July 28, 1914

Hi, I am one of the people who was forced to become a part of Austria-Hungary
military force. I am writing this journal because today is the day that Austria-Hungary
decided to declare war on Serbia and I am very worried about it. I knew that the reason is
something about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand but I do not think a war
would be the solution. Another thing I am concern about is that if we are preparing a big
military force, wouldn’t it be something that causes other countries to fight against us
because now military force and power are something measure our national and imperial
strength and if we are creating a big army force, don’t others think that we want to conquer
them? They might unite and attack us. I am very concerned about it.

August 1, 1914
Hi, I am writing this journal again because I think that the war is getting worse and
worse. I feel that it would not end easily and now a lot of countries are declaring wars on
each other such as Germany that is now declaring war on Russia because Russia ignores their
demand to stop mobilizing. I think that if these two countries are getting into wars, there will
be a lot more countries joining the war especially their alliances and enemies. For example,
France is now starting their own mobilization, so I think Germany would not stay still.

August 4, 1914
I do not know what to say but what I think is right. Even though I wish it would not
happen but unfortunately Germany and France declared war on each other yesterday. I am
even more worried when the new in Germany that they will be invading Belgium.

March 31, 1917

Hi, I am around 46 years old and I have a son who is now a soldier. I am worried
about my son because I am scared that America will join the war because they are deciding if
they will join the war and if America joins the war, my son and other people will need to
fight in the war and many will die. I really hope that America could continue staying neutral
so that people here will not have to die or get hurt.

April 6, 1917
I am now even more worried if he is still fine there because there is something big
happening. Today America joined WW1 with their allies which is Britain, France, and
Russia. I do not think that America should join the war because I think that joining the war
will make a lot of people die and get injured. I have heard trench warfare can cause some
medical conditions like trench-foot and I am very worried that my son will get sick and ill. I
also heard that it is very muddy and sticky. Imagine thousands of people staying in a small
place and not getting a shower for many days, I would literally die because of the smell first
before fighting. Furthermore, there are also a lot of rats and there is not much good food for
soldiers.

April 25, 1917

Nowadays, the war is getting bigger and bigger. A lot of countries are joining and
fighting together. Weapons are getting better and better and I think it causes the war to be
longer and more dangerous. They are now using poison gas and Artillery which I am afraid
that it might kill plenty of people and my son would be one of them.

January 9, 1918
Hi, I am a citizen in US and yesterday, our president, Woodrow Wilson, has come up
with Wilson’s Proposal, which he will be reducing the military force and express more of
democracy and cooperation. He also said that the war was fighting against absolutism and
militarism.

December 3, 1918
I am writing this again when I heard that WW1 executed more than 10 million
citizens in total and this does not count the soldier who sacrifices in the war and the war is
not officially end yet. If I am not wrong, there are 9 million more soldiers who died in the
war so in the end there are over 19 million people who died in WW1. There are also around
21 million wounded soldiers and left 7 million disabled. Not just only killed a lot of people
but WW1 also destroys a lot of factories, houses, and much other building. For example, the
factory I was working before was completely got destroy and I do not have anything to do
except for wait, waiting for the president and the government to announce something because
I am still afraid of going out of my home. The reason is that I do not hear any announcement
about the war ending officially by the government, I only hear some rumors from my
neighbors.
June 30, 1919
It was a long time, I didn’t write this diary so I don’t know where to start. So basically
there was a meeting holding for the victorious Allies after the end of World War I to set the
peace terms for the defeated Central Powers. At first, I am afraid that this might be able to
cause more conflicts between allies if they do not agree on the same idea or punishment.
Fortunately, in the end, they come up with a peace treaty called the Treaty of Versailles
which officially concludes WW1 to the end.