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 onethat 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 Almanac
World War I Almanac
Tom Pendergast and Sara Pendergast Christine Slovey, Editor
World War I: Almanac
Tom Pendergast Sara Pendergast
Staff Christine Slovey, U•X•L Senior Editor Elizabeth Shaw Grunow, U•X•L Contributing Editor Carol DeKane Nagel, U•X•L Managing Editor Tom Romig, U•X•L Publisher Shalice Shah-Caldwell, Permissions Associate (Pictures) Robyn Young, Imaging and Multimedia Content Editor Pamela A. Reed, Imaging Coordinator Rita Wimberly, Senior Buyer Evi Seoud, Assistant Manager, Composition Purchasing and Electronic Prepress Pamela A.E. Galbreath, Senior Art Designer Jennifer Wahi, Art Designer Linda Mahoney, LM Design, Typesetting Cover Photos: Woman welder, reproduced courtesy of the Library of Congress; United States Army Signal Corps, reproduced by permission of AP/Wide World Photos; Celebrating the Armistice, reproduced by permission of the Corbis Corporation (Bellevue).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pendergast, Tom. World War I almanac / Tom Pendergast, Sara P