Questions About World War I

1) WWI officially began on July 281914 when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. The immediate cause for this declaration and the beginning of a world war was the assasination of Franz Ferdinand by the Serbian Nationalist Gavrilo Princip. This war was fought between the "Central Powers" and the "Allied Powers". Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire made up the Central Powers and Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and Japan made up the Allied Powers.

2) The United States joined the Allied forces in 1917. They entered the war because of Germany's aggression at sea against Great Britain and the sinking of the British oceanliner, the Lusitania, in May of 1915. This helped turn the American public again Germany and in February of 1917, Congress passed an arms appropriations bill to ready the United States for war.

3) On November 11, 1918 Germany signed an armistice ending World War I. Germany was forced to seek an armistice after the Central Powers were unraveling because of the lack of resources on the battlefield, discontent from people back home, and the surrendering of its allies.

4) The terms of the armistice required the German to leave all German-occupied territories on the Western Front within two weeks, Allied forces were to occupy the left bank of the Rhine whereas the right bank was established as a neutral zone. All treaties previously signed with Russia and Romania were annulled. As far as equipment goes, the Germans lost much of their artillery, many aircrafts and submarines, as well as locomotives and railway wagons. This armistice was called the Treaty of Versailles, however the US did not ratify this treaty. Despite the encouragment and hard work of President Wilson, the US Senate killed the treaty. They did not want to become part of the League of Nations. Other things such as hostility between countries and different ethnic groups in America not agreeing with the terms of the treaty played part in this.

5) Was it really necessary for the United States to join this war? Were there other things involved besides the sinking of British ships that turned the US against Germany and the Central Powers? If they were against Germany all along, why did they wait four years to join the war?

A chart showing the number of casualties for both sides during WWI. 

Sources:
World War I History
The Armistice
The Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations