Hello everyone, my name is Daro.. I now want to tell you about the story of an American hero, Alvin York, who had to get involved in WW1
How's the story?
Actually, war is rarely started by one country alone. It is a series of events involving many interests, ambitions, and mistakes. So it is with the war that is now shaking the world—the Great War, now known as World War I.
On June 28, 1914, a bullet was fired in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist, pulled the trigger and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary FYI: Austria-Hungary is now divided into 13 different countries, not only Archduke Franz but the bullet also hit his wife. The bullet not only killed a nobleman, it became the trigger for a conflict that dragged the whole world into darkness.
Austria-Hungary immediately accused Serbia of being the mastermind behind the murder. On July 28, 1914, they declared war on Serbia. It should have been just a small war between two countries in the Balkans. But the world was now tangled in a complex web of alliances.
Russia, which considered itself the protector of the Slavs, including Serbia, could not sit idly by. It began mobilizing troops. Germany, Austria-Hungary's main ally, saw this as a threat and declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914.
Then came France. France had long harbored a grudge against Germany over its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). When Germany invaded Belgium to reach the French border, France had no choice but to join the war.
Britain was initially hesitant. But there was one treaty it could not ignore—the Treaty of London of 1839, which guaranteed Belgian neutrality. When Germany invaded Belgium on August 4, 1914, Britain finally declared war on Germany.
As if this war were not big enough, the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) joined the Central Powers, and Italy, initially neutral, joined the Allies in 1915 after being offered new territory if they won.
Europe had become a killing field. Trenches were dug, cannons were fired, poison gas was released. Millions of lives were lost in a war that was initially expected to last only a few months but now seemed to drag on.
On the other side of the ocean, the United States initially refused to get involved. But the sinking of its merchant ships by German submarines and the revelation of the Zimmermann Telegram—a secret message from Germany inviting Mexico to go to war with the United States—made it impossible for President Woodrow Wilson to turn a blind eye. In 1917, America entered the war.
Among the thousands of men sent to the front was Alvin York, a farmer from Tennessee. A man who initially believed that killing was a sin.
But war does not care about beliefs. It only cares about life and death.
And on a gray morning in the Argonne Forest, France, Alvin York had to choose between the two.