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World War 1 After the Franco Prussian War, Europe and the United States experienced a period of relative peace. There was rapid industrial and commercial progress. The western powers expanded trade and colonies. However, national rivalries gradually grew and alliance camps emerged. Economic competition and arms race also became intense. The Balkans became a hot pot of western intervention, as the Ottoman Empire declined. Finally war broke out in 1914, a war which was unexpectedly disastrous and …

…more secret agreements existed, and then was in fact, the case. The First World War lasted for four years and three months. It began on August 4, 1914 and ended on November 11, 1918. It involved sixty sovereign states, overthrew four Empires (German Empire, Hapsburg Empire, Turkish Empire, Russian Empire), gave birth to seven new nations, took ten million combatant lives (another 30 million were wounded), and cost about $186 billion. It was classified as “The War To End All Wars”