The War to End All Wars



The Beginning of the War to End All Wars.

- Woodrow Wilson

Characters:

Archduke Franz Ferdinand (Austria-Hungary)

Sophie (Franz Ferdinand’s wife)

Gavrilo Princip (Serbian)

George Clemenseau (France)

David Lloyd George (England)

Russians 1, 2, and 3

Serbians 1 and 2

Russian Tsar

German Kaiser

German Advisor

Austrian 1, 2

Austrian Leader

Narrator

Nationalities:

Serbian (members of the Black Hand)

Austrian-Hungarian

French

Germany

British

Russian

Setting: The nationalities are all hanging out in separate parts of the room talking about how proud they are of their countries.

Scene 1:

Narrator: “Tensions have been building in Europe for many years. European countries were in constant competition with each other and began to make friends and enemies with their neighbors”

Russia 1: “It’s so awesome to be the strongest Slavic country in the world.”

Russia 2: “What does it mean to be Slavic?”

Russia 3: “You should know that! Being Slavic means that you speak a Russian language, follow the Eastern Orthodox Christian faith, and dress like a Russian”

Russia 2: “Well who else is Slavic?”

Russia 1: “Well…most of the Balkans regions are, like Serbians are, and so are Bosnians.”

Russia 2: “I know Serbia is its own country, but if Bosnians are Slavic, then why are they part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire? The Austrians aren’t like us.”

Russia 3: “Good question…people in Bosnia have wanted to be independent of Austrian-Hungarian rule for many years”

Russia 2: “They probably don’t want to break away from Austria-Hungary because they are scared”

Russia 1: “They have nothing to be scared of! We Russians promise to help our Slavic Bosnian brothers and sisters win their independence if a single drop of Slavic blood is spilt by any Austrian-Hungarian”

Russia 3: “So that means we are allies with Britain and France as well, because they don’t like Austria-Hungary either”

Russia 2: “Why’s that?”

Russia 3: “The Brits and French are scared of Austria-Hungary becoming too strong and trying to control all of Europe. That’s the same reason they hate Austria-Hungary’s best friend, Germany.”

Scene 2:

Narrator: “June 27th 1914 - Members of the Serbian terror group called the “Black Hand” are meeting to discuss the visit of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand the following day”

Serbian 1: “Yo, I can’t believe this guy is coming to visit Bosnia tomorrow”

Serbian 2: “The Archduke and his wife, Sophie, are just rubbing it in that they control Bosnia against their will”

Serbian 1: “Why don’t they just leave our Bosnian brothers and sisters alone?”

Serbian 2: “Something needs to be done; we need to send Austria-Hungary a message that we want them out of Bosnia for good!”

Serbian 1: “Those Bosnians deserve to be independent like the rest of us Slavic nations”

Serbian 2: “But who’s going to do it?”

Princip: “I’ll do it”

Serbian 1: “Do what?”

Princip: “I’ll kill the Archduke and his wife”

Serbian 2: “Are you crazy?”

Serbian 1: “We weren’t thinking that! We just wanted to make it known we want them out”

Serbian 2: “With all this tension you’re going to start a world war!”

Princip: “Then let it be! I’m tired of these Austrians thinking they can just walk all over us Slavic people. I’m going to do it! Tomorrow!”

Scene 3:

Narrator: “June 28th 1914 – The Archduke of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sophie are traveling through Bosnia and are shot and killed by Princip. This set off a chain reaction”

Austrian 1: “Did you hear the Archduke and his wife were shot and killed?”

Austrian 2: “I can’t believe it, who did it?”

Austrian 1: “Some Serbian”

Austrian 2: “Why would a Serbian assassinate our Archduke? He was traveling through our own country”

Austrian 1: “Not to the Serbian, these people think that Bosnia should be independent of Austrian rule”

Austrian 2: “That’s stupid; they should mind their own business”

Austrian 1: “Yea well, Serbians want to help Bosnians because they are both Slavic”

Austrian 2: “Oh, this ridiculous Russian culture thing again.”

Austrian 1: “Yea that, well I hope they are prepared to deal with the consequences”

Austrian 2: “What do you mean?”

Austrian 1: “I heard our government has an important announcement later this afternoon”

Austrian 2: “That doesn’t sound good for little Serbia”

Scene 4:

Narrator: “Later that afternoon the Austrian-Hungarian government made an important announcement, which started a chain reaction in Europe.”

Austrian Leader: “Because of the events earlier today in Bosnia by the Serbian Gavrilo Princip, Austria-Hungry declares war on Serbia”

Narrator: “Because Serbia was a Slavic nation Russia had to respond.”

Russian Tsar: “We in Russia will not allow Serbia to be pushed around by Austria-Hungarians; we will stand up for our Slavic brothers and sister. We will begin to get our army ready to fight Austria-Hungary. Mobilize the military and wait for my command.”

Narrator: “Alliances were very important in Europe, and friends had to stick up for friends. Austria-Hungary’s biggest ally was Germany. They shared a culture and became close friends, promising to back each other up”

German Kaiser: “Germany will not allow Austria-Hungary to fight Russia and the other slavs alone; we declare war on Russia in order to help our Austrian allies”

Narrator: “At this point it was time for an ally of Russia to declare war but Germany went totally out of order, later this will be one reason why Germany was punished so much more than any other country for beginning WWI”

German Kaiser: “We are not going to sit back and wait for someone to declare war on us, we hereby declare was on France and will attack Belgium in order to reach France”

German Advisor: “Do you feel this is wise?”

German Kaiser: “Yes, we will join with Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire and call ourselves the Central Powers. We will win this war and dominate all of Europe. We will never again have to worry about England or France or Russia or any other European country. We will become the strongest country in the world”

German Advisor: “What about the United States?”

German Kaiser: “We do not need those Americans; we can win this war on our own. We have the military strength, the nationalism, and the will to win this war”

Narrator: “In response to Germany declaring war on France and attacking Belgium, England and France met and discussed what to do”

English Prime Minister (David Lloyd George): “The British Empire promises to help the French defend themselves against this declaration of war”

French Prime Minister (George Clemenseau): “I can’t believe this is happening, we never did anything to any of those Central Powers”

George: “Yes, but we are friends with Russia and that is why we’re in this predicament. We were guilty by association”

Clemenseau: “I don’t know what to do! I’m scared”

George: “If it’s a war they want, it’s a war they’ll get. We will win this war and Europe will never be the same. After we win this war we will punish Germany and their Central Power friends so badly they will never again be a threat to our safety”

Clemenseau: “I hope you’re right, I don’t want to fight a war. Can’t we just talk this out?”

George: “You’ve got to be kidding. The Central Powers do not understand diplomacy; they understand force. Many years from now, in the future, there will be a great American named Ronald Reagan and he will say ‘If it's to be a bloodbath, let it be now. Appeasement is not the answer’. We would all like to avoid a war, but we will not lie down and allow the Central Powers to destroy Europe”

Clemenseau: “What will we call ourselves?”

George: “Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire are the Central Powers, so the English, the French, and the Russians will call themselves the Allied Powers”

Clemenseau: “I like it”

Narrator: “So in the course of a week Europe went from all out peace to all out war. Over the next four years European countries will kill more people than any previous war in human history. Our job in this class is to research how America helped change this war, and the decision making process that went into it. Always keep in mind that all the unfinished business of WWI was later finished during WWII”

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