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British raiding party await the word to go - 1916 - Western Front 

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World War I began on July 28, 1914, with tensions that had been building up with Germany growing in power and the Ottoman Empire declining, disrupting the Balance of Power in Europe. There was also economic competition between nations which was triggered by industrialization and imperialism. All of this led to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914. War was declared by Austria-Hungary who held Serbia responsible. The main groups were the Entente (France, the United Kingdom, Russia, the United States, Italy, and Japan) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria).

In 1914, Germany's strategy was to quickly defeat France and then transfer its forces east which was halted in September. By the end of the year, the Western Front was a continuous line of trenches that stretched from the English Channel to Switzerland. On Christmas of 1914, a section of the trenches had a truce for one day where they sang silent night and bonded with each other playing soccer.

In April 1917, the United States joined the Allies after Germany had resumed unrestricted submarine warfare against Atlantic shipping which had caused the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915. Also in 1917, the Russian Revolution ended with the Bolsheviks in power, and Soviet Russia as a new nation. Soviet Russia signed an armistice with the Central Powers in December 1917 and a separate peace treaty in March 1918.

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In March 1918, the German Army launched a spring offensive in the west, which left the army exhausted with the early successes. The Allied powers launched the Hundred Days Offensive in August 1918 which caused the collapse of the German front line. By early November, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary had each signed an armistice with the Allies. This left Germany isolated. When faced with a revolution at home, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated on November 9, 1918, and Germany signed an armistice on November 11, 1918.

In 1919-1920, the Paris Peace Conference created settlements on the defeated powers and also created the Treaty of Versailles of 1919. Germany lost significant territories, was disarmed, and had to pay large reparations. National boundaries were redrawn, and new independent states were created such as Poland, Finland, the Baltic States, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. The League of Nations was established to keep the world peace but was not successful with the outbreak of World War II.

Please comment below your favorite independent country that was created at the end of World War I. Please include why this is your favorite.

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Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima - February 23, 1945 - Joe Rosenthal

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World War II was a conflict between the Allies (mainly the United Kingdom, United States, Soviet Union, and China) and the Axis powers (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and the Empire of Japan). The conflict started on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland and Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. In June 1940, Germany invaded France and took over the country. Over time, Germany took over much of continental Europe and even invaded the Soviet Union (modern-day Russia). On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and other territories in Asia and the Pacific Ocean. This caused the United States to enter the war against Japan. In 1942, the Allies started pushing back against the Axis powers and slowly took back occupied territories. In 1944, the Western Allies invaded Normandy, France, which became known as D-Day, while the Soviet Union recaptured its pre-war territory, and the US captured key Pacific Islands and crippled the Japanese Navy. On May 8, 1945, Germany announced its surrender after all German-occupied territories were liberated and Germany was invaded by the Allies and the Soviet Union, causing the fall of Berlin. Japan surrendered after the US dropped the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th and 9th, 1945. Japan announced surrender on August 15, 1945. On September 2, 1945, the Axis powers signed a surrender document.

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After the War, the United Nations was established. It fostered international cooperation and protection against future conflicts. China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States became permanent members of its security council. The US and the Soviet Union became rival superpowers which was a cause for the Cold War.

The picture from the first World War II post is from World War II. It shows soldiers raising a flag on the island of Iwo Jima in the Japanese territories. At this link, World War II Photos | National Archives, you can find many photos from the time. Please find a picture from this list that interests you. Please comment the photo below with the name of the picture, when it was taken, and if possible, who took it, and any other information that you think is interesting to go along with the photo.

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The Cold War was a period of global rivalry in the geopolitical sphere, specifically between the United States and the Soviet Union and their allies. The term cold war is used because there was no direct fighting between the two main powers though each side supported their allies in the conflicts that they were in known as proxy wars. The Cold War was also shown through a struggle for ideological and economic influence, an arms race in conventional weapons and nuclear weapons, and technological rivalries such as the Space Race, espionage, propaganda campaigns, embargoes, and sports diplomacy. The Cold War ended in 1991 with the fall of the Soviet Union.

Please watch the attached video and comment on one thing you did not know about the Cold War before watching the video.

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The Cold War: Crash Course US History #37