![]() On April 22, the Second Battle of Ypres began. Both the Dardanelles Campaign in February and the Battle of Gallipoli in April proved costly failures. Stymied in Europe, Allied forces tried to gain momentum by attacking the Ottoman Empire twice where the Sea of Marmara meets the Aegean Sea. This would lead to the May 7 sinking of the British ocean liner Lusitania by a German U-boat. Germany declared a war zone in the waters around the U.K., beginning a campaign of submarine warfare. In response to a North Sea military blockade that Britain imposed the previous November, on Feb 4. Print Collector/Getty Images/Getty Images Despite the slaughter, a one-day Christmas truce was declared on Dec. Both sides began digging in and fortifying their positions, signaling the start of trench warfare. They made swift progress until the first week of September when the German advance was stopped by French and British troops at the First Battle of the Marne. President Woodrow Wilson announced the U.S. 6, the British Empire, France, and Russia were at war with Serbia and Germany. That same day, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Meanwhile, regional powers like Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were teetering on the brink of collapse.Īgainst this backdrop, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to Austria-Hungary's throne, and his wife, Sophie, were assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28 while the couple was visiting Sarajevo. ![]() A series of alliances among the leading nations committed them to each other's defense. De Agostini/Biblioteca Ambrosiana/Getty ImagesĪlthough World War I officially began in 1914, much of Europe had been roiled by political and ethnic conflict for years before.
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