The Great War of superpowers of 1914

World War I, often abbreviated as WWI or WW1, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was an international conflict that began on 28 July 1914 and ended on 11 November 1918. It involved much of Europe, as well as Russia, the United States and Turkey, and was also fought in the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, an estimated 9 million were killed in combat, while over 5 million civilians died from occupation, bombardment, hunger or disease. The genocides perpetrated by the Ottomans and the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic spread by the movement of combatants during the war caused many millions of additional deaths worldwide. Clockwise from the top: The road to Bapaume in the aftermath of the Battle of the Somme, 1916 British Mark V tanks crossing the Hindenburg Line, 1918 HMS Irresistible sinking after hitting a mine in the Dardanelles, 1915 A British Vickers machine g*n crew wearing gas masks during the Battle of the Somme, 1916 German Albatros D.III biplane fighters near Douai, France, 1917 Date 28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918 (4 years, 3 months and 2 weeks) Peace treaties Treaty of Versailles Signed 28 June 1919 (4 years and 11 months) Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye Signed 10 September 1919 (5 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days) Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine Signed 27 November 1919 (4 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days) Treaty of Trianon Signed 4 June 1920 (5 years, 10 months and 1 week) Treaty of Sèvres Signed 10 August 1920 (6 years, 1 week and 6 days) United States–Austria Peace Treaty Signed 24 August 1921 (3 years, 8 months, 2 weeks and 3 days) United States–Germany Peace Treaty Signed 25 August 1921 (4 years, 4 months, 2 weeks and 5 days) United States–Hungary Peace Treaty Signed 29 August 1921 (3 years, 8 months, 3 weeks and 1 day) Treaty of Lausanne Signed 24 July 1923 (8 years, 8 months, 3 weeks and 4 days) Location  Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Pacific Islands, China, Indian Ocean, North and South Atlantic Ocean Result  Allied victory  Central Powers victory on the Eastern Front nullified by defeat on the Western Front and Italian Front Fall of all continental empires in Europe (including Germany, Russia, Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary) Allied military occupation of the Rhineland Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War, with the subsequent formation of the Soviet Union Widespread unrest and revolutions throughout Europe and Asia Creation of the League of Nations (see Aftermath of World War I) Territorial changes  Formation of new countries in Europe and the Middle East Transfer of German colonies and territories to other countries, partitionof the Ottoman Empire, dissolution of Austria-Hungary, and the collapse of the Russian Empire Belligerent Allied Powers France British Empire United Kingdom Canada Australia India Ceylon New Zealand Newfoundland South Africa Russian Empire (until 1917 Serbia Belgium Japan Montenegro Italy (from 1915 United State (from 1917 Romania (from 1916 Portugal (from 1916 Hejaz (from 1916 Greece (from 1917 Siam (from 1917 Republic of China (1912–1949) China (from 1917 ... and other Central Powers German Empire Austria-Hungary Ottoman Empire Bulgaria (from 1915 ... and others Commanders and leaders French Third Republic Raymond Poincaré French Third Republic Georges Clemenceau United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland George V United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland H. H. Asquith United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland David Lloyd George Nicholas II † Russian Republic Georgy Lvov Russian Republic Alexander Kerensky Kingdom of Italy Victor Emmanuel III Kingdom of Italy Vittorio Orlando United States Woodrow Wilson Empire of Japan Emperor Taishō Belgium Albert I Kingdom of Serbia Peter I Kingdom of Romania Ferdinand I and others ... German Empire Wilhelm II Austria-Hungary Franz Joseph I Austria-Hungary Karl I Ottoman Empire Mehmed V Ottoman Empire Mehmed VI Ottoman Empire Three Pashas Kingdom of Bulgaria Ferdinand I and others ... Strength Total: 42,928,000 12,000,000 French Third Republic 8,660,000 British Empire 5,839,000  Kingdom of Italy 5,093,000 United States 4,744,000 British Raj 1,680,000 Kingdom of Romania 1,234,000 Empire of Japan 800,000 Kingdom of Serbia 707,000 Canada 629,000 Australia 417,000 Belgium 380,000 Kingdom of Greece 230,000 First Portuguese Republic 200,000 Union of South Africa 136,000 Dominion of New Zealand 129,000 Kingdom of Montenegro 50,000 Kingdom of Hejaz 50,000 Total: 25,248,000 German Empire 13,250,000 Austria-Hungary 7,800,000 Kingdom of Bulgaria 1,200,000  Casualties and losses Military dead: 5,525,000 Military wounded: 12,832,000 Total: 18,357,000 KIA, WIA and MIA Civilian dead: 4,000,000 further details ... Military deaths by country: 1,811,000 French Third Republic 1,398,000 British Empire 1,115,000 Kingdom of Italy 651,000 Kingdom of Romania 250,000–335,000 Kingdom of Serbia 275,000 United States 117,000 Belgium 59,000–88,000 Kingdom of Greece 26,000 First Portuguese Republic 7,000 Kingdom of Montenegro 3,000 Empire of Japan Military dead: 4,386,000 Military wounded: 8,388,000 Total: 12,774,000 KIA, WIA and MIA Civilian dead: 3,700,000 further details ... Military deaths by country: German Empire 2,051,000 Austria-Hungary 1,200,000 Ottoman Empire 772,000 Kingdom of Bulgaria 88,000 In 1914, the Great Powers were divided into two opposing alliances, the Triple Entente, consisting of France, Russia, and Britain, and the Triple Alliance, made up of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. Tensions in the Balkans came to a head on 28 June 1914 following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Austro-Hungarian heir, by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia and the interlocking alliances involved the Powers in a series of diplomatic exchanges known as the July Crisis. On 28 July, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia; Russia came to Serbia's defence and by 4 August, the conflict had expanded to include Germany, France and Britain, along with their respective colonial empires. In November, the Ottoman Empire, Germany and Austria formed the Central Powers, while in April 1915, Italy joined Britain, France, Russia and Serbia as the Allied Powers.  Facing a war on two fronts, German strategy in 1914 was to defeat France, then shift its forces to the East and knock out Russia, commonly known as the Schlieffen Plan. This failed when their advance into France was halted at the Marne; by the end of 1914, the two sides faced each other along the Western Front, a continuous series of trench lines stretching from the Channel to Switzerland that changed little until 1917. By contrast, the Eastern Front was far more fluid, with Austria-Hungary and Russia gaining, then losing large swathes of territory. Other significant theatres included the Middle East, the Alpine Front and the Balkans, bringing Bulgaria, Romania and Greece into the war.  Shortages caused by the Allied naval blockade led Germany to initiate unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917, bringing the previously neutral United States into the war on 6 April 1917. In Russia, the Bolsheviks seized power in the 1917 October Revolution and made peace in the March 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, freeing up large numbers of German troops. By transferring these to the Western Front, the German General Staff hoped to win a decisive victory before American reinforcements could impact the war, and launched the March 1918 German spring offensive. Despite initial success, it was soon halted by heavy casualties and ferocious defence; in August, the Allies launched the Hundred Days Offensive and although the German army continued to fight hard, it could no longer halt their advance.  The Central Powers began to collapse; Bulgaria signed an Armistice on 29 September, followed by the Ottomans on 31 October, then Austria-Hungary on 3 November. Isolated, facing revolution at home and an army on the verge of mutiny, Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated on 9 November and the new German government signed the Armistice of 11 November 1918, bringing the fighting to a close. The 1919 Paris Peace Conference imposed various settlements on the defeated powers, the best known being the Treaty of Versailles. The dissolution of the Russian, German, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires led to numerous uprisings and the creation of independent states, including Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. For reasons that are still debated, failure to manage the instability that resulted from this upheaval during the interwar period ended with the outbreak of World War II in 1939.