Britannica Student Encyclopedia - 2010

The airplane had been invented only 11

years before the war began. At first Germany

used floating aircraft called zeppelins,

rather than airplanes, to bomb the

United Kingdom. Then the British built

antiaircraft guns to shoot down the zeppelins.

During the war both sides built several

kinds of warplanes. Fighter airplanes had

machine guns to shoot at other airplanes.

In 1917 the Germans started

dropping bombs from airplanes. In the

United Kingdom these bombings killed

about 1,300 people and injured about

3,000.

Events of 1917

The Russian Revolution in 1917

changed the Eastern Front. A group

called the Bolsheviks took over Russia in

November. They made peace with the

Central Powers almost immediately. The

Germans were then able to move their

troops elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the United States entered

the war on the side of the Allies. President

WoodrowWilson at first did not

want to go to war. He changed his mind

because Germany kept attacking U.S.

supply ships. The United States also

found out that Germany had promised

to give Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona

to Mexico in return for Mexico’s help in

the war. The United States declared war

on Germany on April 6, 1917.

The Tide Turns

During the winter of 1917–18, there

were more German soldiers than Allied

soldiers on the Western Front. In 1918

the situation changed, as nearly 10,000

U.S. troops landed each day in France.

By November, the Allies had driven

back the Germans to the battle lines of

1914.

The Central Powers started surrendering.

The Bulgarians gave up on September

29, 1918. On October 30 the

Austrians asked for a cease-fire (an end

to fighting). The Ottomans gave up on

the same day.

By this time, the German people were

starving. The naval blockade was keeping

food shipments from reaching the

country. On November 11, 1918, Ger-

Fighter pilots got into battles called dogfights

as they tried to shoot each other down.

64 World War I BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

 

man government leaders signed an

armistice—an agreement that ended the

fighting.

The Peace

The Allies met in January 1919 and

wrote a document called a peace treaty.

The treaty allowed Germany to keep

only a small army and navy. Germany

was also forced to pay a large amount of

money to the Allies. In addition, the

treaty started the League of Nations, an

organization that was supposed to prevent

future wars.

German and Allied representatives

signed the Treaty of Versailles on June

28, 1919. (Versailles is a town near Paris,

France.) Separate treaties made peace

with Austria, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman

Empire. However, the U.S. Senate

refused to ratify, or agree to, the Treaty

of Versailles. Some senators were against

the treaty because they did not like the

League of Nations.

The Allies’ dreams of peace did not last

long. The German people did not like

being punished. They brought Adolf

Hitler to power in 1933. He built up the

German military and started to conquer

neighboring countries. The League of

Nations could not stop him. His actions

led toWorldWar II.

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WorldWar II

World War II started in 1939. By the

time it ended in 1945, the war involved

nearly every part of the world. The two

sides that fought the war were called

the Axis powers and the Allies.

Germany, Italy, and Japan were the

major Axis powers. The major Allies

were the United States, the Soviet

Union, the United Kingdom (Great

Britain), and France. China also aided

the Allies.

More people died in World War II than

in any other war. Experts guess that 40

to 50 million people lost their lives.

Many were civilians (people not

fighting the war). About 6 million were

victims of the Holocaust—a German

plan to kill people that they thought

were inferior.

Events Leading toWar

Japan, Italy, and Germany all committed

warlike acts in the 1930s. In 1931 Japan

began an invasion of China. Italy, led by

Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Party, conquered

the East African country of

Ethiopia in 1935.

Germany was the biggest threat to world

peace. Adolf Hitler and his National

Socialist, or Nazi, Party wanted Germans

to rule over everyone else. In

March 1938 German troops marched

into Austria.

Hitler next wanted a part of Czechoslovakia

where German-speaking people

lived. Great Britain and France agreed to

let him have it. They hoped to satisfy

Only a few

countries,

including

Spain, Switzerland,

and

Sweden, were

neutral in both

world wars.

Neutral means

that they did

not take sides.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA World War II 65

 

Hitler so that he would make no more

demands. Their plan—called

appeasement—was a failure.Within six

months Germany took control of all of

Czechoslovakia.

Hitler then planned to take over Poland.

Britain and France promised to help

Poland in case Germany attacked it.

Germany prepared for war by making

peace with the Soviet Union (which was

not yet on the Allies’ side) in August

1939. Germany did not want to fight

Britain, France, and the Soviet Union all

at the same time.

War with Germany Begins