I doubt we'll ever know the name of the first soldier to die, but Archduke Ferdinand's assassination set it all off:
"While riding in the motorcade through the streets of Sarajevo on 28 June, Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were shot and killed by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian member of the Black Hand; earlier in the day Ferdinand's car had also been fired at by a hand grenade, causing him to complain angrily upon his arrival at the city hall.
"What is the good of your speeches? I come to Sarajevo on a visit, and I get bombs thrown at me. It is outrageous!"
Archduke Franz Ferdinand interrupting the Mayor's welcome speech at Sarajevo's city hall, 28 June 1914.
The assassination provided Austria-Hungary with an excuse to take action against Serbia. During July 1914 the situation escalated, pulling in the major European powers via the complex alliance relationships each had struck up with one another. The result was world war."
The first soldier to die may well have been a German:
"Something of a moral victory for the Allies as represented by Belgium, the Battle of Liege ran for twelve days from 5-16 August 1914, and resulted in surprisingly heavy losses upon the German invasion force by the numerically heavily outnumbered Belgians.
The Battle of Liege signified the first land battle of the war, as the German Second Army crossed the frontier into neutral Belgium (since 1839) so as to attack France from the north. The Schlieffen Plan had started.
The initial aim of von Bulow's Second Army, which comprised 320,000 men, was to seize the city of Liege, gateway to Belgium, which blocked the narrow gap between the 'Limburg appendix' and the Ardennes, the best entrance into Belgium."
2006-10-30 00:24:41
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answer #1
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answered by johnslat 7
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Did you know the WW1 started by accident. (literally) An assassin was send to kill Archduke Ferdinand. The assassin could not get close and pulled out. Went to get something to eat a few blocks away. At this moment the driver of Archduke Ferdinand took the wrong turn off. As the assassin came out of the shop he notice Archduke Ferdinand approaching in his car. Could not believe his luck, he then walked towards the car and shot Archduke Ferdinand with handgun. The first person to die in WW1.
2006-10-31 11:52:44
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answer #2
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answered by rooilugo 2
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On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne, and his wife, in Sarajevo. Princip was a member of Young Bosnia, a group whose aims included the unification of the South Slavs and independence from Austria-Hungary (see also: the Black Hand). The assassination in Sarajevo set into motion a series of fast-moving events that escalated into a full-scale war
2006-10-30 02:56:14
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answer #3
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answered by It's Me! 5
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Archduke Franz Ferdinand was NOT the 1st to die in WW1 because the war wasn't declared until a month after his assassination. It's likely that the 1st was killed by gunfire from an Austrian warship on the Danube firing on Belgrade - these were the 1st shots of WW1
2006-10-30 00:34:35
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answer #4
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answered by andigee2006 2
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Archduke Ferdinand
2006-10-30 00:20:02
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answer #5
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answered by Anonymous
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The cause of the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. The first to be massacred in the war were Serbs (history repeated itself in WW2 and Penis Clinton's wars), followed by Armenians.
2006-10-30 00:23:57
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answer #6
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answered by Avner Eliyahu R 6
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On the WESTERN FRONT the first casualties were amongst the Belgians.
Archduke Ferdinand was not assassinated at the start of WW1. However, historians accede that this incident kicked it off.
2006-10-30 02:36:39
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answer #7
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answered by Anonymous
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tens of millions. There has never been an precise count huge style. case in point, it relatively is truthfully accepted in WW 2 that Hitler killed 6 million Jewish human beings. yet you never pay attention of the 22 Million Russians who lost there lives below the guideline of Stalin. To my information, there has never been an precise count huge style, nor ought to there be one, because of the fact conflict has been around because of the fact the beginning up of time. Now from WW-! to the present day, they have an estimate, yet no longer an precise one. it relatively is interior the tens of millions in easy terms for that factor era. The "Civil-conflict" in this us of a value tens of millions of lives on the two facets, and there is not any-thank you to accurately say what number. they have a solid concept what number protection stress died, yet they weren't the only ones scuffling with that conflict. there have been civilian unit's who fought besides. So the main suitable answer on your question is tens of millions. no longer allot of help, yet i'm hoping you could understand why there is not any genuine-precise count huge style. God Bless u.s.! 1st. Sgt., seventh specific Forces, (Ret.) Vietnam, "sixty seven"-"70"
2016-10-20 23:57:05
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answer #8
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answered by templeman 4
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Not strictly true, but wasn't it Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo?
2006-10-30 03:15:20
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answer #9
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answered by cymry3jones 7
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franz ferdinand was shot and that was one of the main reasons the conflict started. He was shot alongside his wife on a royal visit
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2006-10-30 00:24:47
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answer #10
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answered by Robyn 3
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