World War One - A Brief History

Everybody walked into the conflict in august 19 14 believing that it would all surely be over by christmas. The principal axis upon which the whole insane apparatus of world war one hinged was germany on one side and france and russia on the other. But while germany versus france and RUSSIA was the principal axis, they were far from the only axis. Russia faced a multi front war, a northwest front against germany, a southwestern front against austria hungary, and a southern front against the ottoman turks. That is what gave the british the official diplomatic reason they needed to join the war on the side of france