

[edit] Belgium

(Entered the War on: August 4, 1914)

• King Albert I, (1875-1934)
• Herman Baltia, (1863-1938), General
• Baron Charles de Broqueville, (1860-1940), Prime Minister
• Willy Coppens, (1892-1986), Fighter ace
• Victor Deguise, (1855-1922), General
• Cyriaque Gillain, (1857-1931), Army Chief of Staff
• Paul Hymans, (1865-1941), Foreign Secretary
• Fernand Jacquet, (1888-1947), Fighter ace
• Gerard Leman, (1851-1920), General
• Désiré-Joseph Mercier, (1851-1926), Cardinal
• Andre de Meulemeester, (1894-1973), Fighter Pilot
• Jan Olieslagers, (1883-1942), Fighter Ace
• Gabrielle Petit, (1893-1916), Executed Spy
• Edmond Thieffry, (1892-1929), Fighter Ace

[edit] Bulgaria

(Entered the War on: October 12, 1915)

[edit] Royalty

• Ferdinand I

[edit] Politicians

• Aleksandar Malinov, (1867-1938), Prime Minister (1908-1911, 1918)
• Vasil Radoslavov, (1854-1929), Prime Minister
• Aleksandar Stamboliyski, (1879-1923), Anti-Monarchist
• Stefan Panaretov, (1853-1931), Diplomat
• Andrey Lyapchev, Minister

[edit] Military leaders

• Nikolaus Jekov, commander-in-chief
• Kliment Boyadzhiev, general
• Georg Stojanov Todorov, general
• Stefan Toshev, general
• Vladimir Vazov, general

[edit] Canada (includes Newfoundland)

(Entered the War on: August 4, 1914)

• Harry Band (1885–1915) reported victim of German crucifixion
• William Barker (1894–1930) was a fighter ace and Victoria Cross recipient
• Billy Bishop (1884–1956), ace credited with 72 victories
• Sir Robert Borden (1854–1937) Prime Minister (1911–1920)
• Henri Bourassa (1868–1952) led French Canadian opposition to conscription
• Filip Konowal (1888–1959) Ukrainian-Canadian Victoria Cross recipient
• Sir Arthur Currie (1875–1933) Commander, Canadian Forces
• Sir Sam Hughes (1853–1921) Minister of Militia and Defense
• John McCrae (1872–1918) doctor and poet, author of “In Flanders Fields”
• Henry Norwest (1884–1918) one of the most famous snipers in World War I
• Francis Pegahmagabow (1891–1952) the most highly decorated aboriginal Canadian soldier of World War I
• George Lawrence Price (1898–1918) last soldier killed in World War I (shot two minutes before the announcement of the Armistice)
• Tommy Ricketts (1901–1967) at age 17, he was the youngest soldier to ever receive the Victoria Cross
• Sir Richard Turner (1871–1948) Chief of Canadian General Staff

[edit] Democratic Republic of Armenia

[edit] Military leaders

• Tovmas Nazarbekian Commander-in-chief.
• Andranik Ozanian command of war zone within Ottoman Empire and leader of Republic of Mountainous Armenia
• Drastamat Kanayan
• Garegin Njdeh
• Movses Silikyan

[edit] Politicians

• Hovhannes Katchaznouni was the first Prime Minister of Armenia.
• Aram Manougian was the minister of Interior.

[edit] Others

• Avetis Aharonyan chairman the Armenian National Council which declared the DRA

[edit] France

(Entered the War on: August 3, 1914)

[edit] Military leaders

• Edouard de Castelnau, (1851-1944), General
• Auguste Dubail, (1851-1934), General
• Louis Franchet d’Esperey, (1856-1942), Marshal
• Ferdinand Foch, (1851-1929), General and Supreme Allied Commander
• Joseph Gallieni, (1849-1916), General
• Joseph Joffre, (1852-1931), Commander-in-Chief
• Hubert Lyautey, (1854-1934), War Minister
• Charles Mangin, (1866-1925), General
• Michael Maunoury, (1847-1923), General
• Robert Georges Nivelle, (1856-1924), Commander-in-Chief
• Henri Philippe Pétain, (1856-1951), Commander-in-Chief
• Maurice Sarrail, (1856-1929), General

[edit] Politicians

• Aristide Briand, (1862-1932), Prime Minister (1909-11, 1913, 1915-17, 1921-22, 1925-26, 1929)
• Joseph Caillaux, (1863-1944), Prime Minister (June 1911 – January 1912), pacifist
• Georges Clemenceau, (1841-1929), Prime Minister (1917-1920)
• Théophile Delcassé, (1852-1923), Foreign Minister (1914-1915)
• Gaston Doumergue,
• Jean Jaures, (1859-1914), Socialist party leader, pacifist
• Alexandre Millerand, (1859-1943), Minister of War (1912-13, 1914-15)
• Paul Painlevé, (1863-1933), Prime Minister (September 1917 – November 1917)
• Stephen Pichon,
• Raymond Poincaré, (1860-1934), President (1913-1920)
• Alexandre Ribot, (1842-1923), Prime Minister (March 1917 – September 1917)
• René Viviani, (1862-1925), Prime Minister (1914-1915)

[edit] Finland

• Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, (1867-1951),Marshal
• Kurt Martti Wallenius, (1893-1984], Lieutenant-General.
• Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, (1865-1952), First President of Finland
• Lauri Kristian Relander, (1883-1942), Second President of Finland
• Pehr Evind Svinhufvud,(1861-1944), Third President of Finland
• Aksel Airo, (1898-1985), General
• Axel Erik Heinrichs (1890-1965) , General
• Vilho Petter Nenonen , (1883-1960), General
• Paavo Talvela (1897-1973), General
• Rudolf Walden (1878-946), General

[edit] Germany

(Entered the War on: August 1, 1914)

[edit] Monarch

• Emperor Wilhelm II

[edit] Military leaders

• Otto von Below
• Erich von Falkenhayn, Chief of Staff 1914 – 1916
• Hermann von François
• Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz, Field Marshal
• Wilhelm Groener
• Paul von Hindenburg, (1847-1934), general, president
• Admiral Franz von Hipper, Commander, High Seas Fleet
• Max Hoffmann
• Alexander von Kluck, General
• Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck
• Erich Ludendorff, General
• August von Mackensen, Field Marshal
• Helmuth von Moltke, (1848-1916), Chief of Staff, 1906 – 1914
• Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria
• Otto Liman von Sanders, (1855-1929), General
• Alfred von Schlieffen, (1833-1913), Pre-war Chief of General Staff
• Alfred von Tirpitz, (1849-1930), Naval Minister
• Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia

[edit] Political leaders

• Prince Maximilian of Baden (1867-1929), Imperial Chancellor (1918)
• Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, Imperial Chancellor (1909-1917)
• Prince Bernhard von Bülow, former Imperial Chancellor (1900-1909), Ambassador to Italy (1914-1915), rival
• Friedrich Ebert, (1871-1925), Social Democratic leader, Imperial Chancellor (1918), later First President of the Weimar Republic
• Matthias Erzberger, leader of the left wing of the Catholic Centre Party
• Count Georg von Hertling, Imperial Chancellor (1917-1918)
• Richard von Kühlmann, Foreign Secretary (1917-1918)
• Georg Michaelis, Imperial Chancellor (1917)
• Gottlieb von Jagow, Foreign Secretary (1913-1916)
• Hans Freiherr von Wangenheim, ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (1912-1915)
• Philipp Scheidemann, Social Democratic Leader, later first Chancellor of the Weimar Republic (1919)
• Gustav Stresemann, (1878-1929), leader of the imperialist wing of the National Liberal Party, later a major statesman of the Weimar Republic
• Arthur Zimmermann, Foreign Secretary (1916-1917)

[edit] Others

• Anthony Fokker, (1890 – 1939), Aircraft builder
• Hermann Göring, (1888-1946), Fighter Ace
• Manfred von Richthofen, (1892-1918), Fighter Ace
• Adolf Hitler, (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945), Later Leader of the Nazi Party, Reichskanzler and Führer of the 3rd Reich

[edit] Greece

(Entered the War on: June 29, 1917)

• King Constantine I
• King Alexander
• Joannis Metaxas, (1871-1941), Military Dictator
• Eleutherios Venizelos, Prime Minister

[edit] Italy

(Entered the War on: May 23, 1915)

[edit] Royalty

• Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, (1869-1947)
• Amedeo Umberto, Duke of Aosta, Soldier

[edit] Military leaders

• Luigi Cadorna, Chief of Staff
• Luigi Capello, General
• Armando Diaz, General
• Duke of the Abruzzi, Naval Commander-in-Chief
• Emanuele Filiberto, Duke d’ Aosta, Prince of Savoy, Field Marshal
• Paolo Thaon di Revel, Admiral

[edit] Political leaders

• Paolo Boselli, Prime Minister
• Alfredo Dallolio, Minister of Munitions
• Marquis di San Giuliano, Foreign Minister
• Giovanni Giolitti, Prime Minister
• Vittorio Orlando, Prime Minister
• Antonio Salandra, Prime Minister
• Baron Sidney Sonnino, Foreign Minister

[edit] Others

• Francesco Baracca, Fighter Ace
• Luigi Boselli
• Ottavio Bottecchia, soldier, later Tour de France winner
• Fulco Ruffo di Calabria, Fighter Ace
• Gabriele d’Annunzio, novelist and poet
• Rodolfo Graziani, officer
• Emilio Lussu, (1890-1975), Italian novelist
• Benito Mussolini, (1883-1945), Il Duce
• Angelo Roncalli, Military Chaplain, future Pope John XXIII
• Pope Benedict XV
• Giovanni Sabelli, Fighter Ace
• Silvio Scaroni, Fighter Ace

[edit] Japan

(Entered the War on: August 23, 1914)

• Emperor Taisho
• Mitsuomi Kamio
• Marquess Shigenobu Okuma, Prime Minister (1914-1916)
• Count Masatake Terauchi, Prime Minister (1916-1918)
• Takashi Hara, Prime Minister (1918-1921)
• Gentaro Yamashita, Admiral
• Tanin Yamaya, Admiral
• Rokuro Yashiro, Admiral
• Mitsumasa Yonai, Naval Officer

[edit] Mexico

(Neutral Country)

• Venustiano Carranza, President, refused to join with Germany after Germany sent the Zimmermann Telegram
• Pancho Villa, rebel

[edit] Netherlands

(Neutral Country)

• Jelles Troelstra
• Mata Hari, spy
• Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, (1880-1962), Queen

[edit] New Zealand

(Entered the War on: August 4, 1914)

• Sir James Allen, Minister of Defence
• Edward Chaytor, General
• Bernard Freyberg Victoria Cross recipient
• Sir Alexander Godley, General, Commander of NZDF, NZEF
• William Massey, Prime Minister
• Keith Park Fighter ace
• Sir Andrew Russell, General
• Sir Joseph Ward, Prime Minister

[edit] Ottoman Empire

(Entered the War on: October 31, 1914)

[edit] Monarchs

• Sultan Mehmed V, Monarch
• Sultan Mehmed VI, Monarch

[edit] Political leaders

• Said Halim Pasha, Grand Vizier
• Ahmed Izzet Pasha, Grand Vizier
• Talaat Pasha, Minister of Interior
• Mehmed Djaved Bey, Minister of Finance

[edit] Military leaders

• Enver Pasha, Minister of War
• Ahmed Djemal Pasha, Military Governor of Syria

[edit] Military

• Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, (1881-1938), Gallipoli
• Halil Kut (Khalil Pasha), General
• Fakhri Pasha

[edit] Romania

(Entered the War on: August 27, 1916)

• Alexandru Averescu
• Ion I.C. Brătianu
• King Carol I
• Ion Dragalina
• Ferdinand I (1865-1927), King of Romania (1914-1927)
• Alexandru Marghiloman
• Constantine Prezan
• Vasile Stoica
• Ecaterina Teodoroiu

[edit] Russia

(Entered the War on: August 1, 1914)

[edit] Monarchs

• Emperor Nicholas II (1868-1918), abdicated in 1917
• Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovitch Romanov (1878-1918), refused the throne after Nicholas’ abdication
• Empress Alexandra (1872-1918)

[edit] Military leaders

• Mikhail Alekseev
• Aleksei Brusilov
• Yuri Danilov
• Anton Denikin
• Alexander Kolchak, Admiral
• Lavr Georgevich Kornilov, (1870-1918), Russian General
• Alexei Nikolajevich Kuropatkin
• Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolayevich
• Paul von Rennenkampf
• Alexander Samsonov
• Peter Wrangel
• Nikolai Yudenich

[edit] Political leaders and others

• Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin, (1888-1938), Bolshevik Leader
• Victor Chernov, Socialist-Revolutionary Party Leader
• Ivan Goremykin, Prime Minister (1914-1916)
• Alexander Guchkov, Octobrist Leader
• Lev Kamenev
• Prince Georgy Yevgenyevich Lvov, First Head of the Provisional Government (1917)
• Alexandra Kollontai, Bolshevik Leader
• Alexander Krivoshein, Minister of Agriculture
• Vladimir Lenin, (1870-1924), Bolshevik leader
• Aleksandr Kerensky, (1881-1970), Second Head of the Russian Provisional Government, 1917
• Nikolai Maklakov, Minister of the Interior
• Julius Martov, Menshevik Leader
• Pavel Miliukov, Kadet leader
• Alexander Protopopov, Minister of the Interior
• Vladimir Purishkevich, right wing political leader, assassin of Rasputin
• Grigori Rasputin, (1872-1919), friar, adventurer, mystic wonder-worker
• Sergei Sazonov, Foreign Minister (1910-1916)
• Joseph Stalin, (1879-1953), (a pseudonym) – Soviet leader
• Boris Stürmer, Prime Minister (1916)
• Alexander Trepov, Prime Minister (1916)
• Leon Trotsky, (1879-1940), Bolshevik leader
• Prince Felix Yusupov, murderer of Rasputin
• Grigory Zinoviev, (1883-1936), Russian Bolshevik

[edit] Serbia

(Entered the War on: July 28, 1914)

• King Peter I, (1844-1921), Serbian Monarch
• Crown Prince Alexander, (1888-1934), Serbian Monarch
• Dragutin Dimitrijevic, (1877-1917), founder and leader of Black Hand Society
• Zivojin Misic, (1855-1921), Field Marshal
• Nikola Pasic, (1845-1926), Prime Minister
• Gavrilo Princip, (1894-1918), the Serbian nationalist who assassinated Franz Ferdinand of Austria and triggered the war
• Radomir Putnik, (1847-1917), Chief of General Staff
• Pavle Jurisic Sturm, General
• Peter Vasic, (1862-1931), Colonel
• Bosa Yankovich, General

[edit] South Africa

(Entered the War on: August 4, 1914)

• Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor, (1894-1921), Fighter Pilot and Victoria Cross recipient
• Louis Botha, (1862-1919), Prime Minister
• Sir Henry Lukin, (1860-1925), General
• Jan Smuts, (1870-1950), Prime Minister
• Sir Jacob Louis Van Deventer, (1874-1922), General

[edit] United Kingdom

(Entered the War on: August 4, 1914)

[edit] Royalty

• King [[George beshay head and prime minster

of the United Kingdom|George V]]

• Queen Mary

[edit] Military leaders

• Augustine William Shelton Agar,V.C., operations against the Bolsheviks in the Gulf of Finland, 1919
• Edmund Allenby, (1861-1936), commander in Palestine
• Prince Louis of Battenberg, (1854-1921), admiral, First Sea Lord (1912-1914)
• David Beatty, (1871-1936), admiral
• William Birdwood, (1865-1951), commander of the AIF (1916-1918)
• Julian Byng, (1862-1935), general
• Adrian Carton De Wiart, V.C. Front line commander
• William Boyle, 12th Earl of Cork, operations against the Turks in the Red Sea
• Walter Cowan, Baltic Sea, 1919
• John Fisher, (1841-1920), admiral, First Sea Lord (1914-1915)
• John French, (1852-1925), commander of the BEF (1914-1915)
• William Goodenough, admiral, commanded the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron from 1913-16
• Hubert Gough, general
• Douglas Haig, (1861-1928), commander of the BEF (1915-1918)
• Ian Hamilton, (1853-1947) commander at Gallipoli
• Aylmer Hunter-Weston, (1864-1940), general
• Sir Henry Bradwardine Jackson, admiral, First Sea Lord, (1915-1916)
• John Jellicoe, (1859-1935), admiral, First Sea Lord (1916-1917)
• Roger John Brownlow Keyes, 1st Baron Keyes, naval officer, Submarines, Dardanelles, Dover Patrol, Zeebrugge, Ostend
• Horatio Kitchener, (1850-1916), former general, Secretary of State for War
• Herbert Plumer, (1857-1932), general, later field marshal
• Henry S. Rawlinson, (1864-1925), general
• Sir William Robertson, (1860-1933), Chief of Imperial General Staff, 1915-1917
• Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, (1858-1930), general
• Sir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee, admiral, Chief of War Staff at the Admiralty (1914)
• Sir Rosslyn Wemyss,admiral, First Sea Lord (1917–1919)
• Sir Henry Hughes Wilson, (1864-1922), Chief of Imperial General Staff, 1918

[edit] Political leaders

• H. H. Asquith, Prime Minister (1908-1916)
• David Lloyd George, Prime Minister (1916-1922)
• Arthur Balfour, (1848-1930), Foreign Secretary, First Lord of the Admiralty (1915-1916)
• Sir Edward Carson, First Lord of the Admiralty (1916–1917)
• Sir Roger Casement, Irish independence leader
• Winston Churchill, (1911-1915), First Lord of the Admiralty (1911-1915)
• Lord Curzon, (1859-1925), Unionist politician
• John Dillon, Irish Home Rule leader
• Sir Eric Geddes, First Lord of the Admiralty (1917–1919)
• Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Secretary
• Andrew Bonar Law, (1858-1923), Unionist Party leader
• Lord Milner, politician
• John Redmond, (1856-1918), Irish Home Rule leader

[edit] Others

• Wilfred Owen, (1893-1918), English poet
• W. H. R. Rivers, (1864-1922), Psychiatrist
• David Jones, English poet
• Isaac Rosenberg, English poet
• Edward Thomas, Welsh poet
• May Cannan, English poet
• Wyndham Lewis, ariter, painter, vorticist. Served as war artist.
• Dorothy Lawrence war reporter
• Harry Farr English soldier, executed for cowardice, pardon announced in 2006

[edit] United States of America

(Entered the War on: April 6, 1917)

• Newton D. Baker, (1871-1937), Secretary of War 1916-1921
• Tasker H. Bliss, (1853-1930), Army Chief of Staff 1917-1918, U.S. representative Supreme War Council
• William Jennings Bryan, (1860-1925), Secretary of State
• Daniel Daly, (1873-1937), Marine, received Navy Cross and Distinguished Service Cross
• Josephus Daniels, (1862-1948), Secretary of the Navy 1913-1921
• William T. Fitzsimons, (died 1917), early U.S. casualty.
• Benjamin Foulois, 1879-1967, was a member of the aviation section of the AEF.
• William S. Graves, (1865-1940), Commander of American forces in Siberia during the Allied Intervention in Russia
• Harry G. Hamlet, 1874-1954, later served as Commandant of the Coast Guard
• Ernest Hemingway, (1899-1961), served in the ambulance corps, author of For Whom the Bell Tolls, A Farewell to Arms, and The Sun Also Rises
• Edward House, advisor to President Wilson
• Charles Evans Hughes, (1862-1948), Republican, 1907-1910, governor of New York, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice, presidential candidate
• Field E. Kindley, (1895-1920), Ace
• Robert Lansing, (1864-1928), Secretary of State 1915-1920
• John A. Lejeune, USMC general, led Marine and army divisions
• Peyton C. March, (1864-1955), Army Chief of Staff 1918-1921
• Colonel George Patton, commander of U.S. Tank Corps
• General John J. Pershing, (1860-1948), commander of the AEF
• Eddie Rickenbacker, (1890-1973), Ace
• Harold Ross, (1882-1951), Editor of Stars and Stripes, later founder of The New Yorker Magazine
• Woodrow Wilson, (1856-1924), 28th (1913-1921) President
• Leonard Wood, (1860-1927), General
• Sgt. Alvin York, (1887-1964), highly decorated war hero