I remember more from school about World War II vs. World War I. So I did a little research while writing this post.

One of the factors that triggered the start of WWI was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his pregnant wife Sophie. Ferdinand was the nephew of Emperor Franz Josef and heir to the throne of Austria and Hungary.

Archduke Ferdinand and his wife went to Bosnia, a country where many folks did not want to be annexed by Austria / Hungary. A young group of revolutionaries who received help from the Black Hand associates (secret Serbian military society) plotted the assassination.

The first assassination attempt was a bust. A bomb was thrown at the car and it bounced off and landed in the security detail vehicle behind Archduke Ferdinand. The Archduke and his wife were unharmed but a few of the guards were hurt. The Archduke wanted to visited the harmed solders. On the way to the hospital, the motorcade made a wrong turn, and it was where a one of the revolutionaries was having a drink. The guy decided on a 2nd attempt to assassinate Ferdinand. He succeeded in not only killing Ferdinand but also his wife by accident.

In response to Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination, Austria / Hungary sought support from it’s ally Germany. Germany agrees and Austria / Hungary declares war on Serbia.

• Russia who was Serbia’s ally mobilizes it’s forces.
• So, Germany declared war on Russia.
• Then France who was Russia’s ally mobilizes it’s forces.
• This resulted in Germany declaring war on France.
• In turn, Great Britain declared war on Germany.
• Austria / Hungary declares war on Russia.
• Serbia declares war on Germany and Austria/Hungary.
• France and Great Britain declare war on Austria / Hungary.

WWI officially started on July 28, 1914, and ended on November 11, 1918. The war lasted four years, three months and 14 days

WW1 Facts:

• 1st Global War
• 30 countries and 65 million soldiers
• Soldiers packed in 2,500 miles of trench lines
• 1 soldier for every 4 inches of trench
• Technological 1st introduced in WW1 – machine guns, tanks, and chemical weapons
• 100,000 tons of chemical weapons were used
• 1st blood bank was setup by US Army Corp on a Belgian battlefield in 1917
• Christmas Eve 1914 was a brief truce where fighting stopped along 2/3 of the western front. German and Belgian troops played a football match. Germany won 3 to 2.
• 9,000,000 soldiers killed and 21,000,000 wounded. 5,000,000 civilians died of disease, starvation and exposure
• 1918 – 1919 influenza killed more US soldiers than the battle
• The Versailles Treaty resulted in a destabilization of Germany (which had to acknowledge fault for starting the war), resulting in the creation of the political Nazi Party. And thus, the rise of Adolf Hitler.

The US did not join the world war immediately. The US President Wilson wanted the US to remain neutral and many Americans supported the policy of nonintervention. In 1915, a German submarine sunk a British ocean liner Lusitania which killed 1,200 people of which 124 were Americans which started changing American sentiment on nonintervention. 1917 became a hotbed of activity

• Germany and Mexico created an alliance against America.
• Germany said they would stop attacking passenger vessels, and in January 1917, they changed course and attacked passenger vessels.

President Wilson went to congress to ask for a declaration of war against Germany. US joined the war on April 6, 1917. President Wilson stated “The world must be made safe for democracy.”

US facts:

• In 1917, the army had 133,000 members
• The Selective Service Act was passed in May of 1917, which reinstated the draft which hadn’t been used since the civil war
• 2.8 million men were inducted into the Army by the end of the war
• Another 2 million volunteered
• More than 50,000 soldiers died

“America First” – did you know President Wilson used this as a campaign slogan that included staying out of the war. I wonder if President Trump thought he came up with a unique slogan, or did he borrow it from President Wilson.

Now that all of us had a history lesson. A special Thank You to History.com who provided my history lesson. 🙂

The first thing we saw at the memorial was a brick waterfall with words behind it. For me it was hard to read. The other side of the fountain had artwork of everyone that supported the war.

On the opposite side of this picture was a statue of one of the army leaders

Another wall had the pictures of the war and description of what happened.

In their devotion, their valor, and in the loyal fulfillment of their obligations, the officers and men of the American expeditionary forces have left a heritage of which those who foll0w may ever be proud. — John J. Pershing

Sorry no selfies at this site. It was the last stop of the day and after 6 miles of walking we were pooped.

You can read more about it on the NPS website here.