he Ottoman Empire. Austria-Hungry and Russia both wanted to control the disintegrating Ottoman Empire.With all of this tension already in Europe, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinan was all that was needed to spark thestart of the war. Serbia firmly denied any compensation to Austria for the death of the Archduke, so Austria declared war onSerbia. Germany was an ally to Austria, and Russia was an ally to Serbia. Because of this connection those two countries,Germany and Russia entered the war. Germany quickly declared war on Russia and Russia's ally France. Germany thenbrutally invaded the neutral country of Belgium. The invasion of Belgium made Great Britain so mad that they too declared waron Germany. Europe was now divided into two separate powers, the Allied Powers and the Central Powers. The Allies wouldeventually consist of Great Britain, France, Japan, Russia, in 1915 Italy, and the United States in 1917. The Central Powerswere made up of Germany, Austria-Hungry, Turkey, and in 1915 Bulgaria. The United States followed the Global War Policythat allowed neutral nations to trade with both sides in a war. President Wilson urged the American people to be neutral inthought and in deed. This meant that Americans were not supposed to support either side in the war. The United States wasdoing business with the Allies and the Central Powers. Germany felt that any ship carrying supplies for the Allies was fair gameto sink. Germany started sinking US supply ships headed for Britain. Wilson cut off all ties with Germany and began viewingGermany as an outlaw after a U-boat sank the Lusitania. Wilson also found out about a plan that Germany was trying to getMexico to enter the war and invade the United States from the south. This was too much for Wilson to ignore and he declaredwar. At first when war was declared men lined up at recruiting offices and volunteered to fight. To them war was a noble thingto do and they were excited to go...
