chapter 21

the first world war: the events that carried out between 1914 and 1918 were manifested in the assassination of prince Ferdinand. it is said that the black hand , a secret organization, was behind the assassination because they did not want non pure blood to rule the country or they did not want the unification that he promised under his rule. either way it caused the events for the Great war and brought hell on earth. the war was new because of the new types of machinery they had. they had new weapons such as the machine gun, tanks, airplanes, and also toxic chemicals. Germany and its allies were relentless and brought the fight. during the battles there was a new form of fighting called trench warfare. the territories were divided into different sides and then they fought with "no mans land" in between. trench warfare was ineffective in gaining territory and strategy but was very effective in killing. there was hard times in the trenches, if the bullets didn't get you then the diseases would. they had to battle with the rats and also gang green and other infections. the first world war also introduced chemical warfare which brought some of the most painful deaths. mustard gas and also gaseous hydrochloric acid could eat you from the inside out. the first world war was one of the bloodiest and inhuman conflicts we have had in human history.