See the faces of the Colorado National Guard members who fought in WWI

The Colorado National Guard is honoring the lives of its members who fought in World War I, 112 years after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914.

What initially started as a war between the Central Powers, comprising Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire, and the Triple Entente, or Allied Powers, comprising the French Third Republic, the United Kingdom, and the Russian Empire, turned into a four-year affair involving countries and territories across the globe that left an estimated 15 to 22 million people dead.

World War I began exactly one month after Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914.

Fighting commenced in mainland Europe, where the Central Powers battled the Allied Powers on the famed Western and Eastern Fronts, as well as the Italian and Balkan Fronts. War would also find its way to colonial territories in Africa and Asia.

As the conflict persisted, nations, including Italy, Japan, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria, would play a prominent role.

Meanwhile, across the pond in the United States, President Woodrow Wilson heavily supplied the Allied Powers with food, raw materials and weapons. The U.S. tried to remain out of the fight directly, but several incidents saw them eventually join the war.

In 1915, a German submarine sank the British passenger liner, the RMS Lusitania, killing 128 Americans on board. Then, in 1917, between February and March, several unarmed U.S. cargo ships were taken out by submarines. The nail in the coffin was when the intercepted Zimmermann Telegram was published, leaking German plans to ally with Mexico to hopefully attack the U.S.

On April 2, 1917, Wilson asked Congress for a formal declaration of war.

Around 2,000,000 U.S. troops would travel across the Atlantic Ocean to help the Allied Powers on the Western Front, fighting primarily in France and Belgium. Included in those millions of soldiers were members of the Colorado National Guard.

To honor the men who fought, the Colorado National Guard posted several pictures of the soldiers in a social media post on Tuesday.

⇒  Read the entire article on the KVDR website here:

External Web Site Notice: This page contains information directly presented from an external source. The terms and conditions of this page may not be the same as those of this website. Click here to read the full disclaimer notice for external web sites. Thank you.