World War I

World War I
From top to bottom, left to right:
Date28 July 191411 November 1918
(4 years, 3 months and 2 weeks)
Peace treaties
Location
Result Allied Powers victory
See Aftermath of World War I
Territorial
changes
Belligerents
Allied Powers:
 and its territories:
and others ...
Central Powers:
Commanders and leaders
Main Allied leaders: Main Central leaders:
Casualties and losses
  • Military dead:
  • Over 5,525,000
  • Civilian dead:
  • Over 4,000,000
  • Total dead:
  • Over 9,000,000
  • ...further details
  • Military dead:
  • Over 4,386,000
  • Civilian dead:
  • Over 3,700,000
  • Total dead:
  • Over 8,000,000
  • ...further details

World War I[j] or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918) was a global conflict fought between two coalitions: the Allies and the Central Powers. Battles took place throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific, and parts of Asia. One of the deadliest wars in history, it resulted in an estimated nine million soldiers dead and 23 million wounded, and over eight million civilian deaths from numerous causes including genocide. The war was a major factor in the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.

Increasing diplomatic tensions between the European great powers reached a breaking point on 28 June 1914, when a Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Austria-Hungary held Serbia responsible, and declared war on 28 July. Russia came to Serbia's defence, and by 4 August, Germany, France, and Britain were drawn into the war, with the Ottoman Empire joining in November of the same year. Germany's strategy in 1914 was to first defeat France, then transfer forces to the Russian front. However, this failed, and by the end of 1914, the Western Front consisted of a continuous line of trenches stretching from the English Channel to Switzerland. The Eastern Front was more dynamic, but neither side could gain a decisive advantage, despite costly offensives. As the war expanded to more fronts, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Greece and others joined in from 1915 onward.

In early 1917, the United States entered the war on the Allies' side, and later the same year, the Bolsheviks seized power in the Russian October Revolution, making peace with the Central Powers in early 1918. Germany launched an offensive in the west in March 1918, and despite initial successes, it left the German Army exhausted and demoralised. A successful Allied counter-offensive later that year caused a collapse of the German frontline. By the end of 1918, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary agreed to armistices with the Allies, leaving Germany isolated. Facing revolution at home and with his army on the verge of mutiny, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated on 9 November.

The fighting ended with the Armistice of 11 November 1918, while the subsequent Paris Peace Conference imposed various settlements on the defeated powers, notably the Treaty of Versailles. The dissolution of the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires resulted in the creation of new independent states, including Poland, Finland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. The inability to manage post-war instability contributed to the outbreak of World War II in September 1939.
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