So now everything's taking off.
Britain didn't decide to join the war, which was great news for Germany and Austria-Hungary. Germany thinks Russia is so big and clumsy that they'll take a long time to get their army together to defend themselves, so they smash their troops into France while Russia is getting ready then obliterate Russia. Now they won and everybody else surrendered and we're all speaking Deustch and eating bratwurst every day.
Except that didn't happen. France had a lot of big powerful forts on their border. And Germany couldn't waste any time fighting those big powerful forts, cause you know there's a big scary country on the other side called Russia so they decided to attack France from the north, through Belgium. They're hoping Belgium will let them just do it since they won't actively attack them but Belgium refuses and fights back.
Bad news for Germany, Britain was like, "Awww, what a cute little Belgium, WAIT IT'S BEING RAIDED HIHEIUFGHDIUFHGUFIHGDIUYRT" and so they declared war on Germany.
Meanwhile a looooooong distance away America was getting a bit concerned so the president asked them perhaps they could hug the war out but Germany refused. At the start of the war there were a lot of Ethnic-Germans living in America and they were like YAY GERMANY goooo at the start but seeing the murders and genocide that the Germans were causing, they were less enthusiastic. Not good news for the Germans either.
Ding dong, Russia was ready, way earlier than Germany had expected. Austria-Hungary tried to attack them but got obliterated so Germany had to send some troops back to defend against the Russians.
Austria-Hungary's military commander was a stupid fella and never listened to the Germans' much better advice. His butt was even kicked by tiny Serbia who repelled all of their attacks.
Meanwhile Germany on the other hand finally received some good news; Russia is getting crushed because Russia's commander was even more stupid than the Austria-Hungary one. Germany was able to charge through Belgium and into France, digging deep.
But then things started to change. Britain's armies started showing up in larger numbers in France, and the Germans were pushed back. They dug into defensive positions. The French and the British did the same. They literally dug trenches in the ground for defense. Now that's the start of trench warfare. Don't get me wrong; fighting in dirty trenches is NOT FUN. Parents, if you're reading this book, don't send your child to play in a trench. There are tripwires, machine guns, and all the stuff that will make little kids excited (Bombs and poisonous chemicals). If you REALLY want to let them in for a look, be careful that they don't gas you by accident. To take safety precautions, go to Google and look up a photo; it won't kill you.
