World War I, also known as the
First World War, the
Great War and the
War To End All Wars, was a
global military conflict which took place primarily in
Europe from 1914 to 1918.
[2] Over 40 million
casualties resulted, including approximately 20 million military and civilian deaths.
[3]. The immediate cause of the war was the
June 28,
1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the
Austro-Hungarian throne, by
Serbian nationals. The retailation by Austria-Hungary against Serbia activated a series of alliances that set off a
chain reaction of war declarations. Within a month, much of Europe was in a state of open warfare.
The war was propagated by two major alliances. The
Entente Powers initially consisted of
France, the
United Kingdom,
Russia and their associated empires and dependencies. Numerous other states joined these allies, most notably
Italy in April, 1915, and the
United States in April, 1917. The
Central Powers, so named because of their central location on the European continent, initially consisted of
Germany and
Austria-Hungary and their associated empires. The
Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in October, 1914, followed a year later by
Bulgaria. By the conclusion of the war, only
The Netherlands,
Switzerland,
Spain and the
Scandanavian nations remained officially neutral among the European countries, though many of those provided financial and material support to one side or the other.
The fighting of the war mostly took place along several fronts, that broadly encircled the European continent. The
Western Front was marked by a system of trenches, breastworks, and fortifications separated by an area known as
no man's land.
[4] These fortifications stretched 475 miles (more than 600 kilometres)
[4] and precipitated a style of fighting known as
trench warfare. On the
Eastern Front, the vast eastern plains and limited rail network prevented a trench warfare stalemate, though the scale of the conflict was just as large as on the Western Front. The
Middle Eastern Front and the
Italian Front also saw heavy fighting, while hostilities also occurred at sea, and for the first time, in the air.
The war was ended by several treaties, most notably the
Treaty of Versailles, signed on
June 28,
1919, though the Allied powers had an
armistice with Germany in place since
November 11,
1918. One of the most striking
results of the war was a large redrawing of the map of Europe. All of the Central Powers lost territory, and many new nations were created. The German Empire lost its
colonial possessions and was saddled with accepting blame for the war, as well as paying punitive
reparations for it. The Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires were completely dissolved. Austria-Hungary was carved up into several successor states including
Austria,
Hungary,
Czechoslovakia, and
Yugoslavia. The Ottoman Empire disintegrated, and much of its non-
Anatolian territory was awarded as protectorates of various Allied powers, while the remaining Turkish core was reorganized as the
Republic of Turkey. The Russian Empire, which had withdrawn from the war in 1917, lost much of its western frontier as the newly independent nations of
Estonia,
Finland,
Latvia,
Lithuania, and
Poland were carved from it. After the war, the
League of Nations was created as an international organization designed to avoid future wars by giving nations a means of solving their differences diplomatically. World War I marked the end of the world order which had existed after the
Napoleonic Wars, and was an important
factor in the outbreak of
World War II.
02-14-2008, 02:17 AM
World War Info :) Good for Information and Education 
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