103 years since 'war to end all wars' came to a close

ANKARA

After the June 28, 1914 assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the world was dragged into its first major global war, World War I, which lasted for four years, leaving 17 million dead in its wake.

Marking 103 years since the "war to end all wars" ended, on Nov. 11, 1918, Anadolu Agency reviewed the results of the conflict and the changes it made to the world map.

Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb student, assassinated the crown prince and his wife Sofia at what is now one of the corner windows of the Sarajevo Museum in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The gun that Princip fired that day set off a global war that would last four years and have long-term consequences, including the rise of the Republic of Turkey in the war’s aftermath.

Forty countries, along with their colonies, took part in the war. The war pitted the Entente Powers formed by Britain, France, Italy, and Russia against the Central Powers made up of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire.

More than 20 major and minor battles were fought along many critical post and fronts during World War I.

Over 1M soldiers died in Battle of the Somme

The bloodiest of these battles took place between Germany and France. France also got support from British and Canadian soldiers on the battlefield.

Due to the splitting of the front in the Galicia region, now within the borders of Poland and Ukraine, and Austria's pressure, German and French forces came face to face at the Battle of the Somme in northern France.

The Battle of the Somme, in which more than 3 million soldiers fought, was one of the bloodiest wars in human history, with more than one million deaths, helping World War I earn the distinction of being the deadliest war in human history up to that point.

Adolf Hitler, who later took power in Germany to lead the Third Reich, welcomed the declaration of war and fought in it as a corporal.

7% of Europe's population died

In 1918, the last year of the war, armistice talks began between the parties. As a result of these negotiations, the war ended with Bulgaria and then the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Germany all accepting defeat.

As a result of World War I, a total of 17 million people lost their lives all over the world, and sine 21 million were injured. In 1918, this death toll totaled about 7% of the European population and 1% of the world's population.

3 great empires collapsed

The war is notable not only for the number of dead, but also for the number of countries wiped off the world political map. New states emerged as three great empires collapsed in Europe – the Ottoman, German, and Austro-Hungarian empires.

While many countries emerged from the three European empires in that period, including the Republic of Turkey, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Yugoslavia, the October 1917 Revolution spelled the end of Czarist Russia and ushered in the Soviet Union.