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Show j Wori By June 28 Event IThe war which changed a way of life in the western world, and which was in many ways unnecessary. was triggered by a tragedy on ' June 28, 1914. (Five years later the Treaty of Versailles, which made almost certain a follow-up follow-up war and which officially ended en-ded Word War I, was signed on the same day.) AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, an j empire attempting to mold and I hold in one nation various J races and creeds, was split asunder by the war; Germany was broken and embittered. Communism was brought to power in Russja (by Germany). Ger-many). France was bled white-Monarchies white-Monarchies in both Germany and Austria-Hungary collapsed col-lapsed with the defeat of the Central Powers. And America, Amer-ica, late in 1917, started out on the road to world leadership by entering the war. ALL THIS and more followed fol-lowed the brutal assassination of Austria-Hungary's Archduke, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, in Sarajevo. Bosina. The Austro-Hungarian Emperor and Government held Serbia responsible for the murders, and, revenge-minded, revenge-minded, delivered a tough ultimatum ulti-matum to the Serbs. Serbia was eager to avoid war and w illing to meet most of the demands. de-mands. RUSSIA, however, encouraged encour-aged resistance, as did France, to a lesser extent. Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary and sympathetic with Emperor Franz Joseph, initially backed Austria-Hungary but the Kaiser Kais-er attempted to avoid war and restrain Vienna in the final days before Europe plunged into the abyss. In August fighting began, drawing in all the great powers. ALL STEMMING from the deeds of June 28. by anarchists and nationalists, sixty-seven years ago in a small town which is today a part of Yugoslavia. |