A War that Everyone Forgets

By A. Martinez

What do you know about World War I? Do you think it was tragic, or was it not important to you at all? I've rarely heard about it. World War II is more known to people, but I'm going to help you learn more about it, because it is an important war.

It was known as the War to End all Wars, but did it? World War I was a big part of history. It was tragic, it was depressing, and millions of people died fighting for their countries and their families. More than nine million soldiers and civilians died. It took place in Europe from 1914, to 1918. Austria-Hungary declared war on July 28th, after that, on the first of August, the Germans declared war against Russia, then two days later they declared war against France. The toll on human life was something the world had never seen and it all began with one shot.

World War I began because of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife on June 28th, 1914, by Gavrillo Princip. After that, countries began declaring war against each other. You can imagine how traumatized the war left all those people, how they'll never be the same again. The people who fought in the war were known as the Lost Generation. After a few years or so, Europe mourned. Memorials were set up in thousands of villages and towns. It must bring back terrible memories to see the memorials, and even if they never do go visit the memorials, they must think about it from time to time. It was a time when people could no longer believe in hope or progress.

During the war, around 8 million men surrendered and were put in POW camps. 92,000 Russians surrendered, over half of the Russian losses were prisoners. Prisoners from allied armies totalled about 1.4 million (not including Russia, who lost between 2.5 and 3.5 men as prisoners) from central powers, about 3.3 million men became prisoners. So many people were killed, injured, or held as prisoners. The amount of men that were killed during World War I, is terribly high. It's sad to think about it.

World War I was a very terrible war. It wasn't the last war, and neither was World War II. No matter what, there will always be mean and sick people out there who'll do things, that cause others to want to put an end to it. For all the men that fought in World War I to bring peace to the world, they should never be forgotten. They risked their lives, and most died, just fighting for their countries. No one, should forget, The War to End all Wars.