World War I, also known as the Great War, began in 1914 and ended on November 11,

1918. The conflict began with the assassination of Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz
Ferdinand by a member of a Serbian independence group on June 28, 1914. Official
declarations of war began with Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Serbia one
month later. Germany and Russia then intervened on behalf of Austria-Hungary and
Serbia, respectively.

Over the span of nearly four and a half years, over 20 countries issued
declarations of war that can be found in the official government publications of
the time. This Story Map highlights those declarations that are available through
the Law Library of Congress.On September 4, 1914, the British, French, and Russian
governments declared an alliance - the Triple Entente - committing themselves to
not demand peace terms or conclude peace separately during the war without their
mutual agreement.n the Belgian Foreign Minister's response to the German Ambassador
on August 3, 1914, the Belgian government refused to comply with the German
ultimatum to allow German troops to pass through Belgian territory.