Playground Squares XII: Where the fun never ends. EVER!

[Lex-Kat]

World War I, originally known as The Great War as it was believed that it would be the war to end all wars. Obviously this was not true. The war started all because a Yugoslav assassin killed the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This began a ping-pong effect of one country after another adhering to their treaties with other countries to defend one another from their allies enemies. And like a nightmarish game of dominoes, it seemed that all of Europe had fallen into the war, as well as eventually dragging in outside help from non-continental allies.

By the end of the war, the machines we officially know as tanks had been invented, the usefulness of air warfare had been proven, and trench-warfare was seen as so-last-century when it came to tactical advantage. The Central Axis powers loss their sovereignty, many of them losing borders and land as punishment for their part in the war. The German, Russian, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian Empires no longer existed. National boarders were redrawn, creating new or recreating old countries in their place. Germanys colonies were parceled off to other countries as reparations for their hand in the war. All of this had future repercussions that no one then foresaw coming. Well, except for maybe France, who built the useless Maginot Line in preparation for the next war. You know, the one that wasn't supposed to ever happen?

But there was one more important development of The Great War, the League of Nations. Much like today's United Nations (and it was the precursor of that institution), it was intended to prevent wars through arbitration and negotiation. To begin disarmament of all the world's militaries. And to watch for aggressors who threatened the peace. It wasn't much good at doing any of those things. Another comparison with the U.N. is that it was supposed to consist of Five Great Powers to provide the foundation and stability for the League. The United States senate rejected the idea of joining the International League, which Woodrow Wilson campaigned for, leaving it to just four Great Powers. Silent_Interim, aside from France and Great Britain, name one of the other two "Great Powers" to join as permanent members of the League of Nations.