The last weekend in June marked the 100th anniversary of the first world war. It was triggered essentially but the assassination of an heir to an imperial throne which by the end of the war no longer existed. This event triggered a series of alliances that quickly involved many of the major European powers.
Needless to say as a result of this devastating war, the world changes. The losers - who included the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Ottoman Empire - had ultimately experience regime changes and lost some of their territories. What this means is that the Allied Powers - winners include Great Britain, France, and the United States - would gain some of the colonies of the Central Power nations. Also this means that the world map changes again.
The Central Powers nations had significant European territory of their own and essentially these territories were carved up and become independent states. For example, Poland as we know it today didn't exist before 1918 and of course that wasn't the only example.
Unfortunately the war ended in 1918 and was settled with the Treaty of Versailles, however this treaty proved to help cause the 2nd world war. The Treaty punished Germany and that nation struggled between the end of the 1st World War and the 2nd World War.
Often I've heard of this war as being a war that ends all wars, but because the world was plunged into war again that proved not to be the case. Sadly the world is still engrossed with many conflicts though thankfully nothing that reached the scale of last century's two world wars.
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