E-Book Overview
World War I was truly one of the most tragic events of the twentieth century. The war began over a terrorist act in the provinces of the fading Austro-Hungarian Empire and could have been avoided if Germany, Russia, and France hadn't felt compelled to obey secret treaties they had signed years before. Those secret treaties turned a small conflict into one that involved every major country in Europe and eventually many other nations from around the world. In the course of just over four years of war, nearly ten million soldiers and civilians lost their lives; billions of dollars were spent on killing machines-guns, tanks, submarines-and the economies of most of the warring countries were severely disrupted; two great empires-the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire-collapsed in defeat.
E-Book Content
World War I Biographies World War I Biographies Tom Pendergast and Sara Pendergast Christine Slovey, Editor World War I: Biographies Tom Pendergast and Sara Pendergast Staff Christine Slovey, U•X•L Senior Editor Julie L. Carnagie, U•X•L Contributing Editor Carol DeKane Nagel, U•X•L Managing Editor Tom Romig, U•X•L Publisher Pamela A.E. Galbreath, Senior Art Director (Page design) Jennifer Wahi, Art Director (Cover design) Shalice Shah-Caldwell, Permissions Associate (Images) Robyn Young, Imaging and Multimedia Content Editor Pamela A. Reed, Imaging Coordinator Robert Duncan, Imaging Specialist Rita Wimberly, Senior Buyer Evi Seoud, Assistant Manager, Composition Purchasing and Electronic Prepress Linda Mahoney, LM Design, Typesetting Cover Photos: Woodrow Wilson and Manfred von Richthofen reproduced by permission of AP/Wide World Photos, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pendergast, Tom. World War I biographies / Tom Pendergast, Sara Pendergast p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and inde