World War I

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"World War One", "Great War", and "WW1" redirect here. For other uses, see World War One(di

sambiguation), Great War (disambiguation), and WW1 (album).

World War I

(Clockwise from the top)

The aftermath of shelling during the Battle of t

he Somme

Mark V tanks cross the Hindenburg Line

HMSIrresistible sinks after hitting a mine in the

Dardanelles
 a British Vickers machine gun crew wears gas

masks during the Battle of the Somme

Albatros D.IIIfighters of Jagdstaffel 11

Date 28 July 1914 – 11 Novem

ber 1918

(4 years, 3 months and 2

weeks)

Peace treaties[show]

Location Europe, Africa, the Middl

e East, the PacificIslands,

China, Indian Ocean, Nor

th and South Atlantic Oc

ean

Result Allied Powers victory

Central Power

s victory on the E

astern Front is nul

lified by defeats o

n other fronts.

Fall of all con

tinental empires in

Europe (including

Germany, Russia,

Turkeyand Austria-

Hungary)
 RussianRevolut

ion and Russian C

ivil War – the coll

apse of the Russia

n Empire and the

subsequent format

ion of the Soviet

Union

Widespread u

nrest and revoluti

onsthroughout Eur

ope and Asia

Creation of th

e League of Natio

ns(more...)

Territorial Formation of new co

changes untries in Europe and the

Middle East

Transfer of Germanc

olonies and territories, re

gions of the formerOtto

man Empire, regionsof th

e former Austro-Hungaria

n Empire and Soviet Uni

 onterritories to other cou

ntries

Belligerents

Allied Powers: Central Powers:

France GermanE

mpire
BritishEmpire

Austria-H
Russia (1914–1
ungary
7)

Ottoman
Serbia
Empire
Belgium
Bulgaria (
Montenegro
1915–18)

Japan
...and co-belligere

Italy (1915–18) nts

UnitedStates

(1917–18)

Romania (191

6–18)

Portugal (191

6–18)

Hejaz (1916–1

8)
 China (1917–1

8)

Greece (1917–

18)

Siam (1917–18

...and others

Commanders and leaders

RaymondPoin WilhelmII

caré
FranzJose

GeorgesClem ph I †

enceau
Karl I

H. H.Asquith
Mehmed

David LloydG V †

eorge
Mehmed

Albert I VI

Nicholas II ThreePas

has
AlexanderKer

ensky Ferdinand

I
VictorEmman

uel III and others...

 VittorioOrland

WoodrowWils

on

Yoshihito

Peter I

Ferdinand I

EleftheriosVen

izelos

and others...

Strength

Total: 42,959,850[1] Total: 25,248,321[1]

12,000,000 13,250,00

0
8,841,541[2][3]

7,800,000
8,660,000[4]

2,998,321
5,615,140

1,200,000
4,743,826

1,234,000

800,000

707,343

380,000
 250,000

80,000

50,000

Casualties and losses

Military dead: 5,52 Military dead:

5,000 4,386,000

Military wounded: Military wound

12,831,500 ed:8,388,000

Total: 18,356,500 K Total: 12,774,0

IA, WIA and MIA 00 KIA, WIA and

MIA
Civilian dead: 4,00

0,000 Civilian dead:

3,700,000
further details...

further details...
Military deaths by country[5][6]

1,811,000 Military deaths by country[

5]

1,397,800
2,050,897

1,114,914
1,200,000

651,000
771,844

250,000–335,
87,500
000

275,000
 116,708

58,637–87,500

26,000

7,222

3,000

415

show

Theatres of World War I

Events leading to World War I

Triple Alliance 1882

Mayerling incident 1889

Franco-RussianAllian
1894
ce

Anglo-German nava
1898–1912
larms race

Venezuela NavalBlo
1902–1903
ckade

Entente Cordiale 1904

 Russo-Japanese Wa
1904–1905
r

First MoroccanCrisis 1905–1906

Anglo-RussianEntent
1907
e

Bosnian crisis 1908–1909

Agadir Crisis 1911

Italo-Turkish War 1911–1912

Balkan Wars 1912–1913

Assassination ofFran
1914
z Ferdinand

July Crisis 1914

World War I: Mobilized forces per total population (in %)[citation needed]
World War I (often abbreviated as WWI or WW1), also known as the First World War or the Gr

eat War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1

918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars",[7] it led to the mobilisation of m

ore than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the larg

est wars in history.[8][9] It is also one of the deadliestconflicts in history,[10] with an estimated nine

million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting

genocides and the 1918influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.[11]

On 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb Yugoslav nationalist, assassinated the Austro-Hu

ngarian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, leading to the July Crisis.[12][13] In response, on

23 July Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia. Serbia's reply failed to satisfy the Austria

ns, and the two moved to a war footing.

A network of interlocking alliances enlarged the crisis from a bilateral issue in the Balkans to on

e involving most of Europe. By July 1914, the great powers of Europe were divided into two coa

litions: the Triple Entente—consisting of France, Russia and Britain—and the Triple Alliance of Ge

rmany, Austria-Hungary and Italy(the Triple Alliance was primarily defensive in nature, allowing It

aly to stay out of the war in 1914). [14] Russia felt it necessary to back Serbia and, after Austria-H

ungary shelled the Serbian capital of Belgrade on the 28th, partial mobilisation was approved. [15]

General Russian mobilisation was announced on the evening of 30 July; on the 31st, Austria-Hun

gary and Germany did the same, while Germany demanded Russia demobilise within 12 hours. [16]

When Russia failed to comply, Germany declared war on 1 August in support of Austria-Hungar

y, with Austria-Hungary following suit on 6th; France ordered full mobilisation in support of Russ

ia on 2 August.[17]

German strategy for a war on two fronts against France and Russia was to rapidly concentrate t

he bulk of its army in the West to defeat France within four weeks, then shift forces to the Eas

t before Russia could fully mobilise; this was later known as the Schlieffen Plan.[18] On 2 August,
Germany demanded free passage through Belgium, an essential element in achieving a quick vic

tory over France.[19] When this was refused, German forces invaded Belgium on 3 August and de

clared war on France the same day; the Belgian government invoked the 1839 Treaty of London

and in compliance with its obligations under this, Britain declared war on Germany on 4 Augus

t.[20][21] On 12 August, Britain and France also declared war on Austria-Hungary; on the 23rd, Japa

n sided with the Entente, seizing German possessions in China and the Pacific. In November 191

4, the Ottoman Empire entered the war on the side of the Alliance, opening fronts in the Cauc

asus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai Peninsula. The war was fought in and drew upon each powers

' colonial empires as well, spreading the conflict to Africa and across the globe. The Entente an

d its allies would eventually become known as the Allied Powers, while the grouping of Austria-

Hungary, Germany and their allies would become known as the CentralPowers.

The German advance into France was halted at the Battle of the Marne and by the end of 1914

, the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, marked by a long series of trench lines tha

t changed little until 1917 (the Eastern Front, by contrast, was marked by much greater exchang

es of territory). In 1915, Italy joined the Allied Powers and opened a front in the Alps. Bulgaria j

oined the Central Powers in 1915 and Greece joined the Allies in 1917, expanding the war in the

Balkans. The United States initially remained neutral, although by doing nothing to prevent the

Allies from procuring American supplies whilst the Allied blockade effectively prevented the Ger

mans from doing the same the U.S. became an important supplier of war material to the Allies.

Eventually, after the sinking of American merchant ships by German submarines, and the revelati

onthat the Germans were trying to incite Mexico to make war on the United States, the U.S. de

clared war on Germany on 6 April 1917. Trained American forces would not begin arriving at th

e front in large numbers until mid-1918, but ultimately the American Expeditionary Force would r

each some two million troops.[22]

Though Serbia was defeated in 1915, and Romania joined the Allied Powers in 1916 only tobe d

efeated in 1917, none of the great powers were knocked out of the war until 1918. The 1917 Fe

bruary Revolution in Russia replaced the Tsarist autocracy with the ProvisionalGovernment, but c

ontinuing discontent at the cost of the war led to the October Revolution, the creation of the S

oviet Socialist Republic, and the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk by the new government in

March 1918, ending Russia's involvement in the war. This allowed the transfer of large numbers

of German troops from the East to the Western Front, resulting in the German March 1918 Offe

nsive. This offensive was initially successful, but the Allies rallied and drove the Germans back in

their Hundred Days Offensive.[23] Bulgaria was the first Central Power to sign an armistice—the A

rmistice of Salonica on 29 September 1918. On 30 October, the Ottoman Empire capitulated, sig

ning the Armistice ofMudros.[24] On 4 November, the Austro-Hungarian empire agreed to the Ar

mistice of VillaGiusti. With its allies defeated, revolution at home, and the military no longer willi

ng to fight, Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated on 9 November and Germany signed an armistice on 11N

ovember 1918.

World War I was a significant turning point in the political, cultural, economic, and social climate

of the world. The war and its immediate aftermath sparked numerous revolutions and uprisings.

The Big Four (Britain, France, the United States, and Italy) imposed their terms on the defeated

powers in a series of treaties agreed at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, the most well known

being the German peace treaty—the Treaty ofVersailles.[25] Ultimately, as a result of the war the

Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman, and Russian Empires ceased to exist, with numerous new s

tates created from their remains. However, despite the conclusive Allied victory (and the creation

of the League of Nations during the Peace Conference, intended to prevent future wars), a Sec

ond World War would follow just over twenty years later.