World War I began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by a Serbian nationalist. This sparked conflict between the Allied powers of Britain, France, and Russia against the Central powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. The United States initially remained neutral but entered the war in 1917 on the side of the Allies after German submarine attacks and the Zimmerman Telegram. The war was characterized by new military technologies like machine guns, tanks, airplanes, and poison gas, as well as brutal trench warfare with immense loss of life.