Baldwin County World War I Monument

Inscriptions: World War I 1914 – 1918 Unites States Casualties 126,000 Killed - 234,000 Wounded Reverse World War I, also known as the Great War, the European War and in the United States, the war to end all wars, was a global war mostly centered in Europe that began in July 1914 and ended in November 1918. In late June of 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia. An escalation of threats and mobilization orders followed the incident leading, by mid-August to the outbreak of World War I, which pitted Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire (known as the Central Powers) against Great Britain France Russia, Italy and Japan (known as the Allied Powers). The four years of the Great War - as it was then known - saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction, thanks to grueling trench warfare and the introduction of modern weaponary. It was Germany’s policy of unchecked submarine aggression against shipping interests headed to Great Britain that brought the United States into the war in 1917 Widespread protest over the sinking by U-boat of the British ocean liner Lusitania in May 1915 helped turn the tide of American public opinion against Germany. After German submarines sank four U.S. merchant ships early in 1917, the United States declared war on Germany. By the time the war ended in November 1918, more than 9 million soldiers had been killed and 21 million more wounded. Map of the World showing the participants in World War I. Those fighting on the side of the Triple Entente (at one point or another) are depicted in green, the Central Powers in orange, and neutral countries in grey.