Page 6 - 21st Century Defense 100th Anniversary WW1

World War I On Its 100 Anniversary
th

By Arthur G. Sharp

I t takes one real or contrived incident to start a war. involved ran into the billions of dollars. Despite the costs and

the adverse impact on human lives, the war did not solve the
Generally, that incident is the culmination of a series of
events. Such was the case in World War I, as known as
until the end of World War II in 1945, which was similarly costly.
“The Great War,” that lasted from July 28, 1914 to November problems that led up to the fighting. The solutions had to wait
11, 1918, during which time an estimated 15-17 million There were two major purposes for the war: some
combatants and civilians were killed and another 20 million participating nations’ desires to protect their domestic
injured and those figures might be conservative.
and foreign territorial interests and to coalesce ethnic groups
Property losses and the financial costs to the countries within their spheres of influence, or nationalism. The focus on

6