A complex series of alliances, animosities and arms races had made Europe a powder keg by 1914. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian revolutionary on June 28, 1914, caused it to explode. By Aug. 4 Germany and Austria-Hungary were at war against France, England, Russia and Serbia. Turkey later joined the war on the side of the Germans while Italy allied with Britain and France.

The war featured the first use of tanks and airplanes and the first extensive use of submarines -- yet it eventually bogged down into slow-moving trench warfare, especially on the western front. Shortly after Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare the United States entered the war against them on April 6, 1917. Later that year, the Russian role largely ended as Communists overthrew the czarist government.

By summer 1918 it was clear that the combined economic and military might of the United States and England was too much for German forces, and it agreed to an armistice on Nov. 11. The war resulted in the deaths of uncounted millions of military and civilian populations in Europe and about 117,000 U.S. troops. That total included about 360 from St. Louis, Lake, Cook and Carlton counties.

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