World War 1 (All Parts)

penetrate. Ludendorff informs the Kaiser that the military situation is desperate and that Germany must ask for an armistice. Germany sends a request to American President Woodrow Wilson, who, in return, demands Germany's withdrawal from all occupied territories and the Kaiser's abdication. On the Italian front, the Allies deal the final blow to Austria-Hungary at the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. The Austro-Hungarian army is dissolved and 300,000 prisoners are taken. As the Central Powers face collapse, the Ottoman Empire signs an armistice with the Allies at Mudros. Four days later, Austria-Hungary signed an armistice with the Allies at Villa Giusti. At Kiel, the German High Seas Fleet is ordered to carry out a suicide attack on the British navy, but mutinies instead.

The revolution spreads in Germany. The Kaiser abdicates and the German republic is declared. On November 11, 1918, a German delegation signed an armistice with the Allies, inside Marshal Foch's railway carriage in Compiègne. It comes into effect at 11:00 a.m., but the fighting continues until the last moment. American soldier Henry Gunther dies loading a German machine gun at 10:59. He is believed to have been the last soldier killed during the First World War. Three days later, in East Africa, German General Von Lettow-Vorbeck surrenders his army at the Chambezi River. For four years he has faced large numbers of Allied troops, remaining undefeated and isolated from home.

He is still considered one of the greatest guerrilla leaders in history. The Paris Peace Conference begins at the Palace of Versailles, on the outskirts of the French capital. Delegates accept a proposal to create a 'League of Nations' to resolve future international disputes. The Treaty of Versailles, signed in June, imposes harsh conditions on Germany: its army has a limited size, it must pay reparations to the allies, it loses territory to its neighbors and its colonies are taken by the victors. Germany must also accept responsibility for the war in a "war guilt" clause, a source of lasting resentment in Germany.

Europe's borders are redesigned: Poland re-emerges after a hundred years of foreign rule. While Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and an enlarged Romania emerge from the ashes of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The Ottoman Empire disintegrates. New states are created in the Middle East, most under European control. Here, as in Europe, the seeds of future conflicts are sown. While in the Far East, former German possessions in China have been handed over to Japan, much to China's anger. World War I claimed the lives of nine and a half million soldiers, 1 in every 8 of those who fought. Another 21 million were injured. 7 million civilians also lost their lives.

Large areas of Europe were devastated. The old empires disappeared; new states were born; Lives around the

world

were transformed. The

world

was no longer the same.