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{{Short description|1914–1918 global conflict}}
{{About|the major war of 1914–1918||World War One (disambiguation)|and|Great War (disambiguation)}}
{{redirect-several|WWI|The First World War|World War One|Great War}}
{{pp-move-indef}}{{pp-semi|small=yes}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{pp-move}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{use British English|date=July 2014}}{{CS1 config|mode=cs1}}
{{Infobox military conflict
{{Infobox military conflict
|conflict=World War I
| conflict = World War I
| image = {{Multiple image
|image=[[File:WW1 TitlePicture For Wikipedia Article.jpg|300px]]
| perrow = 2/2/2
|caption= Clockwise from top: [[Trench warfare|Trenches]] on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]; a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Mark I tank#Mark IV|Mark IV Tank]] crossing a trench; [[Royal Navy]] [[battleship]] [[HMS Irresistible (1898)|HMS ''Irresistible'']] sinking after striking a [[Naval mine|mine]] at the [[Naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign|Battle of the Dardanelles]]; a [[Vickers machine gun]] crew with [[gas mask]]s, and German [[Albatros D.III]] [[biplane]]s
| image1 = Bataille de Verdun 1916.jpg
|date=28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918 ([[Armistice with Germany|Armistice]])
| image2 = Germanmachineguncrew1918.webp
[[Treaty of Versailles]] signed 28 June 1919
| image3 = British artillery in action, World War I.JPEG
|place=Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the [[Pacific Islands]], China and off the coast of South and North America
| image4 = American troops going forward to the battle line in the Forest of Argonne. France, September 26, 1918. - NARA - 530748.jpg
|casus=[[Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand]] (28 June) followed by Austro-Hungarian declaration of war on [[Kingdom of Serbia]] (28 July) and Russian mobilisation against [[Austria–Hungary]] (29 July).
| image5 = ArabCamelCorps.jpg
|result=[[Allies of World War I|Allied]] victory
| image6 = Przemysl Fortress Bain LOC 19648.jpg
* End of the [[German Empire|German]], [[Russian Empire|Russian]], [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]], and [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian]] empires
| border = infobox
* Formation of new countries in Europe and the Middle East
| total_width = 300}}'''From top to bottom, left to right''':{{flatlist|
* Transfer of [[German colonies]] and [[Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire|regions of the former Ottoman Empire]] to other powers
* French attack from a trench at the [[Battle of Verdun]], 1916
* Establishment of the [[League of Nations]]. ([[World War I#Aftermath|more...]])
* German machine gun crew wearing [[gas mask]]s, 1918
|combatant1='''[[Allies of World War I|Allied (Entente) Powers]]'''<br />
* British artillery in action at the [[Battle of the Somme]], 1916
{{flagicon|France}} [[French Third Republic|France]]<br />
* U.S. troops and [[Renault FT]] tanks during the [[Hundred Days Offensive]], 1918
{{flagicon|United Kingdom}} [[British Empire]]<br />
* Ottoman Arab camel corps leaving for the [[Middle Eastern theatre of World War I|Middle Eastern front]], 1916
{{flagcountry|Russian Empire}} <small>(1914–17)</small><br />
* Aftermath of the Russian [[siege of Przemyśl]] in [[Austria-Hungary]], 1915}}
{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy}} <small>(1915–18)</small><br />
| date = 28 July 1914{{snd}}11 November 1918<br>({{Age in years, months and days|month1=7|day1=28|year1=1914|month2=11|day2=11|year2=1918}})
{{flagcountry|United States|1912}} <small>(1917–18)</small><br />
| territory = {{bulletlist|[[Partition of the Ottoman Empire]], [[dissolution of Austria-Hungary]], transfer of [[German colonial empire|German colonies]] and territories to other countries|Formation of new countries in Europe and the Middle East, such as [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]], [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], [[Weimar Republic|Weimar Germany]], [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]] and [[Soviet Union]], [[Lithuania]], [[History of Estonia (1920–1939)|Estonia]], [[Latvia]], [[First Austrian Republic|Austria]], [[First Hungarian Republic|Hungary]], [[First Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovakia]], [[Turkey]], [[Kingdom of Hejaz|Hejaz]], and [[Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen|Yemen]]
{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Romania}} <small>(1916–18)</small><br />
}}
{{flagcountry|Empire of Japan}}<br />
| place = {{flatlist|
{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Serbia}}<br />
* [[European theatre of World War I|Europe]]
{{flagcountry|Belgium|state}}<br />
* [[Middle Eastern theatre of World War I|Middle East]]
{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Greece}} <small>(1917–18)</small><br />
* [[African theatre of World War I|Africa]]
{{flagicon|Portugal}} [[Portuguese First Republic|Portugal]] <small>(1916–18)</small><br />
* [[Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I|Pacific]]
{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Montenegro}} <small>(1914–16)</small><br />
[[Allies of World War I|''and others'']]
* [[Atlantic U-boat campaign of World War I|Atlantic]]
* [[Naval warfare in the Mediterranean during World War I|Mediterranean and Adriatic]]
|combatant2='''[[Central Powers]]'''
}}
{{flagcountry|German Empire}}<br />
| result = [[Allies of World War I|Allied Powers]] victory {{nwr|(see [[Aftermath of World War I]])}}
{{flagcountry|Austria-Hungary}}<br />
| combatant1 = '''[[Allies of World War I|Allied Powers]]:'''{{ubl
{{flagcountry|Ottoman Empire}}<br />
{{flagcountry|Kingdom of Bulgaria}} <small>(1915–18)</small>
|{{flagcountry|French Third Republic}}
|{{flagcountry|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}}}}
|commander1=[[Allies of World War I#Leaders|'''Leaders and commanders''']]<br />
{{collapsible list|bullets=yes|title={{nobold|&nbsp;and [[British Empire|Empire]]:}}
{{flagicon|France}} [[Raymond Poincaré]]<br />
|framestyle=border:none; padding:0;
{{flagicon|France}} [[Georges Clemenceau]]<br />
|{{flag|Australia}}
{{flagicon|France}} [[Ferdinand Foch]]<br />
|{{flagdeco|Canada|1907}} [[Canada in the World Wars and Interwar Years|Canada]]
{{flagicon|British Empire}} [[H. H. Asquith]]<br />
{{flagicon|British Empire}} [[David Lloyd George]]<br />
|{{flagcountry|British Ceylon}}
|{{flagcountry|Sultanate of Egypt}}
{{flagicon|British Empire}} [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Douglas Haig]]<br />
|{{flag|Newfoundland}}
{{flagicon|Russian Empire}} [[Nicholas II of Russia|Nicholas II]]<br />
|{{flag|Dominion of New Zealand|name=New Zealand}}
{{flagicon|Russian Empire}} [[Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1856–1929)|Nicholas Nikolaevich]]<br />
|{{flagcountry|British Raj}}
{{flagicon|Kingdom of Italy}} [[Antonio Salandra]]<br />
|{{flagcountry|Union of South Africa|1912}}}}
{{flagicon|Kingdom of Italy}} [[Vittorio Emanuele Orlando|Vittorio Orlando]]<br />
{{ubl
{{flagicon|Kingdom of Italy}} [[Luigi Cadorna]]<br />
| {{flagdeco|Russian Empire|1914}} [[Russian Empire|Russia]]{{Efn|The Russian Empire during 1914–1917, the [[Russian Republic]] during 1917. The [[Bolsheviks|Bolshevik]] government signed a [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk|separate peace]] with the Central Powers shortly after their [[October Revolution|armed seizure of power]], resulting in a Central Powers victory on the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]] of the war, and the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]]'s defeat. However, this peace treaty was nullified by an Allied Powers victory on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]], and the end of the war.}}
{{flagicon|United States|1912}} [[Woodrow Wilson]]<br />
| {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy|1861}} (from 1915)
{{flagicon|United States|1912}} [[John J. Pershing]]<br />
| {{flagcountry|United States|1912}} {{nwr|(from 1917)}}
''[[Allies of World War I#Leaders|and others]]''
| {{flagcountry|Empire of Japan}}
|commander2=[[Central Powers#Military leaders|'''Leaders and commanders''']]<br />
}}
{{flagicon|German Empire}} [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]]<br />
[[Allies of World War I|''and others''{{nbsp}}...]]
{{flagicon|German Empire}} [[Paul von Hindenburg]]<br />
| combatant2 = '''[[Central Powers]]:'''{{plainlist|
{{flagicon|German Empire}} [[Erich Ludendorff]]<br />
* {{flagcountry|German Empire}}
{{flagicon|Austria-Hungary}} [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Franz Joseph I]]<br />
{{flagicon|Austria-Hungary}} [[Charles I of Austria|Karl I]]<br />
* {{flag|Austria-Hungary}}
* {{flag|Ottoman Empire}}
{{flagicon|Austria-Hungary}} [[Conrad von Hötzendorf]]<br />
* {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Bulgaria}} (from 1915)
{{flagicon|Ottoman Empire}} [[Mehmed V]]<br />
}}
{{flagicon|Ottoman Empire}} [[Enver Pasha]]<br />
[[Central Powers|''and others''{{nbsp}}...]]
{{flagicon|Ottoman Empire}} [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]]<br />
| commander1 = See [[Allied leaders of World War I|Main Allied leaders]]
{{flagicon|Kingdom of Bulgaria}} [[Ferdinand I of Bulgaria|Ferdinand I]]<br />
| commander2 = See [[Leaders of the Central Powers of World War I|Main Central leaders]]
{{flagicon|Kingdom of Bulgaria}} [[Nikola Zhekov]]<br />
| casualties1 = {{plainlist|
''[[Central Powers#Military leaders|and others]]''
* '''Military dead:'''
|strength1= '''[[Allies of World War I|Entente]]'''<ref name="Tucker 2005 273">{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=273}}</ref>
* Over 5,525,000
{{flagicon|Russian Empire}} 12,000,000
* '''Civilian dead:'''

* Over 4,000,000
{{flagicon|British Empire}} 8,841,541<ref>http://www.1914-1918.net/faq.htm</ref><ref>Figures are for the British Empire</ref>
* '''Total dead:'''

* Over 9,000,000
{{flagicon|France}} 8,660,000<ref>Figures are for Metropolitan France and its colonies</ref>
* [[World War I casualties|...''further details'']]}}

| casualties2 = {{plainlist|
{{flagicon|Kingdom of Italy}} 5,093,140
* '''Military dead:'''

* Over 4,386,000
{{flagicon|United States|1912}} 4,743,826
* '''Civilian dead:'''

* Over 3,700,000
{{flagicon|Kingdom of Romania}} 1,234,000
* '''Total dead:'''

* Over 8,000,000
{{flagicon|Empire of Japan}} 800,000
* [[World War I casualties|...''further details'']]}}

| campaignbox = {{Campaignbox World War I}}
{{flagicon|Kingdom of Serbia}} 707,343

{{flagicon|Belgium|state}} 380,000

{{flagicon|Kingdom of Greece}} 250,000

{{flagicon|Portugal}} 200,000

{{flagicon|Kingdom of Montenegro}} 50,000

''Total: 42,959,850''
|strength2= '''[[Central Powers]]'''<ref name="Tucker 2005 273"/>

{{flagicon|German Empire}} 13,250,000

{{flagicon|Austria-Hungary}} 7,800,000

{{flagicon|Ottoman Empire}} 2,998,321

{{flagicon|Kingdom of Bulgaria}} 1,200,000

''Total: 25,248,321''
|casualties1='''Military dead:'''<br />5,525,000<br />'''Military wounded:'''<br />12,831,500<br />'''Military missing:'''<br />4,121,000<br />'''Total:'''<br />22,477,500&nbsp;KIA, WIA or MIA [[World War I casualties|...''further details''.]]</small>
|casualties2='''Military dead:'''<br />4,386,000<br />'''Military wounded:'''<br />8,388,000<br />'''Military missing:'''<br />3,629,000<br />'''Total:''' <br />16,403,000&nbsp;KIA, WIA or MIA [[World War I casualties|...''further details''.]]</small>
|campaignbox={{Campaignbox World War I}}
}}
}}


'''World War I'''{{efn|Often abbreviated as '''WWI''' or '''WW1'''}} or the '''First World War''' (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the '''Great War''', was a [[World war|global conflict]] between two coalitions: the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] (or Entente) and the [[Central Powers]].<!--Please discuss before changing the first sentence, don't edit war but try to reach a consensus. Modified as of 03:09, 16 December 2023 per rough consensus in long discussion [[Talk:World War I#The Great War]]--> Fighting took place mainly in [[European theatre of World War I|Europe]] and the [[Middle Eastern theatre of World War I|Middle East]], as well as in parts of [[African theatre of World War I|Africa]] and the [[Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I|Asia-Pacific]], and in Europe was characterised by [[trench warfare]]; the widespread use of [[Artillery of World War I|artillery]], machine guns, and [[Chemical weapons in World War I|chemical weapons]] (gas); and the introductions of [[Tanks in World War I|tanks]] and [[Aviation in World War I|aircraft]]. World War I was one of the [[List of wars by death toll|deadliest conflicts in history]], resulting in an estimated [[World War I casualties|10 million military dead and more than 20 million wounded]], plus some 10 million civilian dead from causes including [[Genocides in history (World War I through World War II)|genocide]]. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly [[Spanish flu]] pandemic.
'''World War I''' ('''WWI'''), which was predominantly called the '''World War''' or the '''Great War''' from its occurrence until 1939, and the '''First World War''' or World War I thereafter, was a [[World war|major war]] centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It involved all the world's [[great powers]],<ref>{{harvnb|Willmott|2003|pp=10–11}}</ref> which were assembled in two opposing alliances: the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] (centred around the [[Triple Entente]] of [[United Kingdom|Britain]], [[France]] and [[Russia]]) and the [[Central Powers]] (originally centred around the [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]] of [[Germany]], [[Austria-Hungary]] and [[Italy]]).<ref name=Willmott15>{{harvnb|Willmott|2003|p=15}}</ref> More than 70&nbsp;million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history.<ref>{{harvnb|Keegan|1988|p=8}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Bade|Brown|2003|pp=167–168}}</ref> More than 9&nbsp;million combatants [[World War I casualties|were killed]], largely because of great technological advances in firepower without corresponding advances in mobility. It was the sixth [[List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll|deadliest conflict]] in world history, subsequently paving the way for various political changes such as revolutions in the nations involved.<ref>{{harvnb|Willmott|2003|p=307}}</ref>


The [[causes of World War I]] included the rise of [[German Empire|Germany]] and [[Decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire|decline of the Ottoman Empire]], which disturbed the long-standing [[Balance of power (international relations)|balance of power]] in Europe, as well as economic competition between nations triggered by [[Second Industrial Revolution|industrialisation]] and [[New Imperialism|imperialism]]. Growing tensions between the [[great power]]s and in the [[Balkans]] reached [[July Crisis|a breaking point]] on 28 June 1914, when a [[Bosnian Serb]] named [[Gavrilo Princip]] [[Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand|assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand]], heir to the [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian]] throne. Austria-Hungary held [[Kingdom of Serbia|Serbia]] responsible, and declared war on 28 July. After [[Russian Empire|Russia]] mobilised in Serbia's defence, Germany declared war on Russia and [[French Third Republic|France]], who had [[Franco-Russian Alliance|an alliance]]. The [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] entered after Germany [[German invasion of Belgium (1914)|invaded Belgium]], whose neutrality it guaranteed, and the Ottomans joined the Central Powers in November. [[Schlieffen Plan|Germany's strategy in 1914]] was to quickly defeat France, then to transfer its forces to the east, but its advance [[First Battle of the Marne|was halted in September]], and by the end of the year the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] consisted of a continuous line of trenches stretching from the English Channel to Switzerland. The [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]] was more dynamic, but neither side gained a decisive advantage, despite costly offensives. [[Military history of Italy during World War I|Italy]], [[Bulgaria during World War I|Bulgaria]], [[Romania in World War I|Romania]], [[Greece during World War I|Greece]] and others joined in from 1915 onward.
Long-term causes of the war included the [[imperialism|imperialistic]] foreign policies of the great powers of Europe, including the [[German Empire]], the [[Austria-Hungary#The Great War|Austro-Hungarian Empire]], the [[Ottoman Empire#Dissolution (1908–1922)|Ottoman Empire]], the [[Russian Empire]], the [[British Empire]], [[France]], and [[Italy in World War I#From neutrality to the intervention in the war|Italy]]. The [[Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|assassination on 28 June 1914]] of [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria]], the heir to the throne of [[Austria-Hungary]], by a [[Yugoslav nationalism|Yugoslav nationalist]] was the proximate trigger of the war. It resulted in a [[July Ultimatum|Habsburg ultimatum]] against the [[Kingdom of Serbia]].<ref name="AJPT2">{{harvnb|Taylor|1998|pp=80–93}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb |Djokić|2003|p=24}}</ref> Several alliances formed over the previous decades were invoked, so within weeks the major powers were at war; via their colonies, the conflict soon spread around the world.


In April 1917, the [[American entry into World War I|United States entered the war]] on the Allied side following Germany's resumption of [[Unrestricted submarine warfare (February 1917)|unrestricted submarine warfare]] against Atlantic shipping. Later that year, the [[Bolsheviks]] seized power in the Russian [[October Revolution]], and [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]] signed [[Armistice between Russia and the Central Powers|an armistice]] with the Central Powers in December, followed by [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk|a separate peace]] in March 1918. That month, Germany launched [[German spring offensive|an offensive in the west]], which despite initial successes left the [[Imperial German Army|German Army]] exhausted and demoralised. [[Hundred Days Offensive|A successful Allied counter-offensive]] from August 1918 caused a collapse of the German front line. By early November, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary had each signed armistices with the Allies, leaving Germany isolated. Facing [[German revolution of 1918–1919|a revolution at home]], [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Kaiser Wilhelm{{nbsp}}II]] abdicated on 9 November, and the war ended with the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918]].
On 28 July, the conflict opened with the Austro-Hungarian [[Serbian Campaign (World War I)|invasion of Serbia]],<ref>{{harvnb|Evans|2004|p=12}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Martel|2003|p=xii ff}}</ref> followed by the German invasion of [[Belgium]], [[Luxembourg]] and France; and a Russian attack against Germany. After the German march on Paris was brought to a halt, the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] settled into a static battle of attrition with a [[trench warfare|trench line]] that changed little until 1917. In the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|East]], the Russian army successfully fought against the Austro-Hungarian forces but was forced back by the German army. Additional fronts opened after the Ottoman Empire joined the war in 1914, Italy and [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] in 1915 and [[Romania]] in 1916. The Russian Empire [[Russian Revolution (1917)|collapsed in 1917]], and Russia left the war after the [[October Revolution]] later that year. After a 1918 German offensive along the western front, [[United States]] forces entered the trenches and the Allies drove back the German armies in a series of successful offensives. Germany, which had [[German Revolution|its own trouble with revolutionaries]] at this point, agreed to a cease-fire on 11 November 1918, later known as [[Armistice Day]]. The war had ended in victory of the Allies.


The [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]] of 1919–1920 imposed settlements on the defeated powers, most notably the [[Treaty of Versailles]], by which Germany lost significant territories, was disarmed, and was required to pay large [[war reparations]] to the Allies. The dissolution of the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires redrew national boundaries and resulted in the creation of new independent states, including [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]], [[Finland]], the [[Baltic states]], [[First Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovakia]], and [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]. The [[League of Nations]] was established to maintain world peace, but its failure to manage instability during the [[interwar period]] contributed to the outbreak of [[World War II]] in 1939.
By the war's end, four major imperial powers—the [[German Empire|German]], [[Russian Empire|Russian]], [[Austro-Hungarian Empire|Austro-Hungarian]] and [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] empires—had been militarily and politically defeated and ceased to exist. The successor states of the former two lost a great amount of territory, while the latter two were dismantled entirely. The map of central Europe was redrawn into several smaller states.<ref>{{harvnb|Keegan|1988|p=7}}</ref> The [[League of Nations]] was formed in the hope of preventing another such conflict. The European nationalism spawned by the war and the breakup of empires, the repercussions of Germany's defeat and problems with the [[Treaty of Versailles]] are generally agreed to be factors contributing to [[World War II]].<ref>{{harvnb|Keegan|1988|p=11}}</ref>


==Etymology==
== Names ==
Before [[World War II]], the events of 1914–1918 were generally known as the '''''Great War''''' or simply the '''''World War'''''.{{sfn |Braybon |2004 |p=8}} In August 1914, the magazine ''[[The Independent (New York City)|The Independent]]'' wrote "This is the Great War. It names itself".<ref name="independent19140817">{{Cite magazine |date=1914-08-17 |title=The Great War |url=https://archive.org/details/independen79v80newy/page/n233/mode/1up?view=theater |magazine=The Independent |page=228 |access-date=2022-05-17}}</ref> In October 1914, the Canadian magazine ''[[Maclean's]]'' similarly wrote, "Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/81104 |title=great, adj., adv., and n |website=Oxford English Dictionary |access-date=19 March 2012 |archive-date=14 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514194006/https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/81104 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Contemporary Europeans also referred to it as "[[the war to end war]]" and it was also described as "the war to end all wars" due to their perception of its unparalleled scale, devastation, and loss of life.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/10/98/world_war_i/198172.stm |title=The war to end all wars |work=BBC News |date=10 November 1998 |access-date=15 December 2015 |archive-date=19 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150619035838/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/10/98/world_war_i/198172.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The first recorded use of the term ''First World War'' was in September 1914 by German biologist and philosopher [[Ernst Haeckel]] who stated, "There is no doubt that the course and character of the feared 'European War'&nbsp;... will become the first world war in the full sense of the word."{{sfn |Shapiro |Epstein |2006 |p=329}}
During the Interwar period, the War was known by a variety of names in English-speaking countries. Besides being called the ''World War'' and the ''Great War'',<ref name="Ngram Viewer 'the World War' + 'the Great War'">[http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=the+Great+War%2Cthe+World+War%2C+the+war&year_start=1914&year_end=2000&corpus=0&smoothing=0].</ref> which were the most common names, it was also referred to merely as ''The War'', or ''The War in Europe'',<ref name="Google Books 'The war in Europe">[http://www.google.ca/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=the+war+1914-1918&tbs=,cdr:1,cd_min:Jan%201_2%201914,cd_max:Dec%2031_2%201940&num=10#sclient=psy&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=600&tbs=cdr:1%2Ccd_min%3AJan+1_2+1914%2Ccd_max%3ADec+31_2+1940&tbm=bks&source=hp&q=the+war+in+europe&pbx=1&oq=the+war+in+europe&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=22478l24536l1l24832l14l8l1l0l0l0l1081l2147l7-2l2l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=3c35a39b6a116e0c]</ref> ''the War of Nations'',<ref name="Google Books war of nations">[http://www.google.ca/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=the+war+1914-1918&tbs=,cdr:1,cd_min:Jan%201_2%201914,cd_max:Dec%2031_2%201940&num=10#sclient=psy&hl=en&tbs=cdr:1%2Ccd_min%3AJan+1_2+1914%2Ccd_max%3ADec+31_2+1940&tbm=bks&source=hp&q=the+war+of+nations&pbx=1&oq=the+war+of+nations&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=60323l61786l2l61971l10l8l0l0l0l1l1112l4025l6-2.2l4l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=3c35a39b6a116e0c&biw=1366&bih=600].</ref> ''the 1914 War'',<ref name="Google Books 1914 War">[http://www.google.ca/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=the+war+1914-1918&tbs=,cdr:1,cd_min:Jan%201_2%201914,cd_max:Dec%2031_2%201940&num=10#q=the+1914+war&hl=en&tbs=cdr:1,cd_min:Jan+1_2+1914,cd_max:Dec+31_2+1940&tbm=bks&ei=T8xSToOIFaXs0gGOqcF_&start=10&sa=N&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=3c35a39b6a116e0c&biw=1366&bih=600].</ref> or some variation on these and other names. Occasionally different names were used interchangeably within a single work, as in a [[Time magazine|''Time'']] article from 1924.<ref name="THE WAR: What Did the World Gain?">[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,718758,00.html], Time Magazine.</ref> After the onset of the [[Second World War]] in 1939, the terms ''World War I'' or ''the First World War'' became standard, with British and Canadian historians favouring the ''First World War'' and Americans ''World War I''. The notion that the "World War" was merely the first in a series was not a new idea at the time, however; it was first introduced in September 1914 by German biologist and philosopher [[Ernst Haeckel]], who claimed that "there is no doubt that the course and character of the feared 'European War' ... will become the first world war in the full sense of the word."<ref>{{harvnb|Shapiro|2006|p=329}} citing a wire service report in ''The Indianapolis Star, 20 September 1914''</ref> ''The First World War'' was the title of a 1920 history by the officer and journalist [[Charles à Court Repington]].
In France and Belgium, the war was sometimes referred to as ''La Guerre du Droit'' (''the War for Justice'') or ''La Guerre Pour la Civilisation'' / ''de Oorlog tot de Beschaving'' (''the War to Preserve Civilisation''), especially on medals and commemorative monuments.


==Background==
== Background ==
{{Main|Causes of World War I}}
{{Main|Causes of World War I}}
[[File:WWI-re.png|thumb|400px|right|Map of the [[participants in World War I]]: [[Allies of World War I|Allied Powers]] in green, [[Central Powers]] in orange, and neutral countries in grey]]
In the 19th Century, the major European powers had gone to great lengths to maintain a [[balance of power in international relations|balance of power]] throughout Europe, resulting by 1900 in a complex network of political and military alliances throughout the continent.<ref name=Willmott15/> These had started in 1815, with the [[Holy Alliance]] between [[Prussia]], Russia, and Austria. Then, in October 1873, German Chancellor [[Otto von Bismarck|Bismarck]] negotiated the [[League of the Three Emperors]] (German: ''Dreikaiserbund'') between the monarchs of Austria–Hungary, Russia and Germany. This agreement failed because Austria–Hungary and Russia could not agree over Balkan policy, leaving Germany and Austria–Hungary in an alliance formed in 1879, called the [[Dual Alliance (1879)|Dual Alliance]]. This was seen as a method of countering Russian influence in the [[Balkans]] as the [[Ottoman Empire]] continued to weaken.<ref name=Willmott15 /> In 1882, this alliance was expanded to include Italy in what became the [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]].<ref name=keegan52>{{harvnb|Keegan|1998|p=52}}</ref>


=== Political and military alliances ===
After 1870, European conflict was averted largely through a carefully planned network of treaties between the German Empire and the remainder of Europe orchestrated by Bismarck. He especially worked to hold Russia at Germany's side to avoid a two-front war with France and Russia. When [[Wilhelm II of Germany|Wilhelm II]] ascended to the throne as [[German Emperor]] (''Kaiser''), Bismarck's alliances were gradually de-emphasised. For example, the Kaiser refused to renew the [[Reinsurance Treaty]] with Russia in 1890. Two years later, the [[Franco-Russian Alliance]] was signed to counteract the force of the Triple Alliance. In 1904, the United Kingdom sealed an alliance with France, the [[Entente Cordiale]], and in 1907, the United Kingdom and Russia signed the [[Anglo-Russian Convention]]. This system of interlocking bilateral agreements formed the [[Triple Entente]].<ref name=Willmott15/>
[[File:Map Europe alliances 1914-en.svg|thumb|alt=Map of Europe focusing on Austria-Hungary and marking the central location of ethnic groups in it including Slovaks, Czechs, Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, Romanians, Ukrainians, Poles.|Rival military coalitions in 1914:{{Efn|Only the Triple Alliance was a formal "alliance"; the others listed were informal patterns of support.}} {{legend|#83be58|[[Triple Entente]]}}{{legend|#b0a336|[[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]]}}|left]]


For much of the 19th century, the major European powers maintained a tenuous [[Balance of power (international relations)|balance of power]], known as the [[Concert of Europe]].{{sfn |Clark |2013 |pp=121–152}} After 1848, this was challenged by Britain's withdrawal into so-called [[splendid isolation]], the [[Decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire|decline of the Ottoman Empire]], [[New Imperialism]], and the rise of [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]] under [[Otto von Bismarck]]. Victory in the 1870–1871 [[Franco-Prussian War]] allowed Bismarck to [[Unification of Germany|consolidate]] a [[German Empire]]. Post-1871, the primary aim of French policy was to [[Revanchism|avenge]] this defeat,{{sfn|Zeldin|1977|p=117}} but by the early 1890s, this had switched to the expansion of the [[French colonial empire]].<ref>Bertrand Joly, "La France et la Revanche (1871–1914)", ''Revue d'Histoire Moderne & Contemporaine''. 1999, vol. 46-2, pp. 325–347 [https://www.persee.fr/doc/rhmc_0048-8003_1999_num_46_2_1965] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240127144111/https://www.persee.fr/doc/rhmc_0048-8003_1999_num_46_2_1965|date=27 January 2024}}</ref>
[[File:HMS Dreadnought 1906 H61017.jpg|thumb|alt=Ship at sea with smoke emitting from two funnels|{{HMS|Dreadnought|1906|6}}. A naval [[arms race]] existed between the United Kingdom and Germany.]]


In 1873, Bismarck negotiated the [[League of the Three Emperors]], which included [[Austria-Hungary]], [[Russian Empire|Russia]] and Germany. After the 1877–1878 [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)|Russo-Turkish War]], the League was dissolved due to Austrian concerns over the expansion of Russian influence in the [[Balkans]], an area they considered to be of vital strategic interest. [[Germany]] and Austria-Hungary then formed the 1879 [[Dual Alliance (1879)|Dual Alliance]], which became the [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]] when Italy joined in 1882.{{sfn|Keegan|1998|p=52}} For Bismarck, the purpose of these agreements was to isolate France by ensuring the three Empires resolve any disputes between themselves. In 1887, Bismarck set up the [[Reinsurance Treaty]], a secret agreement between Germany and Russia to remain neutral if either were attacked by France or Austria-Hungary.{{Sfn|Medlicott|1945|pp=66–70}}
German industrial and economic power had grown greatly after [[German unification|unification and the foundation of the Empire]] in 1870. From the mid-1890s on, the government of Wilhelm II used this base to devote significant economic resources to building up the ''[[Kaiserliche Marine]]'' (Imperial German Navy), established by Admiral [[Alfred von Tirpitz]], in rivalry with the British [[Royal Navy]] for world naval supremacy.<ref name=willmott21/> As a result, each nation strove to out-build the other in terms of [[capital ships]]. With the launch of {{HMS|Dreadnought|1906|6}} in 1906, the British Empire expanded on its significant advantage over its German rival.<ref name=willmott21>{{harvnb|Willmott|2003|p=21}}</ref> The arms race between Britain and Germany eventually extended to the rest of Europe, with all the major powers devoting their industrial base to producing the equipment and weapons necessary for a pan-European conflict.<ref>{{harvnb|Prior|1999|p=18}}</ref> Between 1908 and 1913, the military spending of the European powers increased by 50&nbsp;percent.<ref name="Fromkin2004">{{harvnb|Fromkin|2004|p=94}}</ref>


[[File:World 1914 empires colonies territory.PNG|thumb|upright=1.4|World empires and colonies {{circa}} 1914]]
[[File:Gavrilo Princip captured in Sarajevo 1914.jpg|left|thumb|Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian-Serb student, was arrested immediately after he assassinated [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria]]]]


For Bismarck, peace with Russia was the foundation of German foreign policy but in 1890, he was forced to retire by [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]]. The latter was persuaded not to renew the Reinsurance Treaty by his new [[Chancellor of Germany|Chancellor]], [[Leo von Caprivi]].{{Sfn|Keenan|1986 |p=20}} This gave France an opening to agree the [[Franco-Russian Alliance]] in 1894, which was then followed by the 1904 ''[[Entente Cordiale]]'' with Britain. The [[Triple Entente]] was completed by the 1907 [[Anglo-Russian Convention]]. While not formal alliances, by settling [[Great Game|long-standing colonial disputes in Asia]] and Africa, British support for France or Russia in any future conflict became a possibility.{{Sfn|Willmott|2003|p=15}} This was accentuated by British and Russian support for France against Germany during the 1911 [[Agadir Crisis]].{{Sfn|Fay|1930|pp=290–293}}
Austria-Hungary precipitated the [[Bosnian crisis]] of 1908–1909 by officially annexing the former Ottoman territory of [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], which it had occupied since 1878. This angered the [[Kingdom of Serbia]] and its patron, the [[Pan-Slavism|Pan-Slavic]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] [[Russian Empire]].<ref name=keegan48-49>{{harvnb|Keegan|1998|pp=48–49}}</ref> Russian political manoeuvring in the region destabilised peace accords that were already fracturing in what was known as "the [[powder keg of Europe]]".<ref name=keegan48-49 />


=== Arms race ===
[[File:Austria Hungary ethnic.svg|thumb|300px|Ethno-linguistic map of Austria–Hungary, 1910]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv DVM 10 Bild-23-61-23, Linienschiff "SMS Rheinland".jpg|thumb|left|{{SMS|Rheinland}}, a {{sclass|Nassau|battleship|2}}, Germany's first response to the British ''Dreadnought'', 1910]]
In 1912 and 1913 the [[First Balkan War]] was fought between the [[Balkan League]] and the fracturing Ottoman Empire. The resulting [[Treaty of London (1913)|Treaty of London]] further shrank the Ottoman Empire, creating an independent [[Albania|Albanian State]] while enlarging the territorial holdings of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece. When Bulgaria attacked both Serbia and Greece on 16 June 1913, it lost most of Macedonia to Serbia and Greece and [[Southern Dobruja]] to Romania in the 33-day [[Second Balkan War]], further destabilising the region.<ref name=Willmott22-23>{{harvnb|Willmott|2003|pp=2–23}}</ref>


German economic and industrial strength continued to expand rapidly post-1871. Backed by Wilhelm II, Admiral [[Alfred von Tirpitz]] sought to use this growth to build an [[Imperial German Navy]], that could compete with the British [[Royal Navy]].{{Sfn|Willmott|2003|p=21}} This policy was based on the work of US naval author [[Alfred Thayer Mahan]], who argued that possession of a [[blue-water navy]] was vital for global power projection; Tirpitz had his books translated into German, while Wilhelm made them required reading for his advisors and senior military personnel.{{Sfn|Herwig|1988|pp=72–73}}
On 28 June 1914, [[Gavrilo Princip]], a Bosnian-Serb student and member of [[Young Bosnia]], assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria]] in [[Sarajevo]], Bosnia.<ref name=Willmott26>{{harvnb|Willmott|2003|p=26}}</ref> This began a period of diplomatic manoeuvring among Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France, and Britain called the [[July Crisis]]. Wanting to finally end Serbian interference in Bosnia, Austria-Hungary delivered the July Ultimatum to Serbia, a series of ten demands intentionally made unacceptable, intending to provoke a war with Serbia.<ref name=Willmott27>{{harvnb|Willmott|2003|p=27}}</ref> When Serbia agreed to only eight of the ten demands, Austria-Hungary declared war on 28 July 1914. [[Hew Strachan|Strachan]] argues, "Whether an equivocal and early response by Serbia would have made any difference to Austria-Hungary's behaviour must be doubtful. Franz Ferdinand was not the sort of personality who commanded popularity, and his demise did not cast the empire into deepest mourning".<ref>{{harvnb|Strachan|2003|p=68}}</ref>


However, it was also an emotional decision, driven by Wilhelm's simultaneous admiration for the Royal Navy and desire to surpass it. Bismarck thought that the British would not interfere in Europe, as long as its maritime supremacy remained secure, but his dismissal in 1890 led to a change in policy and an [[Anglo-German naval arms race]] began.{{Sfn|Moll|Luebbert|1980|pp=153–185}} Despite the vast sums spent by Tirpitz, the launch of {{HMS|Dreadnought|1906|6}} in 1906 gave the British a technological advantage.{{Sfn|Willmott|2003|p=21}} Ultimately, the race diverted huge resources into creating a German navy large enough to antagonise Britain, but not defeat it; in 1911, Chancellor [[Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg]] acknowledged defeat, leading to the ''Rüstungswende'' or 'armaments turning point', when he switched expenditure from the navy to the army.{{sfn|Stevenson|2016|p=45}}
The Russian Empire, unwilling to allow Austria–Hungary to eliminate its influence in the Balkans, and in support of its longtime Serb protégés, ordered a partial mobilisation one day later.<ref name=keegan52 /> When the German Empire began to mobilise on 30 July 1914, France, resentful of the German conquest of [[Alsace-Lorraine]] during the [[Franco-Prussian War]], ordered French mobilisation on 1 August. Germany declared war on Russia on the same day.<ref>{{harvnb|Willmott|2003|p=29}}</ref> The United Kingdom declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, following an "unsatisfactory reply" to the British ultimatum that [[Belgium]] must be kept [[Neutrality (international relations)|neutral]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/mirror01_01.shtml |publisher=bbc.co.uk |title= Daily Mirror Headlines: The Declaration of War, Published 4 August 1914 |accessdate= 9 February 2010}}</ref>


This decision was not driven by a reduction in political tensions but by German concern over Russia's quick recovery from its defeat in the [[Russo-Japanese War]] and subsequent [[1905 Russian Revolution]]. Economic reforms led to a significant post-1908 expansion of railways and transportation infrastructure, particularly in its western border regions.{{Sfn|Crisp|1976|pp=174–196}} Since Germany and Austria-Hungary relied on faster mobilisation to compensate for their numerical inferiority compared to Russia, the threat posed by the closing of this gap was more important than competing with the Royal Navy. After Germany expanded its standing army by 170,000 troops in 1913, France extended compulsory military service from two to three years; similar measures were taken by the [[Balkans|Balkan powers]] and Italy, which led to increased expenditure by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] and Austria-Hungary. Absolute figures are difficult to calculate due to differences in categorising expenditure since they often omit civilian infrastructure projects like railways which had logistical importance and military use. It is known, however, that from 1908 to 1913, military spending by the six major European powers increased by over 50% in real terms.{{sfn|Stevenson|2016|p=42}}
==Theaters of Conflict==
===Opening hostilities===
====Confusion among the Central Powers====
The strategy of the Central Powers suffered from miscommunication. Germany had promised to support Austria-Hungary's invasion of Serbia, but interpretations of what this meant differed. Previously-tested deployment plans had been replaced early in 1914, but the replacements had never been tested in exercises. Austro-Hungarian leaders believed Germany would cover its northern flank against Russia.<ref>{{harvnb|Strachan|2003|pp=292–296, 343–354}}</ref><!-- may be able to find more on this in Samuel R. Williamson, Jr: "Austria-Hungary and the Origins of the First World War" --> Germany, however, envisioned Austria-Hungary directing most of its troops against Russia, while Germany dealt with France. This confusion forced the [[Austro-Hungarian Army]] to divide its forces between the Russian and Serbian fronts.


=== Conflicts in the Balkans ===
On 9 September 1914, the [[Septemberprogramm]], a possible plan which detailed Germany's specific war aims and the conditions that Germany sought to force on the Allied Powers, was outlined by [[Chancellor of Germany|German Chancellor]] [[Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg]]. It was never officially adopted.
[[File:Austria Hungary ethnic.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|Ethno-linguistic map of Austria-Hungary, 1910. [[Bosnian Crisis|Bosnia-Herzegovina was annexed]] in 1908.]]
[[File:1908-10-07 - Moritz Schiller's Delicatessen.jpg|thumb|alt=Photo of large white building with one sign saying "Moritz Schiller" and another in Arabic; in front is a cluster of people looking at a poster on the wall.|Sarajevo citizens reading a poster with the proclamation of the [[Bosnian Crisis|Austrian annexation in 1908]]]]


The years before 1914 were marked by a series of crises in the Balkans, as other powers sought to benefit from the Ottoman decline. While [[Pan-Slavism|Pan-Slavic]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] Russia considered itself the protector of [[Kingdom of Serbia|Serbia]] and other [[Slavs|Slav]] states, they preferred the strategically vital [[Bosporus]] straits to be controlled by a weak Ottoman government, rather than an ambitious Slav power like [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]]. Russia had ambitions in northeastern [[Anatolia]] while its clients had overlapping claims in the Balkans. These competing interests divided Russian policy-makers and added to regional instability.{{Sfn|McMeekin|2015|pp=66–67}}
====African campaigns====
[[File:Lettow's surrender.jpg|thumb|Lettow surrendering his forces to the British at Abercorn|alt=A line of African soldiers backs a German officer surrendering to a British officer backed by a similar line of African soldiers.]]
{{Main|African theatre of World War I}}
Some of the first clashes of the war involved British, French, and German colonial forces in Africa. On 7 August, French and British troops invaded the German protectorate of [[Togoland]]. On 10 August, German forces in [[German South-West Africa|South-West Africa]] attacked South Africa; sporadic and fierce fighting continued for the rest of the war. The German colonial forces in [[German East Africa]], led by Colonel [[Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck]], fought a [[guerrilla warfare]] campaign during World War I and only surrendered two weeks after the armistice took effect in Europe.<ref>{{harvnb|Farwell|1989|p=353}}</ref>


Austrian statesmen viewed the Balkans as essential for the continued existence of their Empire and saw Serbian expansion as a direct threat. The 1908–1909 [[Bosnian Crisis]] began when Austria annexed the former Ottoman territory of [[Bosnia Vilayet|Bosnia and Herzegovina]], which it [[Austro-Hungarian campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878|had occupied]] since 1878. Timed to coincide with the [[Bulgarian Declaration of Independence]] from the Ottoman Empire, this unilateral action was denounced by the European powers, but accepted as there was no consensus on how to resolve the situation. Some historians see this as a significant escalation, ending any chance of Austria cooperating with Russia in the Balkans, while also damaging diplomatic relations between Serbia and Italy.{{Sfn|Clark|2013|p=86}}
====Serbian campaign====
[[File:TelegramWW1.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Declaration of war. Austro-Hungarian government's telegram to the government of Serbia on 28 July 1914.]]
{{Main|Serbian Campaign (World War I)}}
The Serbian army fought the [[Battle of Cer]] against the invading Austro-Hungarians, beginning on 12 August, occupying defensive positions on the south side of the [[Drina]] and [[Sava]] rivers. Over the next two weeks Austrian attacks were thrown back with heavy losses, which marked the first major Allied victory of the war and dashed Austro-Hungarian hopes of a swift victory. As a result, Austria had to keep sizeable forces on the Serbian front, weakening its efforts against Russia.<ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=172}}</ref>


Tensions increased after the 1911–1912 [[Italo-Turkish War]] demonstrated Ottoman weakness and led to the formation of the [[Balkan League]], an alliance of Serbia, Bulgaria, [[Kingdom of Montenegro|Montenegro]], and [[Kingdom of Greece|Greece]].{{Sfn|Clark|2013|pp=251–252}} The League quickly overran most of the Ottomans' territory in the Balkans during the 1912–1913 [[First Balkan War]], much to the surprise of outside observers.{{Sfn|McMeekin|2015|p=69}} The Serbian capture of ports on the [[Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast|Adriatic]] resulted in partial Austrian mobilisation, starting on 21 November 1912, including units along the Russian border in [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]]. The [[Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire|Russian government]] decided not to mobilise in response, unprepared to precipitate a war.{{Sfn|McMeekin|2015|p=73}}
====German forces in Belgium and France====
[[File:German soldiers in a railroad car on the way to the front during early World War I, taken in 1914. Taken from greatwar.nl site.jpg|thumb|alt=Men waving from the door and window of a rail goods van|German soldiers in a railway goods van on the way to the front in 1914. A message on the car spells out "Trip to Paris"; early in the war all sides expected the conflict to be a short one.]]
{{Main|Western Front (World War I)}}
At the outbreak of the First World War, the German army (consisting in the West of [[German Army order of battle (1914)|seven field armies]]) carried out a modified version of the [[Schlieffen Plan]], designed to quickly attack France through neutral Belgium before turning southwards to encircle the French army on the German border.<ref name=AJPT2/> The plan called for the right flank of the German advance to converge on Paris, and initially the Germans were successful, particularly in the [[Battle of the Frontiers]] (14–24 August). By 12 September, the French, with assistance from the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War I)|British forces]], halted the German advance east of Paris at the [[First Battle of the Marne]] (5–12 September). The last days of this battle signified the end of mobile warfare in the west.<ref name=AJPT2/> The French offensive into Germany, launched on 7 August with the [[Battle of Mulhouse]], had limited success.


The Great Powers sought to re-assert control through the 1913 [[Treaty of London (1913)|Treaty of London]], which had created an independent [[Albania]] while enlarging the territories of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece. However, disputes between the victors sparked the 33-day [[Second Balkan War]], when Bulgaria attacked Serbia and Greece on 16 June 1913; it was defeated, losing most of [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]] to Serbia and Greece, and [[Southern Dobruja]] to Romania.{{sfn|Willmott|2003|pp=2–23}} The result was that even countries which benefited from the Balkan Wars, such as Serbia and Greece, felt cheated of their "rightful gains", while for Austria it demonstrated the apparent indifference with which other powers viewed their concerns, including Germany.{{Sfn|Clark|2013|p=288}} This complex mix of resentment, nationalism and insecurity helps explain why the pre-1914 Balkans became known as the "[[powder keg of Europe]]".{{sfn |Keegan|1998|pp=48–49}}<ref>{{Citation |last=Bennett |first=G. H. |title=Eastern Europe: Cordon Sanitaire or Powder-Keg? |date=1995 |work=British Foreign Policy during the Curzon Period, 1919–24 |pages=41–59 |editor-last=Bennett |editor-first=G. H. |url=https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230377356_3 |access-date=2024-06-10 |place=London |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |language=en |doi=10.1057/9780230377356_3 |isbn=978-0-230-37735-6 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610092152/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230377356_3 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Stefanova |first=Radoslava |title=Balkan Clutter: American and European Handling of a Powder Keg |date=2001 |work=Revival: The New Transatlantic Agenda (2001) |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315186405-8/balkan-clutter-american-european-handling-powder-keg-radoslava-stefanova |access-date=2024-06-10 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781315186405-8/balkan-clutter-american-european-handling-powder-keg-radoslava-stefanova |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |isbn=978-1-315-18640-5 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610092039/https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315186405-8/balkan-clutter-american-european-handling-powder-keg-radoslava-stefanova |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nelson |first=Daniel N. |date=1984 |title=South-Eastern Europe After Tito: A Powder-Keg for the 1980s? Edited by David Carlton and Carlo Schaerf. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1983. xviii, 211 pp. Map. $22.50. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2499359 |journal=Slavic Review |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=717–718 |doi=10.2307/2499359 |jstor=2499359 |issn=0037-6779 |access-date=10 June 2024 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610092151/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/slavic-review/article/abs/southeastern-europe-after-tito-a-powderkeg-for-the-1980s-edited-by-david-carlton-and-carlo-schaerf-new-york-st-martins-press-1983-xviii-211-pp-map-2250/4181F817AE85A199042097EB78F7591D |url-status=live }}</ref>
In the east, only one field army defended [[East Prussia]], and when Russia attacked in this region it diverted German forces intended for the Western Front. Germany defeated Russia in a series of battles collectively known as the First [[Battle of Tannenberg (1914)|Battle of Tannenberg]] (17 August&nbsp;– 2 September), but this diversion aggravated problems of insufficient speed of advance from rail-heads not foreseen by the [[German General Staff]]. The Central Powers were denied a quick victory and forced to fight a war on two fronts. The German army had fought its way into a good defensive position inside France and had permanently incapacitated 230,000 more French and British troops than it had lost itself. Despite this, communications problems and questionable command decisions cost Germany the chance of early victory.<ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|pp=376–8}}</ref>


== Prelude ==
====Asia and the Pacific====
{{Main|Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I}}
{{For timeline|Timeline of World War I}}
New Zealand [[Occupation of German Samoa|occupied]] [[German Samoa]] (later Western Samoa) on 30 August. On 11 September, the [[Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force]] landed on the island of [[New Britain|Neu Pommern]] (later New Britain), which formed part of [[German New Guinea]]. Japan seized Germany's [[Micronesia]]n colonies and, after the [[Siege of Tsingtao]], the German coaling port of [[Qingdao]] in the Chinese [[Shandong]] peninsula. Within a few months, the Allied forces had seized all the German territories in the Pacific; only isolated commerce raiders and a few holdouts in New Guinea remained.<ref>{{harvnb|Keegan|1968|pp=224–232}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Falls|1960|pp=79–80}}</ref>


=== Sarajevo assassination ===
===Early stages===
{{Main|Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand}}
====Trench warfare begins====
[[File:Gavrilo Princip captured in Sarajevo 1914.jpg|thumb|Traditionally thought to show the arrest of [[Gavrilo Princip]] (right), [[Arrest of a suspect in Sarajevo|this photo]] is now believed by historians to depict an innocent bystander, Ferdinand Behr on 28 June 1914.{{Sfn|Finestone|Massie|1981 |p=247}}{{sfn|Smith|2010|p=}}]]
{{Main|Western Front (World War I)}}
On 28 June 1914, [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria]], heir presumptive to Emperor [[Franz Joseph I of Austria]], visited [[Sarajevo]], the capital of the recently annexed [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]]. [[Cvjetko Popović]], [[Gavrilo Princip]], [[Nedeljko Čabrinović]], [[Trifko Grabež]], [[Vaso Čubrilović]] ([[Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnian Serbs]]) and [[Muhamed Mehmedbašić]] (from the [[Bosniaks]] community),{{Sfn|Butcher|2014|p=103}} from the movement known as [[Young Bosnia]], took up positions along the Archduke's motorcade route, to assassinate him. Supplied with arms by extremists within the Serbian [[Black Hand (Serbia)|Black Hand]] intelligence organisation, they hoped his death would free Bosnia from Austrian rule.{{Sfn|Butcher|2014|pp=188–189}}
[[File:WinstonChurchill1916Army.gif|thumb|upright|[[Winston Churchill|Sir Winston Churchill]] with the [[Royal Scots Fusiliers]], 1916]]
[[File:Sunlight Soap WW 1 Ad.jpg|thumb|left|180px|[[Sunlight (cleaning product)|Sunlight Soap]] ad, placed in a trench (1915)]]
Military tactics before World War I had failed to keep pace with advances in technology. These advances allowed for impressive defence systems, which out-of-date military tactics could not break through for most of the war. [[Barbed wire]] was a significant hindrance to massed infantry advances. [[Artillery]], vastly<!--between HE & hydraulic recoil mechanisms, something like two orders of magnitude--> more lethal than in the 1870s, coupled with [[machine guns]], made crossing open ground extremely difficult.<ref>{{harvnb|Raudzens|1990|pp=424}}</ref> The Germans introduced [[Poison gas in World War I|poison gas]]; it soon became used by both sides, though it never proved decisive in winning a battle. Its effects were brutal, causing slow and painful death, and poison gas became one of the most-feared and best-remembered horrors of the war. Commanders on both sides failed to develop tactics for breaching entrenched positions without heavy casualties.


Čabrinović threw a [[grenade]] at the Archduke's car and injured two of his aides. The other assassins were also unsuccessful. An hour later, as Ferdinand was returning from visiting the injured officers in hospital, his car took a wrong turn into a street where [[Gavrilo Princip]] was standing. He fired two pistol shots, fatally wounding Ferdinand and his wife [[Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg|Sophie]].{{Sfn|Gilbert|1994|p=16}}
In time, however, technology began to produce new offensive weapons, such as the [[tank]].<ref>{{harvnb|Raudzens|1990|pp=421–423}}</ref> Britain and France were its primary users; the Germans employed captured Allied tanks and small numbers of their own design. After the [[First Battle of the Marne]], both [[Triple Entente|Entente]] and German forces began a series of outflanking manoeuvres, in the so-called "[[Race to the Sea]]". Britain and France soon found themselves facing entrenched German forces from [[Lorraine (province)|Lorraine]] to Belgium's coast.<ref name=AJPT2/> Britain and France sought to take the offensive, while Germany defended the occupied territories; consequently, German trenches were much better constructed than those of their enemy. Anglo-French trenches were only intended to be "temporary" before their forces broke through German defences.<ref>{{harvnb|Goodspeed|1985|p=199 (footnote)}}</ref> Both sides tried to break the stalemate using scientific and technological advances. On 22 April 1915 at the [[Second Battle of Ypres]], the Germans (violating the [[Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)|Hague Convention]]) used [[chlorine]] gas for the first time on the Western Front. Algerian troops retreated when gassed and a six-kilometre (four-mile) hole opened in the Allied lines that the Germans quickly exploited, taking [[Kitcheners' Wood]]. [[Military history of Canada during World War I|Canadian soldiers]] closed the breach at the [[Second Battle of Ypres]].<ref>{{harvnb|Love|1996}}</ref> At the [[Third Battle of Ypres]], Canadian and [[ANZAC]] troops took the village of [[Battle of Passchendaele|Passchendaele]].
[[Image:Melbourne recruiting WWI.jpg|thumb|Men in Melbourne collecting recruitment papers]]
[[File:Royal Irish Rifles ration party Somme July 1916.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Mud stained British soldiers at rest |In the [[trench]]es: [[Royal Irish Rifles]] in a [[Trench warfare#Defensive system|communications]] trench on the [[first day on the Somme]], 1 July 1916.]]
On 1 July 1916, the [[British Army]] endured the bloodiest day in its history, suffering 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 dead, on the [[first day on the Somme|first day]] of the [[Battle of the Somme]]. Most of the casualties occurred in the first hour of the attack. The entire Somme offensive cost the British Army almost half a million men.<ref>{{harvnb|Duffy}}</ref>


According to historian [[Zbyněk Zeman]], in Vienna "the event almost failed to make any impression whatsoever. On 28 and 29 June, the crowds listened to music and drank wine, as if nothing had happened."{{sfn |Willmott |2003 |p=26}} Nevertheless, the impact of the murder of the heir to the throne was significant, and has been described by historian [[Christopher Clark]] as a "9/11 effect, a terrorist event charged with historic meaning, transforming the political chemistry in Vienna".<ref name="Christopher Clark 2014">{{cite AV media |title=Month of Madness |first=Christopher |last=Clark |publisher=BBC Radio 4 |date=25 June 2014 |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03t7p27 |access-date=14 March 2017 |archive-date=20 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170420031224/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03t7p27 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Neither side proved able to deliver a decisive blow for the next two years, though protracted German action at [[Battle of Verdun|Verdun]] throughout 1916,<ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=1221}}</ref> combined with the bloodletting at the [[Battle of the Somme|Somme]], brought the exhausted French army to the brink of collapse. Futile attempts at frontal assault came at a high price for both the British and the French ''[[poilu]]'' (infantry) and led to [[French Army Mutinies (1917)|widespread mutinies]], especially during the [[Nivelle Offensive]].<ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=854}}</ref>
[[File:Canadian tank and soldiers Vimy 1917.jpg|thumb|alt=Files of soldiers with rifles slung follow close behind a tank, there is a dead body in the foreground|Canadian troops advancing behind a British [[Mark I tank#Mark II|Mark II tank]] at the [[Battle of Vimy Ridge]].]]
[[File:GermanInfantry1914.jpg|thumb|alt=In the foreground three German soldiers behind cover engage attacking French soldiers|A French assault on German positions. Champagne, France, 1917.]]
[[File:BC RGA Leaders In England.jpg|thumb|Officers and senior enlisted men of the [[Bermuda Militia Artillery]]'s [[Bermuda]] Contingent, Royal Garrison Artillery, in Europe.]]
[[File:Grand Fleet sails.jpg|thumb|The British [[Grand Fleet]] making steam for [[Scapa Flow]], 1914]]
[[File:Hochseeflotte 2.jpg|thumb|A battleship squadron of the [[High Seas Fleet|Hochseeflotte]] at sea]]


=== Expansion of violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina ===
Throughout 1915–17, the British Empire and France suffered more casualties than Germany, because of both the strategic and tactical stances chosen by the sides. Strategically, while the Germans only mounted a single main offensive at [[Battle of Verdun|Verdun]], the Allies made several attempts to break through German lines. Tactically, German commander [[Erich Ludendorff]]'s doctrine of "[[defense in depth|elastic defence]]" was well suited for trench warfare. This defence had a lightly defended forward position and a more powerful main position farther back beyond artillery range, from which an immediate and powerful counter-offensive could be launched.<ref>{{harvnb|Heer|2009|pp=223–4}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Goodspeed|1985|p=226}}</ref>
[[File:1914-06-29 - Aftermath of attacks against Serbs in Sarajevo.png|thumb|Crowds on the streets in the aftermath of the [[anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo]], 29 June 1914]]


Austro-Hungarian authorities encouraged subsequent [[anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo]].<ref name="DjordjevićSpence1992">{{cite book |first1=Dimitrije |last1=Djordjević |author1-link=Dimitrije Đorđević (historian) |first2=Richard B. |last2=Spence |author2-link=Richard B. Spence |title=Scholar, patriot, mentor: historical essays in honour of Dimitrije Djordjević |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CDJpAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA313 |year=1992 |publisher=East European Monographs |isbn=978-0-88033-217-0 |page=313 |quote=Following the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in June 1914, Croats and Muslims in Sarajevo joined forces in an anti-Serb pogrom. |access-date=12 November 2018 |archive-date=17 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240217084004/https://books.google.com/books?id=CDJpAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA313 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Reports Service: Southeast Europe series |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QGtWAAAAMAAJ |access-date=7 December 2013 |year=1964 |publisher=American Universities Field Staff. |page=44 |quote=...&nbsp;the assassination was followed by officially encouraged anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo&nbsp;... |archive-date=6 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230906101816/https://books.google.com/books?id=QGtWAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> Violent actions against ethnic Serbs were also organised outside Sarajevo, in other cities in Austro-Hungarian-controlled Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. Austro-Hungarian authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina imprisoned approximately 5,500 prominent Serbs, 700 to 2,200 of whom died in prison. A further 460 Serbs were sentenced to death. A predominantly Bosniak special militia known as the ''[[Schutzkorps]]'' was established, and carried out the persecution of Serbs.<ref name="Kröll2008">{{cite book |first=Herbert |last=Kröll |title=Austrian-Greek encounters over the centuries: history, diplomacy, politics, arts, economics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uJRnAAAAMAAJ |access-date=1 September 2013 |year=2008 |publisher=Studienverlag |isbn=978-3-7065-4526-6 |page=55 |quote=...&nbsp;arrested and interned some 5.500 prominent Serbs and sentenced to death some 460 persons, a new Schutzkorps, an auxiliary militia, widened the anti-Serb repression. |archive-date=17 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240217083931/https://books.google.com/books?id=uJRnAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn |Tomasevich |2001 |p=485}}<ref name="Schindler2007">{{cite book |first=John R. |last=Schindler |title=Unholy Terror: Bosnia, Al-Qa'ida, and the Rise of Global Jihad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c8Xb6x2XYvIC&pg=PA29 |year=2007 |publisher=Zenith Imprint |isbn=978-1-61673-964-5 |page=29 |access-date=12 November 2018 |archive-date=17 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240217083936/https://books.google.com/books?id=c8Xb6x2XYvIC&pg=PA29#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Velikonja |2003 |p=141}}
Ludendorff wrote on the fighting in 1917, {{quote|The 25th&nbsp;of August concluded the second phase of the Flanders battle. It had cost us heavily&nbsp;... The costly August battles in Flanders and at Verdun imposed a heavy strain on the Western troops. In spite of all the concrete protection they seemed more or less powerless under the enormous weight of the enemy’s artillery. At some points they no longer displayed the firmness which I, in common with the local commanders, had hoped for. The enemy managed to adapt himself to our method of employing counter attacks&nbsp;... I myself was being put to a terrible strain. The state of affairs in the West appeared to prevent the execution of our plans elsewhere. Our wastage had been so high as to cause grave misgivings, and had exceeded all expectation.<ref>{{harvnb|Ludendorff|1919|p=480}}</ref>}}


=== July Crisis ===
On the battle of the Menin Road Ridge, Ludendorff wrote, {{quote|Another terrific assault was made on our lines on the&nbsp;20 September&nbsp;... The enemy’s onslaught on the 20th was successful, which proved the superiority of the attack over the defence. Its strength did not consist in the tanks; we found them inconvenient, but put them out of action all the same. The power of the attack lay in the artillery, and in the fact that ours did not do enough damage to the hostile infantry as they were assembling, and above all, at the actual time of the assault.<ref name="Terraine-Victory" />}}
{{Main|July Crisis}}
{{seealso|German entry into World War I|Austro-Hungarian entry into World War I|Russian entry into World War I}}
[[File:The War of the Nations WW1 337.jpg|thumb|Cheering crowds in London and Paris on the day war was declared.]]


The assassination initiated the July Crisis, a month of diplomatic manoeuvring between Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France and Britain. Believing that Serbian intelligence helped organise Franz Ferdinand's murder, Austrian officials wanted to use the opportunity to end their interference in Bosnia and saw war as the best way of achieving this.{{sfn|Stevenson|1996|p=12}} However, the [[Foreign Ministry of Austria-Hungary|Foreign Ministry]] had no solid proof of Serbian involvement.{{Sfn|MacMillan|2013|p=532}} On 23{{nbsp}}July, Austria delivered an [[July Ultimatum|ultimatum]] to Serbia, listing ten demands made intentionally unacceptable to provide an excuse for starting hostilities.{{sfn|Willmott|2003|p=27}}
Around 1.1 to 1.2 million soldiers from the British and Dominion armies were on the Western Front at any one time.<ref>{{harvnb|Perry|1988|p=27}}</ref> A thousand battalions, occupying sectors of the line from the [[North Sea]] to the [[Orne River (Lorraine)|Orne River]], operated on a month-long four-stage rotation system, unless an offensive was underway. The front contained over {{convert|9600|km|mi|0}} of trenches. Each battalion held its sector for about a week before moving back to support lines and then further back to the reserve lines before a week out-of-line, often in the [[Poperinge]] or [[Amiens]] areas.


Serbia ordered general [[mobilization]] on 25{{nbsp}}July, but accepted all the terms, except for those empowering Austrian representatives to suppress "subversive elements" inside Serbia, and take part in the investigation and trial of Serbians linked to the assassination.{{Sfn|Fromkin|2004|pp=196–197}}{{Sfn|MacMillan|2013|p=536}} Claiming this amounted to rejection, Austria broke off diplomatic relations and ordered partial mobilisation the next day; on 28 July, they declared war on Serbia and began shelling [[Belgrade]]. Russia ordered general mobilization in support of Serbia on 30 July.{{Sfn|Lieven|2016|p=326}}
In the 1917 [[Battle of Arras (1917)|Battle of Arras]], the only significant British military success was the capture of [[Vimy Ridge]] by the [[Canadian Corps]] under [[Sir Arthur Currie]] and [[Julian Byng]]. The assaulting troops could, for the first time, overrun, rapidly reinforce and hold the ridge defending the coal-rich [[Douai]] plain.<ref>{{citation| title=Vimy Ridge, Canadian National Memorial| year=2007| url=http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/vimy-ridge/index.html| work=Australians on the Western Front 1914–1918| publisher=New South Wales Department of Veteran's Affairs and Board of Studies}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Winegard}}</ref>


Anxious to ensure backing from the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|SPD]] political opposition by presenting Russia as the aggressor, German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg delayed the commencement of war preparations until 31 July.{{Sfn|Clark|2013|pp=526–527}} That afternoon, the Russian government were handed a note requiring them to "cease all war measures against Germany and Austria-Hungary" within 12 hours.{{Sfn|Martel|2014|p=335}} A further German demand for neutrality was refused by the French who ordered general mobilization but delayed declaring war.{{Sfn|Gilbert|1994|p=27}} The [[German General Staff]] had long assumed they faced a war on two fronts; the [[Schlieffen Plan]] envisaged using 80% of the army to defeat France, then switching to Russia. Since this required them to move quickly, mobilization orders were issued that afternoon.{{Sfn|Clayton|2003|p=45}} Once the German ultimatum to Russia expired on the morning of 1 August, the two countries were at war.
===Naval war===
{{Main|Naval warfare of World War I}}
At the start of the war, the German Empire had [[cruiser]]s scattered across the globe, some of which were subsequently used to attack Allied [[merchant shipping]]. The British [[Royal Navy]] systematically hunted them down, though not without some embarrassment from its inability to protect Allied shipping. For example, the German detached light cruiser [[SMS Emden (1908)|SMS ''Emden'']], part of the East-Asia squadron stationed at Tsingtao, seized or destroyed 15 merchantmen, as well as sinking a Russian cruiser and a French destroyer. However, most of the [[German East Asia Squadron|German East-Asia squadron]]—consisting of the armoured cruisers {{SMS|Scharnhorst||2}} and {{SMS|Gneisenau||2}}, light cruisers {{SMS|Nürnberg|1906|2}} and {{SMS|Leipzig||2}} and two transport ships—did not have orders to raid shipping and was instead underway to Germany when it met British warships. The German flotilla and {{SMS|Dresden|1907|2}} sank two armoured cruisers at the [[Battle of Coronel]], but was almost destroyed at the [[Battle of the Falkland Islands]] in December 1914, with only ''Dresden'' and a few auxiliaries escaping, but at the [[Battle of Más a Tierra]] these too were destroyed or interned.<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|2007|pp=39–47}}</ref>


At a meeting on 29 July, the British cabinet had narrowly decided its obligations to Belgium under the 1839 [[Treaty of London (1839)|Treaty of London]] did not require it to oppose a German invasion with military force; however, Prime Minister [[H. H. Asquith|Asquith]] and his senior Cabinet ministers were already committed to supporting France, the Royal Navy had been mobilised, and public opinion was strongly in favour of intervention.{{Sfn|Clark|2013|pp=539–541}} On 31 July, Britain sent notes to Germany and France, asking them to respect Belgian neutrality; France pledged to do so, but Germany did not reply.{{Sfn|Gilbert|1994|p=29}} Aware of German plans to attack through Belgium, French Commander-in-Chief [[Joseph Joffre]] asked his government for permission to cross the border and pre-empt such a move. To avoid violating Belgian neutrality, he was told any advance could come only after a German invasion.{{Sfn|MacMillan|2013|pp=579–580, 585}} Instead, the French cabinet ordered its Army to withdraw 10&nbsp;km behind the German frontier, to avoid provoking war. On 2 August, [[German occupation of Luxembourg during World War I|Germany occupied Luxembourg]] and exchanged fire with French units when German patrols entered French territory; on 3{{nbsp}}August, they declared war on France and demanded free passage across Belgium, which was refused. Early on the morning of 4{{nbsp}}August, the Germans invaded, and [[Albert I of Belgium]] called for assistance under the [[Treaty of London (1839)|Treaty of London]].{{sfn|Crowe |2001|pp=4–5}}{{sfn |Willmott|2003|p=29}} Britain sent Germany an ultimatum demanding they withdraw from Belgium; when this expired at midnight, without a response, the two empires were at war.{{Sfn|Clark|2013|pp=550–551}}
Soon after the outbreak of hostilities, Britain began a naval [[blockade of Germany]]. The strategy proved effective, cutting off vital military and civilian supplies, although this blockade violated accepted international law codified by several international agreements of the past two centuries.<ref name="isbn0-313-33181-2">{{harvnb|Keene|2006|p=5}}</ref> Britain mined international waters to prevent any ships from entering entire sections of ocean, causing danger to even neutral ships.<ref name="isbn1-85728-498-4">{{harvnb|Halpern|1995|p=293}}</ref> Since there was limited response to this tactic, Germany expected a similar response to its unrestricted submarine warfare.<ref name="isbn0-8476-9645-6">{{harvnb|Zieger|2001|p=50}}</ref>


== Progress of the war ==
The 1916 [[Battle of Jutland]] (German: ''Skagerrakschlacht'', or "Battle of the Skagerrak") developed into the largest naval battle of the war, the only full-scale clash of battleships during the war, and one of the largest in history. It took place on 31 May&nbsp;– 1 June 1916, in the [[North Sea]] off [[Jutland]]. The Kaiserliche Marine's High Seas Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral [[Reinhard Scheer]], squared off against the Royal Navy's [[Grand Fleet]], led by Admiral Sir [[John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe|John Jellicoe]]. The engagement was a stand off, as the Germans, outmanoeuvred by the larger British fleet, managed to escape and inflicted more damage to the British fleet than they received. Strategically, however, the British asserted their control of the sea, and the bulk of the German surface fleet remained confined to port for the duration of the war.<ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|pp=619–24}}</ref>
{{Further|Diplomatic history of World War I}}


=== Opening hostilities ===
German [[U-boats]] attempted to cut the supply lines between North America and Britain.<ref name="Sheffield">{{citation| last=Sheffield| first=Garry| title=The First Battle of the Atlantic| work=World Wars In Depth| url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/battle_atlantic_ww1_01.shtml| publisher=BBC |accessdate=2009-11-11 }}</ref> The nature of submarine warfare meant that attacks often came without warning, giving the crews of the merchant ships little hope of survival.<ref name="Sheffield" /><ref name="isbn0-8050-7617-4">{{harvnb|Gilbert|2004|p=306}}</ref> The United States launched a protest, and Germany changed its rules of engagement. After the notorious sinking of the passenger ship [[RMS Lusitania|RMS ''Lusitania'']] in 1915, Germany promised not to target passenger liners, while Britain armed its merchant ships, placing them beyond the protection of the "cruiser rules" which demanded warning and placing crews in "a place of safety" (a standard which lifeboats did not meet).<ref>{{harvnb|von der Porten|1969}}</ref> Finally, in early 1917 Germany adopted a policy of [[unrestricted submarine warfare]], realising the Americans would eventually enter the war.<ref name="Sheffield" /><ref name="isbn0-8420-2918-4">{{harvnb|Jones|2001|p=80}}</ref> Germany sought to strangle Allied sea lanes before the U.S. could transport a large army overseas, but could maintain only five long-range U-boats on station, to limited effect.<ref name="Sheffield" />


==== Confusion among the Central Powers ====
[[File:NationaalArchief uboat155London.jpg|thumb|[[Unterseeboot 155 (1917)|U-155]] exhibited near Tower Bridge in London after the First World War.]]
Germany promised to support Austria-Hungary's invasion of Serbia, but interpretations of what this meant differed. Previously tested deployment plans had been replaced early in 1914, but those had never been tested in exercises. Austro-Hungarian leaders believed Germany would cover its northern flank against Russia.{{sfn |Strachan |2003 |pp=292–296, 343–354}}<!-- may be able to find more on this in Samuel R. Williamson, Jr: "Austria-Hungary and the Origins of the First World War" -->
The U-boat threat lessened in 1917, when merchant ships began travelling in [[Convoys in World War I|convoys]], escorted by [[destroyer]]s. This tactic made it difficult for U-boats to find targets, which significantly lessened losses; after the [[hydrophone]] and [[depth charge]]s were introduced, accompanying destroyers might attack a submerged submarine with some hope of success. Convoys slowed the flow of supplies, since ships had to wait as convoys were assembled. The solution to the delays was an extensive program to build new freighters. Troopships were too fast for the submarines and did not travel the North Atlantic in convoys.<ref>{{citation| url=http://www.gov.ns.ca/legislature/hansard//comm/va/va_2006nov09.htm| title=Nova Scotia House of Assembly Committee on Veterans' Affairs| accessdate=2007-10-30| work=Hansard}}</ref> The U-boats had sunk more than 5,000 Allied ships, at a cost of 199 submarines.<ref>Roger Chickering, Stig Förster, Bernd Greiner, German Historical Institute (Washington, D.C.) (2005). "''[http://books.google.com/books?id=evVPoSwqrG4C&pg=PA73&dq&hl=en#v=onepage&q=&f=false A world at total war: global conflict and the politics of destruction, 1937-1945]''". Cambridge University Press. p.73. ISBN 0521834325</ref>


==== Serbian campaign ====
World War I also saw the first use of [[aircraft carrier]]s in combat, with [[HMS Furious (47)|HMS ''Furious'']] launching [[Sopwith Camels]] in a successful raid against the [[Zeppelin]] hangars at [[Tondern raid|Tondern]] in July 1918, as well as [[blimp]]s for antisubmarine patrol.<ref>{{harvnb|Price}}</ref>
{{Main|Serbian campaign}}
[[File:FirstSerbianArmedPlane1915.jpg|thumb|right|Serbian Army [[Blériot XI]] "Oluj", 1915]]


Beginning on 12 August, the Austrians and Serbs clashed at the battles of the [[Battle of Cer|Cer]] and [[Battle of Kolubara|Kolubara]]; over the next two weeks, Austrian attacks were repulsed with heavy losses. As a result, Austria had to keep sizeable forces on the Serbian front, weakening their efforts against Russia.{{sfn|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=172}} Serbia's victory against Austria-Hungary in the 1914 invasion has been called one of the major upset victories of the twentieth century.{{Sfn|Schindler|2002|pp=159–195}} In 1915, the campaign saw the first use of [[anti-aircraft warfare]] after an Austrian plane was shot down with [[Surface-to-air missile|ground-to-air]] fire, as well as the first [[medical evacuation]] by the Serbian army.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rts.rs/page/stories/sr/story/125/Dru%C5%A1tvo/1516279/Veliki+rat+-+avijacija.html |title=Veliki rat – Avijacija |publisher=RTS, Radio televizija Srbije, Radio Television of Serbia |website=rts.rs |access-date=16 July 2019 |archive-date=10 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710083934/http://www.rts.rs/page/stories/sr/story/125/Dru%C5%A1tvo/1516279/Veliki+rat+-+avijacija.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine| url=http://www.nationalgeographic.rs/vesti/3842-prvi-ratni-avion-oboren-u-istoriji-pao-na-kragujevac.html| title=How was the first military airplane shot down| magazine=National Geographic| access-date=5 August 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150831011608/http://www.nationalgeographic.rs/vesti/3842-prvi-ratni-avion-oboren-u-istoriji-pao-na-kragujevac.html| archive-date=31 August 2015| url-status=live}}</ref>
===Southern theatres===
====War in the Balkans====
{{Main|Balkans Campaign (World War I)|Serbian Campaign (World War I)|Macedonian front (World War I)}}


==== German offensive in Belgium and France ====
[[File:Austrians executing Serbs 1917.JPG|thumb|Austrian troops executing captured Serbians in 1917. Serbia lost about 850,000 people, a quarter of its pre-war population, and half its pre-war resources.<ref>"[http://international.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+yu0021) The Balkan Wars and World War I]". ''[[Library of Congress Country Studies]]''.</ref>]]
{{Main|Great Retreat}}
Faced with Russia, Austria-Hungary could spare only one-third of its army to attack Serbia. After suffering heavy losses, the Austrians briefly occupied the Serbian capital, [[Belgrade]]. A Serbian counter attack in the [[battle of Kolubara]], however, succeeded in driving them from the country by the end of 1914. For the first ten months of 1915, Austria-Hungary used most of its military reserves to fight Italy. German and Austro-Hungarian diplomats, however, scored a coup by persuading [[Bulgaria]] to join in attacking Serbia. The Austro-Hungarian provinces of [[Slovenia]], [[Croatia]] and [[Bosnia (region)|Bosnia]] provided troops for Austria-Hungary, invading Serbia as well as fighting Russia and Italy. [[Montenegro]] allied itself with Serbia.<ref>{{harvnb|Neiberg|2005|pp=54–55}}</ref>
[[File:German soldiers in a railroad car on the way to the front during early World War I, taken in 1914. Taken from greatwar.nl site.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|German soldiers on the way to the front in 1914; at this stage, all sides expected the conflict to be a short one.]]


Upon mobilisation, in accordance with the [[Schlieffen Plan]], 80% of the [[German Army order of battle (1914)|German Army]] was located on the Western Front, with the remainder acting as a screening force in the East. Rather than a direct attack across their shared frontier, the German right wing would sweep through the [[Netherlands]] and [[Belgium]], then swing south, encircling Paris and trapping the French army against the Swiss border. The plan's creator, [[Alfred von Schlieffen]], head of the [[German General Staff]] from 1891 to 1906, estimated that this would take six weeks, after which the German army would transfer to the East and defeat the Russians.{{Sfn|Stevenson|2004|p=22}}
Serbia was conquered in a little more than a month. The attack began in October, when the Central Powers launched an offensive from the north; four days later the Bulgarians joined the attack from the east. The Serbian army, fighting on two fronts and facing certain defeat, retreated into [[Albania]], halting only once to make a stand against the Bulgarians. The Serbs suffered defeat near modern day [[Gnjilane]] in the [[Battle of Kosovo (1915)|Battle of Kosovo]]. Montenegro covered the Serbian retreat towards the Adriatic coast in the [[Battle of Mojkovac]] in 6–7 January 1916, but ultimately the Austrians conquered Montenegro, too. Serbian forces were evacuated by ship to Greece.<ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|pp=1075–6}}</ref>


The plan was substantially modified by his successor, [[Helmuth von Moltke the Younger]]. Under Schlieffen, 85% of German forces in the west were assigned to the right wing, with the remainder holding along the frontier. By keeping his left-wing deliberately weak, he hoped to lure the French into an offensive into the "lost provinces" of [[Alsace-Lorraine]], which was the strategy envisaged by their [[Plan XVII]].{{Sfn|Stevenson|2004|p=22}} However, Moltke grew concerned that the French might push too hard on his left flank and as the German Army increased in size from 1908 to 1914, he changed the allocation of forces between the two wings to 70:30.{{Sfn|Horne|1964|p=22}} He also considered Dutch neutrality essential for German trade and cancelled the incursion into the Netherlands, which meant any delays in Belgium threatened the viability of the plan.{{Sfn|Stevenson|2004|p=23}} Historian [[Richard Holmes (military historian)|Richard Holmes]] argues that these changes meant the right wing was not strong enough to achieve decisive success.{{sfn|Holmes|2014 |pp=194, 211}}
In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed at [[Salonica]] in Greece, to offer assistance and to pressure the government to declare war against the Central Powers. Unfortunately for the Allies, the pro-German [[Constantine I of Greece|King Constantine I]] dismissed the pro-Allied government of [[Eleftherios Venizelos]], before the Allied expeditionary force could arrive.<ref>{{harvnb|Neiberg|2005|pp=108–10}}</ref> The friction between the king of Greece and the Allies continued to accumulate with the [[National Schism]], which effectively divided Greece between regions still loyal to the king and the new provisional government of Venizelos in Salonica. After intensive diplomatic negotiations and an armed confrontation in [[Athens]] between Allied and royalist forces (an incident known as [[Noemvriana]]) the king of Greece resigned, and his second son [[Alexander of Greece|Alexander]] took his place. Venizelos returned to Athens on 29 May 1917 and Greece, now unified, officially joined the war on the side of the Allies. The entire Greek army was mobilized and began to participate in military operations against the [[Central Powers]] on the Macedonian front.
[[File:Bulgaria southern front.jpg|thumb|Bulgarian soldiers in a trench, preparing to fire against an incoming airplane]]
After conquest, Serbia was divided between Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria. In 1917 the Serbs launched the [[Toplica (river)#Toplica rebellion|Toplica Uprising]] and liberated for a short time the area between the [[Kopaonik]] mountains and the [[South Morava]] river. The uprising was crushed by joint efforts of Bulgarian and Austrian forces at the end of March 1917.


[[File:Georges Scott, A la baïonnette !.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.0|French bayonet charge during the [[Battle of the Frontiers]]; by the end of August, French casualties exceeded 260,000, including 75,000 dead.]]
The Macedonian Front was mostly static. French and Serbian forces retook limited areas of Macedonia by recapturing [[Bitola]] on 19 November 1916 as a result of the costly [[Monastir Offensive]] which brought stabilization of the front. Only at the end of the conflict did the Entente powers break through, after most of the German and Austro-Hungarian troops had withdrawn. The Bulgarians suffered their only defeat of the war at the [[Battle of Dobro Pole]] but days later, they decisively defeated British and Greek forces at the [[Battle of Doiran]], avoiding occupation. Bulgaria signed an armistice on 29 September 1918.<ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|Wood|Murphy|1999|p=120}}</ref> Hindenburg and Ludendorff concluded that the strategic and operational balance had now shifted decidedly against the [[Central Powers]] and a day after the Bulgarian collapse, during a meeting with government officials, insisted on an immediate peace settlement.<ref name=Doughty>{{Citation|url=http://books.google.com/?id=vZRmHkdGk44C&pg=PA247&dq=vardar+offensive#v=onepage&q=vardar%20offensive&f=false |title=Pyrrhic victory: French strategy and operations in the Great War|first=Robert A. Doughty|publisher=Harvard University Press, 2005; |page=491|accessdate=2010-10-03|isbn=9780674018808|year=2005}}</ref>


The initial German advance in the West was very successful. By the end of August, the Allied left, which included the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War I)|British Expeditionary Force]] (BEF), was in [[Great Retreat|full retreat]], and the French offensive in Alsace-Lorraine was a disastrous failure, with casualties exceeding 260,000.{{sfn|Stevenson|2012|p=54}} German planning provided broad strategic instructions while allowing army commanders considerable freedom in carrying them out at the front, but [[Alexander von Kluck|von Kluck]] used this freedom to disobey orders, opening a gap between the German armies as they closed on Paris.{{Sfn|Jackson|2018|p=55}} The French army, reinforced by the British expeditionary corps, seized this opportunity to counter-attack and pushed the German army 40 to 80&nbsp;km back. Both armies were then so exhausted that no decisive move could be implemented, so they settled in trenches, with the vain hope of breaking through as soon as they could build local superiority.
The disappearance of the [[Macedonian front]] meant that the road to [[Budapest]] and [[Vienna]] was now opened for the 670,000-strong army of general [[Franchet d'Esperey]] as the Bulgarian surrender deprived the [[Central Powers]] of the 278 infantry battalions and 1,500 guns (the equivalent of some 25 to 30 German divisions) that were previously holding the line.<ref name=militera/> The German high command responded by sending only seven infantry and one cavalry division but these forces were far from enough for a front to be reestablished.<ref name=militera>{{cite web|url=http://militera.lib.ru/h/korsun_ng4/06.html |title=The Balkan Front of the World War (in Russian)|first=N.Korsun|publisher=militera.lib.ru|accessdate=2010-09-27}}</ref>


In 1911, the Russian [[Stavka]] agreed with the French to attack Germany within fifteen days of mobilisation, ten days before the Germans had anticipated, although it meant the two Russian armies that entered [[East Prussia]] on 17 August did so without many of their support elements.{{Sfn |Lieven|2016|p=327}}
====Ottoman Empire====
{{Main|Middle Eastern theatre of World War I}}
The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in the war, the secret [[Ottoman-German Alliance]] having been signed in August 1914.<ref>[http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/turkgerm.asp The Treaty of Alliance Between Germany and Turkey] 2 August 1914, Yale University</ref> It threatened Russia's [[Caucasus|Caucasian]] territories and Britain's communications with India via the [[Suez Canal]]. The British and French opened overseas fronts with the [[Gallipoli Campaign|Gallipoli]] (1915) and [[Mesopotamian campaign]]s. In Gallipoli, the Ottoman Empire successfully repelled the British, French, and [[Australian and New Zealand Army Corps]] (ANZACs). In Mesopotamia, by contrast, after the disastrous [[Siege of Kut]] (1915–16), British Imperial forces reorganised and captured [[Baghdad]] in March 1917.


By the end of 1914, German troops held strong defensive positions inside France, controlled the bulk of France's domestic coalfields, and inflicted 230,000 more casualties than it lost itself. However, communications problems and questionable command decisions cost Germany the chance of a decisive outcome, while it had failed to achieve the primary objective of avoiding a long, two-front war.{{sfn|Tucker|Roberts|2005|pp=376–378}} As was apparent to several German leaders, this amounted to a strategic defeat; shortly after the [[First Battle of the Marne]], [[Wilhelm, German Crown Prince|Crown Prince Wilhelm]] told an American reporter "We have lost the war. It will go on for a long time but lost it is already."{{Sfn|Horne|1964|p=221}}
[[File:Capture of Jerusalem 1917d.jpg|thumb|alt=Foreground, a battery of 16 heavy guns. Background, conical tents and support vehicles.|A British artillery battery emplaced on [[Mount Scopus]] in the [[Battle of Jerusalem (1917)|Battle of Jerusalem]].]]
Further to the west, the [[Suez Canal]] was successfully defended from Ottoman attacks in 1915 and 1916; in August a joint [[German Empire|German]] and [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] force was defeated at the [[Battle of Romani]]. Following this victory, a [[British Empire]] force advanced across the [[Sinai Peninsula]], pushing Ottoman forces back in the [[Battle of Magdhaba]] in December and the [[Battle of Rafa]] on the border between the [[Egypt]]ian [[Sinai]] and Ottoman [[Palestine]] in January 1917. In March and April at the [[First Battle of Gaza|First]] and [[Second Battle of Gaza|Second Battles of Gaza]], German and Ottoman forces stopped the advance, but at the end of October the [[Sinai and Palestine Campaign]] resumed, when [[Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby|Allenby]]'s [[Egyptian Expeditionary Force]] won the [[Battle of Beersheba (1917)|Battle of Beersheba]]. Two Ottoman armies were defeated a few weeks later at the [[Battle of Mughar Ridge]], and early in December [[Jerusalem]] was captured following another Ottoman defeat at the [[Battle of Jerusalem (1917)]]. About this time [[Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein]] was relieved of his duties as the Eighth Army's commander, replaced by [[Cevat Çobanlı|Djevad Pasha]], and a few months later the commander of the [[Ottoman Army]] in Palestine, [[Erich von Falkenhayn]], was replaced by [[Otto Liman von Sanders]].


==== Asia and the Pacific ====
The Egyptian Expeditionary Force, under Field Marshal [[Edmund Allenby]], broke the Ottoman forces at the [[Battle of Megiddo (1918)|Battle of Megiddo]] in September 1918. In six weeks, during virtually continuous operations, battles were successfully fought by British infantry and Australian, New Zealand, and British [[Light Horse]], [[Mounted Riflemen|Mounted Rifle]] and [[Yeomanry]] mounted brigades. They campaigned across the [[Jordan River]] to [[Amman]] in the east and northwards to capture [[Nablus]] and [[Tulkarm]] in the [[Judean Hills]], and followed the Mediterranean coast into the [[Jezreel Valley]] (Esdraelon Plain), where [[Jenin]] and [[Nazareth]] were captured, along with [[Daraa]] on the Hejaz railway, Semakh and [[Tiberias]] on the [[Sea of Gallilee]], and finally [[Damascus]] and [[Aleppo]]. The [[Armistice of Mudros]] was signed on 30 October, when two and a half Ottoman armies had been defeated and captured.
{{Main|Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I}}
[[File:Siege of Tsingtao, soldiers of IJA 18th division took over german trench Kopie.jpg|thumb|right|Japanese soldiers occupy an abandoned German trench during the [[Siege of Tsingtao]], 1914]]


On 30 August 1914, New Zealand [[Occupation of German Samoa|occupied German Samoa]] (now [[Samoa]]). On 11 September, the [[Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force]] landed on the island of [[New Britain]], then part of [[German New Guinea]]. On 28 October, the German cruiser {{SMS |Emden}} sank the [[Russian cruiser Zhemchug|Russian cruiser ''Zhemchug'']] in the [[Battle of Penang]]. Japan declared war on Germany before seizing territories in the Pacific, which later became the [[South Seas Mandate]], as well as German [[Treaty ports]] on the Chinese [[Shandong]] peninsula at [[Siege of Tsingtao|Tsingtao]]. After Vienna refused to withdraw its cruiser {{SMS |Kaiserin Elisabeth}} from Tsingtao, Japan declared war on Austria-Hungary, and the ship was sunk in November 1914.{{Sfn|Donko|2012|p=79}} Within a few months, Allied forces had seized all German territories in the Pacific, leaving only isolated commerce raiders and a few holdouts in New Guinea.{{sfn |Keegan |1998 |pp=224–232}}{{sfn |Falls |1960 |pp=79–80}}
[[File:Sarikam.jpg|thumb|Russian forest trench at the Battle of Sarikamish]]
Russian armies generally had the best of it in the Caucasus. [[Enver Pasha]], supreme commander of the Ottoman armed forces, was ambitious and dreamed of re-conquering central Asia and areas that had been lost to Russia previously. He was, however, a poor commander.<ref name="isbn0-8050-6884-8">{{harvnb|Fromkin|2001|p=119}}</ref> He launched an offensive against the Russians in the Caucasus in December 1914 with 100,000 troops; insisting on a frontal attack against mountainous Russian positions in winter, he lost 86% of his force at the [[Battle of Sarikamish]].<ref name=caven>{{harvnb|Hinterhoff|1984|pp=499–503}}</ref>


==== African campaigns ====
General [[Nikolai Yudenich|Yudenich]], the Russian commander from 1915 to 1916, drove the Turks out of most of the southern Caucasus with a string of victories.<ref name=caven /> In 1917, Russian [[Grand Duke Nicholas]] assumed command of the Caucasus front. Nicholas planned a railway from [[Georgia (country)|Russian Georgia]] to the conquered territories, so that fresh supplies could be brought up for a new offensive in 1917. However, in March 1917 (February in the pre-revolutionary Russian calendar), the Czar was overthrown in the [[February Revolution]] and the [[Russian Caucasus Army (World War I)|Russian Caucasus Army]] began to fall apart.
{{Main|African theatre of World War I}}


Some of the first clashes of the war involved British, French, and German colonial forces in Africa. On 6–7 August, French and British troops invaded the German protectorates of [[Togoland]] and [[Kamerun]]. On 10 August, German forces in [[German South West Africa|South-West Africa]] attacked South Africa; sporadic and fierce fighting continued for the rest of the war. The German colonial forces in [[German East Africa]], led by Colonel [[Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck]], fought a [[guerrilla warfare]] campaign and only surrendered two weeks after the armistice took effect in Europe.{{sfn |Farwell |1989 |p=353}}
[[Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1977-101-36, Deutsche Soldaten in Jerusalem.jpg|thumb|left|German soldiers in [[Jerusalem]]]]


==== Indian support for the Allies ====
Instigated by the Arab bureau of the British [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office]], the [[Arab Revolt]] started with the help of Britain in June 1916 at the [[Battle of Mecca 1916|Battle of Mecca]], led by [[Sherif Hussein]] of [[Mecca]], and ended with the Ottoman surrender of Damascus. [[Fakhri Pasha]], the Ottoman commander of [[Medina]], resisted for more than two and half years during the [[Siege of Medina]].<ref>{{harvnb|Sachar|pp=122–138}}</ref>
{{Main|Indian Army during World War I}}
{{Further|Hindu–German Conspiracy|Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition|Third Anglo-Afghan War}}
[[File:Indian forces on their way to the Front in Flanders - first world war 2.jpg|thumb|right|[[British Indian Army]] infantry divisions in France; these troops were withdrawn in December 1915, and served in the [[Mesopotamian campaign]].]]


Before the war, Germany had attempted to use Indian nationalism and pan-Islamism to its advantage, a policy continued post-1914 by [[Hindu–German Conspiracy|instigating uprisings in India]], while the [[Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition]] urged Afghanistan to join the war on the side of Central Powers. However, contrary to British fears of a revolt in India, the outbreak of the war saw a reduction in nationalist activity.{{sfn |Brown |1994 |pp=197–198}}{{sfn |Brown |1994 |pp=201–203}} Leaders from the [[Indian National Congress]] and other groups believed support for the British war effort would hasten [[Indian Home Rule movement|Indian Home Rule]], a promise allegedly made explicit in 1917 by [[Edwin Montagu]], the [[Secretary of State for India]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kant |first1=Vedica |title=India and WWI: Piecing together the impact of the Great War on the subcontinent |url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2014/09/24/piecing-together-the-impact-of-the-great-war-on-india/ |website=LSE |date=24 September 2014 |access-date=28 September 2022 |archive-date=28 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928184956/https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2014/09/24/piecing-together-the-impact-of-the-great-war-on-india/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Along the border of Italian Libya and British Egypt, the [[Senussi]] tribe, incited and armed by the Turks, waged a small-scale guerrilla war against Allied troops. The British were forced to dispatch 12,000 troops to oppose them in the [[Senussi Campaign]]. Their rebellion was finally crushed in mid-1916.<ref>{{harvnb|Gilbert|1994}}</ref>


In 1914, the [[British Indian Army]] was larger than the British Army itself, and between 1914 and 1918 an estimated 1.3&nbsp;million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In all, 140,000&nbsp;soldiers served on the Western Front and nearly 700,000 in the Middle East, with 47,746 killed and 65,126 wounded.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mgtrust.org/ind1.htm |title=Participants from the Indian subcontinent in the First World War |publisher=Memorial Gates Trust |access-date=12 December 2008 |archive-date=1 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701062212/http://www.mgtrust.org/ind1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The suffering engendered by the war, as well as the failure of the British government to grant self-government to India afterward, bred disillusionment, resulting in [[Indian independence movement|the campaign for full independence]] led by [[Mahatma Gandhi]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Horniman |first=Benjamin Guy | author-link = B. G. Horniman |title=British administration and the Amritsar massacre |publisher=Mittal Publications |date=1984 |page=45}}</ref>
====Italian participation====
{{Main|Italian Campaign (World War I)}}
{{See|Battles of the Isonzo}}
[[File:Austro-Hungarian mountain corps.jpg|thumb|upright|Austro-Hungarian mountain corps in Tyrol]]
Italy had been allied with the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires since 1882 as part of the [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]]. However, the nation had its own designs on Austrian territory in [[Trentino]], [[Istria]], and [[Dalmatia]]. Rome had a secret 1902 pact with France, effectively nullifying its alliance.<ref>{{harvnb|Page}}</ref> At the start of hostilities, Italy refused to commit troops, arguing that the Triple Alliance was defensive and that Austria–Hungary was an aggressor. The Austro-Hungarian government began negotiations to secure Italian neutrality, offering the French colony of [[Tunisia]] in return. The Allies made a counter-offer in which Italy would receive the [[Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol|Southern Tyrol]], [[Julian March]] and territory on the [[Dalmatia]]n coast after the defeat of Austria-Hungary. This was formalised by the [[Treaty of London (1915)|Treaty of London]]. Further encouraged by the Allied invasion of Turkey in April 1915, Italy joined the Triple Entente and declared war on Austria-Hungary on 23 May. Fifteen months later Italy declared war on Germany.


=== Western Front ===
Militarily, the Italians had numerical superiority. This advantage, however, was lost, not only because of the difficult terrain in which fighting took place, but also because of the strategies and tactics employed. [[Field Marshal]] [[Luigi Cadorna]], a staunch proponent of the frontal assault, had dreams of breaking into the Slovenian plateau, taking [[Ljubljana]] and threatening [[Vienna]]. Cadorna's plan did not take into account the difficulties of the rugged Alpine terrain, or the technological changes that created [[trench warfare]], giving rise to a series of bloody and inconclusive stalemated offensives.
{{Main|Western Front (World War I)}}
[[File:Kämpfe auf dem Doberdo.JPG|210px|left|thumb|Depiction of the [[Battle of Doberdò]], fought in August 1916 between the Italian and Austro-Hungarian army.]]
On the Trentino front, the Austro-Hungarians took advantage of the mountainous terrain, which favoured the defender. After an initial strategic retreat, the front remained largely unchanged, while Austrian [[Kaiserschützen]] and [[:de:Standschützen|Standschützen]] engaged Italian [[Alpini]] in bitter hand-to-hand combat throughout the summer. The Austro-Hungarians counterattacked in the [[Asiago|Altopiano of Asiago]], towards Verona and Padua, in the spring of 1916 (''[[Battle of Asiago|Strafexpedition]]''), but made little progress.


==== Trench warfare begins ====
Beginning in 1915, the Italians under Cadorna mounted eleven offensives on the [[Soča|Isonzo front]] along the [[Soča|Isonzo River]], northeast of [[Trieste]]. All eleven offensives were repelled by the Austro-Hungarians, who held the higher ground. In the summer of 1916, the Italians captured the town of [[Gorizia]]. After this minor victory, the front remained static for over a year, despite several Italian offensives. In the autumn of 1917, thanks to the improving situation on the Eastern front, the Austro-Hungarian troops received large numbers of reinforcements, including German [[Stormtrooper]]s and the elite [[Alpenkorps (German Empire)|Alpenkorps]]. The Central Powers launched a crushing offensive on 26 October 1917, spearheaded by the Germans. They achieved a victory at [[Battle of Caporetto|Caporetto]]. The Italian Army was routed and retreated more than {{convert|100|km|mi}} to reorganise, stabilising the front at the [[Battle of the Piave River|Piave River]]. Since in the Battle of Caporetto the Italian Army had heavy losses, the Italian Government called to arms the so-called '''99 Boys'' (''Ragazzi del '99''): that is, all males who were 18 years old. In 1918, the Austro-Hungarians failed to break through, in a series of battles on the [[Battle of the Piave River|Piave River]], and were finally decisively defeated in the [[Battle of Vittorio Veneto]] in October of that year. Austria-Hungary surrendered in early November 1918.<ref>{{harvnb|Hickey|2003|pp=60–65}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|2005|pp=585–9}}</ref>
[[File:Indian infantry digging trenches Fauquissart, France (Photo 24-299).jpg|thumb|[[Indian Army during World War I|British Indian soldiers]] digging trenches in [[Laventie]], France, 1915]]
Pre-war military tactics that had emphasised open warfare and individual riflemen proved obsolete when confronted with conditions prevailing in 1914. Technological advances allowed the creation of strong defensive systems largely impervious to massed infantry advances, such as [[barbed wire]], machine guns and above all far more powerful [[artillery]], which dominated the battlefield and made crossing open ground extremely difficult.{{sfn|Raudzens|1990|p=424}} Both sides struggled to develop tactics for breaching entrenched positions without heavy casualties. In time, technology enabled the production of new offensive weapons, such as [[Chemical weapons in World War I|gas warfare]] and the [[Tanks in World War I|tank]].{{sfn |Raudzens |1990 |pp=421–423}}


After the [[First Battle of the Marne]] in September 1914, Allied and German forces unsuccessfully tried to outflank each other, a series of manoeuvres later known as the "[[Race to the Sea]]". By the end of 1914, the opposing forces confronted each other along an uninterrupted line of entrenched positions from the [[English Channel|Channel]] to the Swiss border.{{Sfn|Gilbert|1994|p=99}} Since the Germans were normally able to choose where to stand, they generally held the high ground, while their trenches tended to be better built; those constructed by the French and English were initially considered "temporary", only needed until an offensive would destroy the German defences.{{sfn|Goodspeed|1985|p=199}} Both sides tried to break the stalemate using scientific and technological advances. On 22 April 1915, at the [[Second Battle of Ypres]], the Germans (violating the [[Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907|Hague Convention]]) used [[chlorine]] gas for the first time on the Western Front. Several types of gas soon became widely used by both sides and though it never proved a decisive, battle-winning weapon, it became one of the most feared and best-remembered horrors of the war.<ref>{{cite web |first=Michael |last=Duffy |url=http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/gas.htm |title=Weapons of War: Poison Gas |publisher=Firstworldwar.com |date=22 August 2009 |access-date=5 July 2012 |archive-date=21 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821004525/http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/gas.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn |Love |1996}}
====Romanian participation====
{{Main|Romania during World War I}}
[[Image:Marshal Joffre inspecting Romanian troops during WWI.jpg|thumb|Marshal [[Joffre]] inspecting Romanian troops]]
[[Romania]] had been allied with the Central Powers since 1882. When the war began, however, it declared its neutrality, arguing that because Austria-Hungary had itself declared war on Serbia, Romania was under no obligation to join the war. When the Entente Powers promised Romania large territories of eastern Hungary ([[Transylvania]] and [[Banat]]) that had a large Romanian population in exchange for Romania’s declaring war on the Central Powers, the Romanian government renounced its neutrality, and on 27 August 1916 the Romanian Army [[Battle of Transylvania|launched an attack]] against Austria-Hungary, with limited Russian support. The Romanian offensive was initially successful, pushing back the Austro-Hungarian troops in Transylvania, but a counterattack by the forces of the [[Central Powers]] drove back the Russo-Romanian forces. As a result of the [[Battle of Bucharest]] the Central Powers occupied Bucharest on 6 December 1916. Fighting in Moldova [[Romanian Campaign#Stabilization and stalemate (1917)|continued in 1917]], resulting in a costly stalemate for the Central Powers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldwar2.ro/primulrazboi/?language=en&article=116 |title=The Battle of Marasti (July 1917) |publisher=WorldWar2.ro |date=1917-07-22 |accessdate=2011-05-08}}</ref><ref>Cyril Falls, ''The Great War'', p. 285</ref> Russian withdrawal from the war in late 1917 as a result of the [[October Revolution]] meant that Romania was forced to sign an armistice with the Central Powers on 9 December 1917.


==== Continuation of trench warfare ====
In January 1918, Romanian forces established control over [[Bessarabia]] as the Russian Army abandoned the province. Although a treaty was signed by the Romanian and the [[Bolshevik]] Russian government following talks from 5–9 March 1918 on the withdrawal of Romanian forces from Bessarabia within two months, on 27 March 1918 Romania attached Bessarabia to its territory, formally based on a resolution passed by the local assembly of the territory on the unification with Romania.
[[File:The Battle of the Somme, July-november 1916 Q4218.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.0|German casualties at the Somme, 1916]]


In February 1916, the Germans attacked French defensive positions at the [[Battle of Verdun]], lasting until December 1916. Casualties were greater for the French, but the Germans bled heavily as well, with anywhere from 700,000{{sfn |Dupuy |1993 |p=1042}} to 975,000{{sfn |Grant |2005 |p=276}} casualties between the two combatants. Verdun became a symbol of French determination and self-sacrifice.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/verdun-myths-and-memories-of-the-lost-villages-of-france-5335493.html |title=Verdun: myths and memories of the 'lost villages' of France |last=Lichfield |first=John |date=21 February 2006 |work=The Independent |access-date=23 July 2013 |archive-date=22 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171022235418/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/verdun-myths-and-memories-of-the-lost-villages-of-france-5335493.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
Romania officially made peace with the Central Powers by signing the [[Treaty of Bucharest (1918)|Treaty of Bucharest]] on 7 May 1918. Under that treaty, Romania was obliged to end war with the Central Powers and make small territorial concessions to Austria-Hungary, ceding control of some passes in the [[Carpathian Mountains]], and grant oil concessions to Germany. In exchange, the Central Powers recognised the sovereignty of Romania over [[Bessarabia]]. The treaty was renounced in October 1918 by the [[Alexandru Marghiloman]] government, and Romania nominally re-entered the war on 10 November 1918. The next day, the Treaty of Bucharest was nullified by the terms of the Armistice of [[Compiègne]].<ref>{{citation| last=Béla| first=Köpeczi| title=Erdély története| publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó| url=http://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02109/html/571.html}}</ref><ref>{{citation| last=Béla| first=Köpeczi| title=History of Transylvania| publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó| url=http://mek.niif.hu/03400/03407/html/429.html| isbn=848371020X}}</ref> Total Romanian deaths from 1914 to 1918, military and civilian, within contemporary borders, were estimated at 748,000.<ref>{{Citation
|title=Poteri narodonaseleniia v XX veke : spravochnik
|last=Erlikman
|first=Vadim
|coauthors=
|year= 2004
|publisher=
|location= Moscow
|isbn= 5-93165-107-1
}}</ref>


The [[Battle of the Somme]] was an Anglo-French offensive from July to November 1916. The [[first day on the Somme|opening day]] on 1 July 1916 was the bloodiest single day in the history of the [[British Army]], which suffered 57,500 casualties, including 19,200 dead. As a whole, the Somme offensive led to an estimated 420,000 British casualties, along with 200,000 French and 500,000 Germans.{{sfn |Harris |2008 |p=271}} The diseases that emerged in the trenches were a major killer on both sides. The living conditions led to disease and infection, such as [[trench foot]], [[louse|lice]], [[typhus]], [[trench fever]], and the '[[Spanish flu]]'.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chorba |first1=Terence |title=Trench Conflict with Combatants and Infectious Disease |journal=Emerging Infectious Diseases |url=https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2411.AC2411 |publisher=CDC |access-date=29 February 2024 |pages=2136–2137 |language=en-us |doi=10.3201/eid2411.ac2411 |date=November 2018 |volume=24 |issue=11 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610092106/https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/24/11/AC-2411_article |url-status=live |issn=1080-6040 }}</ref>
====The role of India====
{{Further|[[Third Anglo-Afghan War]]|[[Hindu-German Conspiracy]]}}
Contrary to British fears of a revolt in India, the outbreak of the war saw an unprecedented outpouring of loyalty and good will towards the United Kingdom<ref>{{harvnb|Brown|1994|pp=197–198}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Brown|1994|pp=201–203}}</ref>. Indian political leaders from the [[Indian National Congress]] and other groups were eager to support the British war effort since they believed that strong support for the war effort would further the cause of [[Indian Home Rule Movement|Indian Home Rule]]. The [[British Indian Army|Indian Army]] in fact outnumbered the British Army at the beginning of the war; about 1.3&nbsp;million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, while both the central government and the [[princely states]] sent large supplies of food, money, and ammunition. In all, 140,000&nbsp;men served on the Western Front and nearly 700,000 in the Middle East. Casualties of Indian soldiers totalled 47,746 killed and 65,126 wounded during World War I.<ref>{{citation| url=http://www.mgtrust.org/ind1.htm| title=Participants from the Indian subcontinent in the First World War| publisher=Memorial Gates Trust| accessdate=2008-12-12}}</ref>
The suffering engendered by the war as well as the failure of the British government to grant self-government to India after the end of hostilities bred disillusionment and fuelled [[Indian independence movement|the campaign for full independence]] that would be led by [[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi]] and others.
[[File:Russian Troops NGM-v31-p379.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Russian troops awaiting a German attack]]


===Eastern Front===
=== Naval war ===
{{Main|Naval warfare of World War I}}
====Initial actions====
[[File:Hochseeflotte 2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|Battleships of the [[High Seas Fleet|''Hochseeflotte'']], 1917]]
{{Main|Eastern Front (World War I)}}
While the Western Front had reached stalemate, the war continued in East Europe. Initial Russian plans called for simultaneous invasions of Austrian [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Galicia]] and German East Prussia. Although Russia's initial advance into Galicia was largely successful, it was driven back from East Prussia by [[Paul von Hindenburg|Hindenburg]] and [[Erich Ludendorff|Ludendorff]] at [[Battle of Tannenberg (1914)|Tannenberg]] and the [[First Battle of the Masurian Lakes|Masurian Lakes]] in August and September 1914.<ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|2005|p=715}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Meyer|2006|pp=152–4, 161, 163, 175, 182}}</ref> Russia's less developed industrial base and ineffective military leadership was instrumental in the events that unfolded. By the spring of 1915, the Russians had retreated into Galicia, and in May the Central Powers achieved a remarkable breakthrough on Poland's southern frontiers.<ref name="Smele">{{harvnb|Smele}}</ref> On 5 August they captured [[Warsaw]] and forced the Russians to withdraw from Poland.


At the start of the war, German [[cruiser]]s were scattered across the globe, some of which were subsequently used to attack Allied [[merchant shipping]]. These were systematically hunted down by the Royal Navy, though not before causing considerable damage. One of the most successful was the {{SMS|Emden}}, part of the German [[East Asia Squadron]] stationed at [[Qingdao]], which seized or sank 15 merchantmen, a Russian cruiser and a French destroyer. Most of the squadron was returning to Germany when it sank two British armoured cruisers at the [[Battle of Coronel]] in November 1914, before being virtually destroyed at the [[Battle of the Falkland Islands]] in December. The [[SMS Dresden (1907)|SMS ''Dresden'']] escaped with a few auxiliaries, but after the [[Battle of Más a Tierra]], these too were either destroyed or interned.{{sfn |Taylor |2007 |pp=39–47}}
====Russian Revolution====
{{Main|Russian Revolution (1917)}}
{{See|North Russia Campaign}}
[[File:Lenin.WWI.JPG|thumb|upright|alt=A man in a business suit holds up his right hand with palm open.|[[Vladimir Lenin|Vladimir Illyich Lenin]]]]
Despite the success of the June 1916 [[Brusilov Offensive]] in eastern [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Galicia]],<ref>{{harvnb|Schindler|2003}}</ref> dissatisfaction with the Russian government's conduct of the war grew. The offensive's success was undermined by the reluctance of other generals to commit their forces to support the victory. Allied and Russian forces were revived only temporarily by [[Romania]]'s entry into the war on 27 August. German forces came to the aid of embattled Austro-Hungarian units in [[Transylvania]], and [[Bucharest]] fell to the Central Powers on 6 December. Meanwhile, unrest grew in Russia, as the [[Nicholas II of Russia|Tsar]] remained at the front. [[Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse)|Empress Alexandra's]] increasingly incompetent rule drew protests and resulted in the murder of her favourite, [[Grigori Rasputin|Rasputin]], at the end of 1916.


Soon after the outbreak of hostilities, Britain began a naval [[Blockade of Germany (1914–1919)|blockade of Germany]]. This proved effective in cutting off vital supplies, though it violated accepted international law.{{sfn|Keene |2006 |p=5}} Britain also mined international waters which closed off entire sections of the ocean, even to neutral ships.{{sfn|Halpern |1995 |p=293}} Since there was limited response to this tactic, Germany expected a similar response to its unrestricted submarine warfare.{{sfn|Zieger |2001 |p=50}}
In March 1917, demonstrations in [[Saint Petersburg|Petrograd]] culminated in the abdication of [[Nicholas II of Russia|Tsar Nicholas II]] and the appointment of a weak [[Russian Provisional Government|Provisional Government]] which shared power with the [[Petrograd Soviet]] socialists. This arrangement led to confusion and chaos both at the front and at home. The army became increasingly ineffective.<ref name="Smele" />
[[File:Russian cavalry.jpg|thumb|left|Russian [[Cossacks]] on the front, 1915]]
[[File:Brest-litovsk treaty.jpg|thumb|Signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (February 9, 1918) are: 1. [[Count Ottokar von Czernin]], 2. [[Richard von Kühlmann]], and 3. [[Vasil Radoslavov]]|alt=Three formally attired men at a conference table sign documents while 32 others look on.]]
Discontent and the weaknesses of the Provisional Government led to a rise in popularity of the [[Bolshevik]] Party, led by [[Vladimir Lenin]], which demanded an immediate end to the war. The [[October Revolution|successful armed uprising by the Bolsheviks]] of November was followed in December by an armistice and negotiations with Germany. At first the Bolsheviks refused the German terms, but when German troops began marching across the [[Ukraine]] unopposed, the new government acceded to the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] on 3 March 1918. The treaty ceded vast territories, including Finland, the [[Baltic states|Baltic provinces]], parts of Poland and [[Ukraine]] to the Central Powers.<ref>{{harvnb|Wheeler-Bennett|1956}}</ref> Despite this enormous apparent German success, the manpower required for German occupation of former Russian territory may have contributed to the failure of the Spring Offensive and secured relatively little food or other [[materiel]].


The [[Battle of Jutland]]{{efn|German: ''Skagerrakschlacht'', or "Battle of the [[Skagerrak]]"}} in May/June 1916 was the only full-scale clash of battleships during the war, and one of the largest in history. The clash was indecisive, though the Germans inflicted more damage than they received; thereafter the bulk of the German [[High Seas Fleet]] was confined to port.<ref>{{cite journal |author= Jeremy Black | author-link = Jeremy Black (historian) |title=Jutland's Place in History |journal=Naval History |date=June 2016 |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=16–21}}</ref>
With the adoption of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Entente no longer existed. The Allied powers led [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|a small-scale invasion]] of Russia, partly to stop Germany from exploiting Russian resources and, to a lesser extent, to support the "Whites" (as opposed to the "Reds") in the [[Russian Civil War]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Mawdsley|2008|pp=54–55}}</ref> Allied troops landed in [[Arkhangelsk]] and in [[Vladivostok]].


[[File:NationaalArchief uboat155London.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|[[German submarine Deutschland|''U-155'']] exhibited near Tower Bridge in London, after the 1918 Armistice|left]]
===Central Powers proposal for starting peace negotiations===
German [[U-boat]]s attempted to cut the supply lines between North America and Britain.<ref name="Sheffield">{{cite web |last=Sheffield |first=Garry | author-link = Gary Sheffield (historian) |title=The First Battle of the Atlantic |website=World Wars in Depth |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/battle_atlantic_ww1_01.shtml |publisher=BBC |access-date=11 November 2009 |archive-date=3 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603135501/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/battle_atlantic_ww1_01.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> The nature of [[submarine warfare]] meant that attacks often came without warning, giving the crews of the merchant ships little hope of survival.<ref name="Sheffield" />{{sfn|Gilbert |1994 |p=306}} The United States launched a protest, and Germany changed its rules of engagement. After [[Sinking of the RMS Lusitania|the sinking]] of the passenger ship [[RMS Lusitania|RMS ''Lusitania'']] in 1915, Germany promised not to target passenger liners, while Britain armed its merchant ships, placing them beyond the protection of the "[[Prize (law)|cruiser rules]]", which demanded warning and movement of crews to "a place of safety" (a standard that lifeboats did not meet).{{sfn |von der Porten |1969}} Finally, in early 1917, Germany adopted a policy of [[unrestricted submarine warfare]], realising the Americans would eventually enter the war.<ref name="Sheffield" />{{sfn|Jones |2001 |p=80}} Germany sought to strangle Allied [[sea lane]]s before the United States could transport a large army overseas, but, after initial successes, eventually failed to do so.<ref name="Sheffield" />
[[File:Franz Stassen - WWI - An das deutsche Volk.png|thumb|1917 German poster: [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor||Wilhelm II]] blames the Allies for fighting on.]]


The U-boat threat lessened in 1917, when merchant ships began travelling in [[Convoys in World War I|convoys]], escorted by [[destroyer]]s. This tactic made it difficult for U-boats to find targets, which significantly lessened losses; after the [[hydrophone]] and [[depth charge]]s were introduced, destroyers could potentially successfully attack a submerged submarine. Convoys slowed the flow of supplies since ships had to wait as convoys were assembled; the solution was an extensive program of building new freighters. Troopships were too fast for the submarines and did not travel the North Atlantic in convoys.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nslegislature.ca/index.php/committees/committee_hansard/C11/va_2006nov09 |title=Committee Hansard |date=9 November 2006 |author=((Nova Scotia House of Assembly Committee on Veterans Affairs)) |access-date=12 March 2013 |website=Hansard |archive-date=23 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123113612/http://nslegislature.ca/index.php/committees/committee_hansard/C11/va_2006nov09 |url-status=live }}</ref> The U-boats sunk more than 5,000 Allied ships, at the cost of 199 submarines.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Roger |last1=Chickering |author1-link=Roger Chickering |first2=Stig |last2=Förster |first3=Bernd |last3=Greiner |series=Publications of the German Historical Institute |location=Washington, DC |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=evVPoSwqrG4C&pg=PA73 |title=A world at total war: global conflict and the politics of destruction, 1937–1945 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-83432-2 |access-date=12 November 2018 |archive-date=17 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240217083931/https://books.google.com/books?id=evVPoSwqrG4C&pg=PA73#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>
In December 1916, after ten brutal months of the [[Battle of Verdun]] and a [[Romanian Campaign (World War I)#The counteroffensive of the Central Powers (September–December 1916)|successful offensive against Romania]], the Germans attempted to negotiate a peace with the Allies. Soon after, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson attempted to intervene as a peacemaker, asking in a note for both sides to state their demands. Lloyd George's War Cabinet considered the German offer to be a ploy to create divisions amongst the Allies. After initial outrage and much deliberation, they took Wilson's note as a separate effort, signalling that the U.S. was on the verge of entering the war against Germany following the "submarine outrages". While the Allies debated a response to Wilson's offer, the Germans chose to rebuff it in favour of "a direct exchange of views". Learning of the German response, the Allied governments were free to make clear demands in their response of 14 January. They sought restoration of damages, the evacuation of occupied territories, reparations for France, Russia and Romania, and a recognition of the principle of nationalities. This included the liberation of Italians, Slavs, Romanians, Czecho-Slovaks, and the creation of a "free and united Poland". On the question of security, the Allies sought guarantees that would prevent or limit future wars, complete with sanctions, as a condition of any peace settlement.<ref>{{harvnb|Kernek|1970|pp=721–766}}</ref> The negotiations failed and the Entente powers rejected the German offer, because Germany did not state any specific proposals. To Wilson, the Entente powers stated that they would not start peace negotiations until the Central powers evacuated all occupied Allied territories and provided indemnities for all damage which had been done.<ref>Stracham (1998), p. 61</ref>


World War I also saw the first use of [[aircraft carrier]]s in combat, with {{HMS |Furious |47 |6}} launching [[Sopwith Camel]]s in a successful raid against the [[Zeppelin]] hangars at [[Tondern raid|Tondern]] in July 1918, as well as [[blimp]]s for antisubmarine patrol.<ref name="price1980">{{harvnb |Price |1980}}</ref>
===1917–1918===
[[File:General gouraud french army world war i machinegun marne 1918.JPEG|thumb|left|French troopers under [[Henri Gouraud (French Army officer)|General Gouraud]], with their machine guns amongst the ruins of a cathedral near the Marne, driving back the Germans. 1918]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1983-0323-501, Kriegskinematograph im Schützengraben.jpg|thumb|German<!--UFA?--> film crew recording the action.]]


=== Southern theatres ===
====Developments in 1917====
Events of 1917 proved decisive in ending the war, although their effects were not fully felt until 1918.


==== War in the Balkans ====
The British naval blockade began to have a serious impact on Germany. In response, in February 1917, the [[German General Staff]] convinced [[Chancellor]] [[Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg]] to declare unrestricted submarine warfare, with the goal of starving Britain out of the war. German planners estimated that unrestricted submarine warfare would cost Britain a monthly shipping loss of 600,000 tons. The General Staff acknowledged that the policy would almost certainly bring the United States into the conflict, but calculated that British shipping losses would be so high that they would be forced to sue for peace after 5 to 6 months, before American intervention could make an impact. In reality, tonnage sunk rose above 500,000&nbsp;tons per month from February to July. It peaked at 860,000&nbsp;tons in April. After July, the newly re-introduced [[convoy]] system became extremely effective in reducing the [[U-boat]] threat. Britain was safe from starvation while German industrial output fell, and the United States troops joined the war in large numbers far earlier than Germany had anticipated.
{{Main|Balkans theatre|Bulgaria during World War I|Serbian campaign|Macedonian front}}
[[File:Flüchtlingstransport Leibnitz - k.k. Innenministerium - 1914.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.9|Refugee transport from Serbia in [[Leibnitz]], [[Styria]], 1914]]


Faced with Russia in the east, Austria-Hungary could spare only one-third of its army to attack Serbia. After suffering heavy losses, the Austrians briefly occupied the Serbian capital, [[Belgrade]]. A Serbian counter-attack in the Battle of Kolubara succeeded in driving them from the country by the end of 1914. For the first 10 months of 1915, Austria-Hungary used most of its military reserves to fight Italy. German and Austro-Hungarian diplomats scored a coup by persuading Bulgaria to join the attack on Serbia.{{sfn|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=[{{google books |plainurl=y |id=2YqjfHLyyj8C |pp=241}} 241–]}} The Austro-Hungarian provinces of [[Slovenia]], Croatia and [[Bosnia (region)|Bosnia]] provided troops for Austria-Hungary. Montenegro allied itself with Serbia.{{sfn |Neiberg |2005 |pp=54–55}}
On 3 May 1917, during the [[Nivelle Offensive]], the weary French 2nd Colonial Division, veterans of the Battle of Verdun, refused their orders, arriving drunk and without their weapons. Their officers lacked the means to punish an entire division, and harsh measures were not immediately implemented. Then, [[French Army Mutinies (1917)|mutinies]] afflicted an additional 54 French divisions and saw 20,000 men desert. The other Allied forces attacked but sustained tremendous casualties.<ref>{{harvnb|Lyons|1999|p=243}}</ref> However, appeals to patriotism and duty, as well as mass arrests and trials, encouraged the soldiers to return to defend their trenches, although the French soldiers refused to participate in further offensive action.<ref>Marshall, 292.</ref> [[Robert Nivelle]] was removed from command by 15 May, replaced by General [[Philippe Pétain]], who suspended bloody large-scale attacks.


[[File:Guetteur au poste de l'écluse 26.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Haut-Rhin]], France, 1917]]
[[File:Bulgaria southern front.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|left|Bulgarian soldiers in a trench, preparing to fire against an incoming aeroplane]]
Bulgaria declared war on Serbia on 14 October 1915 and joined in the attack by the Austro-Hungarian army under Mackensen's army of 250,000 that was already underway. Serbia was conquered in a little more than a month, as the Central Powers, now including Bulgaria, sent in 600,000 troops in total. The Serbian army, fighting on two fronts and facing certain defeat, retreated into northern [[Principality of Albania|Albania]]. The Serbs suffered defeat in the [[Kosovo offensive (1915)|Battle of Kosovo]]. Montenegro covered the Serbian retreat toward the Adriatic coast in the [[Battle of Mojkovac]] on 6–7 January 1916, but ultimately the Austrians also conquered Montenegro. The surviving Serbian soldiers were evacuated to Greece.{{sfn |Tucker |Roberts |2005 |pp=1075–1076}} After the conquest, Serbia was divided between Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria.{{sfn|DiNardo|2015|p=102}}


In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed at [[Thessaloniki|Salonica]] in Greece to offer assistance and to pressure its government to declare war against the Central Powers. However, the pro-German [[Constantine I of Greece|King Constantine I]] dismissed the pro-Allied government of [[Eleftherios Venizelos]] before the Allied expeditionary force arrived.{{sfn |Neiberg |2005 |pp=108–110}}
The victory of Austria–Hungary and Germany at the [[Battle of Caporetto]] led the Allies at the [[Rapallo Conference]] to form the [[Supreme War Council]] to coordinate planning. Previously, British and French armies had operated under separate commands.


The Macedonian front was at first mostly static. French and Serbian forces retook limited areas of Macedonia by recapturing [[Bitola]] on 19 November 1916 following the costly [[Monastir offensive]], which brought stabilisation of the front.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hall |first=Richard |title=Balkan Breakthrough: The Battle of Dobro Pole 1918 |year=2010 |publisher=Indiana University Press |page=11 |isbn=978-0-253-35452-5}}</ref>
In December, the Central Powers signed an armistice with Russia. This released large numbers of German troops for use in the west. With German reinforcements and new American troops pouring in, the outcome was to be decided on the Western Front. The Central Powers knew that they could not win a protracted war, but they held high hopes for success based on a final quick offensive. Furthermore, the leaders of the Central Powers and the Allies became increasingly fearful of social unrest and revolution in Europe. Thus, both sides urgently sought a decisive victory.<ref name="isbn0-313-29880-7">{{harvnb|Heyman|1997|pp=146–147}}</ref>


[[File:Austrians executing Serbs 1917.JPG|thumb|Austro-Hungarian troops executing captured Serbians, 1917. [[Kingdom of Serbia|Serbia]] lost about 850,000 people during the war, a quarter of its pre-war population.<ref>"[https://archive.org/stream/PAM550-99/PAM550-99_djvu.txt The Balkan Wars and World War I]". p. 28. ''[[Library of Congress Country Studies]]''.</ref>]]
====Entry of the United States====
Serbian and French troops finally made a breakthrough in September 1918 in the [[Vardar offensive]], after most German and Austro-Hungarian troops had been withdrawn. The Bulgarians were defeated at the [[Battle of Dobro Pole]], and by 25 September British and French troops had crossed the border into Bulgaria proper as the Bulgarian army collapsed. Bulgaria capitulated four days later, on 29 September 1918.{{sfn |Tucker |Wood |Murphy |1999 |pp=150–152}} The German high command responded by despatching troops to hold the line, but these forces were too weak to re-establish a front.<ref name=militera>{{cite web |url=http://militera.lib.ru/h/korsun_ng4/06.html |title=The Balkan Front of the World War |language=ru |first=N. |last=Korsun |publisher=militera.lib.ru |access-date=27 September 2010 |archive-date=9 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130809073504/http://militera.lib.ru/h/korsun_ng4/06.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{Main|American entry into World War I}}


The disappearance of the Macedonian front meant that the road to [[Budapest]] and Vienna was now opened to Allied forces. Hindenburg and Ludendorff concluded that the strategic and operational balance had now shifted decidedly against the [[Central Powers]] and, a day after the Bulgarian collapse, insisted on an immediate peace settlement.{{sfn|Doughty |2005 |p=491}}
=====Non-Intervention=====
At the outbreak of the war the United States pursued a policy of [[non-intervention]], avoiding conflict while trying to broker a peace. When a German U-boat sank the British liner [[RMS Lusitania|''Lusitania'']] in 1915, with 128 Americans aboard, U.S. President [[Woodrow Wilson]] claimed that "America is too proud to fight" but demanded an end to attacks on passenger ships. Germany complied. Wilson unsuccessfully tried to mediate a settlement. However, he also repeatedly warned that the U.S.A. would not tolerate unrestricted submarine warfare, in violation of international law and U.S. ideas of human rights. Wilson was under pressure from former president [[Theodore Roosevelt]], who denounced German acts as "piracy".<ref>{{harvnb|Brands|1997|p=756}}</ref> Wilson's desire to have a seat at negotiations at war's end to advance the [[League of Nations]] also played a role in the eventual decision to join the war.<ref name = "Karp-PoW-1979">{{harvnb|Karp|1979}}</ref> Wilson's Secretary of State, [[William Jennings Bryan]], whose opinions had been ignored, resigned in 1915, as he could no longer support the president's policy. Public opinion was angered at suspected German sabotage of [[Black Tom explosion|Black Tom]] in [[Jersey City, New Jersey]], and the [[Kingsland Explosion]].


==== Ottoman Empire ====
In January 1917, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare. The German Foreign Minister, in the [[Zimmermann Telegram]], told Mexico that U.S. entry was likely once unrestricted submarine warfare began, and invited [[Mexico]] to join the war as Germany's ally against the United States. In return, the Germans would send Mexico money and help it recover the territories of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona that Mexico had lost during the [[Mexican-American War]] 70&nbsp;years earlier.<ref>{{harvnb|Tuchman|1966}}</ref> Wilson released the Zimmerman note to the public, and Americans saw it as ''casus belli''— a cause for war.
{{Main|Ottoman Empire in World War I}}
{{See also|Middle Eastern theatre of World War I}}
[[File:Scene just before the evacuation at Anzac. Australian troops charging near a Turkish trench. When they got there the... - NARA - 533108.jpg|thumb|left|Australian troops charging near a Turkish trench during the [[Gallipoli campaign]]]]


The Ottomans threatened Russia's [[Caucasus|Caucasian]] territories and Britain's communications with India via the [[Suez Canal]]. The Ottoman Empire took advantage of the European powers' preoccupation with the war and conducted large-scale ethnic cleansing of the [[Armenians|Armenian]], [[Greeks|Greek]], and [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] Christian populations&mdash;the [[Armenian genocide]], [[Greek genocide]], and [[Sayfo]] respectively.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Gettleman |editor1-first=Marvin | editor1-link = Marvin Gettleman |editor2-last=Schaar |editor2-first=Stuart |title=The Middle East and Islamic world reader |date=2003 |publisher=Grove Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8021-3936-8 |pages=119–120 |edition=4th |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=srLGT3dwTogC}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=January |first1=Brendan |title=Genocide: modern crimes against humanity |date=2007 |publisher=Twenty-First Century Books |location=Minneapolis, Minn. |isbn=978-0-7613-3421-7 |page=14 |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=IoPMDp2WA6cC}}}}</ref><ref name=lieberman>{{cite book |last1=Lieberman |first1=Benjamin |title=The Holocaust and Genocides in Europe |date=2013 |publisher=Continuum Publishing Corporation |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4411-9478-7 |pages=80–81 |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=ySFMAQAAQBAJ}}}}</ref>
[[File:USA bryter de diplomatiska förbindelserna med Tyskland 3 februari 1917.jpg|thumb|left|[[Woodrow Wilson|President Wilson]] before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany on 3 February 1917.]]


The British and French opened overseas fronts with the [[Gallipoli campaign|Gallipoli]] (1915) and [[Mesopotamian campaign]]s (1914). In Gallipoli, the Ottoman Empire successfully repelled the British, French, and [[Australian and New Zealand Army Corps]] (ANZACs). In [[Mesopotamia]], by contrast, after the defeat of the British defenders in the [[siege of Kut]] by the Ottomans (1915–1916), British Imperial forces reorganised and captured [[Baghdad]] in March 1917. The British were aided in Mesopotamia by local Arab and Assyrian fighters, while the Ottomans employed local [[Kurds|Kurdish]] and [[Iraqi Turkmen|Turcoman]] tribes.<ref>Arthur J. Barker, ''The Neglected War: Mesopotamia, 1914–1918'' (London: Faber, 1967)</ref>
=====U.S. declaration of war on Germany=====
{{Wikisource|Woodrow Wilson declares war on Germany}}
After the sinking of seven U.S. merchant ships by submarines and the publication of the Zimmerman telegram, Wilson called for war on Germany,<ref>[[S: Woodrow Wilson Urges Congress to Declare War on Germany|"Woodrow Wilson Urges Congress to Declare War on Germany"]] (Wikisource)</ref> which the [[U.S. Congress]] declared on 6 April 1917.


The [[Suez Canal]] was defended from Ottoman attacks in 1915 and 1916; in August 1916, a German and Ottoman force was defeated at the [[Battle of Romani]] by the [[ANZAC Mounted Division]] and the [[52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division]]. Following this victory, an [[Egyptian Expeditionary Force]] advanced across the [[Sinai Peninsula]], pushing Ottoman forces back in the [[Battle of Magdhaba]] in December and the [[Battle of Rafa]] on the border between the Egyptian [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]] and Ottoman Palestine in January 1917.<ref>{{cite book |first1=John |last1=Crawford |first2=Ian |last2=McGibbon |title=New Zealand's Great War: New Zealand, the Allies and the First World War |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=mtEEuD_-2SMC |page=219}} |year=2007 |publisher=Exisle Publishing |pages=219–220}}</ref>
=====First active U.S. participation=====
[[Image:Piave Front 1918.JPEG|thumb|American soldiers on the Piave front hurling a shower of hand grenades into the Austrian trenches]]
[[File:At close grips2.jpg|right|thumb|Two Allied soldiers run towards a bunker.]]
The United States was never formally a member of the Allies but became a self-styled "Associated Power". The United States had a small army, but, after the passage of the [[Selective Service Act of 1917|Selective Service Act]], it drafted 2.8 million men<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sss.gov/induct.htm |title=Selective Service System: History and Records |publisher=Sss.gov |date= |accessdate=2010-07-27}}</ref>, and by summer 1918 was sending 10,000 fresh soldiers to France every day. In 1917, the U.S. Congress gave U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans when they were drafted to participate in World War I, as part of the [[Jones-Shafroth Act|Jones Act]]. Germany had miscalculated, believing it would be many more months before American soldiers would arrive and that their arrival could be stopped by U-boats.<ref>{{harvnb|Wilgus|p=52}}</ref>


[[File:Sarikam.jpg|thumb|Russian forest trench at the [[Battle of Sarikamish]], 1914–1915]]
The [[United States Navy]] sent a [[United States Battleship Division Nine (World War I)|battleship group]] to [[Scapa Flow]] to join with the British Grand Fleet, [[destroyers]] to [[Cobh|Queenstown]], Ireland, and [[submarines]] to help guard convoys. Several regiments of [[U.S. Marines]] were also dispatched to France. The British and French wanted U.S. units used to reinforce their troops already on the battle lines and not waste scarce shipping on bringing over supplies. The U.S. rejected the first proposition and accepted the second. General [[John J. Pershing]], [[American Expeditionary Forces]] (AEF) commander, refused to break up U.S. units to be used as reinforcements for British Empire and French units. As an exception, he did allow African-American combat regiments to be used in French divisions. The [[Harlem Hellfighters]] fought as part of the French 16th Division, earning a unit [[Croix de Guerre]] for their actions at Chateau-Thierry, Belleau Wood, and Sechault.<ref>{{citation| publisher=U.S. [[National Archives and Records Administration]]|url=http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/369th-infantry/| title=Teaching With Documents: Photographs of the 369th Infantry and African Americans during World War I| accessdate=2009-10-29}}</ref><!--
Russian armies generally had success in the [[Caucasus campaign]]. [[Enver Pasha]], supreme commander of the Ottoman armed forces, dreamed of re-conquering central Asia and areas that had been previously lost to Russia. He was, however, a poor commander.{{sfn|Fromkin |2004 |p=119}} He launched an offensive against the Russians in the Caucasus in December 1914 with 100,000 troops, insisting on a frontal attack against mountainous Russian positions in winter. He lost 86% of his force at the [[Battle of Sarikamish]].<ref name=caven>{{harvnb |Hinterhoff |1984 |pp=499–503}}</ref> General [[Nikolai Yudenich|Yudenich]], the Russian commander from 1915 to 1916, drove the Turks out of most of the southern [[Caucasus]].<ref name=caven />


[[File:Ottoman 15th Corps.jpg|thumb|right|Kaiser Wilhelm II and [[Prince Leopold of Bavaria]] inspecting Turkish troops of the 15th Corps in East Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Poland).]]
Probably a further reference could be found in Little, Arthur West; ''From Harlem to the Rhine; the story of New York's colored volunteers.'' (1936). NYSL Call number 940.373 L77


The Ottoman Empire, with German support, invaded Persia (modern [[Iran]]) in December 1914 to cut off British and Russian access to [[petroleum reservoir]]s around [[Baku]].<ref>The Encyclopedia Americana, 1920, v. 28, p. 403</ref> Persia, ostensibly neutral, had long been under British and Russian influence. The Ottomans and Germans were aided by [[Kurds|Kurdish]] and [[Azerbaijanis|Azeri]] forces, together with a large number of major Iranian tribes, while the Russians and British had the support of Armenian and Assyrian forces. The [[Persian campaign (World War I)|Persian campaign]] lasted until 1918 and ended in failure for the Ottomans and their allies. However, the Russian withdrawal from the war in 1917 led Armenian and Assyrian forces to be cut off from supply lines, outnumbered, outgunned and isolated, forcing them to fight and flee towards British lines in northern Mesopotamia.<ref>{{cite news |first=Dudley S. |last=Northcote |title=Saving Forty Thousand Armenians |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4LYqAAAAYAAJ |work=Current History |publisher=New York Times Co. |year=1922 |access-date=9 September 2021 |archive-date=9 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909113528/https://books.google.com/books?id=4LYqAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>
--> AEF doctrine called for the use of frontal assaults, which had long since been discarded by British Empire and French commanders because of the large loss of life.<ref>{{harvnb|Millett|Murray|1988|p=143}}</ref>


The [[Arab Revolt]], instigated by the British [[Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office|Foreign Office]], started in June 1916 with the [[Battle of Mecca (1916)|Battle of Mecca]], led by [[Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca|Sharif Hussein]]. The Sharif declared the independence of the [[Kingdom of Hejaz]] and, with British assistance, conquered much of Ottoman-held Arabia, resulting finally in the Ottoman surrender of Damascus. [[Fakhri Pasha]], the Ottoman commander of [[Medina]], resisted for more than {{frac|2|1|2}} years during the [[siege of Medina]] before surrendering in January 1919.{{sfn |Sachar |1970 |pp=122–138}}
====Austrian offer of separate peace====
In 1917, Emperor [[Charles I of Austria]] secretly attempted separate peace negotiations with Clemenceau, with his wife's brother [[Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma|Sixtus]] in Belgium as an intermediary, without the knowledge of Germany. When the negotiations failed, his attempt was revealed to Germany, resulting in a diplomatic catastrophe.<ref>{{harvnb|Kurlander|2006}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Shanafelt|1985|pp=125–30}}</ref>


The [[Senusiyya|Senussi]] tribe, along the border of [[Italian Libya]] and [[British Egypt]], incited and armed by the Turks, waged a small-scale [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla war]] against Allied troops. The British were forced to dispatch 12,000 troops to oppose them in the [[Senussi campaign]]. Their rebellion was finally crushed in mid-1916.{{sfn |Gilbert |1994}}
====German Spring Offensive of 1918====
{{Main|Spring Offensive}}
German General [[Erich Ludendorff]] drew up plans ([[Code name|codenamed]] [[Operation Michael]]) for the 1918 offensive on the Western Front. The Spring Offensive sought to divide the British and French forces with a series of feints and advances. The German leadership hoped to strike a decisive blow before significant U.S. forces arrived. The operation commenced on 21 March 1918 with an attack on British forces near [[Amiens]]. German forces achieved an unprecedented advance of {{convert|60|km|mi}}.<ref>{{harvnb|Westwell|2004}}</ref>


Total Allied casualties on the Ottoman fronts amounted to 650,000 men. Total Ottoman casualties were 725,000, with 325,000 dead and 400,000 wounded.<ref name="Brief Ottoman History">{{cite book |last=Hanioglu |first=M. Sukru | author-link = M. Şükrü Hanioğlu |title=A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2010 |pages=180–181 |isbn=978-0-691-13452-9}}</ref>
British and French trenches were penetrated using novel [[infiltration tactics]], also named ''Hutier'' tactics, after General [[Oskar von Hutier]]. Previously, attacks had been characterised by long artillery bombardments and massed assaults. However, in the Spring Offensive of 1918, Ludendorff used artillery only briefly and infiltrated small groups of infantry at weak points. They attacked command and logistics areas and bypassed points of serious resistance. More heavily armed infantry then destroyed these isolated positions. German success relied greatly on the element of surprise.<ref>{{harvnb|Posen|1984|pp=190&191}}</ref>


==== Italian Front ====
The front moved to within {{convert|120|km|mi}} of Paris. Three heavy [[Krupp]] [[railway gun]]s fired 183&nbsp;shells on the capital, causing many Parisians to flee. The initial offensive was so successful that Kaiser Wilhelm II declared 24 March a [[Public holiday|national holiday]]. Many Germans thought victory was near. After heavy fighting, however, the offensive was halted. Lacking tanks or [[Self-propelled artillery|motorised artillery]], the Germans were unable to consolidate their gains. This situation was not helped by the supply lines now being stretched as a result of their advance.<ref>{{harvnb|Gray|1991|p=86}}</ref> The sudden stop was also a result of the four [[Australian Imperial Force]] (AIF) divisions that were "rushed" down, thus doing what no other army had done: stopping the German advance in its tracks. During that time the first Australian division was hurriedly sent north again to stop the second German breakthrough.
{{Main|Italian front (World War I)|White War|Military history of Italy during World War I}}
[[File:British 55th Division gas casualties 10 April 1918.jpg|thumb|British [[55th (West Lancashire) Infantry Division]] troops blinded by tear gas during the [[Battle of the Lys (1918)|Battle of Estaires]], 10 April 1918.]]
[[File:Italian Front 1915-1917.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.0|[[Battles of the Isonzo|Isonzo Offensives 1915–1917]]]]


Though Italy joined the Triple Alliance in 1882, a treaty with its traditional Austrian enemy was so controversial that subsequent governments denied its existence and the terms were only made public in 1915.{{Sfn|Thompson|2009|p=13}} This arose from [[Italian nationalism|nationalist]] designs on Austro-Hungarian territory in [[Trentino]], the [[Austrian Littoral]], [[Rijeka]] and [[Dalmatia]], considered vital to secure the borders established in [[Third Italian War of Independence|1866]].{{Sfn|Thompson|2009|pp=9–10}} In 1902, Rome secretly had agreed with France to remain neutral if the latter was attacked by Germany, effectively nullifying its role in the Triple Alliance.{{Sfn|Gardner|2015|p=120}}
[[Ferdinand Foch|General Foch]] pressed to use the arriving American troops as individual replacements. Pershing sought instead to field American units as an independent force. These units were assigned to the depleted French and British Empire commands on 28 March. A Supreme War Council of Allied forces was created at the [[Doullens Conference]] on 5 November 1917.<ref name=moon/> General Foch was appointed as supreme commander of the allied forces. Haig, Petain, and Pershing retained tactical control of their respective armies; Foch assumed a coordinating rather than a directing role, and the British, French, and U.S. commands operated largely independently.<ref name=moon>{{harvnb|Moon|1996|pp=495–196}}</ref>


When the war began in 1914, Italy argued the Triple Alliance was defensive and it was not obliged to support an Austrian attack on Serbia. Opposition to joining the Central Powers increased when Turkey became a member in September, since in [[Italo-Turkish War|1911]] Italy had occupied Ottoman possessions in [[Italian Libya|Libya]] and the [[Dodecanese]] islands.{{Sfn|Thompson|2009|p=14}} To secure Italian neutrality, the Central Powers offered them [[French protectorate of Tunisia|Tunisia]], while in return for an immediate entry into the war, the Allies agreed to their demands for Austrian territory and sovereignty over the Dodecanese.{{Sfn|Thompson|2009|pp=30–31}} Although they remained secret, these provisions were incorporated into the April 1915 [[Treaty of London (1915)|Treaty of London]]; Italy joined the Triple Entente and, on 23 May, declared war on Austria-Hungary,{{Sfn|Gilbert|1994|p=166}} followed by Germany fifteen months later.[[File:1917 ortler vorgipfelstellung 3850 m highest trench in history of first world war.jpg|thumb|right|Austro-Hungarian trench at 3,850 metres in the [[Ortler Alps]], one of the most challenging fronts of the war]]
Following Operation Michael, Germany launched [[Battle of the Lys (1918)|Operation Georgette]] against the northern [[English Channel]] ports. The Allies halted the drive after limited territorial gains by Germany. The German Army to the south then conducted [[Third Battle of the Aisne|Operations Blücher and Yorck]], pushing broadly towards Paris. Operation Marne was launched on 15 July, attempting to encircle [[Reims]] and beginning the [[Second Battle of the Marne]]. The resulting counterattack, starting the [[Hundred Days Offensive]], marked the first successful Allied offensive of the war.


The pre-1914 Italian army was short of officers, trained men, adequate transport and modern weapons; by April 1915, some of these deficiencies had been remedied but it was still unprepared for the major offensive required by the Treaty of London.{{Sfn|Thompson|2009|p=57}} The advantage of superior numbers was offset by the difficult terrain; much of the fighting took place high in the [[Alps]] and [[Dolomites]], where trench lines had to be cut through rock and ice and keeping troops supplied was a major challenge. These issues were exacerbated by unimaginative strategies and tactics.{{Sfn|Marshall|Josephy|1982|p=108}} Between 1915 and 1917, the Italian commander, [[Luigi Cadorna]], undertook [[Battles of the Isonzo|a series of frontal assaults along the Isonzo]], which made little progress and cost many lives; by the end of the war, Italian combat deaths totalled around 548,000.{{Sfn|Fornassin|2017|pp=39–62}}
By 20 July the Germans were back across the Marne at their Kaiserschlacht starting lines,<ref>{{harvnb|Rickard|2007}}</ref> having achieved nothing. Following this last phase of the war in the West, the German Army never regained the initiative. German casualties between March and April 1918 were 270,000, including many highly trained storm troopers.


In the spring of 1916, the Austro-Hungarians counterattacked in [[Asiago]] in the ''[[Battle of Asiago|Strafexpedition]]'', but made little progress and were pushed by the Italians back to Tyrol.{{sfn|Thompson|2009|p=163}} Although Italy occupied southern [[Albania during World War I|Albania]] in May 1916, their main focus was the Isonzo front which, after the [[Battle of Doberdò|capture of Gorizia]] in August 1916, remained static until October 1917. After a combined Austro-German force won a major victory at [[Battle of Caporetto|Caporetto]], Cadorna was replaced by [[Armando Diaz]] who retreated more than {{convert|100|km|mi}} before holding positions along the [[Second Battle of the Piave River|Piave River]].{{Sfn|Gilbert|1994|p=317}} A second Austrian [[Second Battle of the Piave River|offensive was repulsed]] in June 1918. On 24 October, Diaz launched the [[Battle of Vittorio Veneto]] and initially met stubborn resistance,{{Sfn|Gilbert|1994|p=482}} but with Austria-Hungary collapsing, Hungarian divisions in Italy demanded they be sent home.{{Sfn|Gilbert|1994|p=484}} When this was granted, many others followed and the Imperial army disintegrated, the Italians taking over 300,000 prisoners.{{Sfn|Thompson|2009|p=364}} On 3{{nbsp}}November, the [[Armistice of Villa Giusti]] ended hostilities between Austria-Hungary and Italy which occupied [[Trieste]] and areas along the [[Adriatic Sea]] awarded to it in 1915.{{Sfn|Gilbert|1994|p=491}}
Meanwhile, Germany was falling apart at home. [[Anti-war]] marches became frequent and morale in the army fell. Industrial output was 53&nbsp;percent of 1913 levels.


====New states under war zone====
=== Eastern Front ===
{{Main|Eastern Front (World War I)}}
{{main articles|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk|Democratic Republic of Armenia|Azerbaijan Democratic Republic|Democratic Republic of Georgia}}
In the late spring of 1918, three new states were formed in the [[South Caucasus]]: the [[Democratic Republic of Armenia]], the [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]], and the [[Democratic Republic of Georgia]], which declared their independence from the Russian Empire.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Hovannisian
| first = Richard G.
| authorlink= Richard G. Hovannisian
| title = Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918
| publisher =University of California Press
| location= Berkeley
| year = 1967
| isbn =0-5200-0574-0}}</ref> Two other minor entities were established, the [[Centrocaspian Dictatorship]] and [[South West Caucasian Republic]] (The former was liquidated by Azerbaijan in the autumn of 1918 and the latter by a joint Armenian-British task force in early 1919). With the withdrawal of the Russian armies from the Caucasus front in the winter of 1917-18, the three major republics braced for an imminent Ottoman advance, which commenced in the early months of 1918. Solidarity was briefly maintained when the [[Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic|Transcaucasian Federative Republic]] was created in the spring of 1918 but collapsed in May, when the Georgians asked and received protection from Germany and the Azerbaijanis concluded a treaty with the Ottoman Empire that was more akin to a military alliance. Armenia was left to fend for itself and struggled for five months against the threat of a full-fledged occupation by the Ottoman Turks.<ref>See {{cite book
| last = Hovannisian
| first = Richard G.
| title = The Republic of Armenia: The First Year, 1918-1919
| publisher =University of California Press
| location= Berkeley
| year = 1971
| pages= 1-39
| isbn =0-5200-1805-2}}</ref>


====Allied victory: summer and autumn 1918====
==== Initial actions ====
[[File:Mikolaj II w Twierdzy Przemysl.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.0|Emperor [[Nicholas II of Russia|Nicholas II]] and [[Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1856–1929)|Grand Duke Nikolaevich]] following the Russian [[siege of Przemyśl|capture of Przemyśl]], the longest siege of the war.]]
{{Main|Hundred Days Offensive|Weimar Republic}}


As previously agreed with French president [[Raymond Poincaré]], Russian plans at the start of the war were to simultaneously advance into [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Austrian Galicia]] and East Prussia as soon as possible. Although their [[Battle of Galicia|attack on Galicia]] was largely successful, and the invasions achieved their aim of forcing Germany to divert troops from the Western Front, the speed of mobilisation meant they did so without much of their heavy equipment and support functions. These weaknesses contributed to Russian defeats at [[Battle of Tannenberg|Tannenberg]] and the [[First Battle of the Masurian Lakes|Masurian Lakes]] in August and September 1914, forcing them to withdraw from East Prussia with heavy losses.{{sfn|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=715}}{{sfn|Meyer|2006|pp=152–154, 161, 163, 175, 182}} By spring 1915, they had also retreated from Galicia, and the May 1915 [[Gorlice–Tarnów offensive]] allowed the Central Powers to invade [[Congress Poland|Russian-occupied Poland]].<ref name="Smele">{{harvnb |Smele}}</ref>
The Allied counteroffensive, known as the Hundred Days Offensive, began on 8 August 1918. The [[Battle of Amiens (1918)|Battle of Amiens]] developed with III Corps [[British Fourth Army]] on the left, the [[French First Army]] on the right, and the [[Australian Corps|Australian]] and [[Canadian Corps]] spearheading the offensive in the centre through [[Harbonnières]].<ref name="AWMAmiens">{{citation| url=http://www.awm.gov.au/1918/battles/amiens.htm|title=The Battle of Amiens: 8 August 1918| publisher=Australian War Memorial| accessdate=2008-12-12}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=http://www.awm.gov.au/1918/battles/amiensmap.htm |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070617055415/http://www.awm.gov.au/1918/battles/amiensmap.htm |archivedate=2007-06-17 |title=Amiens Map |publisher=Australian War Memorial |accessdate=2009-10-24}} (archived 2007-06-17)</ref> It involved 414 tanks of the [[Mark I tank|Mark IV]] and [[Mark V (tank)#Mark V series|Mark V]] type, and 120,000 men. They advanced {{convert|12|km|mi}} into German-held territory in just seven hours. Erich Ludendorff referred to this day as the "Black Day of the German army".<ref name="AWMAmiens" /><ref>{{harvnb|Rickard|2001}}</ref>
[[File:Aerial view of ruins of Vaux, France, 1918, ca. 03-1918 - ca. 11-1918 - NARA - 512862.tif|thumb|Aerial view of ruins of [[Vaux]], France, 1918]]
The Australian-Canadian spearhead at Amiens, a battle that was the beginning of Germany’s downfall,<ref name="Terraine-Victory">{{harvnb|Terraine|1963}}</ref> helped pull forward the British armies to the north and the French armies to the south. On the British Fourth Army front at Amiens, after an advance as far as {{convert|14|mi|km|0}}, German resistance stiffened, and the battle there concluded. But the French Third Army lengthened the Amiens front on 10&nbsp;August, when it was thrown in on the right of the French First Army, and advanced {{convert|4|mi|km|0}}, liberating Lassigny in fighting which lasted until 16&nbsp;August. South of the French Third Army, General [[Charles Mangin]] (The Butcher) drove his French Tenth Army forward at Soissons on 20 August to capture eight thousand prisoners, two hundred guns, and the Aisne heights overlooking and menacing the German position north of the Vesle.<ref name="Pitt-1918">{{harvnb|Pitt|2003}}</ref> Another "Black day", as described by Erich Ludendorff.


Despite the successful June 1916 [[Brusilov offensive]] against the Austrians in eastern Galicia,{{sfn|Schindler|2003|p=?}} shortages of supplies, heavy losses and command failures prevented the Russians from fully exploiting their victory. However, it was one of the most significant offensives of the war, diverting German resources from [[Battle of Verdun|Verdun]], relieving Austro-Hungarian pressure on the Italians, and convincing Romania to enter the war on the side of the Allies on 27 August. It also fatally weakened both the Austrian and Russian armies, whose offensive capabilities were badly affected by their losses and increased disillusion with the war that ultimately led to the Russian revolutions.{{Sfn|Tucker|2002|p=119}}
Meanwhile General Byng of the British Third Army, reporting that the enemy on his front was thinning in a limited withdrawal, was ordered to attack with 200 tanks towards Bapaume, opening the [[Battle of Albert (1918)|Battle of Albert]], with specific orders "To break the enemy's front, in order to outflank the enemy's present battle front" (opposite the British Fourth Army at Amiens).<ref name="Terraine-Victory"/> Allied leaders had now realised that to continue an attack after resistance had hardened was a waste of lives, and it was better to turn a line than to try to roll over it. They began to undertake attacks in quick order to take advantage of successful advances on the flanks, then broke them off when each attack lost its initial impetus.<ref name="Pitt-1918" />


Meanwhile, unrest grew in Russia as [[Nicholas II of Russia|the Tsar]] remained at the front, with the home front controlled by [[Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse)|Empress Alexandra]]. Her increasingly incompetent rule and food shortages in urban areas led to widespread protests and the murder of her favourite, [[Grigori Rasputin]], at the end of 1916.<ref>{{cite book|title=Cultural Studies|author=Lawrence Goodrich|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wErHyRve0noC&pg=PA376|year=2011|page=376|publisher=[[Jones & Bartlett Learning]]|isbn=9781449637286|access-date=30 July 2023|archive-date=20 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820043510/https://books.google.com/books?id=wErHyRve0noC&pg=PA376|url-status=live}}</ref>
The British Third Army's {{convert|15|mi|km|0|sing=on}} front north of Albert progressed after stalling for a day against the main resistance line to which the enemy had withdrawn.<ref>{{harvnb|Maurice|1918}}</ref> Rawlinson’s British Fourth Army was able to push its left flank forward between Albert and the Somme, straightening the line between the advanced positions of the Third Army and the Amiens front, which resulted in recapturing Albert at the same time.<ref name="Pitt-1918" /> On 26&nbsp;August the British First Army on the left of the Third Army was drawn into the battle, extending it northward to beyond Arras. The Canadian Corps, already back in the vanguard of the [[First Army (United Kingdom)|First Army]], fought its way from Arras eastward {{convert|5|mi|km|0}} astride the heavily defended Arras-Cambrai area before reaching the outer defences of the [[Hindenburg Line]], breaching them on the 28 and 29&nbsp;August. Bapaume fell on 29&nbsp;August to the New Zealand Division of the Third Army, and the Australians, still leading the advance of the Fourth Army, were again able to push forward at Amiens to take Peronne and [[Mont Saint-Quentin]] on 31&nbsp;August. Further south, the French First and Third Armies had slowly fought forward while the Tenth Army, which had by now crossed the Ailette and was east of the Chemin des Dames, neared the Alberich position of the Hindenburg Line.<ref name="Chron-FWW">{{harvnb|Gray|Argyle|1990}}</ref> During the last week of August the pressure along a {{convert|70|mi|km|0|sing=on}} front against the enemy was heavy and unrelenting. From German accounts, "Each day was spent in bloody fighting against an ever and again on-storming enemy, and nights passed without sleep in retirements to new lines."<ref name="Pitt-1918" /> Even to the north in [[Flanders]] the British Second and Fifth Armies during August and September were able to make progress, taking prisoners and positions that had previously been denied them.<ref name="Chron-FWW"/>
[[File:American troops in Vladivostok 1918 HD-SN-99-02013.JPEG|thumb|American troops in [[Vladivostok]], Siberia, August 1918]]
[[File:World War I Observation Balloon HD-SN-99-02269.JPEG|thumb|left|upright|Close-up view of an American major in the basket of an [[observation balloon]] flying over territory near front lines]]On 2 September the [[Canadian Corps]] outflanking of the Hindenburg line, with the breaching of the Wotan Position, made it possible for the Third Army to advance, which sent repercussions all along the Western Front. That same day [[Oberste Heeresleitung]] (OHL) had no choice but to issue orders to six armies to withdraw back into the Hindenburg Line in the south, behind the [[Canal du Nord]] on the Canadian-First Army's front and back to a line east of the Lys in the north. This ceded without a fight the salient seized the previous April.<ref>{{harvnb|Nicholson|1962}}</ref> According to [[Erich Ludendorff|Ludendorff]] “We had to admit the necessity&nbsp;...to withdraw the entire front from the Scarpe to the Vesle.”<ref name="Ludendorff">{{harvnb|Ludendorff|1919}}</ref>


==== Romanian participation ====
In nearly four weeks of fighting beginning 8&nbsp;August, over 100,000 German prisoners were taken, 75,000 by the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War I)|BEF]] and the rest by the French. As of "The Black Day of the German Army", the German High Command realised the war was lost and made attempts to reach a satisfactory end. The day after that battle Ludenforff told Colonel Mertz: "We cannot win the war any more, but we must not lose it either." On 11&nbsp;August he offered his resignation to the Kaiser, who refused it, replying, "I see that we must strike a balance. We have nearly reached the limit of our powers of resistance. The war must be ended." On 13 August at [[Spa, Belgium|Spa]], Hindenburg, Ludendorff, the Chancellor, and Foreign Minister Hintz agreed that the war could not be ended militarily, and on the following day the German Crown Council decided that victory in the field was now most improbable. Austria and Hungary warned that they could only continue the war until December, and Ludendorff recommended immediate peace negotiations, to which the Kaiser responded by instructing Hintz to seek the mediation of the Queen of the Netherlands. Prince Rupprecht warned Prince Max of Baden: "Our military situation has deteriorated so rapidly that I no longer believe we can hold out over the winter; it is even possible that a catastrophe will come earlier." On 10&nbsp;September Hindenburg urged peace moves to Emperor Charles of Austria, and Germany appealed to the Netherlands for mediation. On 14&nbsp;September Austria sent a note to all belligerents and neutrals suggesting a meeting for peace talks on neutral soil, and on 15&nbsp;September Germany made a peace offer to Belgium. Both peace offers were rejected, and on 24&nbsp;September [[Oberste Heeresleitung|OHL]] informed the leaders in Berlin that armistice talks were inevitable.<ref name="Chron-FWW"/>
{{Main|Romania in World War I}}
{{Location map many|Romania|caption = Romania key locations 1916–1918 (using {{CURRENTYEAR}} borders)|border = black|relief=yes|width =250|float = right|
|label = Bucharest |pos = left |lat_deg =44.4325|lon_deg = 26.103889
|label1=|coordinates1=|label2 = Timișoara (Banat) |pos2 = right |lat2_deg =45.759722|lon2_deg = 21.23
|label4 = Cluj (Transylvania)|pos4 = top |lat4_deg =46.766667|lon4_deg = 23.583333
|label5 = Chișinău (Moldova) |pos5 = top|lat5_deg =47.022778|lon5_deg = 28.835278
|label6 = Constanța (Dobruja)|pos6 = top |lat6_deg =44.166667|lon6_deg = 28.633333
|label7 = Bulgaria |pos7 = bottom |lat7_deg =43.9|lon7_deg = 27.0
|label8 = Hungary |pos8 = right |lat8_deg =47.755|lon8_deg = 20.5
|label9 = Mărășești |pos9 = right |lat9_deg =45.88|lon9_deg = 27.23
|label10 = Oituz |pos10 = left |lat10_deg =46.2|lon10_deg = 26.616667}}


Despite secretly agreeing to support the Triple Alliance in 1883, Romania increasingly found itself at odds with the Central Powers over their support for Bulgaria in the Balkan Wars and the status of ethnic Romanian communities in [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungarian]]-controlled [[Transylvania]],{{Sfn|Jelavich|1992|pp=441–442}} which comprised an estimated 2.8&nbsp;million of the 5.0&nbsp;million population.{{Sfn|Dumitru|2012|p=171}} With the ruling elite split into pro-German and pro-Entente factions,{{Sfn|Dumitru|2012|p=170}} Romania remained neutral for two years while allowing Germany and Austria to transport military supplies and advisors across Romanian territory.{{Sfn|Gilbert|1994|p=282}}
September saw the Germans continuing to fight strong rear-guard actions and launching numerous counterattacks on lost positions, but only a few succeeded, and then only temporarily. Contested towns, villages, heights, and trenches in the screening positions and outposts of the Hindenburg Line continued to fall to the Allies, with the BEF alone taking 30,441&nbsp;prisoners in the last week of September. Further small advances eastward would follow the Third Army's victory at Ivincourt on 12&nbsp;September, the Fourth Army's at Epheny on 18&nbsp;September, and the French gain of [[Essigny-le-Grand]] a day later. On 24&nbsp;September a final assault by both the British and French on a {{convert|4|mi|km|adj=on}} front would come within {{convert|2|mi|km}} of St. Quentin.<ref name="Chron-FWW"/> With the outposts and preliminary defensive lines of the Siegfried and Alberich Positions eliminated, the Germans were now completely back in the Hindenburg Line. With the Wotan position of that line already breached and the Siegfried position in danger of being turned from the north, the time had now come for an Allied assault on the whole length of the line.


In September 1914, Russia acknowledged Romanian rights to Austro-Hungarian territories including Transylvania and [[Banat]], whose acquisition had widespread popular support,{{Sfn|Dumitru|2012|p=171}} and Russian success against Austria led Romania to join the Entente in the August 1916 [[Treaty of Bucharest (1916)|Treaty of Bucharest]].{{Sfn|Gilbert|1994|p=282}} Under the strategic plan known as [[Hypothesis Z]], the Romanian army planned an offensive into Transylvania, while defending Southern [[Dobruja]] and [[Giurgiu County|Giurgiu]] against a possible Bulgarian counterattack.{{Sfn|Torrie|1978|pp=7–8}} On 27 August 1916, they [[Battle of Transylvania|attacked Transylvania]] and occupied substantial parts of the province before being driven back by the recently formed [[9th Army (German Empire)|German 9th Army]], led by former Chief of Staff [[Erich von Falkenhayn]].{{Sfn|Barrett|2013|pp=96–98}} A combined German-Bulgarian-Turkish offensive captured Dobruja and Giurgiu, although the bulk of the Romanian army managed to escape encirclement and retreated to [[Bucharest]], which [[Battle of Bucharest|surrendered]] to the Central Powers on 6 December 1916.<ref>România în anii primului război mondial, vol.2, p. 831</ref>
The Allied [[Meuse-Argonne Offensive|attack on the Hindenburg Line]], begun on 26&nbsp;September, included U.S. soldiers. The still-green American troops suffered problems coping with supply trains for large units on a difficult landscape.<ref>{{harvnb|Jenkins|2009|p=215}}</ref> The following week cooperating French and American units broke through in [[Champagne, France|Champagne]] at the [[Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge]], forcing the Germans off the commanding heights, and closing towards the Belgian frontier.<ref>{{harvnb|McLellan|p=49}}</ref> The last Belgian town to be liberated before the armistice was Ghent, which the Germans held as a pivot until the Allies brought up artillery.<ref>{{harvnb|Gibbs|1918b}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Gibbs|1918a}}</ref> The German army had to shorten its front and use the Dutch frontier as an anchor to fight rear-guard actions.
[[File:US 64th regiment celebrate the Armistice.jpg|thumb|Men of U.S. 64th Regiment, [[7th Infantry Division (United States)|7th Infantry Division]], celebrate the news of the Armistice, November 11, 1918]]
When Bulgaria signed a separate armistice on 29&nbsp;September, the Allies gained control of Serbia and Greece. Ludendorff, having been under great stress for months, suffered something similar to a breakdown. It was evident that Germany could no longer mount a successful defence.<ref>{{harvnb|Stevenson|2004|p=380}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Hull|2006|pp=307–10}}</ref>


In the summer of 1917, a Central Powers offensive began in Romania under the command of August von Mackensen to knock Romania out of the war, resulting in the battles of [[Third Battle of Oituz|Oituz]], [[Battle of Mărăști|Mărăști]] and [[Battle of Mărășești|Mărășești]] where up to 1,000,000 Central Powers troops were present. The battles lasted from 22 July to 3 September and eventually, the Romanian army was victorious advancing 500&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>. August von Mackensen could not plan for another offensive as he had to transfer troops to the Italian Front.<ref>Keith Hitchins, Clarendon Press, 1994, Rumania 1866–1947, p. 269</ref> Following the Russian revolution, Romania found itself alone on the Eastern Front and signed the [[Treaty of Bucharest (1918)|Treaty of Bucharest]] with the Central Powers, which recognised Romanian sovereignty over [[Bessarabia]] in return for ceding control of passes in the Carpathian Mountains to Austria-Hungary and leasing its oil wells to Germany. Although approved by [[Parliament of Romania|Parliament]], [[Ferdinand I of Romania|King Ferdinand I]] refused to sign it, hoping for an Allied victory in the west.{{Sfn|Crampton|1994|pp=24–25}} Romania re-entered the war on 10 November 1918 on the side of the Allies and the Treaty of Bucharest was formally annulled by the Armistice of 11 November 1918.{{Sfn|Béla|1998|p=429}}{{Efn|Bessarabia remained part of Romania until 1940, when it was annexed by [[Joseph Stalin]] as the [[Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic]];{{Sfn|Rothschild|1975|p=314}} following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, it became the independent Republic of [[Moldova]]}}
Meanwhile, news of Germany's impending military defeat spread throughout the German armed forces. The threat of mutiny was rife. Admiral [[Reinhard Scheer]] and Ludendorff decided to launch a last attempt to restore the "valour" of the German Navy. Knowing the government of [[Prince Maximilian of Baden]] would veto any such action, Ludendorff decided not to inform him. Nonetheless, word of the impending assault reached sailors at [[Kiel]]. Many, refusing to be part of a naval offensive which they believed to be suicidal, rebelled and were arrested. Ludendorff took the blame; the Kaiser dismissed him on 26&nbsp;October. The collapse of the Balkans meant that Germany was about to lose its main supplies of oil and food. Its reserves had been used up, even as U.S. troops kept arriving at the rate of 10,000 per day.<ref>{{harvnb|Stevenson|2004|p=383}}</ref>


=== Central Powers peace overtures ===
Having suffered over 6&nbsp;million casualties, Germany moved towards peace. [[Prince Maximilian of Baden]] took charge of a new government as Chancellor of Germany to negotiate with the Allies. Telegraphic negotiations with President Wilson began immediately, in the vain hope that he would offer better terms than the British and French. Instead Wilson demanded the abdication of the Kaiser. There was no resistance when the [[Social Democratic|social democrat]] [[Philipp Scheidemann]] on 9&nbsp;November declared Germany to be a republic. Imperial Germany was dead; a new Germany had been born: the [[Weimar Republic]].<ref>{{harvnb|Stevenson|2004|ch=17}}</ref>
On 12 December 1916, after ten brutal months of the [[Battle of Verdun]] and a [[Romania in World War I#The counteroffensive of the Central Powers|successful offensive against Romania]], Germany attempted to negotiate a peace with the Allies.<ref name=lanoszka>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/11/11/why-the-first-world-war-lasted-so-long/? |author=Alexander Lanoszka |author2=Michael A. Hunzeker |title=Why the First War lasted so long |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=11 November 2018 |access-date=11 November 2018 |archive-date=12 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412030938/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/11/11/why-the-first-world-war-lasted-so-long/ |url-status=live }}</ref> However, this attempt was rejected out of hand as a "duplicitous war ruse".<ref name=lanoszka />
[[File:River Crossing NGM-v31-p338.jpg|thumb|left|"''[[They shall not pass]]"'', a phrase typically associated with the defence of Verdun]]


US president [[Woodrow Wilson]] attempted to intervene as a peacemaker, asking for both sides to state their demands. [[David Lloyd George|Lloyd George's]] War Cabinet considered the German offer to be a ploy to create divisions among the Allies. After initial outrage and much deliberation, they took Wilson's note as a separate effort, signalling that the US was on the verge of entering the war against Germany following the "submarine outrages". While the Allies debated a response to Wilson's offer, the Germans chose to rebuff it in favour of "a direct exchange of views". Learning of the German response, the Allied governments were free to make clear demands in their response of 14 January. They sought restoration of damages, the evacuation of occupied territories, reparations for France, Russia and Romania, and a recognition of the principle of nationalities.{{sfn |Keegan |1998 |p=345}} The Allies sought guarantees that would prevent or limit future wars.{{sfn |Kernek |1970 |pp=721–766}} The negotiations failed and the Entente powers rejected the German offer on the grounds of honour, and noted Germany had not put forward any specific proposals.<ref name=lanoszka />
===Armistices and capitulations===
[[File:Armisticetrain.jpg|thumb|In the forest of [[Compiègne]] after agreeing to the armistice that ended the war, [[Ferdinand Foch|Foch]] is seen second from the right. The carriage seen in the background, where the armistice was signed, was later chosen as the symbolic setting of Pétain's June 1940 armistice. It was moved to Berlin as a prize, but because of Allied bombing was eventually moved to [[Crawinkel]], [[Thuringia]], where it was deliberately destroyed by [[SS]] troops in 1945.<ref>{{citation| url=http://www.compiegne.fr/decouvrir/clairierearmistice.asp| title=Clairière de l'Armistice| publisher=Ville de [[Compiègne]]| language=French| accessdate=2008-12-03}}</ref>]]
The collapse of the Central Powers came swiftly. Bulgaria was the first to sign an armistice, on 29 September 1918 at [[Saloniki]].<ref name = "indiana.edu-1918">{{cite web| url=http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1918.htm| work=League of Nations Photo Archive| title=1918 Timeline| accessdate=2009-11-20}}</ref> On 30 October, the Ottoman Empire capitulated at [[Moudros]] ([[Armistice of Mudros]]).<ref name = "indiana.edu-1918"/>


=== Final years of the war ===
On 24 October, the Italians began a push which rapidly recovered territory lost after the [[Battle of Caporetto]]. This culminated in the [[Battle of Vittorio Veneto]], which marked the end of the Austro-Hungarian Army as an effective fighting force. The offensive also triggered the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the last week of October, declarations of independence were made in Budapest, Prague, and Zagreb. On 29 October, the imperial authorities asked Italy for an armistice. But the Italians continued advancing, reaching Trento, Udine, and Trieste. On 3 November Austria–Hungary sent a [[White flag|flag of truce]] to ask for an [[Armistice]]. The terms, arranged by telegraph with the Allied Authorities in Paris, were communicated to the Austrian commander and accepted. The [[Armistice of Villa Giusti|Armistice with Austria]] was signed in the Villa Giusti, near [[Padua]], on 3 November. Austria and Hungary signed separate armistices following the overthrow of the [[Habsburg Monarchy]].
{{Main|Timeline of World War I (1917–1918)}}


==== Russian Revolution and withdrawal ====
Following the outbreak of the German Revolution of 1918–1919, a republic was proclaimed on 9 November. The [[Kaiser]] fled to the Netherlands. On 11 November an [[armistice with Germany]] was signed in a railroad carriage at [[Compiègne]]. At 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918 &mdash; "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" &mdash; a ceasefire came into effect. Opposing armies on the Western Front began to withdraw from their positions. Canadian Private [[George Lawrence Price]] is as the last soldier killed in the Great War: he was shot by a German sniper at 10:57 and died at 10:58.<ref>{{citation| last=Lindsay| first=Robert| url=http://www.nwbattalion.com/last.html| title=The Last Hours| work=28th (Northwest) Battalion Headquarters| accessdate=2009-11-20}}</ref> And finally, American Henry Gunther is generally recognized as the last soldier killed in action in World War I. He was killed 60 seconds before the armistice came into force while charging astonished German troops who were aware the Armistice was nearly upon them.<ref>{{citation| last=Gunther| first=Henry| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7696021.stm title=[[BBC News|BBC Magazine]] date=Wednesday 29, 2008 |accessdate=2012-12-06}}</ref> The last British soldier to die was Pte George [Edwin Ellison].
{{Main|Russian Revolution|February Revolution|October Revolution}}
[[File:Map Treaty of Brest-Litovsk-en.jpg|thumb|210px|Territory lost by Russia under the 1918 [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] ]]
By the end of 1916, Russian casualties totalled nearly five million killed, wounded or captured, with major urban areas affected by food shortages and high prices. In March 1917, Tsar Nicholas ordered the military to forcibly suppress strikes in [[Saint Petersburg|Petrograd]] but the troops refused to fire on the crowds.{{Sfn|Beckett|2007|p=523}} Revolutionaries set up the [[Petrograd Soviet]] and fearing a left-wing takeover, the [[State Duma]] forced Nicholas to abdicate and established the [[Russian Provisional Government]], which confirmed Russia's willingness to continue the war. However, the Petrograd Soviet refused to disband, creating [[Dual power|competing power centres]] and causing confusion and chaos, with frontline soldiers becoming increasingly demoralised.{{Sfn|Winter|2014|pp=110–132}}


Following the Tsar's abdication, [[Vladimir Lenin]]—with the help of the German government—was ushered from Switzerland into Russia on 16 April 1917. Discontent and the weaknesses of the Provisional Government led to a rise in the popularity of the Bolshevik Party, led by Lenin, which demanded an immediate end to the war. The Revolution of November was followed in December by an armistice and negotiations with Germany. At first, the Bolsheviks refused the German terms, but when German troops began marching across Ukraine unopposed, they acceded to the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] on 3{{nbsp}}March 1918. The treaty ceded vast territories, including Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and parts of Poland and Ukraine to the Central Powers.{{Sfn|Wheeler-Bennett|1938|pp=36–41}}
====Allied superiority and the stab-in-the-back legend, November 1918====
In November 1918 the Allies had ample supplies of men and [[materiel]] to invade Germany. Yet at the time of the armistice, no Allied force had crossed the German frontier; the Western Front was still almost {{convert|900|mi|km|abbr=on}} from Berlin; and the Kaiser's armies had retreated from the battlefield in good order. These factors enabled Hindenburg and other senior German leaders to spread the story that their armies had not really been defeated. This resulted in the [[stab-in-the-back legend]]<ref>{{harvnb|Baker|2006}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Chickering|2004|pp=185–188}}</ref>, which attributed Germany's defeat not to its inability to continue fighting (even though up to a million soldiers were suffering from the [[1918 flu pandemic]] and unfit to fight), but to the public's failure to respond to its "patriotic calling" and the supposed intentional sabotage of the war effort, particularly by Jews, Socialists, and Bolsheviks.


A formal state of war between the two sides persisted for another seven months, until the signing of the [[Treaty of Versailles]] with Germany on 28 June 1919. Later treaties with Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire were signed. However, the negotiation of the latter treaty with the Ottoman Empire was followed by strife (the [[Turkish War of Independence]]), and a final peace treaty between the Allied Powers and the country that would shortly become the [[Republic of Turkey]] was not signed until 24 July 1923, at [[Treaty of Lausanne|Lausanne]].
With the [[Russian Empire]] out of the war, Romania found itself alone on the Eastern Front and signed the [[Treaty of Bucharest (1918)|Treaty of Bucharest]] with the Central Powers in May 1918. Under the terms of the treaty, Romania ceded territory to Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria and leased its oil reserves to Germany. However, the terms also included the Central Powers' recognition of the union of [[Bessarabia]] with Romania.<ref>Treaty of Bucharest with the Central Powers in May 1918</ref><ref>R. J. Crampton, ''Eastern Europe in the twentieth century'', Routledge, 1994, {{ISBN|978-0-415-05346-4}}, pp. 24–25</ref>


==== United States enters the war ====
Some [[war memorial]]s date the end of the war as being when the Versailles Treaty was signed in 1919, which was when many of the troops serving abroad finally returned to their home countries; by contrast, most commemorations of the war's end concentrate on the armistice of 11 November 1918. Legally, the formal peace treaties were not complete until the last, the Treaty of Lausanne, was signed. Under its terms, the Allied forces divested [[Constantinople]] on 23 August 1923.
{{Main|American entry into World War I}}
[[File:President Woodrow Wilson asking Congress to declare war on Germany, 2 April 1917.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.0|[[Woodrow Wilson|President Wilson]] asking [[United States Congress|Congress]] to declare war on Germany, 2 April 1917]]


The United States was a major supplier of war material to the Allies but remained neutral in 1914, in large part due to domestic opposition.{{Sfn|Stevenson|2012|pp=315–316}} The most significant factor in creating the support Wilson needed was the German submarine offensive, which not only cost American lives but paralysed trade as ships were reluctant to put to sea.{{Sfn|Stevenson|2012|p=317}}
==Technology==
{{See also|Technology during World War I|Weapons of World War I}}


On 6 April 1917, Congress [[United States declaration of war on Germany (1917)|declared war on Germany]] as an "Associated Power" of the Allies.{{sfn|Gilbert|1994|p=318}} The [[United States Navy|US Navy]] sent a [[United States Battleship Division Nine (World War I)|battleship group]] to [[Scapa Flow]] to join the Grand Fleet, and provided convoy escorts. In April 1917, the [[United States Army|US Army]] had fewer than 300,000 men, including [[Army National Guard|National Guard]] units, compared to British and French armies of 4.1 and 8.3&nbsp;million respectively. The [[Selective Service Act of 1917]] drafted 2.8&nbsp;million men, though training and equipping such numbers was a huge logistical challenge. By June 1918, over 667,000 members of the [[American Expeditionary Forces]] (AEF) were transported to France, a figure which reached 2 million by the end of November.{{Sfn|Grotelueschen|2006|pp=14–15}}
[[File:Armoured car.jpg|thumb|Armoured cars]]
The First World War began as a clash of 20th-century [[technology]] and 19th-century [[military tactics|tactics]], with the inevitably large ensuing casualties. By the end of 1917, however, the major armies, now numbering millions of men, had modernised and were making use of telephone, [[Wireless|wireless communication]],<ref>{{harvnb|Hartcup|1988|p=154}}</ref> [[Armored car (military)|armoured cars]], [[tanks]],<ref>{{harvnb|Hartcup|1988|pp=82–86}}</ref>, and [[aircraft]]. Infantry formations were reorganised, so that 100-man companies were no longer the main unit of manoeuvre; instead, squads of 10 or so men, under the command of a junior NCO, were favoured.


Despite his conviction that Germany must be defeated, Wilson went to war to ensure the US played a leading role in shaping the peace, which meant preserving the AEF as a separate military force, rather than being absorbed into British or French units as his Allies wanted.{{Sfn|Stevenson|2012|p=318}} He was strongly supported by AEF commander General [[John J. Pershing]], a proponent of pre-1914 "open warfare" who considered the French and British emphasis on artillery misguided and incompatible with American "offensive spirit".{{Sfn|Grotelueschen|2006|pp=44–46}} Much to the frustration of his Allies, who had suffered heavy losses in 1917, he insisted on retaining control of American troops, and refused to commit them to the front line until able to operate as independent units. As a result, the first significant US involvement was the [[Meuse–Argonne offensive]] in late September 1918.{{Sfn|Stevenson|2012|p=403}}
Artillery also underwent a revolution. In 1914, cannons were positioned in the front line and fired directly at their targets. By 1917, [[indirect fire]] with guns (as well as mortars and even machine guns) was commonplace, using new techniques for spotting and ranging, notably aircraft and the often overlooked [[field telephone]]. [[Counter-battery fire|Counter-battery]] missions became commonplace, also, and sound detection was used to locate enemy batteries.


==== Nivelle Offensive (April–May 1917) ====
Germany was far ahead of the Allies in utilising heavy indirect fire. The German Army employed 150 and 210&nbsp;mm [[howitzer]]s in 1914, when typical French and British guns were only 75 and 105&nbsp;mm. The British had a 6&nbsp;inch (152&nbsp;mm) howitzer, but it was so heavy it had to be hauled to the field in pieces and assembled. Germans also fielded Austrian 305&nbsp;mm and 420&nbsp;mm guns, and already by the beginning of the war had inventories of various calibers of ''[[Minenwerfer]]'' ideally suited for trench warfare.<ref>{{harvnb|Mosier|2001|pp=42–48}}</ref>
{{Further|Nivelle offensive|1917 French Army mutinies}}
[[File:Canadian tank and soldiers Vimy 1917.jpg|thumb|alt=Files of soldiers with rifles slung follow close behind a tank, there is a dead body in the foreground |[[Canadian Corps]] troops at the [[Battle of Vimy Ridge]], 1917]]


In December 1916, [[Robert Nivelle]] replaced Pétain as commander of French armies on the Western Front and began planning a [[Nivelle offensive|spring attack]] in [[Champagne (province)|Champagne]], part of a joint Franco-British operation.{{Sfn|Clayton|2003|p=124}} Poor security meant German intelligence was well informed on tactics and timetables, but despite this, when the attack began on 16 April the French made substantial gains, before being brought to a halt by the newly built and extremely strong defences of the Hindenburg Line. Nivelle persisted with frontal assaults and, by 25 April, the French had suffered nearly 135,000 casualties, including 30,000 dead, most incurred in the first two days.{{Sfn|Clayton|2003|p=129}}
Much of the combat involved [[trench warfare]], in which hundreds often died for each yard gained. Many of the deadliest battles in history occurred during the First World War. Such battles include [[Battle of Passchendaele|Ypres]], the [[First Battle of the Marne|Marne]], [[Battle of Cambrai (1917)|Cambrai]], the [[Battle of the Somme|Somme]], [[Battle of Verdun|Verdun]], and [[Gallipoli Campaign|Gallipoli]]. The Germans employed the [[Haber process]] of [[nitrogen fixation]] to provide their forces with a constant supply of gunpowder, despite the British naval blockade.<ref>{{harvnb|Harcup|1988}}</ref> Artillery was responsible for the largest number of casualties<ref>{{harvnb|Raudzens|p=421}}</ref> and consumed vast quantities of explosives. The large number of head wounds caused by exploding shells and [[Fragmentation (weaponry)|fragmentation]] forced the combatant nations to develop the modern steel [[helmet]], led by the French, who introduced the [[Adrian helmet]] in 1915. It was quickly followed by the [[Brodie helmet]], worn by British Imperial and U.S. troops, and in 1916 by the distinctive German ''[[Stahlhelm]]'', a design, with improvements, still in use today.
{|class="toccolours" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#white; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
|style="text-align: left;"|"''Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!... Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime... Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning."''- [[Wilfred Owen]], ''DULCE ET DECORUM EST'', 1917<ref name="Wilfred Owen 2004">''Wilfred Owen: poems'', (Faber and Faber, 2004)</ref>
|}
The widespread use of chemical warfare was a distinguishing feature of the conflict. Gases used included [[chlorine]], [[mustard gas]] and [[phosgene]]. Few war casualties were caused by gas,<ref>{{harvnb|Raudzens}}</ref> as effective countermeasures to gas attacks were quickly created, such as [[gas mask]]s. The use of [[chemical warfare]] and small-scale [[Aerial bombing of cities|strategic bombing]] were both outlawed by the [[Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907|1907 Hague Conventions]], and both proved to be of limited effectiveness,<ref>{{harvnb|Heller|1984}}</ref> though they captured the public imagination.<ref>Postwar pulp novels on future "gas wars" included Reginald Glossop's 1932 novel ''Ghastly Dew'' and Neil Bell's 1931 novel ''The Gas War of 1940''.</ref>


Concurrent British attacks at [[Battle of Arras (1917)|Arras]] were more successful, though ultimately of little strategic value.{{sfn|Strachan|2003|p=244}} Operating as a separate unit for the first time, the [[Canadian Corps]]' capture of [[Battle of Vimy Ridge|Vimy Ridge]] is viewed by many Canadians as a defining moment in creating a sense of national identity.{{sfn|Inglis|1995|p=2}}{{sfn|Humphries|2007|p=66}} Though Nivelle continued the offensive, on 3 May the [[21st Infantry Division (France)|21st Division]], which had been involved in some of the heaviest fighting at Verdun, refused orders to go into battle, initiating the [[1917 French Army mutinies|French Army mutinies]]; within days, "collective indiscipline" had spread to 54 divisions, while over 20,000 deserted.{{Sfn|Horne|1964|p=323}}
The most powerful land-based weapons were [[railway gun]]s weighing hundreds of tons apiece. These were nicknamed [[Big Bertha (howitzer)|Big Berthas]], even though the namesake was not a railway gun. Germany developed the [[Paris Gun]], able to bombard Paris from over {{convert|100|km|mi}}, though shells were relatively light at 94&nbsp;kilograms (210&nbsp;lb). While the Allies also had railway guns, German models severely out-ranged and out-classed them.


==== Sinai and Palestine campaign (1917–1918) ====
===Aviation===
{{Main|Sinai and Palestine campaign}}
:{{main|Aviation in World War I}}
[[File:Capture of Jerusalem 1917d.jpg|thumb|British artillery battery on [[Mount Scopus]] in the [[Battle of Jerusalem]], 1917.]]
[[File:Sopwith F-1 Camel.jpg|thumb|[[RAF]] [[Sopwith Camel]]. In April 1917, the average life expectancy of a British pilot on the Western Front was 93 flying hours.<ref>Eric Lawson, Jane Lawson (2002). "''[http://books.google.com/books?id=9PGHckhHiX0C&pg=PT123&dq&hl=en#v=onepage&q=&f=false The First Air Campaign: August 1914- November 1918]''". Da Capo Press. p.123. ISBN 0306812134</ref>]]


In March and April 1917, at the [[First Battle of Gaza|First]] and [[Second Battle of Gaza|Second Battles of Gaza]], German and Ottoman forces stopped the advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, which had begun in August 1916 at the Battle of Romani.{{sfn|Erickson |2001 |p=163}}<ref>{{cite book |title=The Mounted Riflemen in Sinai & Palestine: The Story of New Zealand's Crusaders |last=Moore |first=A. Briscoe |year=1920 |publisher=Whitcombe & Tombs |location=Christchurch |oclc=156767391 |page=67}}</ref> At the end of October 1917, the [[Sinai and Palestine campaign]] resumed, when General [[Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby|Edmund Allenby]]'s [[XX Corps (United Kingdom)|XXth Corps]], [[XXI Corps (United Kingdom)|XXI Corps]] and [[Desert Mounted Corps]] won the [[Battle of Beersheba (1917)|Battle of Beersheba]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Military Operations. Part I Egypt & Palestine: Volume 2 From June 1917 to the End of the War |last=Falls |first=Cyril |series=Official History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence |others=Maps compiled by A.F. Becke |year=1930 |publisher=HM Stationery Office |location=London |oclc=1113542987 |page=59}}</ref> Two Ottoman armies were defeated a few weeks later at the [[Battle of Mughar Ridge]] and, early in December, [[Jerusalem]] had been captured following another Ottoman defeat at the [[Battle of Jerusalem]].<ref>{{cite book |chapter=The Palestine Campaigns |last=Wavell |first=Earl |author-link=Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell |editor-last=Sheppard |editor-first=Eric William |edition=4th |title=A Short History of the British Army |year=1968 |orig-date=1933 |publisher=Constable & Co. |location=London |oclc=35621223 |pages=153–155}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/jerusalemdecree.htm |title=Text of the Decree of the Surrender of Jerusalem into British Control |publisher=First World War.com |access-date=13 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614214531/http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/jerusalemdecree.htm |archive-date=14 June 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Last Crusade: The Palestine Campaign in the First World War |last=Bruce |first=Anthony |year=2002 |publisher=John Murray |location=London |isbn=978-0-7195-5432-2 |page=162}}</ref> About this time, [[Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein]] was relieved of his duties as the Eighth Army's commander, replaced by [[Cevat Çobanlı|Djevad Pasha]], and a few months later the commander of the [[Military of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Army]] in Palestine, [[Erich von Falkenhayn]], was replaced by [[Otto Liman von Sanders]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/kressenstein.htm |title=Who's Who – Kress von Kressenstein |publisher=First World War.com |access-date=13 May 2015 |archive-date=20 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120122815/http://firstworldwar.com/bio/kressenstein.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/liman.htm |title=Who's Who – Otto Liman von Sanders |publisher=First World War.com |access-date=13 May 2015 |archive-date=27 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227070027/http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/liman.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[Fixed-wing aircraft]] were first used militarily by the Italians in Libya on 23 October 1911 during the [[Italo-Turkish War]] for reconnaissance, soon followed by the dropping of grenades and [[aerial photography]] the next year. By 1914 their military utility was obvious. They were initially used for [[reconnaissance]] and [[Close air support|ground attack]]. To shoot down enemy planes, anti-aircraft guns and [[fighter aircraft]] were developed. [[Strategic bombers]] were created, principally by the Germans and British, though the former used [[Zeppelin]]s as well.<ref name="Cross 1991">{{harvnb|Cross|1991}}</ref> Towards the end of the conflict, [[aircraft carrier]]s were used for the first time, with [[HMS Furious (47)|HMS ''Furious'']] launching [[Sopwith Camels]] in [[Tondern raid|a raid]] to destroy the Zeppelin hangars at [[Tondern]] in 1918.<ref>{{harvnb|Cross|1991|pp=56–57}}</ref>
[[File:Nieuport w Le Prieur rockets.jpg|thumb|left|Johnson's Nieuport 16 armed with [[Le Prieur rocket]]s for attacking observation balloons.]]


In early 1918, the front line was [[Capture of Jericho|extended]] and the [[British occupation of the Jordan Valley|Jordan Valley]] was occupied, following the [[First Transjordan attack on Amman|First Transjordan]] and the [[Second Transjordan attack on Shunet Nimrin and Es Salt|Second Transjordan]] attacks by British Empire forces in March and April 1918.{{sfn|Erickson |2001 |p=195}}
Manned [[observation balloon]]s, floating high above the trenches, were used as stationary reconnaissance platforms, reporting enemy movements and directing artillery. Balloons commonly had a crew of two, equipped with [[parachute]]s.<ref>{{harvnb|Winter|1983}}</ref>, so that if there was an enemy air attack the crew could parachute to safety. (At the time, parachutes were too heavy to be used by pilots of aircraft (with their marginal power output), and smaller versions were not developed until the end of the war; they were also opposed by British leadership, who feared they might promote cowardice.)<ref name=FullCircle>{{harvnb|Johnson|2001}}</ref> [[Image:Battle of Messines - destroyed German trench.jpg|thumb|German trench destroyed by a [[Tunnel warfare|mine explosion]]. Approximately 10,000 German troops were killed when the 19 mines were simultaneously detonated.]]
Recognised for their value as observation platforms, balloons were important targets of enemy aircraft. To defend them against air attack, they were heavily protected by antiaircraft guns and patrolled by friendly aircraft; to attack them, unusual weapons such as air-to-air rockets were even tried. Thus, the reconnaissance value of blimps and balloons contributed to the development of air-to-air combat between all types of aircraft, and to the trench stalemate, because it was impossible to move large numbers of troops undetected. The Germans conducted air raids on England during 1915 and 1916 with airships, hoping to damage British morale and cause aircraft to be diverted from the front lines, and indeed the resulting panic led to the diversion of several squadrons of fighters from France.<ref name="Cross 1991"/><ref name=FullCircle />


==== German offensive and Allied counter-offensive (March–November 1918) ====
===Improvements in naval technology during World War I===
{{Main|German spring offensive|Hundred Days Offensive}}
[[File:Riflemen-1918-Western-Front.png|thumb|Between April and November 1918, the Allies increased their front-line rifle strength while German strength fell by half.{{sfn |Ayers |1919 |p=104}}]]


In December 1917, the Central Powers signed an armistice with Russia, thus freeing large numbers of German troops for use in the West. With German reinforcements and new American troops pouring in, the outcome was to be decided on the Western Front. The Central Powers knew that they could not win a protracted war, but they held high hopes for success in a final quick offensive.{{sfn|Heyman|1997|pp=146–147}} Ludendorff drew up plans ([[Operation Michael]]) for the 1918 offensive on the Western Front. The operation commenced on 21 March 1918, with an attack on British forces near [[Saint-Quentin, Aisne|Saint-Quentin]]. German forces achieved an unprecedented advance of {{convert|60|km|mi}}.{{sfn |Westwell |2004}} The initial offensive was a success; after heavy fighting, however, the offensive was halted. Lacking tanks or [[Self-propelled artillery|motorised artillery]], the Germans were unable to consolidate their gains. The problems of re-supply were also exacerbated by increasing distances that now stretched over terrain that was shell-torn and often impassable to traffic.{{sfn|Gray|1991|p=86}}
Germany deployed [[U-boat]]s ([[submarines]]) after the war began. Alternating between restricted and unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic, the [[Kaiserliche Marine]] employed them to deprive the British Isles of vital supplies. The deaths of British merchant sailors and the seeming invulnerability of U-boats led to the development of depth charges (1916), [[hydrophone]]s (passive [[sonar]], 1917), [[blimp]]s, [[Hunter-killer armored-vehicle team|hunter-killer]] submarines ([[British R class submarine|HMS ''R-1'']], 1917), forward-throwing [[anti-submarine weapon]]s, and dipping hydrophones (the latter two both abandoned in 1918).<ref>{{harvnb|Price|1980}}</ref> To extend their operations, the Germans proposed supply submarines (1916). Most of these would be forgotten in the [[interwar period]]mdash;until World War II revived the need.
Germany launched [[Battle of the Lys (1918)|Operation Georgette]] against the northern [[English Channel]] ports. The Allies halted the drive after limited territorial gains by Germany. The German Army to the south then conducted [[Third Battle of the Aisne|Operations Blücher and Yorck]], pushing broadly towards Paris. Germany launched Operation Marne ([[Second Battle of the Marne]]) on 15 July, in an attempt to encircle [[Reims]]. The resulting counter-attack, which started the [[Hundred Days Offensive]] on 8 August,{{sfn|Rickard|2007}} led to a marked collapse in German morale.<ref>{{cite book |publisher=Vanwell |orig-date=1977 |year=2004 |title=Shock Army of the British Empire: The Canadian Corps in the Last 100 Days of the Great War |last=Schreiber |first=Shane B. |place=St. Catharines, ON |isbn=978-1-55125-096-0 |oclc=57063659 | url = https://archive.org/details/shockarmyofbriti0000schr/mode/2up | url-access = registration | page = 50}}</ref>{{sfn |Rickard |2001}}<ref>{{cite book |publisher=Pan |orig-date=1998 |year=1999 |title=1918: Year of Victory |last=Brown |first=Malcolm |place=London |isbn=978-0-330-37672-3 |page=190}}</ref>
==== Allied advance to the Hindenburg Line ====
{{See also|Meuse-Argonne offensive}}
[[File:US23rdInfantry37mmGunInActionFrance1918-ARC531005.gif|thumb|American soldiers firing on German entrenched positions during the Meuse-Argonne offensive, 1918]]


By September, the Germans had fallen back to the Hindenburg Line. The Allies had [[Hundred Days Offensive#Advance to the Hindenburg Line|advanced to the Hindenburg Line]] in the north and centre. German forces launched numerous counterattacks, but positions and outposts of the Line continued falling, with the BEF alone taking 30,441&nbsp;prisoners in the last week of September. On 24 September, the Supreme Army Command informed the leaders in Berlin that armistice talks were inevitable.<ref name="Chron-FWW">{{harvnb|Gray|Argyle|1990}}</ref>
===Improvements in ground warfare technology in World War I===


The [[Grand Offensive|final assault]] on the Hindenburg Line began with the [[Meuse-Argonne offensive]], launched by American and French troops on 26 September. Two days later the Belgians, French and British [[Fifth Battle of Ypres|attacked around Ypres]], and the day after the British at St Quentin in the centre of the line. The following week, cooperating American and French units broke through in [[Champagne (province)|Champagne]] at the [[Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge]] (3–27 October), forcing the Germans off the commanding heights, and closing towards the Belgian frontier.{{sfn |McLellan |p=49}} On 8{{nbsp}}October, the Hindenburg Line was pierced by British and Dominion troops of the First and Third British Armies at the [[Battle of Cambrai (1918)|Second Battle of Cambrai]].{{Sfn|Christie |1997|p=?}}
[[File:Vickers IWW.jpg|thumb|British [[Vickers machine gun]]]]
Trenches, machine guns, air reconnaissance, barbed wire, and modern artillery with fragmentation [[Shell (projectile)|shells]] helped bring the battle lines of World War I to a stalemate. The British sought a solution with the creation of the tank and [[mechanised warfare]]. The [[Mark I (tank)|first tanks]] were used during the [[Battle of the Somme]] on 15 September 1916. Mechanical reliability was an issue, but the experiment proved its worth. Within a year, the British were fielding tanks by the hundreds, and they showed their potential during the [[Battle of Cambrai (1917)|Battle of Cambrai]] in November 1917, by breaking the Hindenburg Line, while [[combined arms]] teams captured 8000 enemy soldiers and 100&nbsp;guns. The conflict also saw the introduction of [[Light machine gun|Light automatic weapons]] and [[submachine guns]], such as the [[Lewis Gun]], the [[Browning Automatic Rifle|Browning automatic rifle]], and the [[Bergmann MP18]].


==== Breakthrough of Macedonian front (September 1918) ====
===Flamethrowers and subterranean transport===
{{Main|Vardar offensive|Battle of Dobro Pole}}
[[File:Bulgarian major Ivanov with white flag surrendering to Serbian 7th Danube ragiment.jpg|thumb|Bulgarian major Ivanov with white flag surrendering to Serbian 7th Danube regiment near [[Kumanovo]]]]


Allied forces started the [[Vardar offensive]] on 15 September at two key points: [[Dobro Pole]] and near [[Dojran Lake]]. In the [[Battle of Dobro Pole]], the Serbian and French armies had success after a three-day-long battle with relatively small casualties, and subsequently made a breakthrough in the front, something which was rarely seen in World War I. After the front was broken, Allied forces started to liberate Serbia and reached [[Skopje]] at 29 September, after which [[Bulgaria during World War I|Bulgaria]] signed an armistice with the Allies on 30 September.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://militaryhistorynow.com/2017/09/21/knock-out-blow-at-dobro-polje-six-facts-about-the-obscure-battle-that-ended-ww1/|title=The Battle of Dobro Polje – The Forgotten Balkan Skirmish That Ended WW1|website=Militaryhistorynow.com|access-date=2019-11-21|archive-date=2017-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923215523/http://militaryhistorynow.com/2017/09/21/knock-out-blow-at-dobro-polje-six-facts-about-the-obscure-battle-that-ended-ww1/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://historycollection.co/ten-facts-battle-dobro-polje-battle-led-allied-victory-world-war/9/ |title=The Germans Could no Longer Keep up the Fight |website=historycollection.co |date=22 February 2017 |access-date=2019-11-21 |archive-date=23 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223025225/https://historycollection.co/ten-facts-battle-dobro-polje-battle-led-allied-victory-world-war/9/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Another new weapon, the [[flamethrower]], was first used by the German army and later adopted by other forces. Although not of high tactical value, the flamethrower was a powerful, demoralising weapon that caused terror on the battlefield. It was a dangerous weapon to wield, as its heavy weight made operators vulnerable targets.


=== Armistices and capitulations ===
[[Trench railways]] evolved to supply the enormous quantities of food, water, and ammunition required to support large numbers of soldiers in areas where conventional transportation systems had been destroyed. Internal combustion engines and improved traction systems for automobiles and trucks/lorries eventually rendered trench railways obsolete.
{{Main|Armistice of Salonica|Armistice of Villa Giusti|Armistice of Mudros}}
{{Further|Armistice of Belgrade}}
[[File:Trento 3 novembre 1918.jpg|thumb|Italian troops reach [[Trento]] during the [[Battle of Vittorio Veneto]], 1918]]


The collapse of the Central Powers came swiftly. Bulgaria was the first to sign an armistice, the [[Armistice of Salonica]] on 29 September 1918.<ref name="indiana.edu-1918">{{cite web |url=http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1918.htm |website=League of Nations Photo Archive |title=1918 Timeline |access-date=20 November 2009 |archive-date=5 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505134716/http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1918.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> German Emperor [[Wilhelm II]] in a telegram to [[Ferdinand I of Bulgaria|Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand I]] described the situation thus: "Disgraceful! 62,000 Serbs decided the war!".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://militaryhistorynow.com/2017/09/21/knock-out-blow-at-dobro-polje-six-facts-about-the-obscure-battle-that-ended-ww1/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923215523/http://militaryhistorynow.com/2017/09/21/knock-out-blow-at-dobro-polje-six-facts-about-the-obscure-battle-that-ended-ww1/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 September 2017 |title=The Battle of Dobro Polje – The Forgotten Balkan Skirmish That Ended WW1 |website=Militaryhistorynow.com |access-date=21 November 2019 |date=21 September 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://historycollection.co/ten-facts-battle-dobro-polje-battle-led-allied-victory-world-war/9/|title=The Germans Could no Longer Keep up the Fight|website=historycollection.com|access-date=21 November 2019|date=22 February 2017|archive-date=23 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223025225/https://historycollection.co/ten-facts-battle-dobro-polje-battle-led-allied-victory-world-war/9/|url-status=live}}</ref> On the same day, the [[Oberste Heeresleitung|German Supreme Army Command]] informed Kaiser Wilhelm II and the [[Imperial Chancellor (Germany)|Imperial Chancellor]] Count [[Georg von Hertling]], that the military situation facing Germany was hopeless.{{Sfn|Axelrod|2018|p=260}}
==War crimes==
===Genocide and ethnic cleansing===
====Ottoman Empire====
{{Main|Ottoman casualties of World War I}}
{{See also|Armenian Genocide|Assyrian Genocide|Greek genocide|Genocide denial}}
[[File:Hromadná poprava srbského obyvatelstva.jpg|thumb|left|Austro-Hungarian soldiers executing Serb civilians during World War I occupation, [[Mačva]], 1914]]
The [[ethnic cleansing]] of the Ottoman Empire's [[Armenian people|Armenian]] population, including mass deportations and executions, during the final years of the Ottoman Empire is considered [[genocide]].<ref name="IAGSletter">{{cite web| url=http://www.genocidewatch.org/TurkishPMIAGSOpenLetterreArmenia6-13-05.htm| archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071006024502/http://www.genocidewatch.org/TurkishPMIAGSOpenLetterreArmenia6-13-05.htm| archivedate=2007-10-06| author=[[International Association of Genocide Scholars]]| title=Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan| date=13 June 2005| publisher=[[Genocide Watch]] (via archive.org)}}</ref> The Ottomans saw the entire Armenian population as an [[Fifth column|enemy]]<ref>{{harvnb|Lewy|2005|p=57}}</ref> that had chosen to side with Russia at the beginning of the war.<ref>{{harvnb|Ferguson|2006|p=177}}</ref> In early 1915, a number of Armenians joined the Russian forces, and the Ottoman government used this as a pretext to issue the [[Tehcir Law]] (Law on Deportation). This authorized the deportation of the Armenians from eastern provinces of the Empire to Syria between 1915 and 1917. The exact number of deaths is unknown: while Balakian gives a range of 250,000 to 1.5 million for the deaths of Armenians,<ref>{{harvnb|Balakian|2003|pp=195–196}}</ref> the [[International Association of Genocide Scholars]] estimates over 1 million.<ref name="IAGSletter" /> The government of Turkey has consistently [[Armenian Genocide denial|rejected charges of genocide]], arguing that those who died were victims of inter-ethnic fighting, famine, or disease during the First World War.<ref>{{harvnb|Fromkin|1989|pp=212–215}}</ref>
[[File:Геноцид армян - 1915 год.jpg|thumb|Remains of Armenians burnt alive in the cattle shed in Aly-Zrna, 1915]]


On 24 October, the Italians began a push that rapidly recovered territory lost after the Battle of Caporetto. This culminated in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, marking the end of the Austro-Hungarian Army as an effective fighting force. The offensive also triggered the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the last week of October, declarations of independence were made in Budapest, Prague, and Zagreb. On 29 October, the imperial authorities asked Italy for an armistice, but the Italians continued advancing, reaching Trento, Udine, and Trieste. On 3{{nbsp}}November, Austria-Hungary sent a [[White flag|flag of truce]] and accepted the [[Armistice of Villa Giusti]], arranged with the Allied Authorities in Paris. Austria and Hungary signed separate armistices following the overthrow of the [[Habsburg monarchy]]. In the following days, the Italian Army occupied [[Innsbruck]] and all [[Tyrol]], with over 20,000 soldiers.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Andrea di Michele |title=Trento, Bolzano e Innsbruck: l'occupazione militare italiana del Tirolo (1918–1920) |language=it |trans-title=Trento, Bolzano and Innsbruck: The Italian Military Occupation of Tyrol (1918–1920) |journal=Trento e Trieste. Percorsi degli Italiani d'Austria dal '48 all'annessione |year=2014 |pages=436–437 |quote=La forza numerica del contingente italiano variò con il passare dei mesi e al suo culmine raggiunse i 20–22.000 uomini. [The numerical strength of the Italian contingent varied with the passing of months and at its peak reached 20–22,000 men.] |url=http://www.agiati.it/UploadDocs/12255_Art_20_di_michele.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002053915/http://www.agiati.it/UploadDocs/12255_Art_20_di_michele.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 October 2018 }} <!--see https://www.agiati.it/memorie-trento-e-trieste-rasera-caffieri for metadata --></ref>
====Russian Empire====
{{Main|Anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire}}
{{See also|Russian occupation of Eastern Galicia, 1914-1915|Volhynia|Volga Germans}}
Approximately 200,000 Germans living in [[Volhynia]] and about 600,000 Jews were deported by the Russian authorities.<ref>{{citation| url=http://lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/history_culture/history/people.html| title=A People on the Move: Germans in Russia and in the Former Soviet Union: 1763–1997| publisher=North Dakota State University Libraries| accessdate=2009-11-17}}</ref><ref name="WWI and the Jews">{{citation| url=http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history/Modern_History/1914-1948/WWI_and_the_Jews.shtml| title=WWI and the Jews| publisher=MyJewishLearning.com| accessdate=2009-11-17}}</ref><ref name="Timeline 1900s">{{citation| url=http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/haventohome/timeline/haven-timeline_3.html| title=Timeline 1900s| publisher=The Library of Congress}}</ref> In 1916, an order was issued to deport around 650,000 [[Volga Germans]] to the east as well, but the Russian Revolution prevented this from being carried out.<ref>{{citation| url=http://archive.prairiepublic.org/features/GFR/timeline.htm| title=The Germans from Russia: Children of the Steppe/Children of the Prairie| publisher=Prairie Public Broadcasting| accessdate=2009-11-17}}</ref> Many [[pogrom]]s accompanied the [[Revolution of 1917]] and the ensuing [[Russian Civil War]], 60,000–200,000 civilian Jews were killed in the atrocities throughout the former Russian Empire.<ref>{{citation| url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0016_0_15895.html| title=Pogroms| work=[[Encyclopaedia Judaica]]| publisher=Jewish Virtual Library| accessdate=2009-11-17}}</ref><ref>{{citation| url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/modtimeline.html| title=Jewish Modern and Contemporary Periods (ca. 1700–1917)| publisher=Jewish Virtual Library| accessdate=2009-11-17}}</ref>


On 30 October, the Ottoman Empire capitulated, and signed the Armistice of Mudros.<ref name="indiana.edu-1918" />
==="Rape of Belgium"===
{{Main|Rape of Belgium}}
In Belgium, German troops, in fear of French and Belgian guerrilla fighters, or ''[[francs-tireurs]]'', massacred townspeople in [[Andenne]] (211 dead), [[Tamines]] (384 dead), and [[Dinant]] (612 dead). On 25 August 1914, the Germans set fire to the town of [[Leuven]], burned the library containing about 230,000 books, killed 209 civilians, and forced 42,000 to evacuate. These actions brought worldwide condemnation.<ref>{{harvnb|Keegan|1998|pp=82–83}}</ref>


==== German government surrenders ====
==Soldiers' experiences==
{{Main|Armistice of 11 November 1918}}
{{Main|List of surviving veterans of World War I|World War I casualties|Commonwealth War Graves Commission|American Battle Monuments Commission}}
[[File:Armisticetrain.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Ferdinand Foch]] (''second from right'') pictured outside the [[Compiègne Wagon|carriage]] in [[Compiègne]] after agreeing to the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|armistice]] that ended the war there.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.compiegne.fr/decouvrir/clairierearmistice.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070827142334/http://www.compiegne.fr/decouvrir/clairierearmistice.asp |archive-date=27 August 2007 |title=Clairière de l'Armistice |publisher=Ville de [[Compiègne]] |language=fr}}</ref>]]
[[File:BVRC-Great-War-Contingent 1914.jpg|thumb|The First Contingent of the [[Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps]] to the [[Royal Lincolnshire Regiment|1 Lincolns]], training in Bermuda for the Western Front, winter 1914–1915. One in four survived the war.]]


With the military faltering and with widespread loss of confidence in the Kaiser leading to his abdication and fleeing of the country, Germany moved towards surrender. Prince Maximilian of Baden took charge on October 3 as Chancellor of Germany. Negotiations with President Wilson began immediately, in the hope that he would offer better terms than the British and French. Wilson demanded a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary control over the German military.{{sfn|Stevenson|2004|p=385}}
The soldiers of the war were initially volunteers, except for those of Italy, but increasingly were [[conscription|conscripted]] into service. Britain's [[Imperial War Museum]] has collected more than 2,500&nbsp;recordings of soldiers' personal accounts, and selected transcripts, edited by military author [[Max Arthur]], have been published. The Museum believes that historians have not taken full account of this material, and accordingly has made the full archive of recordings available to authors and researchers.<ref>{{citation| last= |first= |title=Forgotten Voices of the Great War| work=| publisher=[[Imperial War Museum]]|date=| url=http://www.forgottenvoices.co.uk/| doi=| accessdate=2008-03-30}}</ref> Surviving veterans, returning home, often found that they could only discuss their experiences amongst themselves. Grouping together, they formed "veterans' associations" or "Legions".


The [[German Revolution of 1918–1919]] began at the end of October 1918. Units of the German Navy refused to set sail for a last, large-scale operation in a war they believed to be as good as lost. The [[Kiel mutiny|sailors' revolt]], which then ensued in the naval ports of [[Wilhelmshaven]] and [[Kiel]], spread across the whole country within days and led to the [[Proclamation of the republic in Germany|proclamation of a republic]] on 9{{nbsp}}November 1918, shortly thereafter to the [[Abdication of Wilhelm II|abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II]], and German surrender.<ref>{{cite web |author=K. Kuhl |title=Die 14 Kieler Punkte |trans-title=The Kiel 14 points |url=http://www.kurkuhl.de/docs/kieler_14punkte.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412035214/http://www.kurkuhl.de/docs/kieler_14punkte.pdf |archive-date=12 April 2019 |access-date=23 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Dähnhardt |first=D. |title=Revolution in Kiel |publisher=Karl Wachholtz Verlag |year=1978 |isbn=978-3-529-02636-2 |location=Neumünster |page=91}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wette |first=Wolfram |title=Kieler Erinnerungsorte |publisher=Boyens |year=2006 |editor-last=Fleischhauer |chapter=Die Novemberrevolution – Kiel 1918 |author-link=Wolfram Wette |editor2-last=Turowski}}</ref>{{sfn |Stevenson |2004 |p=383}}{{sfn|Stevenson|2004|loc=Chapter 17}}
===Prisoners of war===
[[File:Indian army soldier after siege of Kut q79446.jpg|thumb|upright|This photograph shows an [[emaciate]]d Indian Army soldier who survived the [[Siege of Kut]].]]
About 8 million men surrendered and were held in [[Pow camp|POW camps]] during the war. All nations pledged to follow the [[Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907)|Hague Conventions]] on fair treatment of [[prisoners of war]]. POWs' rate of survival was generally much higher than that of their peers at the front.<ref>{{harvnb|Phillimore|Bellot|1919|pp=4–64}}</ref> Individual surrenders were uncommon; large units usually surrendered en masse. At the [[Battle of Tannenberg (1914)|Battle of Tannenberg]] 92,000&nbsp;Russians surrendered. When the besieged garrison of [[Kaunas]] surrendered in 1915, some 20,000&nbsp;Russians became prisoners. Over half of Russian losses (as a proportion of those captured, wounded, or killed) were to prisoner status; for Austria-Hungary 32%, for Italy 26%, for France 12%, for Germany 9%; for Britain 7%. Prisoners from the Allied armies totalled about 1.4&nbsp;million (not including Russia, which lost 2.-3.5{{clarify|2-point-what? Does this mean 2.5-3.5? Or 2 million to 3.5?|date=October 2010}} million men as prisoners.) From the Central Powers about 3.3&nbsp;million men became prisoners.<ref>{{harvnb|Ferguson|1999|pp=368–9}}</ref>


== Aftermath ==
Germany held 2.5&nbsp;million prisoners; Russia held 2.9&nbsp;million; while Britain and France held about 720,000. Most were captured just prior to the Armistice. The U.S. held 48,000. The most dangerous moment was the act of surrender, when helpless soldiers were sometimes gunned down.<ref>{{harvnb|Blair|2005}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Cook|2006|pp=637&-665}}</ref> Once prisoners reached a camp, conditions were, in general, satisfactory (and much better than in World War II), thanks in part to the efforts of the [[International Red Cross]] and inspections by neutral nations. However, conditions were terrible in Russia: [[starvation]] was common for prisoners and civilians alike; about 15–20% of the prisoners in Russia died. In Germany, food was scarce, but only 5% died.<ref>{{harvnb|Speed|1990}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Ferguson|1999|ch=13}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Morton|1992}}</ref>
{{Main|Aftermath of World War I}}
[[File:German prisoners in a French prison camp. French Pictorial Service., 1917 - 1919 - NARA - 533724.tif|thumb|left|210px|German prisoners in a French prison camp]]
The Ottoman Empire often treated POWs poorly.<ref name="isbn0-691-09278-8">{{harvnb|Bass|2002|p=107}}</ref> Some 11,800 British Empire soldiers, most of them Indians, became prisoners after the [[Siege of Kut]] in [[Mesopotamia]] in April 1916; 4,250 died in captivity.<ref>{{citation |publisher=British National Archives |title=The Mesopotamia campaign |url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/battles/mesopotamia.htm |accessdate=2007-03-10}}</ref>
Although many were in very bad condition when captured, Ottoman officers forced them to march {{convert|1100|km|mi|0}} to [[Anatolia]]. A survivor said: "We were driven along like beasts; to drop out was to die."<ref>{{citation| url=http://www.awm.gov.au/stolenyears/ww1/turkey/story2.asp| publisher=Australian War Memorial|work=Stolen Years: Australian Prisoners of War| title=Prisoners of Turkey: Men of Kut ''Driven along like beasts''| accessdate=2008-12-10 }}</ref> The survivors were then forced to build a railway through the [[Taurus Mountains]].


In the aftermath of the war, the German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian empires disappeared.{{efn| Unlike the others, the successor state to the Russian Empire, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, retained similar external borders, via retaining or quickly recovering lost territories.}} Numerous nations regained their former independence, and new ones were created. Four dynasties fell as a result of the war: the [[House of Romanov|Romanovs]], the [[House of Hohenzollern|Hohenzollerns]], the [[House of Habsburg|Habsburgs]], and the [[Ottoman dynasty|Ottomans]]. Belgium and Serbia were badly damaged, as was France, with 1.4 million soldiers dead,<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7199127.stm "France's oldest WWI veteran dies"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028021340/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7199127.stm |date=28 October 2016 }}, ''BBC News'', 20 January 2008.</ref> not counting other casualties. Germany and Russia were similarly affected.<ref name="Tucker 2005 2732">{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=[{{google books |plainurl=y |id=2YqjfHLyyj8C |page=273}} 273]}}</ref>
In Russia, when the prisoners from the [[Czech Legion]] of the Austro-Hungarian army were released in 1917, they re-armed themselves and briefly became a military and diplomatic force during the Russian Civil War.


=== Formal end of the war ===
While the Allied prisoners of the Central Powers were quickly sent home at the end of active hostilities, the same treatment was not granted to Central Power prisoners of the Allies and Russia, many of whom served as [[forced labor]], e.g., in France until 1920. They were released only after many approaches by the Red Cross to the [[Allied Supreme Council]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/57JQGQ |title=ICRC in WWI: overview of activities |publisher=Icrc.org |date= |accessdate=2010-06-15}}</ref> German prisoners were still being held in Russia as late as 1924.<ref>{{cite news|author=Monday, Sep. 01, 1924 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,768983,00.html |title=GERMANY: Notes, Sep. 1, 1924 |publisher=Time.com |date=1924-09-01 |accessdate=2010-06-15}}</ref>
[[File:William Orpen - The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|The signing of the [[Treaty of Versailles]] in the [[Hall of Mirrors]], Versailles, 28 June 1919, by Sir [[William Orpen]]]]


A formal state of war between the two sides persisted for another seven months, until the signing of the [[Treaty of Versailles]] with Germany on 28 June 1919. The US Senate did not ratify the treaty despite public support for it,<ref>{{cite book |last=Hastedt |first=Glenn P. |title=Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy |publisher=Infobase Publishing |date=2009 |page=483 |isbn=978-1-4381-0989-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Murrin |first1=John |last2=Johnson |first2=Paul |last3=McPherson |first3=James |last4=Gerstle |first4=Gary |last5=Fahs |first5=Alice|title=Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People |publisher=Cengage Learning |volume=II |date=2010 |page=622 |isbn=978-0-495-90383-3}}</ref> and did not formally end its involvement in the war until the [[Knox–Porter Resolution]] was signed on 2{{nbsp}}July 1921 by President [[Warren G. Harding]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Harding Ends War; Signs Peace Decree at Senator's Home. Thirty Persons Witness Momentous Act in Frelinghuysen Living Room at Raritan |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10B13F63C5D14738DDDAA0894DF405B818EF1D3 |date=3 July 1921 |access-date=18 September 2017 |archive-date=4 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204011723/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10B13F63C5D14738DDDAA0894DF405B818EF1D3 |url-status=live }}</ref> For the British Empire, the state of war ceased under the provisions of the ''[[Termination of the Present War (Definition) Act 1918]]'' concerning:
===Military attachés and war correspondents===
{{Main|Military attachés and war correspondents in the First World War}}
Military and civilian observers from every major power closely followed the course of the war. Many were able to report on events from a perspective somewhat akin to modern "[[embedded journalist|embedded]]" positions within the opposing land and naval forces. These military attachés and other observers prepared voluminous first-hand accounts of the war and analytical papers.


:* Germany on 10 January 1920.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue= 31773 |date= 10 February 1920 |page=1671}}</ref>
For example, former U.S. Army Captain [[Granville Roland Fortescue|Granville Fortescue]] followed the developments of the [[Gallipoli Campaign]] from an embedded perspective within the ranks of the Turkish defenders; and his report was passed through Turkish censors before being printed in London and New York.<ref>{{harvnb|Fortescue|28 October 1915|p=1}}</ref> However, this observer's role was abandoned when the U.S. entered the war, as Fortescue immediately re-enlisted, sustaining wounds at [[Forest of Argonne]] in the [[Meuse-Argonne Offensive]], September 1918.<ref>{{citation| publisher=Arlington National Cemetery| url=http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/fortesc.htm| title=Granville Roland Fortescue| accessdate=2009-11-17}}</ref>
:* Austria on 16 July 1920.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue= 31991 |date= 23 July 1920 |pages=7765–7766 }}</ref>
:* Bulgaria on 9 August 1920.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue= 13627 |date= 27 August 1920 |page=1924}}</ref>
:* Hungary on 26 July 1921.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue= 32421 |date= 12 August 1921 |pages=6371–6372 }}</ref>
:* Turkey on 6 August 1924.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue= 32964 |date= 12 August 1924 |pages=6030–6031 }}</ref>


[[File:Venizelos signing the Treaty of Sevres.jpeg|thumb|right|Greek prime minister [[Eleftherios Venizelos]] signing the [[Treaty of Sèvres]]]]
In-depth observer narratives of the war and more narrowly focused professional journal articles were written soon after the war; and these post-war reports conclusively illustrated the battlefield destructiveness of this conflict. This was not the first time the tactics of entrenched positions for infantry defended with machine guns and artillery became vitally important. The [[Russo-Japanese War]] had been closely observed by military attachés, war correspondents and other observers; but, from a 21st century perspective, it is now apparent that a range of tactical lessons were disregarded or not used in the preparations for war in Europe and throughout the Great War.<ref name="sizemore1">{{harvnb|Sisemore|2003}}</ref>
Some [[war memorial]]s date the end of the war as being when the Versailles Treaty was signed in 1919, which was when many of the troops serving abroad finally returned home; by contrast, most commemorations of the war's end concentrate on the armistice of 11 November 1918.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.warmemorials.org/uploads/publications/117.pdf|title=Dates on war memorials|publisher=War Memorials Trust|access-date=4 January 2021|archive-date=12 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112055457/http://www.warmemorials.org/uploads/publications/117.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>


=== Peace treaties and national boundaries ===
==Support and opposition to the war==
[[File:Map Europe 1923-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.25|Map of [[List of national border changes (1914–present)|territorial changes in Europe]] after World War I (as of 1923)]]
{{Main|Opposition to World War I|French Army Mutinies (1917)}}


The [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]] imposed a series of peace treaties on the Central Powers officially ending the war. The 1919 [[Treaty of Versailles]] dealt with Germany and, building on [[Fourteen Points|Wilson's 14th point]], established the [[League of Nations]] on 28 June 1919.{{sfn |Magliveras |1999 |pp=8–12}}{{sfn |Northedge |1986 |pp=35–36}}
===Support===
[[File:Old england first.jpg|thumb|upright|Old England first, self second 1916]]
In the Balkans, [[Yugoslav nationalism|Yugoslav nationalists]] such as the leader [[Ante Trumbić]] in the [[Balkans]] strongly supported the war, desiring the freedom of [[Yugoslavs]] from [[Austria-Hungary]] and other foreign powers and the creation of an independent [[Yugoslavia]].<ref name=autogenerated4>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=1189}}</ref> The [[Yugoslav Committee]] was formed in Paris on 30 April 1915 but shortly moved its office to London; Trumbić led the Committee.<ref name=autogenerated4 />


The Central Powers had to acknowledge responsibility for "all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by" their aggression. In the Treaty of Versailles, this statement was [[Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles|Article 231]]. This article became known as the "War Guilt Clause", as the majority of Germans felt humiliated and resentful.<ref>{{cite book |first=John H. |last=Morrow |title=The Great War: An Imperial History |publisher=Routledge |location=London |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-415-20440-8 |page=290}}</ref> The Germans felt they had been unjustly dealt with by what they called the "[[diktat]] of Versailles". German historian Hagen Schulze said the Treaty placed Germany "under legal sanctions, deprived of military power, economically ruined, and politically humiliated."<ref>{{cite book |first=Hagen |last=Schulze |title=Germany: A New History |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=B84ZaAdGbS4C |page=204}} |year=1998 |publisher=Harvard U.P. |page=204}}</ref> Belgian historian Laurence Van Ypersele emphasises the central role played by memory of the war and the Versailles Treaty in German politics in the 1920s and 1930s:
In the Middle East, [[Arab nationalism]] soared in Ottoman territories in response to the rise of Turkish nationalism during the war, with Arab nationalist leaders advocating the creation of a [[Pan-Arabism|pan-Arab]] state.<ref name=autogenerated2>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=117}}</ref> In 1916, the [[Arab Revolt]] began in Ottoman-controlled territories of the Middle East in an effort to achieve independence.<ref name=autogenerated2 />
<blockquote>Active denial of war guilt in Germany and German resentment at both reparations and continued Allied occupation of the Rhineland made widespread revision of the meaning and memory of the war problematic. The legend of the "[[Stab-in-the-back myth|stab in the back]]" and the wish to revise the "Versailles diktat", and the belief in an international threat aimed at the elimination of the German nation persisted at the heart of German politics. Even a man of peace such as <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Gustav Stresemann|Gustav]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> Stresemann publicly rejected German guilt. As for the Nazis, they waved the banners of domestic treason and international conspiracy in an attempt to galvanise the German nation into a spirit of revenge. Like a Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany sought to redirect the memory of the war to the benefit of its policies.<ref>{{cite book |first=Laurence Van |last=Ypersele |chapter=Mourning and Memory, 1919–45 |editor-first=John |editor-last=Horne |title=A Companion to World War I |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=EjZHLXRKjtEC |page=584}} |year=2012 |publisher=Wiley |page=584}}</ref></blockquote>


Meanwhile, new nations liberated from German rule viewed the treaty as a recognition of wrongs committed against small nations by much larger aggressive neighbours.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~ethomp/The%20Surrogate%20Hegemon.pdf|title=The Surrogate Hegemon in Polish Postcolonial Discourse Ewa Thompson, Rice University|access-date=27 October 2013|archive-date=29 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029211408/http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~ethomp/The%20Surrogate%20Hegemon.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>[[File:Dissolution of Austria-Hungary.png|thumb|upright=1.25|[[Dissolution of Austria-Hungary]] after war]]Austria-Hungary was partitioned into several successor states, largely but not entirely along ethnic lines. Apart from Austria and Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia received territories from the Dual Monarchy (the formerly separate and autonomous [[Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia]] was incorporated into Yugoslavia). The details were contained in the treaties of [[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)|Saint-Germain-en-Laye]] and [[Treaty of Trianon|Trianon]]. As a result, Hungary lost 64% of its total population, decreasing from 20.9 million to 7.6 million, and losing 31% (3.3 out of 10.7&nbsp;million) of its ethnic [[Hungarian people|Hungarians]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://open-site.org/Regional/Europe/Hungary |title=Open-Site:Hungary |access-date=11 January 2022 |archive-date=3 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220103140810/http://open-site.org/Regional/Europe/Hungary |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the 1910 census, speakers of the Hungarian language included approximately 54% of the entire population of the [[Kingdom of Hungary]]. Within the country, numerous ethnic minorities were present: 16.1% [[Romanians]], 10.5% [[Slovaks]], 10.4% [[Germans]], 2.5% [[Ruthenians]], 2.5% [[Serbs]] and 8% others.<ref name="Frucht, p. 356">Frucht, p. 356.</ref> Between 1920 and 1924, 354,000 Hungarians fled former Hungarian territories attached to Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Károly |last1=Kocsis |first2=Eszter Kocsisné |last2=Hodosi |title=Ethnic Geography of the Hungarian Minorities in the Carpathian Basin |year=1998 |isbn=978-963-7395-84-0 |page=19|publisher=Geographical Research Institute, Research Centre and Earth Sciences }}</ref>
[[Italian nationalism]] was stirred by the outbreak of the war and was initially strongly supported by a variety of political factions. One of the most prominent and popular Italian nationalist supporters of the war was [[Gabriele d'Annunzio]], who promoted [[Italian irredentism]] and helped sway the Italian public to support intervention in the war.<ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=335}}</ref> The [[Italian Liberal Party]] under the leadership of [[Paolo Boselli]] promoted intervention in the war on the side of the Allies and utilised the [[Dante Aligheri Society]] to promote Italian nationalism.<ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=219}}</ref>


The Russian Empire lost much of its western frontier as the newly independent nations of [[History of Estonia#Road to the republic|Estonia]], [[History of Finland#Independence and Civil War|Finland]], [[History of Latvia#Independence|Latvia]], [[History of Lithuania#Independent Lithuania (1918–40)|Lithuania]], and [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]] were carved from it. Romania took control of Bessarabia in April 1918.{{sfn |Clark |1927}}
A number of socialist parties initially supported the war when it began in August 1914.<ref name=autogenerated3>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=1001}}</ref> But European socialists split on national lines, with the concept of [[class conflict]] held by radical socialists such as Marxists and [[Syndicalism|syndicalists]] being overborne by their patriotic support for war.<ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=1069}}</ref> Once the war began, Austrian, British, French, German, and Russian socialists followed the rising nationalist current by supporting their countries' intervention in the war.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=884}}</ref>


=== National identities ===
Italian socialists were divided on whether to support the war or oppose it; some were militant supporters of the war, including [[Benito Mussolini]] and [[Leonida Bissolati]].<ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=209}}</ref> However, the [[Italian Socialist Party]] decided to oppose the war after anti-militarist protestors were killed, resulting in a [[general strike]] called [[Red Week]].<ref name=autogenerated6>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=596}}</ref> The Italian Socialist Party purged itself of pro-war nationalist members, including Mussolini.<ref name=autogenerated6 /> Mussolini, a [[Syndicalism|syndicalist]] who supported the war on grounds of irredentist claims on Italian-populated regions of Austria-Hungary, formed the pro-interventionist ''[[Il Popolo d'Italia]]'' and the ''Fasci Riviluzionario d'Azione Internazionalista'' ("Revolutionary [[Fasci]] for International Action") in October 1914 that later developed into the ''[[Fasci di Combattimento]]'' in 1919, the origin of fascism.<ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=826}}</ref> Mussolini's nationalism enabled him to raise funds from [[Italian Ansaldo company|Ansaldo]] (an armaments firm) and other companies to create ''Il Popolo d'Italia'' to convince socialists and revolutionaries to support the war.<ref>Dennis Mack Smith. 1997. ''Modern Italy; A Political History''. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. Pp. 284.</ref>
{{Further|Sykes–Picot Agreement}}


After 123 years, Poland re-emerged as an independent country. The Kingdom of Serbia and its dynasty, as a "minor Entente nation" and the country with the most casualties per capita,<ref>{{cite news |title=Appeals to Americans to Pray for Serbians |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=27 July 1918 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/07/27/102727338.pdf |access-date=12 June 2018 |archive-date=16 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916183729/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/07/27/102727338.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Serbia Restored |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=5 November 1918 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/11/05/98273895.pdf |access-date=12 June 2018 |archive-date=16 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916183845/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/11/05/98273895.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Minor Powers During World War One&nbsp;– Serbia |first=Matt |last=Simpson |publisher=firstworldwar.com |date=22 August 2009 |url=http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/minorpowers_serbia.htm |access-date=27 May 2010 |archive-date=27 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100427065927/http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/minorpowers_serbia.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> became the backbone of a new multinational state, the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes]], later renamed Yugoslavia. Czechoslovakia, combining the [[Kingdom of Bohemia]] with parts of the Kingdom of Hungary, became a new nation. Romania would [[Great Union|unite]] all Romanian-speaking people under a single state, leading to [[Greater Romania]].<ref>Cas Mudde. [https://books.google.com/books?id=bNp6CAlMMcUC&dq=%22term+greater+romania%22&pg=PA190 ''Racist Extremism in Central and Eastern Europe''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160515100954/https://books.google.com/books?id=bNp6CAlMMcUC#v=onepage&q=%22term%20greater%20romania%22&f=false |date=15 May 2016 }}</ref>
In April 1918 the Rome Congress of Oppressed Nationalities met, including [[Czechoslovak]], [[Italians|Italian]], [[Poles|Polish]], [[Transylvanian]], and [[Yugoslavia|Yugoslav]] representatives who urged the Allies to support national [[self-determination]] for the peoples residing within [[Austria-Hungary]].<ref name=autogenerated3 />


In Australia and New Zealand, the Battle of Gallipoli became known as those nations' "Baptism of Fire". It was the first major war in which the newly established countries fought, and it was one of the first times that Australian troops fought as Australians, not just subjects of the [[The Crown|British Crown]], and independent national identities for these nations took hold. [[Anzac Day]], commemorating the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), celebrates this defining moment.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1916/04/26/archives/anzac-day-in-london-king-queen-and-general-birdwood-at-services-in.html |title='ANZAC Day' in London; King, Queen, and General Birdwood at Services in Abbey |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=26 April 1916 |access-date=25 July 2018 |archive-date=15 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160715010040/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9400E1DD113FE233A25755C2A9629C946796D6CF&scp=12&sq=New+Zealand+anzac&st=p |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="awmtradition">{{cite web |url=http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac_tradition.asp |title=The ANZAC Day tradition |last=Australian War Memorial |publisher=[[Australian War Memorial]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501163212/http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac_tradition.asp |archive-date=1 May 2008 |url-status=dead |access-date=2 May 2008}}</ref>
===Opposition===
[[Image:Horace Smith-Dorrien LOC.jpg|thumb|Shortly before the war, British General [[Horace Smith-Dorrien]] predicted a catastrophic war which should be avoided at ''almost any cost''.]]
[[File:Sackville Street (Dublin) after the 1916 Easter Rising.JPG|thumb|Rubble covered Sackville Street in [[Dublin]] after violence between Irish rebels and UK armed forces during the [[Easter Rising]] of 1916.]]
[[File:1917 - Execution à Verdun lors des mutineries.jpg|thumb|1917&nbsp;– Execution at [[Verdun]] at the time of the mutinies.]]
The [[trade union]] and [[Socialism|socialist]] movements had long voiced their opposition to a war, which they argued would mean only that workers would kill other workers in the interest of capitalism. Once war was declared, however, many socialists and trade unions backed their governments. Among the exceptions were the [[Bolshevik]]s, the [[Socialist Party of America]], and the [[Italian Socialist Party]], and individuals such as [[Karl Liebknecht]], [[Rosa Luxemburg]], and their followers in Germany. There were also small anti-war groups in Britain and France.


In the aftermath of World War I, Greece [[Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)|fought]] against Turkish nationalists led by [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk|Mustafa Kemal]], a war that eventually resulted in a [[Population exchange between Greece and Turkey|massive population exchange between the two countries]] under the Treaty of Lausanne.<ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,451140,00.html "The Diaspora Welcomes the Pope"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120604185021/http://www.spiegel.de/international/0%2C1518%2C451140%2C00.html|date=4 June 2012}}, ''Der Spiegel'' Online. 28 November 2006.</ref> According to various sources,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rummel |first1=R.J. |author-link=R.J. Rummel |year=1998 |title=The Holocaust in Comparative and Historical Perspective |journal=Idea Journal of Social Issues |volume=3 |issue=2}}</ref> several hundred thousand Greeks died during this period, which was tied in with the Greek genocide.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hedges |first=Chris |date=17 September 2000 |title=A Few Words in Greek Tell of a Homeland Lost |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/17/nyregion/a-few-words-in-greek-tell-of-a-homeland-lost.html |url-status=live |access-date=23 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125062332/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/17/nyregion/a-few-words-in-greek-tell-of-a-homeland-lost.html |archive-date=25 November 2018}}</ref>
[[Pope Benedict XV]], elected to the papacy less than three months into World War I, made the war and its consequences the main focus of his early pontificate. In stark contrast to his [[pope Pius X|predecesor]], five days after his election he spoke of his determination to do what he could to bring peace. His first encyclical, [[Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum]], given 1 November, 1914, was concerned with this subject. Seen as being biased in favour of the other and resented for weakening national morale, Benedict XV found his abilities and unique position as a religious emissary of peace ignored by the belligerent powers.


== Casualties ==
The 1915 Treaty of London between Italy and the Triple Entente included secret provisions whereby the Allies agreed with Italy to ignore papal peace moves towards the Central Powers. Consequently, the publication of Benedict's proposed seven-point Peace Note of August 1917 was roundly ignored by all parties except Austria-Hungary.<ref>{{cite web |title=Who's Who - Pope Benedict XV |work= |publisher=firstworldwar.com |date=Saturday, 22 August, 2009 |url=http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/popebenedict.htm }}</ref>
{{Main|World War I casualties}}
{{Further|Spanish flu}}
[[File:Transporting Ottoman injured at Sirkedji.jpg|thumb|left|Men transporting a wounded Ottoman soldier at [[Sirkeci]]]]
The total number of military and [[civilian casualties]] in World War I was about 40&nbsp;million: estimates range from around 15 to 22&nbsp;million deaths<ref name="Britannica">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=World War I: Killed, wounded, and missing |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-I/Killed-wounded-and-missing |access-date=5 December 2021 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> and about 23&nbsp;million wounded military personnel, ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in human history. The total number of deaths includes between 9 and 11&nbsp;million [[military personnel]], with an estimated civilian death toll of about 6 to 13&nbsp;million.<ref name="Britannica" /><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=War Losses |encyclopedia=International Encyclopedia of the First World War |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/war_losses |access-date=5 December 2021}}</ref>


Of the 60&nbsp;million European military personnel who were mobilised from 1914 to 1918, an estimated 8&nbsp;million were killed, 7&nbsp;million were permanently disabled, and 15&nbsp;million were seriously injured. Germany lost 15.1% of its active male population, Austria-Hungary lost 17.1%, and France lost 10.5%.{{sfn|Kitchen|2000|p=22}} France mobilised 7.8&nbsp;million men, of which 1.4&nbsp;million died and 3.2&nbsp;million were injured.<ref>Sévillia, Jean, Histoire Passionnée de la France, 2013, p.&nbsp;395</ref> Approximately 15,000 deployed men sustained gruesome facial injuries, causing social stigma and marginalisation; they were called the {{lang|fr|[[gueules cassées]]}} (broken faces). In Germany, civilian deaths were 474,000 higher than in peacetime, due in large part to food shortages and malnutrition that had weakened disease resistance. These excess deaths are estimated as 271,000 in 1918, plus another 71,000 in the first half of 1919 when the blockade was still in effect.{{sfn|Howard|1993|p=166}} Starvation caused by famine killed approximately 100,000 people in Lebanon.{{sfn|Saadi|2009}}
In [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]], in 1914, the [[Public Schools Act 1868|Public Schools]] [[Officers' Training Corps]] annual camp was held at Tidworth Pennings, near [[Salisbury Plain]]. Head of the [[British Army]] [[Lord Kitchener of Khartoum|Lord Kitchener]] was to review the [[cadet]]s, but the imminence of the war prevented him. General [[Horace Smith-Dorrien]] was sent instead. He surprised the two-or-three thousand cadets by declaring (in the words of Donald Christopher Smith, a [[Bermuda|Bermudian]] cadet who was present), ''that war should be avoided at almost any cost, that war would solve nothing, that the whole of Europe and more besides would be reduced to ruin, and that the loss of life would be so large that whole populations would be decimated. In our ignorance I, and many of us, felt almost ashamed of a British General who uttered such depressing and unpatriotic sentiments, but during the next four years, those of us who survived the holocaust-probably not more than one-quarter of us - learned how right the General's prognosis was and how courageous he had been to utter it.'' <ref>"Merely For the Record": The Memoirs of Donald Christopher Smith 1894-1980. By Donald Christopher Smith. Edited by John William Cox, Jr. Bermuda.</ref> Voicing these sentiments did not hinder Smith-Dorien's career, or prevent him from doing his duty in World War I to the best of his abilities.


[[File:Emergency hospital during Influenza epidemic, Camp Funston, Kansas - NCP 1603.jpg|thumb|Emergency military hospital during the [[Spanish flu]] pandemic in [[Camp Funston]], Kansas, 1918]]
[[E. D. Morel]] had been extremely suspicious of the secret diplomacy pursued by the British Foreign Office, and in 1911 he showed how a secret understanding between Britain and France over the control of Morocco, followed by a campaign in the British press based on misleading Foreign Office briefings, had stitched up Germany and very nearly caused a European war. In February 1912, he warned that ''"no greater disaster could befall both peoples [Britain and Germany], and all that is most worthy of preservation in modern civilization, than a war between them".'' Convinced that Britain had struck a second secret agreement with France that would drag the nation into any war which involved Russia, he campaigned for such treaties to be made public; for recognition that Germany had been hoodwinked over Morocco; and for the British government to seek to broker a reconciliation between France and Germany. In response, British ministers lied. The prime minister and the foreign secretary repeatedly denied that there was any secret agreement with France. Only on the day war was declared did the foreign secretary admit that a treaty had been in place since 1906. It ensured that Britain would have to fight from the moment Russia mobilised. Morel continued to oppose the war, was reviled in the press and physically attacked seven times for it, and eventually was imprisoned in 1917.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mexfiles.net/2009/07/10/e-d-morel-and-writing-for-a-change/|date=11 11 July 2009|title=E.D. Morel and writing for a change|accessdate=July 23, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/11/first-world-war-edmund-morel|date=11 November 2008|title=Lest we forget: the generals chose to kill their sons rather than their policies|accessdate=July 23, 2011|location=London|work=The Guardian|first=George|last=Monbiot}}</ref>
Diseases flourished in the chaotic wartime conditions. In 1914 alone, louse-borne [[epidemic typhus]] killed 200,000 in Serbia.{{sfn|Tschanz}} Starting in early 1918, a major influenza epidemic known as [[Spanish flu]] spread across the world, accelerated by the movement of large numbers of soldiers, often crammed together in camps and transport ships with poor sanitation. The Spanish flu killed at least 17 to 25&nbsp;million people,{{sfn|Spreeuwenberg|2018|pp=2561–2567}}{{sfn|Knobler|Mack|Mahmoud|Lemon|2005}} including an estimated 2.64&nbsp;million Europeans and as many as 675,000 Americans.<ref name="Ansart et al. 2009">{{cite journal |last1=Ansart |first1=Séverine |last2=Pelat |first2=Camille |last3=Boelle |first3=Pierre-Yves |last4=Carrat |first4=Fabrice |last5=Flahault |first5=Antoine |first6=Alain-Jacques |last6=Valleron |title=Mortality burden of the 1918–1919 influenza pandemic in Europe |journal=[[Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses]] |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |volume=3 |issue=3 |date=May 2009 |doi=10.1111/j.1750-2659.2009.00080.x |pages=99–106 |pmid=19453486 |pmc=4634693}}</ref> Between 1915 and 1926, an epidemic of [[encephalitis lethargica]] affected nearly 5&nbsp;million people worldwide.<ref>K. von Economo.''Wiener klinische Wochenschrift'', 10 May 1917, 30: 581–585. Die Encephalitis lethargica. Leipzig and Vienna, Franz Deuticke, 1918.</ref><ref name=Reid_2001>{{cite journal |last=Reid |first=A. H. |last2=McCall |first2=S. |last3=Henry |first3=J. M. |last4=Taubenberger |first4=J. K. |title=Experimenting on the Past: The Enigma of von Economo's Encephalitis Lethargica |journal=J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol. |volume=60 |issue=7 |pages=663–670 |year=2001 |pmid=11444794 |doi=10.1093/jnen/60.7.663 |s2cid=40754090 |doi-access=free}}</ref>


Eight&nbsp;million [[Equus (genus)|equines]] mostly horses, donkeys and mules died, three-quarters of them from the extreme conditions they worked in.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-11-10 |title=War Horse: The True Story |url=https://www.albertaanimalhealthsource.ca/content/war-horse-true-story |access-date=2024-01-08 |website=Alberta Animal Health Source |language=en |archive-date=8 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240108180307/https://www.albertaanimalhealthsource.ca/content/war-horse-true-story |url-status=live}}</ref>
At the end of July, 1914, when it became clear to the British government that the country was on the verge of war with Germany, four senior members of the government, [[David Lloyd George]] (Chancellor of the Exchequer), [[Sir Charles Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet|Sir Charles Trevelyan]] (Parliamentary Secretary of the Board of Education), [[John Burns]] (President of the Local Government Board), and [[John Morley]] (Secretary of State for India), were opposed to the country becoming involved in a European war. They informed the Prime Minister, [[Herbert Asquith]], that they intended to resign over the issue. When war was declared on 4 August, three of the men, Trevelyan, Burns, and Morley, resigned, but Asquith managed to persuade Lloyd George, his Chancellor of the Exchequer, to change his mind.
The day after war was declared, Trevelyan began contacting friends about a new political organisation he intended to form to oppose the war. This included two pacifist members of the Liberal Party, [[Norman Angell]] and E. D. Morel, and [[Ramsay MacDonald]], the leader of the Labour Party. A meeting was held, and after considering names such as the Peoples' Emancipation Committee and the Peoples' Freedom League, they selected the [[Union of Democratic Control]].
The four men agreed that one of the main reasons for the conflict was the secret diplomacy of people like Britain's foreign secretary, [[Sir Edward Grey]].
The founders of the [[Union of Democratic Control]] produced a manifesto and invited people to support it. Over the next few weeks several leading figures joined the organisation. This included J. A. Hobson, Charles Buxton, Ottoline Morrell, Philip Morrell, Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, Arnold Rowntree, Morgan Philips Price, George Cadbury, Helena Swanwick, Fred Jowett, Tom Johnston, Bertrand Russell, Philip Snowden, Ethel Snowden, David Kirkwood, William Anderson, Mary Sheepshanks, Isabella Ford, H. H. Brailsford, Israel Zangwill, Margaret Llewelyn Davies, Konni Zilliacus, Margaret Sackville and Olive Schreiner.
<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWudc.htm|title=Union of Democratic Control|accessdate=July 23, 2011}}</ref>


=== War crimes ===
Ramsay MacDonald came under attack from newspapers because of his opposition to the First World War. On 1 October 1914, The Times published a leading article entitled "Helping the Enemy", in which it wrote that ''"no paid agent of Germany had served her better"'' than MacDonald had done. The newspaper also included an article by Ignatius Valentine Chirol, who argued: ''"We may be rightly proud of the tolerance we display towards even the most extreme licence of speech in ordinary times....Mr. MacDonald's case is a very different one. In time of actual war...Mr. MacDonald has sought to besmirch the reputation of his country by openly charging with disgraceful duplicity the Ministers who are its chosen representatives, and he has helped the enemy State....Such action oversteps the bounds of even the most excessive toleration, and cannot be properly or safely disregarded by the British Government or the British people."''
{{Main|War crimes in World War I}}


==== Chemical weapons in warfare ====
Many countries jailed those who spoke out against the conflict. These included [[Eugene Debs]] in the United States and [[Bertrand Russell]] in Britain. In the U.S., the [[Espionage Act of 1917]] and [[Sedition Act of 1918]] made it a federal crime to oppose military recruitment or make any statements deemed "disloyal". Publications at all critical of the government were removed from circulation by postal censors,<ref name = "Karp-PoW-1979"/> and many served long prison sentences for statements of fact deemed unpatriotic.
{{Main|Chemical weapons in World War I}}
[[File:French soldiers making a gas and flame attack on German trenches in Flanders. Belgium., ca. 1900 - 1982 - NARA - 530722.tif|thumb|French soldiers making a gas and flame attack on German trenches in Flanders]]


The German army was the first to successfully deploy chemical weapons during the Second Battle of Ypres (April–May 1915), after German scientists under the direction of [[Fritz Haber]] at the [[Kaiser Wilhelm Society|Kaiser Wilhelm Institute]] developed a method to weaponize [[chlorine]].{{efn|A [[Battle of Humin-Bolimów|German attempt]] to use chemical weapons on the Russian front in January 1915 failed to cause casualties.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of United States' Involvement in Chemical Warfare |url=https://www.denix.osd.mil/rcwmprogram/history/ |website=www.denix.osd.mil |access-date=1 March 2024 |archive-date=1 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301154930/https://www.denix.osd.mil/rcwmprogram/history/ |url-status=live}}</ref> }}<ref name="AJPH">{{cite journal |last=Fitzgerald |first=Gerard |title=Chemical Warfare and Medical Response During World War I |journal=[[American Journal of Public Health]] |volume=98 |issue=4 |pages=611–625 |date=April 2008 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.2007.11930 |doi-access=free |pmid=18356568 |pmc=2376985 |quote=<!--In the late afternoon of April 22, 1915, members of a special unit of the German Army opened the valves on more than 6000 steel cylinders arrayed in trenches along their defensive perimeter at Ypres, Belgium. Within 10 minutes, 160 tons of chlorine gas drifted over the opposing French trenches, engulfing all those downwind.&nbsp;... The attack that spring day, nonetheless, marked a turning point in military history, as it is recognized as the first successful use of lethal chemical weapons on the battlefield.&nbsp;... Although chemical weapons killed proportionally few soldiers in World War{{nbsp}}I (1914–1918), the psychological damage from 'gas fright' and the exposure of large numbers of soldiers, munitions workers, and civilians to chemical agents had significant public health consequences.&nbsp;... By the time of the armistice on 11 November 1918, the use of chemical weapons such as chlorine, phosgene, and mustard gas had resulted in more than 1.3 million casualties and approximately 90,000 deaths.-->}}</ref> The use of chemical weapons had been sanctioned by the German High Command to force Allied soldiers out of their entrenched positions, complementing rather than supplanting more lethal conventional weapons.<ref name="AJPH" /> Chemical weapons were deployed by all major belligerents throughout the war, inflicting approximately 1.3&nbsp;million casualties, of which about 90,000 were fatal.<ref name="AJPH" /> The use of chemical weapons in warfare was a direct violation of the [[Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907#Hague Convention of 1899|1899 Hague Declaration Concerning Asphyxiating Gases]] and the [[Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907|1907 Hague Convention on Land Warfare]], which prohibited their use.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/anatomyofnuremb00tayl/page/34 |title=The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir |first=Telford |last=Taylor |year=1993 |publisher=[[Little, Brown and Company]] |isbn=978-0-316-83400-1 |access-date=20 June 2013 |page=[https://archive.org/details/anatomyofnuremb00tayl/page/34 34] |via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=0PYx0j3wRvAC |page=7}} |title=Cornerstones of Security: Arms Control Treaties in the Nuclear Era |first1=Thomas |last1=Graham |first2=Damien J. |last2=Lavera |date=2003 |pages=7–9 |publisher=[[University of Washington Press]] |isbn=978-0-295-98296-0 |access-date=5 July 2013}}</ref>
A number of nationalists opposed intervention, particularly within states that the nationalists were hostile to. [[Irish nationalism|Irish nationalists]] staunchly opposed taking part in the intervention of the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]].<ref name=autogenerated5>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=584}}</ref> The war began amid the Home Rule crisis in [[Ireland]] that had begun in 1912, and by 1914 there was a serious possibility of an outbreak of [[civil war]] in Ireland between Irish unionists and republicans.<ref name=autogenerated5 /> Irish nationalists and Marxists attempted to pursue Irish independence, culminating in the [[Easter Rising]] of 1916, with Germany sending 20,000 rifles to Ireland in order to stir unrest in the United Kingdom.<ref name=autogenerated5 /> The UK government placed Ireland under [[martial law]] in response to the Easter Rising.<ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=586}}</ref>


==== Genocides by the Ottoman Empire ====
Other opposition came from [[conscientious objector]]s&nbsp;– some socialist, some religious&nbsp;– who refused to fight. In Britain 16,000 people asked for conscientious objector status.<ref>{{harvnb|Lehmann|1999|p=62}}</ref> Many suffered years of prison, including [[solitary confinement]] and bread and water diets. Even after the war, in Britain many job advertisements were marked "No conscientious objectors need apply".
{{Main|Armenian genocide|Sayfo|Greek genocide}}
{{See also|Late Ottoman genocides|Armenian genocide denial}}
[[File:Morgenthau336.jpg|thumb|Armenians killed during the Armenian genocide. Image taken from ''Ambassador Morgenthau's Story'', written by [[Henry Morgenthau Sr.]] and published in 1918.<ref>{{cite book |author=Henry Morgenthau |title=Ambassador Mogenthau's story |publisher=Brigham Young University |chapter-url=http://net.lib.byu.edu/~rdh7/wwi/comment/morgenthau/Morgen25.htm |year=1918 |chapter=XXV: Talaat Tells Why He "Deports" the Armenians |access-date=6 June 2012 |archive-date=12 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612014938/http://net.lib.byu.edu/~rdh7/wwi/comment/morgenthau/Morgen25.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>]]


The [[ethnic cleansing]] of the Ottoman Empire's Armenian population, including mass deportations and executions, during the final years of the Ottoman Empire is considered [[genocide]].<ref name="IAGSletter">{{cite web |url=http://www.genocidewatch.org/TurkishPMIAGSOpenLetterreArmenia6-13-05.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071006024502/http://www.genocidewatch.org/TurkishPMIAGSOpenLetterreArmenia6-13-05.htm |archive-date=6 October 2007 |author=International Association of Genocide Scholars |title=Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan |date=13 June 2005 |url-status=dead |author-link=International Association of Genocide Scholars}}</ref> The Ottomans carried out organised and systematic massacres of the Armenian population at the beginning of the war and manipulated acts of Armenian resistance by portraying them as rebellions to justify further extermination.<ref name=leverkun>{{cite book |last=Vartparonian |first=Paul Leverkuehn |others=translated by Alasdair Lean; with a preface by Jorge and a historical introduction by Hilmar |title=A German officer during the Armenian genocide: a biography of Max von Scheubner-Richter |year=2008 |publisher=Taderon Press for the Gomidas Institute |location=London |isbn=978-1-903656-81-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_hItAQAAIAAJ |author2=Kaiser |access-date=14 May 2016 |archive-date=26 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326152834/https://books.google.com/books?id=_hItAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref> In early 1915, several Armenians volunteered to join the Russian forces and the Ottoman government used this as a pretext to issue the [[Temporary Law of Deportation|Tehcir Law]] (Law on Deportation), which authorised the deportation of Armenians from the Empire's eastern provinces to Syria between 1915 and 1918. The Armenians were intentionally [[Death march|marched to death]] and a number were attacked by Ottoman brigands.{{sfn|Ferguson|2006|p=177}} While the exact number of deaths is unknown, the [[International Association of Genocide Scholars]] estimates around 1.5&nbsp;million.<ref name="IAGSletter" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.genocidescholars.org/sites/default/files/document%09%5Bcurrent-page%3A1%5D/documents/US%20Congress_%20Armenian%20Resolution.pdf |title=International Association of Genocide Scholars |access-date=12 March 2013 |archive-date=10 October 2017 |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20171010071506/http://www.genocidescholars.org/sites/default/files/document%09%5Bcurrent-page%3A1%5D/documents/US%20Congress_%20Armenian%20Resolution.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> The government of Turkey continues to [[Armenian genocide denial|deny the genocide]] to the present day, arguing that those who died were victims of inter-ethnic fighting, famine, or disease during World War&nbsp;I; these claims are rejected by most historians.{{sfn|Fromkin|1989|pp=212–215}}
The [[Central Asian Revolt]] started in the summer of 1916, when the [[Russian Empire]] government ended its exemption of Muslims from military service.<ref>[http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-12499.html Uzbeks]. Based on the Country Studies Series by Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress.</ref>


Other ethnic groups were similarly attacked by the Ottoman Empire during this period, including Assyrians and [[Greek genocide|Greeks]], and some scholars consider those events to be part of the same policy of extermination.<ref>{{cite web |author=International Association of Genocide Scholars |url=http://www.genocidescholars.org/images/Resolution_on_genocides_committed_by_the_Ottoman_Empire.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080422005726/http://genocidescholars.org/images/Resolution_on_genocides_committed_by_the_Ottoman_Empire.pdf |archive-date=22 April 2008 |url-status=dead |title=Resolution on genocides committed by the Ottoman empire}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Gaunt |first=David |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=4mug9LrpLKcC}} |title=Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I |location=Piscataway, New Jersey |publisher=Gorgias Press |year=2006}}{{dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/14623520801950820 |last1=Schaller |first1=Dominik J. |last2=Zimmerer |first2=Jürgen |year=2008 |title=Late Ottoman genocides: the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and Young Turkish population and extermination policies&nbsp;– introduction |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=7–14 |s2cid=71515470}}</ref> At least 250,000 Assyrian Christians, about half of the population, and 350,000–750,000 [[Greeks in Turkey|Anatolian]] and [[Pontic Greeks]] were killed between 1915 and 1922.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Whitehorn |first1=Alan |title=The Armenian Genocide: The Essential Reference Guide: The Essential Reference Guide |date=2015 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |pages=83, 218 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0vrnCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA218 |isbn=978-1-61069-688-3 |access-date=11 November 2018 |archive-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801142141/https://books.google.com/books?id=0vrnCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA218 |url-status=live}}</ref>
In 1917, a series of [[French Army Mutinies (1917)|mutinies in the French army]] led to dozens of soldiers being executed and many more imprisoned.


=== Prisoners of war ===
In [[Milan]] in May 1917, [[Bolshevik]] revolutionaries organised and engaged in rioting calling for an end to the war, and managed to close down factories and stop public transportation.<ref name="Seton_6">Seton-Watson, Christopher. 1967. ''Italy from Liberalism to Fascism: 1870 to 1925.'' London: Methuen & Co. Ltd. Pp. 471</ref> The Italian army was forced to enter [[Milan]] with tanks and machine guns to face Bolsheviks and [[Anarchism|anarchists]], who fought violently until May 23 when the army gained control of the city. Almost fifty people (including three Italian soldiers) were killed and over 800 people arrested.<ref name="Seton_6"/>
{{Main|Prisoners of war in World War I}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R72520, Kiel, Novemberrevolution, Matrosenaufstand.jpg|thumb|[[German Revolution]], November 1918]]
[[File:1stGazaBritishPrisoners00118v.jpg|thumb|British prisoners guarded by Ottoman forces after the [[First Battle of Gaza]] in 1917]]
The [[Conscription Crisis of 1917]] in [[Canada]] erupted when conservative Prime Minister [[Robert Borden]] brought in compulsory military service over the objection of French-speaking [[Quebec]]ers.<ref>"[http://history.cbc.ca/history/?MIval=EpisContent.html&series_id=1&episode_id=12&chapter_id=2&page_id=3&lang=E The Conscription Crisis]". CBC.ca.</ref> Out of approximately 625,000 Canadians who served, about 60,000 were killed and another 173,000 wounded.<ref>{{Citation| title=World War I| encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online| publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica| url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/91513/Canada/43004/World-War-I|accessdate=2009-12-05| postscript=.}}</ref>


About 8&nbsp;million soldiers surrendered and were held in [[Prisoner-of-war camp|POW camps]] during the war. All nations pledged to follow the [[Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907|Hague Conventions]] on fair treatment of [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]], and the survival rate for POWs was generally much higher than that of combatants at the front.{{sfn|Phillimore|Bellot|1919|pp=4–64}}
In 1917, Emperor [[Charles I of Austria]] secretly entered into peace negotiations with the Allied powers, with his brother-in-law [[Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma|Sixtus]] as intermediary, without the knowledge of his ally Germany. He failed, however, because of the resistance of Italy.<ref>"[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/106679/Charles-I#ref214141 Charles (I) (emperor of Austria)]". "Encyclopædia Britannica."</ref>


Around 25–31% of Russian losses (as a proportion of those captured, wounded, or killed) were to prisoner status; for Austria-Hungary 32%; for Italy 26%; for France 12%; for Germany 9%; for Britain 7%. Prisoners from the Allied armies totalled about 1.4&nbsp;million (not including Russia, which lost 2.5–3.5&nbsp;million soldiers as prisoners). From the Central Powers, about 3.3&nbsp;million soldiers became prisoners; most of them surrendered to Russians.{{sfn|Ferguson|1999|pp=368–369}}
In September 1917, [[Russian Expeditionary Force in France|Russian soldiers in France]] began questioning why they were fighting for the French at all and mutinied.<ref>{{harvnb|Cockfield|1997|pp=171–237}}</ref> In Russia, opposition to the war led to soldiers also establishing their own revolutionary committees, which helped foment the [[October Revolution]] of 1917, with the call going up for "bread, land, and peace". The Bolsheviks agreed to a peace treaty with Germany, the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk|peace of Brest-Litovsk]], despite its harsh conditions.


== Soldiers' experiences ==
In northern [[German Empire|Germany]], the end of October 1918, saw the beginning of the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919]]. Units of the German Navy refused to set sail for a last, large-scale operation in a war which they saw as good as lost; this initiated the uprising. The [[Wilhelmshaven mutiny|sailors' revolt]] which then ensued in the naval ports of [[Wilhelmshaven]] and [[Kiel]] spread across the whole country within days and led to the proclamation of a republic on 9 November 1918 and shortly thereafter to the abdication of [[Kaiser Wilhelm II]].
Allied personnel was around 42,928,000, while Central personnel was near 25,248,000.<ref name="Tucker 2005 2732" />{{Sfn|Tucker|Roberts|2005|p=2733}} British soldiers of the war were initially volunteers but were increasingly [[conscription|conscripted]]. Surviving veterans returning home often found they could discuss their experiences only among themselves, so formed "veterans' associations" or "Legions".
=== Conscription ===
{{Further|Conscription Crisis of 1917|Conscription Crisis of 1918|World War I conscription in Australia|Recruitment to the British Army during World War I|Conscription in the United States#World War I}}
[[File:I want you for U.S. Army 3b48465u edit.jpg|thumb|U.S. Army recruiting poster with [[Uncle Sam]], 1917|upright=.8]]


Conscription was common in most European countries. However, it was controversial in English-speaking countries,{{sfn |Havighurst |1985 |p=131}} It was especially unpopular among minority ethnicities—especially the Irish Catholics in Ireland,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ward |first=Alan J. |year=1974 |title=Lloyd George and the 1918 Irish conscription crisis |journal=Historical Journal |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=107–129 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X00005689 |s2cid=162360809}}</ref> Australia,<ref>J.M. Main, ''Conscription: the Australian debate, 1901–1970'' (1970) [http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:338722 abstract] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20150707113023/http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:338722|date=7 July 2015}}</ref><ref name="parl">{{cite news |date=4 May 2015 |title=Commonwealth Parliament from 1901 to World War I |publisher=Parliament of Australia |url=https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1415/ComParl |url-status=live |access-date=15 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215065914/https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1415/ComParl |archive-date=15 December 2018}}</ref> and the French Catholics in Canada.<ref>{{cite news |date=2001 |title=The Conscription Crisis |publisher=CBC |url=http://www.cbc.ca/history/EPISCONTENTSE1EP12CH2PA3LE.html |url-status=live |access-date=14 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140713134338/http://www.cbc.ca/history/EPISCONTENTSE1EP12CH2PA3LE.html |archive-date=13 July 2014}}</ref><ref>Chelmsford, J.E. "Clergy and Man-Power", ''[[The Times]]'' 15 April 1918, p. 12</ref>
====Conscription====
As the war slowly turned into a [[Attrition warfare|war of attrition]], [[conscription]] was implemented in some countries. This issue was particularly explosive in Canada and Australia. In the former it opened a political gap between French-Canadians, who claimed their true loyalty was to Canada and not the British Empire, and members of the Anglophone majority, who saw the war as a duty to both Britain and Canada. Prime Minister [[Robert Borden]] pushed through a [[Military Service Act (Canada)|Military Service Act]], provoking the [[Conscription Crisis of 1917]]. In Australia, a sustained pro-conscription campaign by Prime Minister [[Billy Hughes]] caused a split in the [[Australian Labor Party]], so Hughes formed the [[Nationalist Party of Australia]] in 1917 to pursue the matter. Nevertheless, the [[labour movement]], the Catholic Church, and [[Irish republican|Irish nationalist]] expatriates successfully opposed Hughes' push, which was [[Australian plebiscite, 1917|rejected in two plebiscites]].


In the US, conscription began in 1917 and was generally well-received, with a few pockets of opposition in isolated rural areas.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chambers |first=John Whiteclay |url=https://archive.org/details/toraisearmydr00cham |title=To Raise an Army: The Draft Comes to Modern America |publisher=The Free Press |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-02-905820-6 |location=New York |url-access=registration}}</ref> The administration decided to rely primarily on conscription, rather than voluntary enlistment, to raise military manpower after only 73,000 volunteers enlisted out of the initial 1 million target in the first six weeks of war.<ref>{{cite book |last=Zinn |first=Howard |title=A People's History of the United States |title-link=A People's History of the United States |publisher=Harper Collins |year=2003 |page=134|isbn=9780060528423}}</ref>
Conscription put into uniform nearly every physically fit man in Britain, six of ten million eligible. Of these, about 750,000 lost their lives and 1,700,000 were wounded. Most deaths were to young unmarried men; however, 160,000 wives lost husbands and 300,000 children lost fathers.<ref>{{harvnb|Havighurst|1985|p=131}}</ref>


=== Military attachés and war correspondents ===
==Aftermath==
{{Main|List of military attachés in World War I|List of military attachés and war correspondents in World War I}}
{{Main|Aftermath of World War I}}


Military and civilian observers from every major power closely followed the course of the war.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pedersen |first=Sarah |date=2002-05-01 |title=A Surfeit of Socks? The Impact of the First World War on Women Correspondents to Daily Newspapers |url=https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/jshs.2002.22.1.50 |journal=Journal of Scottish Historical Studies |language=en |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=50–72 |doi=10.3366/jshs.2002.22.1.50 |pmid=19489175 |hdl=10059/294 |issn=1748-538X |access-date=10 June 2024 |archive-date=10 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610092046/https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/jshs.2002.22.1.50 |url-status=live |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Many were able to report on events from a perspective somewhat akin to modern "[[embedded journalism|embedded]]" positions within the opposing land and naval forces.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Trumpener |first=Ulrich |date=1987-11-04 |title=The Service Attachés and Military Plenipotentiaries of Imperial Germany, 1871–1918 |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07075332.1987.9640462 |journal=The International History Review |language=en |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=621–638 |doi=10.1080/07075332.1987.9640462 |issn=0707-5332 |access-date=10 June 2024 |archive-date=1 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701113518/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07075332.1987.9640462 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Craig |first=Gordon A. |date=1949 |title=Military Diplomats in the Prussian and German Service: The Attachés, 1816- 1914 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2144182 |journal=Political Science Quarterly |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=65–94 |doi=10.2307/2144182 |jstor=2144182 |issn=0032-3195 |access-date=10 June 2024 |archive-date=1 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701111521/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2144182 |url-status=live }}</ref>
===Health and economic effects===
[[File:0 Verdun - Cimetière de Douaumont (1).jpg|thumb|The French military cemetery with [[Douaumont ossuary]], which contains the remains of more than 130,000 unknown soldiers.]]


== Economic effects ==
No other war had changed the map of Europe so dramatically. Four empires disappeared: the German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian. Four dynasties, together with their ancillary aristocracies, all fell after the war: the [[House of Hohenzollern|Hohenzollerns]], the [[Habsburg]]s, the [[Romanov]]s, and the [[Ottoman Dynasty|Ottomans]]. Belgium and Serbia were badly damaged, as was France, with 1.4&nbsp;million soldiers dead,<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7199127.stm "France's oldest WWI veteran dies"], ''BBC News'', 20 Jan 2008.</ref> not counting other casualties. Germany and Russia were similarly affected.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=2YqjfHLyyj8C&pg=PA273&dq&hl=en#v=onepage&q=&f=false Spencer Tucker (2005), ''Encyclopedia of World War I''], [[ABC-CLIO]], p. 273. ISBN 1851094202</ref>
{{Main|Economic history of World War I|Post–World War I recession}}
{{Further|Home front during World War I|Financial crisis of 1914}}


Macro- and micro-economic consequences devolved from the war. Families were altered by the departure of many men. With the death or absence of the primary wage earner, women were forced into the workforce in unprecedented numbers. At the same time, the industry needed to replace the lost labourers sent to war. This aided the struggle for [[suffragette|voting rights for women]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Noakes |first=Lucy |title=Women in the British Army: War and the Gentle Sex, 1907–1948 |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-415-39056-9 |location=Abingdon, England |page=48}}</ref>[[File:The Girl Behind the Gun 1915.jpg|thumb|Poster showing women workers, 1915]]
The war had profound economic consequences. Of the 60&nbsp;million European soldiers who were mobilised from 1914 to 1918, 8&nbsp;million were killed, 7&nbsp;million were permanently disabled, and 15&nbsp;million were seriously injured. Germany lost 15.1% of its active male population, Austria–Hungary lost 17.1%, and France lost 10.5%.<ref>{{harvnb|Kitchen|2000|p=22}}</ref> About 750,000 German civilians died from [[starvation]] caused by the British blockade during the war.<ref>{{citation| quote=Die miserable Versorgung mit Lebensmitteln erreichte 1916/17 im "Kohlrübenwinter" einen dramatischen Höhepunkt. Während des Ersten Weltkriegs starben in Deutschland rund 750.000 Menschen an Unterernährung und an deren Folgen.| url=http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/wk1/wirtschaft/versorgung/index.html| title=Lebensmittelversorgung| isbn=3515048057| publisher=German Historical Museum| work=[http://www.dhm.de/lemo/einfuehrung.html LeMO: Lebendiges virtuelles Museum Online]| language=German| accessdate=2009-11-12}}</ref> By the end of the war, famine had killed approximately 100,000&nbsp;people in Lebanon.<ref>{{harvnb|Saadi}}</ref> The best estimates of the death toll from the [[Russian famine of 1921]] run from 5&nbsp;million to 10&nbsp;million people.<ref>{{citation| url=http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/6731711.html| publisher=Hoover Institution| work=Hoover Digest| title=Food as a Weapon}}</ref> By 1922, there were between 4.5 million and 7 million homeless children in Russia as a result of nearly a decade of devastation from World War I, the Russian Civil War, and the subsequent famine of 1920–1922.<ref>{{harvnb|Ball|1996|pp=16, 211}}</ref> Numerous anti-Soviet Russians fled the country after the Revolution; by the 1930s the northern Chinese city of [[Harbin]] had 100,000&nbsp;Russians.<ref>{{citation| url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5037/is_199501/ai_n18298515/| title=The Russians are coming (Russian influence in Harbin, Manchuria, China; economic relations)| publisher=The Economist (US)| date=January 1995| accessdate=2009-11-17}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> Thousands more emigrated to France, England, and the United States.


In all nations, the government's share of GDP increased, surpassing 50% in both Germany and France and nearly reaching that level in Britain. To pay for purchases in the US, Britain cashed in its extensive investments in American railroads and then began borrowing heavily from [[Wall Street]]. President Wilson was on the verge of cutting off the loans in late 1916 but allowed a great increase in [[Federal government of the United States|US government]] lending to the Allies. After 1919, the US demanded repayment of these loans. The repayments were, in part, funded by German reparations that, in turn, were supported by American loans to Germany. This circular system collapsed in 1931 and some loans were never repaid. Britain still owed the United States $4.4 [[1,000,000,000|billion]]{{efn|10{{sup|9}} in this context&nbsp;– see [[Long and short scales]]}} of World War{{nbsp}}I debt in 1934; the last installment was finally paid in 2015.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cosgrave |first1=Jenny |date=10 March 2015 |title=UK finally finishes paying for World War I |language=en |work=CNBC |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/09/uk-finally-finishes-paying-for-world-war-i.html |access-date=20 March 2023 |archive-date=20 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320194802/https://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/09/uk-finally-finishes-paying-for-world-war-i.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
Diseases flourished in the chaotic wartime conditions. In 1914 alone, louse-borne [[epidemic typhus]] killed 200,000 in Serbia.<ref>{{harvnb|Tschanz}}</ref> From 1918 to 1922, Russia had about 25&nbsp;million infections and 3 million deaths from epidemic typhus.<ref>{{harvnb|Conlon}}</ref> Whereas before World War I Russia had about 3.5 million cases of [[malaria]], its people suffered more than 13 million cases in 1923.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=HcOAnAINJZAC&pg=PA65&dq&hl=en#v=onepage&q=&f=false William Hay Taliaferro, ''Medicine and the War''],(1972), p.65. ISBN 0836926293</ref> In addition, a major influenza epidemic spread around the world. Overall, the [[1918 flu pandemic]] killed at least 50 million people.<ref>{{harvnb|Knobler|2005}}</ref><ref>{{citation| url=http://www.influenzareport.com/ir/overview.htm| title=Influenza Report| accessdate=2009-11-17}}</ref>


Britain turned to her colonies for help in obtaining essential war materials whose supply from traditional sources had become difficult. Geologists such as [[Albert Kitson]] were called on to find new resources of precious minerals in the African colonies. Kitson discovered important new deposits of [[manganese]], used in munitions production, in the [[Gold Coast (region)|Gold Coast]].{{sfn |Green |1938 |p=cxxvi}}
Lobbying by [[Chaim Weizmann]] and fear that American Jews would encourage the USA to support Germany culminated in the British government's [[Balfour Declaration of 1917]], endorsing creation of a [[Jewish homeland]] in [[Palestine]].<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/50162/Balfour-Declaration "Balfour Declaration" (United Kingdom 1917)], ''Encyclopaedia Britannica''.</ref> A total of more than 1,172,000 Jewish soldiers served in the Allied and Central Power forces in World War I, including 275,000 in Austria-Hungary and 450,000 in Czarist Russia.<ref>"[http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Jewish+History/Zionist+Institutions/JAFI+Timeline/1917-1919.htm The Jewish Agency for Israel Timeline]"</ref>
[[File:CampFunstonKS-InfluenzaHospital.jpg|thumb|Emergency military hospital during the [[Spanish flu]] pandemic, which killed about 675,000 people in the [[United States]] alone. Camp Funston, Kansas, 1918]]
The social disruption and widespread violence of the [[Revolution of 1917]] and the ensuing [[Russian Civil War]] sparked more than 2,000 [[pogrom]]s in the former Russian Empire, mostly in the [[Ukraine after the Russian Revolution|Ukraine]].<ref>{{citation| url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0016_0_15895.html| title=Pogroms| work=[[Encyclopaedia Judaica]]| accessdate=2009-11-17}}</ref> An estimated 60,000–200,000&nbsp;civilian Jews were killed in the atrocities.<ref>{{citation| url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/modtimeline.html| title=Jewish Modern and Contemporary Periods (ca. 1700–1917)| work=Jewish Virtual Library| accessdate=2009-11-17}}</ref>


Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles (the so-called "war guilt" clause) stated Germany accepted responsibility for "all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Weimar Republic Sourcebook |publisher=University of California Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-520-90960-1 |editor1=Anton Kaes |page=8 |chapter=The Treaty of Versailles: The Reparations Clauses |access-date=11 December 2015 |editor2=Martin Jay |editor3=Edward Dimendberg |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J4A1gt4-VCsC&pg=PA8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160115140046/https://books.google.com/books?id=J4A1gt4-VCsC&pg=PA8 |archive-date=15 January 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> It was worded as such to lay a legal basis for reparations, and a similar clause was inserted in the treaties with Austria and Hungary. However, neither of them interpreted it as an admission of war guilt.<ref>{{harvnb|Marks|1978|pp=231–232}}</ref> In 1921, the total reparation sum was placed at 132&nbsp;billion gold marks. However, "Allied experts knew that Germany could not pay" this sum. The total sum was divided into three categories, with the third being "deliberately designed to be chimerical" and its "primary function was to mislead public opinion&nbsp;... into believing the 'total sum was being maintained.{{'"}}<ref name="Marks237">{{harvnb|Marks|1978|p=237}}</ref> Thus, 50&nbsp;billion gold marks (12.5&nbsp;billion dollars) "represented the actual Allied assessment of German capacity to pay" and "therefore&nbsp;... represented the total German reparations" figure that had to be paid.<ref name="Marks237" />
In the aftermath of World War I, Greece [[Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)|fought]] against Turkish nationalists led by [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk|Mustafa Kemal]], a war which resulted in a [[Population exchange between Greece and Turkey|massive population exchange between the two countries]] under the [[Treaty of Lausanne]].<ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,451140,00.html "The Diaspora Welcomes the Pope"], ''Der Spiegel'' Online. November 28, 2006.</ref> According to various sources,<ref>[[R. J. Rummel]], "The Holocaust in Comparative and Historical Perspective," 1998, ''Idea Journal of Social Issues'', Vol.3 no.2</ref> several hundred thousand [[Pontic Greeks]] died during this period.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/17/nyregion/a-few-words-in-greek-tell-of-a-homeland-lost.html Chris Hedges, "A Few Words in Greek Tell of a Homeland Lost"], ''The New York Times'', 17 Sep 2000</ref>


This figure could be paid in cash or in-kind (coal, timber, chemical dyes, etc.). Some of the territory lost—via the Treaty of Versailles—was credited towards the reparation figure as were other acts such as helping to restore the Library of Louvain.<ref>{{harvnb|Marks|1978|pp=223–234}}</ref> By 1929, the [[Great Depression]] caused political chaos throughout the world.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stone |first=Norman |title=World War One: A Short History |publisher=Penguin |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-14-103156-9 |location=London}}</ref> In 1932 the payment of reparations was suspended by the international community, by which point Germany had paid only the equivalent of 20.598&nbsp;billion gold marks.<ref>{{harvnb|Marks|1978|p=233}}</ref> With the rise of [[Adolf Hitler]], all bonds and loans that had been issued and taken out during the 1920s and early 1930s were cancelled. [[David A. Andelman|David Andelman]] notes "Refusing to pay doesn't make an agreement null and void. The bonds, the agreement, still exist." Thus, following the Second World War, at the [[London Agreement on German External Debts|London Conference]] in 1953, Germany agreed to resume payment on the money borrowed. On 3{{nbsp}}October 2010, Germany made the final payment on these bonds.{{efn|World War I officially ended when Germany paid off the final amount of reparations imposed on it by the Allies.<ref>{{Cite news |title=First World War officially ends |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/8029948/First-World-War-officially-ends.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/8029948/First-World-War-officially-ends.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |website=The Telegraph |access-date=15 March 2017 |quote=<!--The final payment of £59.5&nbsp;million, writes off the crippling debt that was the price for one world war and laid the foundations for another.--> |first=Allan |last=Hall |date=28 September 2010 |location=Berlin}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2023140,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101005193702/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2023140,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 October 2010 |title=Why Did World War I Just End? |last1=Suddath |first1=Claire |date=4 October 2010 |magazine=Time |access-date=1 July 2013 |quote=<!--World War{{nbsp}}I ended over the weekend. Germany made its final reparations-related payment for the Great War on 3 Oct, nearly 92 years after the country's defeat by the Allies.-->}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/30/world-war-i-to-finally-end-this-weekend/ |title=World War I to finally end for Germany this weekend |date=30 September 2010 |work=CNN |access-date=15 March 2017 |quote=<!--Germany and the Allies can call it even on World War I this weekend.--> |archive-date=16 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170316204156/http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/30/world-war-i-to-finally-end-this-weekend/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26macmillan.html |title=Ending the War to End All Wars |date=25 December 2010 |work=The New York Times |access-date=15 March 2017 |quote=<!--NOT many people noticed at the time, but World War I ended this year.--> |first=Margaret |last=MacMillan |archive-date=16 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170316113814/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26macmillan.html |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
===Peace treaties and national boundaries===
After the war, the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] imposed a series of peace treaties on the Central Powers. The 1919 [[Treaty of Versailles]] officially ended the war. Building on [[Fourteen Points|Wilson's 14th point]], the Treaty of Versailles also brought into being the [[League of Nations]] on 28 June 1919.<ref>{{harvnb|Magliveras|1999|pp=8–12}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Northedge|1986|pp=35–36}}</ref>


The Australian prime minister, [[Billy Hughes]], wrote to the British prime minister, [[David Lloyd George]], "You have assured us that you cannot get better terms. I much regret it, and hope even now that some way may be found of securing agreement for demanding reparation commensurate with the tremendous sacrifices made by the British Empire and her Allies." Australia received £5,571,720 in war reparations, but the direct cost of the war to Australia had been £376,993,052, and, by the mid-1930s, repatriation pensions, war gratuities, interest and sinking fund charges were £831,280,947.{{sfn |Souter |2000 |p=354}}
In signing the treaty, Germany acknowledged responsibility for the war, and agreed to pay enormous [[war reparations]] and award territory to the victors. The "Guilt Thesis" became a controversial explanation of later events among analysts in Britain and the United States. The Treaty of Versailles caused enormous bitterness in Germany, which nationalist movements, especially the [[Nazi]]s, exploited with a [[conspiracy theory]] they called the ''Dolchstosslegende'' ([[Stab-in-the-back legend]]). The [[Weimar Republic]] lost the former [[German colonial empire|colonial possessions]] and was saddled with accepting blame for the war, as well as paying punitive [[World War I reparations|reparations]] for it. Unable to pay them with exports (as a result of territorial losses and postwar recession),<ref>{{harvnb|Keynes|1920}}</ref> Germany did so by borrowing from the United States. Runaway inflation in the 1920s contributed to the economic collapse of the [[Weimar Republic]], and the payment of reparations was suspended in 1931 following the [[Stock Market Crash]] of 1929 and the beginnings of the [[Great Depression]] worldwide.
[[File:Smyrna-massacre-refugees port-1922.jpg|thumb|left|Greek refugees from [[Smyrna]], Turkey, 1922]]
Austria–Hungary was partitioned into several successor states, including Austria, Hungary, [[Czechoslovakia]], and [[Yugoslavia]], largely but not entirely along ethnic lines. [[Transylvania]] was shifted from [[Hungary]] to [[Greater Romania]]. The details were contained in the [[Treaty of Saint-Germain]] and the [[Treaty of Trianon]]. As a result of the [[Treaty of Trianon]], 3.3 million Hungarians came under foreign rule. Although the Hungarians made up 54% of the population of the pre-war [[Kingdom of Hungary]], only 32% of its territory was left to Hungary. Between 1920 and 1924, 354,000 Hungarians fled former Hungarian territories attached to [[Romania]], [[Czechoslovakia]], and [[Yugoslavia]].


== Support and opposition for the war ==
The Russian Empire, which had withdrawn from the war in 1917 after the [[October Revolution]], lost much of its western frontier as the newly independent nations of [[Estonia]], Finland, [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], and [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]] were carved from it. [[Bessarabia]] was re-attached to [[Greater Romania]], as it had been a Romanian territory for more than a thousand years.<ref>{{harvnb|Clark|1927}}</ref>


=== Support ===
The Ottoman Empire disintegrated, and much of its non-[[Anatolia]]n territory was awarded to various Allied powers as protectorates. The Turkish core was reorganised as the [[Turkey|Republic of Turkey]]. The Ottoman Empire was to be partitioned by the [[Treaty of Sèvres]] of 1920. This treaty was never ratified by the Sultan and was rejected by the [[Turkish republican movement]], leading to the [[Turkish Independence War]] and, ultimately, to the 1923 [[Treaty of Lausanne]].
{{Further|Propaganda in World War I|British propaganda during World War I|Propaganda and censorship in Italy during the First World War}}
[[File:Affiche-guerre Femmes-au-travail.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|left|Poster urging women to join the British war effort, published by the [[YWCA|Young Women's Christian Association]], 1915]]


In the Balkans, [[Yugoslavism|Yugoslav nationalists]] such as the leader, [[Ante Trumbić]], strongly supported the war, desiring the freedom of [[Yugoslavs]] from Austria-Hungary and other foreign powers and the creation of an independent Yugoslavia. The [[Yugoslav Committee]], led by Trumbić, was formed in Paris on 30 April 1915 but shortly moved its office to London.{{sfn |Tucker |Roberts |2005 |p=1189}} In April 1918, the Rome Congress of Oppressed Nationalities met, including [[Czechoslovakism|Czechoslovak]], Italian, [[Polish people|Polish]], [[Transylvania]]n, and Yugoslav representatives who urged the Allies to support national [[self-determination]] for the peoples residing within Austria-Hungary.<ref name=autogenerated3 />
==Legacy==
{|class="toccolours" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 99%; background:#white; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
|style="text-align: left;"| ''..."Strange, friend," I said, "Here is no cause to mourn."''
''"None," said the other, "Save the undone years"...''
|-
|style="text-align: left;" |— [[Wilfred Owen]], ''Strange Meeting'', 1918<ref name="Wilfred Owen 2004"/>
|}
{{Main|World War I in popular culture|War memorial}}
The first tentative efforts to comprehend the meaning and consequences of modern warfare began during the initial phases of the war, and this process continued throughout and after the end of hostilities.


In the Middle East, [[Arab nationalism]] soared in Ottoman territories in response to the rise of Turkish nationalism during the war, with Arab nationalist leaders advocating the creation of a [[Pan-Arabism|pan-Arab]] state. In 1916, the Arab Revolt began in Ottoman-controlled territories of the Middle East to achieve independence.{{sfn |Tucker |Roberts |2005 |p=117}}
===Memorials===
[[File:Beaumont hamel newfoundland memorial.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Beaumont Hamel Newfoundland Memorial]] in the Somme.]]
Memorials were erected in thousands of villages and towns. Close to battlefields, those buried in improvised burial grounds were gradually moved to formal graveyards under the care of organisations such as the [[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]], the [[American Battle Monuments Commission]], the [[German War Graves Commission]], and [[Le Souvenir français]]. Many of these graveyards also have central monuments to the missing or unidentified dead, such as the [[Menin Gate]] memorial and the [[Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme]].


In East Africa, [[Lij Iyasu of Ethiopia|Iyasu V]] of [[Ethiopian Empire|Ethiopia]] was supporting the [[Dervish movement (Somali)|Dervish state]] who were at war with the British in the [[Somaliland campaign]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mukhtar |first1=Mohammed |title=Historical Dictionary of Somalia |year=2003 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |page=126 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DPwOsOcNy5YC&q=iyasu+dervish&pg=PA126 |access-date=28 February 2017 |isbn=978-0-8108-6604-1 |archive-date=13 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413230529/https://books.google.com/books?id=DPwOsOcNy5YC&q=iyasu+dervish&pg=PA126 |url-status=live }}</ref> Von Syburg, the German envoy in [[Addis Ababa]], said, "now the time has come for Ethiopia to regain the coast of the Red Sea driving the Italians home, to restore the Empire to its ancient size." The Ethiopian Empire was on the verge of entering World War{{nbsp}}I on the side of the Central Powers before Iyasu's overthrow at the [[Battle of Segale]] due to Allied pressure on the Ethiopian aristocracy.<ref>{{cite news |title=How Ethiopian prince scuppered Germany's WW1 plans |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-37428682 |access-date=28 February 2017 |agency=BBC News |date=25 September 2016 |archive-date=13 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413121137/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-37428682 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:John McCrae in uniform circa 1914.jpg|thumb|upright|Surgeon Lt. Col. [[John McCrae]] of Canada, author of ''[[In Flanders Fields]]'', died in 1918 of [[pneumonia]].]]
[[File:BVRC-Great-War-Contingent 1914.jpg|thumb|[[Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps]] First Contingent in Bermuda, winter 1914–1915, before joining [[Royal Lincolnshire Regiment|1 Lincolnshire Regiment]] in France in June 1915. The dozen remaining after [[Capture of Gueudecourt|Guedecourt]] on 25 September 1916, merged with a Second Contingent. The two contingents suffered 75% casualties.]]
On 3 May 1915, during the [[Second Battle of Ypres]], Lieutenant Alexis Helmer was killed. At his graveside, his friend [[John McCrae]], M.D., of [[Guelph]], [[Ontario]], Canada, wrote the memorable poem ''[[In Flanders Fields]]'' as a salute to those who perished in the Great War. Published in [[Punch Magazine|''Punch'']] on 8 December 1915, it is still recited today, especially on [[Armistice Day|Remembrance Day]] and [[Memorial Day]].<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.do?id=10200 |title=John McCrae |publisher=Historica }}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&ArticleId=A0004849 |author=Evans David |title=John McCrae |work=Canadian Encyclopedia}}</ref>


Several socialist parties initially supported the war when it began in August 1914.<ref name=autogenerated3>{{harvnb |Tucker |Roberts |2005 |p=1001}}</ref> But European socialists split on national lines, with the concept of [[class conflict]] held by radical socialists such as Marxists and [[Syndicalism|syndicalists]] being overborne by their patriotic support for the war.{{sfn |Tucker |Roberts |2005 |p=1069}} Once the war began, Austrian, British, French, German, and Russian socialists followed the rising nationalist current by supporting their countries' intervention in the war.{{sfn|Tucker |Roberts |2005 |p=884}}
[[Liberty Memorial]] in [[Kansas City, Missouri]], is a United States memorial dedicated to all Americans who served in World War I. The site for the Liberty Memorial was dedicated on November 1, 1921. On this day, the supreme Allied commanders spoke to a crowd of more than 100,000 people. It was the only time in history these leaders were together in one place. In attendance were Lieutenant General Baron Jacques of Belgium; General [[Armando Diaz]] of Italy; Marshal [[Ferdinand Foch]] of France; General Pershing of the United States; and Admiral [[David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty|D. R. Beatty]] of Great Britain. After three years of construction, the [[Liberty Memorial]] was completed and President [[Calvin Coolidge]] delivered the dedication speech to a crowd of 150,000 people in 1926.


[[Italian nationalism]] was stirred by the outbreak of the war and was initially strongly supported by a variety of political factions. One of the most prominent and popular Italian nationalist supporters of the war was [[Gabriele D'Annunzio]], who promoted [[Italian irredentism]] and helped sway the Italian public to support intervention in the war.{{sfn |Tucker |Roberts |2005 |p=335}} The [[Italian Liberal Party]], under the leadership of [[Paolo Boselli]], promoted intervention in the war on the side of the Allies and used the Dante Alighieri Society to promote Italian nationalism.{{sfn |Tucker |Roberts |2005 |p=219}} Italian socialists were divided on whether to support the war or oppose it; some were militant supporters of the war, including [[Benito Mussolini]] and [[Leonida Bissolati]].{{sfn |Tucker |Roberts |2005 |p=209}} However, the [[Italian Socialist Party]] decided to oppose the war after anti-militarist protestors were killed, resulting in a [[general strike]] called [[Red Week (Italy)|Red Week]].<ref name=autogenerated6>{{harvnb |Tucker |Roberts |2005 |p=596}}</ref> The Italian Socialist Party purged itself of pro-war nationalist members, including Mussolini.<ref name=autogenerated6 /> Mussolini formed the pro-interventionist ''[[Il Popolo d'Italia]]'' and the ''Fasci Rivoluzionario d'Azione Internazionalista'' ("Revolutionary [[Fascio|Fasci]] for International Action") in October 1914 that later developed into the ''[[Fasci Italiani di Combattimento]]'' in 1919, the origin of fascism.{{sfn |Tucker |Roberts |2005 |p=826}} Mussolini's nationalism enabled him to raise funds from [[Gio. Ansaldo & C.|Ansaldo]] (an armaments firm) and other companies to create ''Il Popolo d'Italia'' to convince socialists and revolutionaries to support the war.<ref>[[Denis Mack Smith]]. 1997. ''Modern Italy: A Political History''. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. p. 284.</ref>
Liberty Memorial is also home to [[National World War I Museum|The National World War I Museum]], the only museum dedicated solely to World War I in the United States.


===Cultural memory===
==== Patriotic funds ====
On both sides, there was large-scale fundraising for soldiers' welfare, their dependents and those injured. The [[Nail Men]] were a German example. Around the British Empire, there were many patriotic funds, including the [[Royal Patriotic Fund Corporation]], [[Canadian Patriotic Fund]], [[Queensland Patriotic Fund]] and, by 1919, there were 983 funds in New Zealand.<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 Sep 1939 |title=No Immediate Need. Te Awamutu Courier |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TAWC19390922.2.37 |access-date=2022-06-16 |website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz |archive-date=16 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220616072636/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TAWC19390922.2.37 |url-status=live }}</ref> At the start of the next world war the New Zealand funds were reformed, having been criticised as overlapping, wasteful and abused,<ref>{{Cite web |date=1986 |title=Chapter 4 – Response from the Home Front |url=https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-1Hom-c4.html |access-date=2022-06-16 |website=nzetc.victoria.ac.nz |archive-date=6 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220806215043/https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-1Hom-c4.html |url-status=live }}</ref> but 11 were still functioning in 2002.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2005 |title=5.2: Provincial patriotic councils |url=https://oag.parliament.nz/2005/copy_of_2003-04/part5-2.htm |access-date=2022-06-16 |website=Office of the Auditor-General New Zealand |language=en |archive-date=19 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519045102/https://oag.parliament.nz/2005/copy_of_2003-04/part5-2.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
The First World War had a lasting impact on social memory. It was seen by many in Britain as signalling the end of an era of stability stretching back to the [[Victorian era|Victorian period]], and across Europe many regarded it as a watershed.<ref>Mark David Sheftall, ''Altered Memories of the Great War: Divergent Narratives of Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada'' (2010)</ref> Historian Samuel Hynes explained:


=== Opposition ===
{{quote|A generation of innocent young men, their heads full of high abstractions like Honour, Glory and England, went off to war to make the world safe for democracy. They were slaughtered in stupid battles planned by stupid generals. Those who survived were shocked, disillusioned and embittered by their war experiences, and saw that their real enemies were not the Germans, but the old men at home who had lied to them. They rejected the values of the society that had sent them to war, and in doing so separated their own generation from the past and from their cultural inheritance.<ref name="Hynes1991">{{Citation|last=Hynes|first=Samuel Lynn|title=A war imagined: the First World War and English culture|year=1991|publisher=Atheneum|isbn=9780689121289|pages=i–xii}}</ref>}}
{{Main|Opposition to World War I|1917 French Army mutinies}}


Many countries jailed those who spoke out against the conflict. These included [[Eugene V. Debs|Eugene Debs]] in the US and [[Bertrand Russell]] in Britain. In the US, the [[Espionage Act of 1917]] and [[Sedition Act of 1918]] made it a federal crime to oppose military recruitment or make any statements deemed "disloyal". Publications at all critical of the government were removed from circulation by postal censors,<ref name="Karp-PoW-1979">{{harvnb |Karp |1979}}</ref> and many served long prison sentences for statements of fact deemed unpatriotic.[[File:Sackville Street (Dublin) after the 1916 Easter Rising.JPG|thumb|Sackville Street (now [[O'Connell Street]]) after the 1916 [[Easter Rising]] in Dublin]]
This has become the most common perception of the First World War, perpetuated by the art, cinema, poems, and stories published subsequently. Films such as ''[[All Quiet on the Western Front]]'', ''[[Paths of Glory]]'' and ''[[King & Country]]'' have perpetuated the idea, while war-time films including ''Camrades'', ''Flanders Poppies'', and ''[[Shoulder Arms]]'' indicate that the most contemporary views of the war were overall far more positive.<ref name="Todman2005">{{Citation|last=Todman|first=Daniel|title=The Great War: myth and memory|year=2005|publisher=Hambledon and London|isbn=9781852854591|pages=153–221}}</ref> Likewise, the art of [[Paul Nash (artist)|Paul Nash]], [[John Nash (artist)|John Nash]], [[Christopher Nevison]], and [[Henry Tonks]] in Britain painted a negative view of the conflict in keeping with the growing perception, while popular war-time artists such as [[Muirhead Bone]] painted more serene and pleasant interpretations subsequently rejected as inaccurate.<ref name="Hynes1991" /> Several historians{{Who|date=May 2011}} have since countered these interpretations:
[[Image:Siegfried Sassoon by George Charles Beresford (1915).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Siegfried Sassoon]] (May 1915)]]


Several nationalists opposed intervention, particularly within states that the nationalists were hostile to. Although the vast majority of Irish people consented to participate in the war in 1914 and 1915, a minority of advanced [[Irish nationalism|Irish nationalists]] had staunchly opposed taking part.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pennell |first=Catriona |title=A Kingdom United: Popular Responses to the Outbreak of the First World War in Britain and Ireland |year=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-959058-2}}</ref> The war began amid the Home Rule crisis in Ireland that had resurfaced in 1912, and by July 1914 there was a serious possibility of an outbreak of civil war in Ireland. Irish nationalists and Marxists attempted to pursue Irish independence, culminating in the [[Easter Rising]] of 1916, with Germany sending 20,000 rifles to Ireland to stir unrest in Britain.{{sfn |Tucker |Roberts |2005 |p=584}} The British government placed Ireland under [[martial law]] in response to the Easter Rising, though once the immediate threat of revolution had dissipated, the authorities did try to make concessions to nationalist feeling.<ref>O'Halpin, Eunan, ''The Decline of the Union: British Government in Ireland, 1892–1920'', (Dublin, 1987)</ref> However, opposition to involvement in the war increased in Ireland, resulting in the [[Conscription Crisis of 1918]].
<blockquote>These beliefs did not become widely shared because they offered the only accurate interpretation of wartime events. In every respect, the war was much more complicated than they suggest. In recent years, historians have argued persuasively against almost every popular cliché of the First World War. It has been pointed out that, although the losses were devastating, their greatest impact was socially and geographically limited. The many emotions other than horror experienced by soldiers in and out of the front line, including comradeship, boredom, and even enjoyment, have been recognised. The war is not now seen as a 'fight about nothing', but as a war of ideals, a struggle between aggressive militarism and more or less [[liberal democracy]]. It has been acknowledged that British generals were often capable men facing difficult challenges, and that it was under their command that the British army played a major part in the defeat of the Germans in 1918: a great forgotten victory.<ref name="Todman2005" /></blockquote>


Other opposition came from [[conscientious objector]]s—some socialist, some religious—who had refused to fight. In Britain, 16,000 people asked for conscientious objector status.{{sfn |Lehmann |van der Veer |1999 |p=62}} Some of them, most notably prominent peace activist [[Stephen Hobhouse]], refused both military and [[Alternative civilian service|alternative service]].<ref>Brock, Peter, ''These Strange Criminals: An Anthology of Prison Memoirs by Conscientious Objectors to Military Service from the Great War to the Cold War'', p. 14, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004, {{ISBN|978-0-8020-8707-2}}</ref> Many suffered years of prison, including [[solitary confinement]]. Even after the war, in Britain, many job advertisements were marked "No conscientious objectors need to apply".<ref>{{cite web |date=24 February 2014 |title=Winchester Whisperer: The secret newspaper made by jailed pacifists |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-25749290 |access-date=7 February 2022 |website=[[BBC News]] |archive-date=7 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220207220011/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-25749290 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Though these historians have discounted as "myths"<ref name="Hynes1991" /><ref name="Fussell2000">{{Citation|last=Fussell|first=Paul|title=The Great War and modern memory|url=http://books.google.com/?id=D9iNQYfeKdwC|accessdate=18 May 2010|year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press US|isbn=9780195133325|pages=1–78}}</ref> these perceptions of the war, they are nevertheless prevalent across much of society.{{Citation needed|date=June 2010}} They have dynamically changed according to contemporary influences, reflecting in the 1950s perceptions of the war as 'aimless' following the contrasting Second World War, and emphasising conflict within the ranks during times of class conflict in the 1960s.<ref name="Todman2005" /> The majority of additions to the contrary are often rejected.<ref name="Todman2005" />


On 1–4 May 1917, about 100,000 workers and soldiers of [[Saint Petersburg|Petrograd]], and after them, the workers and soldiers of other Russian cities, led by the Bolsheviks, demonstrated under banners reading "Down with the war!" and "all power to the Soviets!". The mass demonstrations resulted in a crisis for the [[Russian Provisional Government]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard Pipes|title=The Russian Revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XtE54LuhFzEC&pg=PA407|year=1990|publisher=Knopf Doubleday|page=407|isbn=978-0-307-78857-3|access-date=30 July 2019|archive-date=1 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801164146/https://books.google.com/books?id=XtE54LuhFzEC&pg=PA407|url-status=live}}</ref> In [[Milan]], in May 1917, Bolshevik revolutionaries organised and engaged in rioting calling for an end to the war, and managed to close down factories and stop public transportation.<ref name="Seton_6">Seton-Watson, Christopher. 1967. ''Italy from Liberalism to Fascism: 1870 to 1925''. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd. p. 471</ref> The Italian army was forced to enter Milan with tanks and machine guns to face Bolsheviks and [[Anarchism|anarchists]], who fought violently until May 23 when the army gained control of the city. Almost 50 people (including three Italian soldiers) were killed and over 800 people were arrested.<ref name="Seton_6" />
===Social trauma===
The social trauma caused by unprecedented rates of casualties manifested itself in different ways, which have been the subject of subsequent historical debate.<ref name="todmanxi-xv"/> Some people{{Who|date=May 2010}} were revolted by nationalism and its results, and began to work towards a more [[internationalism (politics)|internationalist]] world, supporting organisations such as the [[League of Nations]]. [[Pacifism]] became increasingly popular. Others had the opposite reaction, feeling that only strength and military might could be relied upon in a chaotic and inhumane world. [[Development criticism|Anti-modernist]] views were an outgrowth of the many changes taking place in society.


== Technology ==
[[File:Cover-of-book-for-WWI-veterans-by-William-Brown-Meloney-born-1878.jpg|thumb|upright|Book distributed by the U.S. [[United States Department of War|War Department]] to veterans in 1919</center>]]
{{See also|Technology during World War I}}
The experiences of the war led to a [[collective trauma]] shared by many from all participating countries. The [[optimism]] of ''[[Belle Époque|la belle époque]]'' was destroyed, and those who had fought in the war were referred to as the [[Lost Generation]].<ref>{{harvnb|Roden}}</ref> For years afterwards, people mourned the dead, the missing, and the many disabled.<ref>{{harvnb|Wohl|1979}}</ref> Many soldiers returned with severe trauma, suffering from [[combat stress reaction|shell shock]] (also called neurasthenia, now called [[posttraumatic stress disorder]]).<ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|Roberts|2005|pp=108–1086}}</ref> Many more returned home with few after-effects; however, their silence about the war contributed to the conflict's growing mythological status.<ref name="todmanxi-xv"/> In the United Kingdom, mass mobilisation, large casualty rates, and the collapse of the [[Edwardian era]] made a strong impression on society. Though many participants did not share in the experiences of combat or spend any significant time at the front, or had positive memories of their service, the images of suffering and trauma became the widely shared perception.<ref name="todmanxi-xv">Todman, D. ''The Great War, Myth and Memory'', p. xi–xv.</ref> Such historians as Dan Todman, Paul Fussell, and Samuel Heyns have all published works since the 1990s arguing that these common perceptions of the war are factually incorrect.<ref name="todmanxi-xv"/>
[[File:Sopwith F-1 Camel.jpg|thumb|[[Royal Air Force]] [[Sopwith Camel]]. In April 1917, the average life expectancy of a British pilot on the Western Front was 93 flying hours.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lawson |first1=Eric |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=9PGHckhHiX0C}}pg=PT123 |title=The First Air Campaign: August 1914 – November 1918 |last2=Lawson |first2=Jane |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-306-81213-2 |page=123 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>]]


World War I began as a clash of 20th-century technology and 19th-century [[military tactics|tactics]], with the inevitably large ensuing casualties. By the end of 1917, however, the major armies had modernised and were making use of telephone, [[Wireless|wireless communication]],{{sfn |Hartcup |1988 |p=154}} [[Armored car (military)|armoured cars]], [[tank]]s (especially with the advent of the prototype tank, [[Little Willie]]), and aircraft.{{sfn |Hartcup |1988 |pp=82–86}}
===Discontent in Germany===
[[Image:Marcel Louis Courmes en fourrure 1915.jpg|thumb|right|[[Marcel Courmes|Captain Marcel Courmes]], pilot of the French 2nd Bombardment, Group GB 2, in August 1915]]
The rise of [[Nazism]] and fascism included a revival of the nationalist spirit and a rejection of many post-war changes. Similarly, the popularity of the [[Stab-in-the-back legend]] (German: ''Dolchstoßlegende'') was a testament to the [[Mental health|psychological state]] of defeated Germany and was a rejection of responsibility for the conflict. This [[conspiracy theory]] of betrayal became common, and the German populace came to see themselves as victims. The ''Dolchstoßlegende'''s popular acceptance in Germany played a significant role in the rise of Nazism. A sense of disillusionment and [[cynicism]] became pronounced, with [[nihilism]] growing. Many believed the war heralded the end of the world as they had known it because of the high fatalities among a generation of men, the dissolution of governments and empires, and the collapse of capitalism and [[imperialism]].
Artillery also underwent a revolution. In 1914, cannons were positioned in the front line and fired directly at their targets. By 1917, [[indirect fire]] with guns (as well as mortars and even machine guns) was commonplace, using new techniques for spotting and ranging, notably, aircraft and the [[field telephone]].<ref>Sterling, Christopher H. (2008). ''Military Communications: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century''. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. {{ISBN|978-1-85109-732-6}} p. 444.</ref>


[[Fixed-wing aircraft]] were initially used for [[reconnaissance]] and [[Close air support|ground attack]]. To shoot down enemy planes, [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft guns]] and [[fighter aircraft]] were developed. [[Strategic bomber]]s were created, principally by the Germans and British, though the former used [[Zeppelin]]s as well.<ref name="Cross 1991">{{harvnb|Cross|1991}}</ref> Towards the end of the conflict, [[aircraft carrier]]s were used for the first time, with HMS ''Furious'' launching [[Sopwith Camel]]s in a raid to destroy the Zeppelin hangars at [[Tønder]] in 1918.{{sfn|Cross|1991|pp=56–57}}
Communist and socialist movements around the world drew strength from this theory and enjoyed a new level of popularity. These feelings were most pronounced in areas directly or harshly affected by the war. Out of German discontent with the still controversial [[Treaty of Versailles]], [[Adolf Hitler]] was able to gain popularity and power.<ref>{{citation| url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/war_end_01.shtml| publisher=BBC| title=The Ending of World War One, and the Legacy of Peace}}</ref><ref>{{citation| url=http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/hitlergainspower.htm| title=The Rise of Hitler| accessdate=2009-11-12}}</ref> World War II was in part a continuation of the power struggle never fully resolved by the First World War; in fact, it was common for Germans in the 1930s and 1940s to justify acts of international aggression because of perceived injustices imposed by the victors of the First World War.<ref>{{citation| url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9110199/World-War-II| archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080704030736/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9110199/World-War-II| archivedate=2008-07-04| title=World War II| work=Britannica Online Encyclopedia| accessdate=2009-11-12| publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.]]}}</ref><ref>{{citation| last=Baker| first=Kevin |url=http://harpers.org/StabbedInTheBack.html |title=Stabbed in the Back! The past and future of a right-wing myth| periodical=Harper's Magazine |date=June 2006}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Chickering|2004}}</ref>


== Diplomacy ==
The establishment of the modern state of [[Israel]] and the roots of the continuing [[Israeli-Palestinian Conflict]] are partially found in the unstable power dynamics of the Middle East which resulted from World War I.<ref name="Economist_2005">{{harvnb|Economist|2005}}</ref> Prior to the end of the war, the [[Ottoman Empire]] had maintained a modest level of peace and stability throughout the Middle East.<ref name="Hooker_1996">{{harvnb|Hooker|1996}}</ref> With the fall of the Ottoman government, power vacuums developed and conflicting claims to land and nationhood began to emerge.<ref name="Muller_2008">{{harvnb|Muller|2008}}</ref> The political boundaries drawn by the victors of the First World War were quickly imposed, sometimes after only cursory consultation with the local population. In many cases, these continue to be problematic in the 21st-century struggles for [[national identity]].<ref name="Kaplan_1993">{{harvnb|Kaplan|1993}}</ref><ref name="Salibi_1993">{{harvnb|Salibi|1993}}</ref> While the dissolution of the [[Ottoman Empire]] at the end of World War I was pivotal in contributing to the modern political situation of the Middle East, including the [[Arab–Israeli conflict|Arab-Israeli conflict]],<ref name="Evans_2005">{{harvnb|Evans|2005}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Israeli Foreign Ministry}}</ref><ref name="Gelvin_2005">{{harvnb|Gelvin|2005}}</ref> the end of Ottoman rule also spawned lesser known disputes over water and other natural resources.<ref name="Isaac_1992">{{harvnb|Isaac|Hosh|1992}}</ref>
{{Main|Diplomatic history of World War I}}
{{See|Sykes–Picot Agreement}}
[[File:Cartoon for a Telegram.jpg|thumb|1917 political cartoon about the [[Zimmermann Telegram]]]]
[[File:The announcing of the armistice on November 11, 1918, was the occasion for a monster celebration in Philadelphia... - NARA - 533478.tif|thumb|The announcing of the armistice on November 11, 1918. Philadelphia.]]
===Views in the United States===
U.S. intervention in the war, as well as the Wilson administration itself, became deeply unpopular. This was reflected in the [[U.S. Senate]]'s rejection of the [[Versailles Treaty]] and membership in the [[League of Nations]]. In the interwar era, a consensus arose that U.S. intervention had been a mistake, and the Congress passed [[Neutrality Acts of 1930s|laws]] in an attempt to preserve U.S. neutrality in any future conflict. Polls taken in 1937 and the opening months of World War II established that nearly 60% regarded intervention in WWI as a mistake, with only 28% opposing that view. But, in the period between the [[fall of France]] and the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], public opinion changed dramatically and, for the first time, a narrow plurality rejected the idea that the war had been a mistake.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RPUaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YEwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3742,5638207&dq=war+poll&hl=en |title=1941 Gallup poll |publisher=News.google.com |date= |accessdate=2010-06-15}}</ref>


The non-military diplomatic and propaganda interactions among the nations were designed to build support for the cause or to undermine support for the enemy. For the most part, wartime diplomacy focused on five issues: [[Propaganda in World War I|propaganda campaigns]]; defining and redefining the war goals, which became harsher as the war went on; luring neutral nations (Italy, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, Romania) into the coalition by offering slices of enemy territory; and encouragement by the Allies of nationalistic minority movements inside the Central Powers, especially among Czechs, Poles, and Arabs. In addition, multiple peace proposals were coming from neutrals, or one side or the other; none of them progressed very far.{{sfn |Stevenson |1988 |p={{page needed|date=July 2020}}}}<ref>{{cite book |first=Z. A. B. |last=Zeman |title=Diplomatic History of the First World War |url=https://archive.org/details/diplomatichistor0000zema |url-access=registration |location=London |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |year=1971 |isbn=978-0-297-00300-7 }}</ref><ref>See {{cite book |author=Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |title=Official Statements of War Aims and Peace Proposals: December 1916 to November 1918 |editor-first=James Brown |editor-last=Scott |year=1921 |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924016943106 |publisher=Washington, D.C., The Endowment }}</ref>
===New national identities===


== Legacy and memory ==
[[Poland]] reemerged as an independent country, after more than a century. As a "minor Entente nation" and the country with the most casualties per capita,<ref>{{cite news |title=Appeals to Americans to Pray for Serbians |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 27, 1918 |url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9406E4D8143EE433A25754C2A9619C946996D6CF}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Serbia Restored |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 5, 1918 |url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=990CEFDC113BEE3ABC4D53DFB7678383609EDE }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Minor Powers During World War One&nbsp;– Serbia |first=Matt |last=Simpson |work= |publisher=firstworldwar.com |date=22 August 2009 |url=http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/minorpowers_serbia.htm }}</ref> the [[Kingdom of Serbia]] and its dynasty became the backbone of the new multinational state, the [[Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes]] (later renamed [[Yugoslavia]]). [[Czechoslovakia]], combining the [[Kingdom of Bohemia]] with parts of the [[Kingdom of Hungary]], became a new nation. Russia became the [[Soviet Union]] and lost [[Finland]], [[Estonia]], [[Lithuania]], and [[Latvia]], which became independent countries. The [[Ottoman Empire]] was soon replaced by [[Turkey]] and several other countries in the Middle East.
{{Main|List of last surviving World War I veterans|Commonwealth War Graves Commission|American Battle Monuments Commission}}
[[File:Map Europe 1923-en.svg|thumb|right|Map of territorial changes in Europe after World War I]]
{{Further|World War I in popular culture}}
In the British Empire, the war unleashed new forms of nationalism. In Australia and New Zealand the [[Gallipoli Campaign|Battle of Gallipoli]] became known as those nations' "Baptism of Fire". It was the first major war in which the newly established countries fought, and it was one of the first times that Australian troops fought as Australians, not just subjects of the [[British Crown]]. [[Anzac Day]], commemorating the [[Australian and New Zealand Army Corps]], celebrates this defining moment.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9400E1DD113FE233A25755C2A9629C946796D6CF&scp=12&sq=New+Zealand+anzac&st=p |title='ANZAC Day' in London; King, Queen, and General Birdwood at Services in Abbey |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=26 April 1916}}</ref><ref name=awmtradition>
{{citation| url=http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac_tradition.asp| title=The ANZAC Day tradition| publisher=[[Australian War Memorial]]| accessdate=2008-05-02}}</ref>


=== Memorials ===
After the [[Battle of Vimy Ridge]], where the Canadian divisions fought together for the first time as a single corps, Canadians began to refer to theirs as a nation "forged from fire".<ref>{{citation| url=http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/guerre/vimy-ridge-e.aspx| publisher=[[Canadian War Museum]]| title=Vimy Ridge |accessdate=2008-10-22}}</ref> Having succeeded on the same battleground where the "mother countries" had previously faltered, they were for the first time respected internationally for their own accomplishments. Canada entered the war as a Dominion of the British Empire and remained so, although she emerged with a greater measure of independence.<ref>{{citation| url=http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/guerre/war-impact-e.aspx| title=The War's Impact on Canada| publisher=[[Canadian War Museum]]| accessdate=2008-10-22}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2008/05/09/babcock-citizen.html| title=Canada's last WW1 vet gets his citizenship back| publisher=[[CBC News]]| date=2008-05-09}}</ref> While the other Dominions were represented by Britain, Canada was an independent negotiator and signatory of the [[Versailles Treaty]].
{{Main|World War I memorials}}
[[File:Sacrario militare di Redipuglia agosto 2014.JPG|thumb|right|The Italian [[Redipuglia War Memorial]], which contains the remains of 100,187 soldiers]]


Memorials were built in thousands of villages and towns. Close to battlefields, those buried in improvised burial grounds were gradually moved to formal graveyards under the care of organisations such as the [[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]], the [[American Battle Monuments Commission]], the [[German War Graves Commission]], and [[Le Souvenir français]]. Many of these graveyards also have monuments to the missing or [[Tomb of the Unknown Soldier|unidentified]] dead, such as the [[Menin Gate|Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing]] and the [[Thiepval Memorial|Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Memorials to the Missing of the First and Second World Wars |url=https://www.dva.gov.au/recognition/commemorations/memorials/memorials-missing |website=Department of Veterans' Affairs |date=10 October 2023 |publisher=Commonwealth of Australia |access-date=1 March 2024 |archive-date=1 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301154418/https://www.dva.gov.au/recognition/commemorations/memorials/memorials-missing |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Thiepval Anglo-French Cemetery |url=https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/67300/thiepval-anglo-french-cemetery/ |website=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=1 March 2024 |archive-date=14 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231014125355/https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/67300/thiepval-anglo-french-cemetery/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
===Economic effects===
One of the most dramatic effects of the war was the expansion of governmental powers and responsibilities in Britain, France, the United States, and the Dominions of the British Empire. In order to harness all the power of their societies, governments created new ministries and powers. New taxes were levied and laws enacted, all designed to bolster the [[war effort]]; many have lasted to this day. Similarly, the war strained the abilities of some formerly large and bureaucratised governments, such as in Austria–Hungary and Germany; however, any analysis of the long-term effects were clouded by the defeat of these governments.
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-00104, Inflation, Tapezieren mit Geldscheinen.jpg|left|upright|thumb|Germany, 1923: banknotes had lost so much value that they were used as wallpaper. Millions of middle-class Germans were ruined by [[inflation in the Weimar Republic|hyperinflation]]. When the war began in 1914, a dollar was worth 4.2 marks; by November 1923, the dollar was at 4.2 [[1000000000000 (number)|trillion]]<ref>10<sup>12</sup> in this context&nbsp;– see [[Long and short scales]]</ref> marks.<ref>"[http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,641758,00.html Germany in the Era of Hyperinflation]". Spiegel Online. August 14, 2009.</ref>]]
[[Gross domestic product]] (GDP) increased for three Allies (Britain, Italy, and U.S.), but decreased in France and Russia, in neutral Netherlands, and in the three main Central Powers. The shrinkage in GDP in Austria, Russia, France, and the Ottoman Empire reached 30 to 40%. In Austria, for example, most pigs were slaughtered, so at war's end there was no meat.


In 1915, [[John McCrae]], a Canadian army doctor, wrote the poem ''[[In Flanders Fields]]'' as a salute to those who perished in the war. It is still recited today, especially on [[Armistice Day|Remembrance Day]] and [[Memorial Day]].<ref>{{cite journal |year=1918 |title=John McCrae |journal=Nature |publisher=Historica |volume=100 |issue=2521 |pages=487–488 |bibcode=1918Natur.100..487. |doi=10.1038/100487b0 |s2cid=4275807 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=David |first=Evans |year=1918 |title=John McCrae |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/john-mccrae |url-status=live |journal=Nature |volume=100 |issue=2521 |pages=487–488 |bibcode=1918Natur.100..487. |doi=10.1038/100487b0 |s2cid=4275807 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304072732/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/john-mccrae/ |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=8 June 2014 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
[[File:The Girl Behind the Gun 1915.jpg|thumb|"The Girl Behind the Gun" - women workers, 1915]]
[[File:Pagny le Chateau monument morts 002b.jpg|thumb|A typical village [[war memorial]] to soldiers killed in World War I]]
[[National World War I Museum and Memorial]] in [[Kansas City, Missouri]], is a memorial dedicated to all Americans who served in World War{{nbsp}}I. The [[National World War I Museum and Memorial|Liberty Memorial]] was dedicated on 1 November 1921.<ref name="kclibrary.org">{{cite web |date=21 September 2015 |title=Monumental Undertaking |url=http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/week-kansas-city-history/monumental-undertaking |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150529002033/http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/week-kansas-city-history/monumental-undertaking |archive-date=29 May 2015 |access-date=23 May 2015 |website=kclibrary.org}}</ref>


The British government budgeted substantial resources to [[First World War centenary|the commemoration of the war during the period 2014 to 2018]]. The lead body is the [[Imperial War Museum]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Commemoration website |url=http://www.1914.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140208062818/http://www.1914.org/ |archive-date=8 February 2014 |access-date=28 February 2014 |publisher=1914.org}}</ref> On 3{{nbsp}}August 2014, French President [[François Hollande]] and German President [[Joachim Gauck]] together marked [[Centenary of the outbreak of World War I|the centenary of Germany's declaration of war on France]] by laying the first stone of a memorial in Vieil Armand, known in German as [[Hartmannswillerkopf]], for French and German soldiers killed in the war.<ref name="HartmannswillerkopfMemorial">{{Cite news |title=French, German Presidents Mark World War I Anniversary |publisher=France News.Net |url=https://www.francenews.net/news/224398825/french-german-presidents-mark-world-war-i-anniversary |url-status=live |access-date=3 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170403005503/http://www.francenews.net/news/224398825/french-german-presidents-mark-world-war-i-anniversary |archive-date=3 April 2017}}</ref> As part of commemorations for the [[centenary of the Armistice of 11 November 1918|centenary of the 1918 Armistice]], French President [[Emmanuel Macron]] and German Chancellor [[Angela Merkel]] visited the site of the signing of the Armistice of Compiègne and unveiled a plaque to reconciliation.<ref>{{Cite news |date=10 November 2018 |title=Armistice Day: Macron and Merkel mark end of World War One |publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46165903 |url-status=live |access-date=30 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201210194001/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46165903 |archive-date=10 December 2020}}</ref>
In all nations the government's share of GDP increased, surpassing fifty percent in both Germany and France and nearly reaching that level in Britain. To pay for purchases in the United States, Britain cashed in its extensive investments in American railroads and then began borrowing heavily on [[Wall Street]]. President Wilson was on the verge of cutting off the loans in late 1916, but allowed a great increase in [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. government]] lending to the Allies. After 1919, the U.S. demanded repayment of these loans. The repayments were, in part, funded by German reparations, which, in turn, were supported by American loans to Germany. This circular system collapsed in 1931 and the loans were never repaid. In 1934, Britain owed the US $4.4 [[1000000000 (number)|billion]]<ref>10<sup>9</sup> in this context&nbsp;– see [[Long and short scales]]</ref> of World War I debt.<ref>"[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4757181.stm What's a little debt between friends?]". BBC News. May 10, 2006.</ref>


=== Historiography ===
Macro- and micro-economic consequences devolved from the war. Families were altered by the departure of many men. With the death or absence of the primary wage earner, women were forced into the workforce in unprecedented numbers. At the same time, industry needed to replace the lost labourers sent to war. This aided the struggle for [[suffragette|voting rights for women]].
{{Main|Historiography of World War I}}
{{Further|Historiography of the causes of World War I}}
{{blockquote |<poem>...&nbsp;"Strange, friend," I said, "Here is no cause to mourn."
"None," said the other, "Save the undone years"...&nbsp;</poem> |[[Wilfred Owen]], ''Strange Meeting'', 1918<ref name="Wilfred Owen 2004">''Wilfred Owen: poems'', 1917, (Faber and Faber, 2004)</ref>}}


The first efforts to comprehend the meaning and consequences of [[modern warfare]] began during the initial phases of the war and are still underway more than a century later. Teaching World War I has presented special challenges. When compared with [[World War II]], the First World War is often thought to be "a wrong war fought for the wrong reasons"; it lacks the [[metanarrative]] of [[Good and evil|good versus evil]] that characterizes retellings of the Second World War. Lacking recognizable heroes and villains, it is often taught thematically, invoking simplified [[Trope (literature)|tropes]] that obscure the complexity of the conflict.<ref name="Neiberg2">{{cite book |last=Neiberg |first=Michael |title=The World War I Reader |date=2007 |page=1}}</ref>
In Britain, rationing was finally imposed in early 1918, limited to meat, sugar, and fats (butter and [[Margarine|oleo]]), but not bread. The new system worked smoothly. From 1914 to 1918 trade union membership doubled, from a little over four million to a little over eight million. Work stoppages and strikes became frequent in 1917–1918 as the unions expressed grievances regarding prices, alcohol control, pay disputes, fatigue from overtime and working on Sundays, and inadequate housing.


Historian Heather Jones argues that the [[historiography]] has been reinvigorated by a cultural turn in the 21st century. Scholars have raised entirely new questions regarding [[military occupation]], [[Radicalization|radicalisation]] of politics, [[Race (human categorization)|race]], [[medical science]], [[Gender history|gender]] and [[mental health]]. Among the major subjects that historians have long debated regarding the war include: [[Historiography of the causes of World War I|Why the war began]]; why the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] won; whether generals were responsible for [[World War I casualties|high casualty rates]]; how soldiers endured the poor conditions of [[trench warfare]]; and to what extent the civilian [[Home front during World War I|home front]] accepted and endorsed the war effort.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Jones |first=Heather |year=2013 |title=As the centenary approaches: the regeneration of First World War historiography |journal=[[Historical Journal]] |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=857–878 [858] |doi=10.1017/S0018246X13000216 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>see Christoph Cornelissen, and Arndt Weinrich, eds. ''Writing the Great War – The Historiography of World War I from 1918 to the Present'' (2020) [https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/CornelissenWriting free download] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129075020/https://berghahnbooks.com/title/CornelissenWriting|date=29 November 2020}}; full coverage for major countries.</ref>
Britain turned to her colonies for help in obtaining essential war materials whose supply had become difficult from traditional sources. Geologists such as [[Albert Ernest Kitson]] were called upon to find new resources of precious minerals in the African colonies. Kitson discovered important new deposits of [[manganese]], used in munitions production, in the [[Gold Coast (region)|Gold Coast]].<ref>{{harvnb|Green|1938|pp=CXXVI}}</ref>


=== Unexploded ordnance ===
[[Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles|Article 231]] of the [[Treaty of Versailles]] (the so-called "war guilt" clause) declared Germany and its allies responsible for all "loss and damage" suffered by the Allies during the war and provided the basis for [[World War I reparations|reparations]]. The total reparations demanded was 132 billion gold marks, which was far more than the total German gold or foreign exchange. The economic problems that the payments brought, and German resentment at their imposition, are usually cited as one of the more significant factors that led to the end of the [[Weimar Republic]] and the beginning of the dictatorship of [[Adolf Hitler]]. After Germany’s defeat in World War II, payment of the reparations was not resumed. There was, however, outstanding German debt that the Weimar Republic had used to pay the reparations. Germany finished paying off the reparations in October 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2010/1004/Germany-finishes-paying-WWI-reparations-ending-century-of-guilt|title=Germany finishes paying WWI reparations, ending century of 'guilt'}} Christian Science Monitor. 4 October 2010.</ref>
{{Further|Zone rouge|Iron harvest}}


As late as 2007, [[unexploded ordnance]] at battlefield sites like [[Verdun]] and [[Somme (department)|Somme]] continued to pose a danger. In France and Belgium, locals who discover caches of unexploded munitions are assisted by weapons disposal units. In some places, plant life has still not recovered from the effects of the war.<ref name="Neiberg2"/>
==Notes==
{{Reflist|colwidth=20em}}


==References==
== See also ==
<!--This list is too long already, please make any additions in the linked list articles rather than here-->
<!--DO ''not'' SIMPLY ADD BOOKS ABOUT WORLD WAR I HERE&nbsp;— ADD THEM TO "LIST OF WORLD WAR I BOOKS"-->
For a comprehensive bibliography see [[List of books about World War I]]
{{Refbegin|2}}
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{{Refend}}

==See also==
{{Portalbox|World War I|War}}
* [[European Civil War]]
* [[List of last surviving World War I veterans by country]]
* [[List of people associated with World War I]]
* [[List of surviving veterans of World War I]]
* [[List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll]]
* [[Lists of wars]]
* [[Lists of World War I topics]]
* [[Lists of World War I topics]]
* [[World War I casualties]]
* [[List of military engagements of World War I]]
* [[World War One – Medal Abbreviations]]
* [[Outline of World War I]]
* [[World war]]
* [[World War II]]
* [[Freemasonry during World War I]]
* [[List of wars by death toll]]


==Media==
== Footnotes ==
{{Notelist}}
<center>
{|
|-
| [[File:Bombers of WW1.ogg|thumb |thumbtime=3 |alt=World War I era biplanes on bombing runs, captioned "Captain 'Eddie' Rickenbacker, American 'Ace of Aces,' over the lines&nbsp;– looking for a scrap." then "Bombing the German lines."|Allied bombing runs over German lines]]
| [[File:Tanks of WWI.ogg|thumb |thumbtime=12 |alt=Primitive tanks advance over empty fields and berms, captioned "The tanks advance to do their bit."|Allied tanks advance in Langres, 1918]]
|}


== References ==
{|
{{reflist|25em}}
|-
| [[File:Calling on the Kaiser.ogg|thumb|"We're All Going Calling on the Kaiser" performed by Arthur Fields and the Peerless Quartet. By James Alexander Brennan. Edison Records, May 1918.]]
| [[File:Makin's of the USA.ogg|thumb|"The Makin's of the U.S.A." (Von Tilzer; Peerless Quartet. Columbia Records, A2522 side B, released March 1918)]]
|}
</center>


== Bibliography ==
==External links==
<!--This list is too long already, please make any additions in the linked list articles rather than here.-->
{{Spoken Wikipedia-3|2006-06-24|World_War_I_(part_1).ogg|World_War_I_(part_2).ogg|World_War_I_(part_3).ogg}}
<!--DO ''not'' SIMPLY ADD BOOKS ABOUT WORLD WAR I HERE—ADD THEM TO "LIST OF WORLD WAR I BOOKS".-->
{{Wikisource|Wikisource:World War I|World War I}}
{{For|a comprehensive bibliography|Bibliography of World War I}}
{{commons category-inline}}

{{Wikipedia books}}
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* [http://www.firstworldwar.com/ A multimedia history of World War I]
* {{cite book |last=Axelrod |first=Alan|author-link=Alan Axelrod |title=How America Won World War I |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4930-3192-4 |year=2018}}
* [http://www.britishpathe.com/workspace.php?id=2930&display=list/ British Pathé] Online film archive containing extensive coverage of World War I
* {{cite book |last=Ayers |first=Leonard Porter |author-link=Leonard Porter Ayres |title=The War with Germany: A Statistical Summary |publisher=Government Printing Office |year=1919 |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=OCLC01187647 |page=1111}} }}
* [http://www.greatwar.nl/ The Heritage of the Great War, Netherlands]
* {{cite book |last=Ball |first=Alan M. |title=And Now My Soul Is Hardened: Abandoned Children in Soviet Russia, 1918–1930 |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |year=1994 |isbn=0-520-08010-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/andnowmysoulisha00alan/mode/2up?view=theater |url-access=registration }}
* [http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Main_Page The World War I Document Archive] Wiki, Brigham Young University
* {{cite book|last=Barrett|first=Michael B|title=Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-253-00865-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Beckett|first=Ian|title=The Great War|year=2007|publisher=Longman|isbn=978-1-4058-1252-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Béla |first=Köpeczi |title=History of Transylvania |publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó|isbn=978-84-8371-020-3 |year=1998}}
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* {{cite book |last1=Stevenson |first1=David |title=1914–1918: The History of the First World War |date=2012 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-7181-9795-7}}
* {{cite book |last1=Stevenson |first1=David |editor-last=Mahnken |editor-first=Thomas |title=Land armaments in Europe, 1866–1914 in Arms Races in International Politics: From the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-873526-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Strachan |first=Hew |author-link=Hew Strachan |title=The First World War: Volume I: To Arms |year=2003 |location=New York |publisher=Viking |isbn=978-0-670-03295-2 |oclc=53075929}}
* {{cite book |last=Taliaferro |first=William Hay |title=Medicine and the War |orig-date=1944 |year=1972 |publisher=Books for Libraries Press |isbn=978-0-8369-2629-3}}
* {{cite journal |last=Taylor |first=John M. |title=Audacious Cruise of the Emden |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Military History |volume=19 |issue=4 |date=Summer 2007 |pages=38–47 |issn=0899-3718 |url=https://www.historynet.com/audacious-cruise-of-the-emden.htm |access-date=5 July 2021 |archive-date=14 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814021234/https://www.historynet.com/audacious-cruise-of-the-emden.htm |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last=Thompson |first=Mark |title=The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915–1919|year=2009 |publisher=Faber & Faber|isbn=978-0-571-22333-6}}
* {{cite book |first=Jozo |last=Tomasevich |author-link=Jozo Tomasevich |title=War and Revolution in Yugoslavia: 1941–1945 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fqUSGevFe5MC&pg=PA485 |access-date=4 December 2013 |year=2001 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-7924-1 |archive-date=4 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104165249/http://books.google.com/books?id=fqUSGevFe5MC&pg=PA485 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite journal|url=https://esirc.emporia.edu/bitstream/handle/123456789/311/136.pdf?sequence=1|title=Romania's Entry into the First World War: The Problem of Strategy|last=Torrie|first=Glenn E.|journal=Emporia State Research Studies|date=1978|volume=26|issue=4|pages=7–8|publisher=[[Emporia State University]]|access-date=12 April 2022|archive-date=10 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190810055824/https://esirc.emporia.edu/bitstream/handle/123456789/311/136.pdf?sequence=1|url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Tschanz |first=David W. |url=http://www.entomology.montana.edu/historybug/WWI/TEF.htm |title=Typhus fever on the Eastern front in World War I |publisher=Montana State University |access-date=12 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100611212917/http://entomology.montana.edu/historybug/WWI/TEF.htm |archive-date=11 June 2010 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=Spencer C. |last2=Roberts |first2=Priscilla Mary |title=Encyclopedia of World War I |location=Santa Barbara |publisher=ABC-Clio |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-85109-420-2 |oclc=61247250}}
* {{cite book |last1=Tucker |first1=Spencer C. |last2=Wood |first2=Laura Matysek |last3=Murphy |first3=Justin D. |title=The European powers in the First World War: an encyclopedia |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gv3GEyB19wIC |isbn=978-0-8153-3351-7 |access-date=6 June 2020 |archive-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801142143/https://books.google.com/books?id=gv3GEyB19wIC |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book|last=Tucker|first=Spencer|title=The Great War, 1914–1918|publisher=Routledge|year=2002|isbn=978-1-134-81750-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Velikonja |first=Mitja |title=Religious Separation and Political Intolerance in Bosnia-Herzegovina |url=https://archive.org/details/religiousseparat0000veli/page/141 |year=2003 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |isbn=978-1-58544-226-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/religiousseparat0000veli/page/141 141] }}
* {{cite book |author-link1=Edward Von der Porten |last=von der Porten |first=Edward P. |title=German Navy in World War II |url=https://archive.org/details/germannavyinworl00vond |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=T.Y. Crowell |year=1969 |oclc=164543865 |isbn=978-0-213-17961-8 }}
* {{cite book |last=Westwell |first=Ian |title=World War I Day by Day |publisher=MBI Publishing |location=St. Paul, Minnesota |year=2004 |pages=192pp |isbn=978-0-7603-1937-6 |oclc=57533366}}
* {{cite book|last1=Wheeler-Bennett|first1=John W.|title=Brest-Litovsk:The forgotten peace |date=1938 |publisher=Macmillan}}
* {{cite book |last=Willmott |first=H.P. |year=2003 |title=World War I |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |isbn=978-0-7894-9627-0 |oclc=52541937}}
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Winter |editor-first1=Jay |title=The Cambridge History of the First World War |date=2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |edition=2016|isbn=978-1-316-60066-5 }}
* {{cite book| last=Zeldin|first=Theodore|title=France, 1848–1945: Volume II: Intellect, Taste, and Anxiety|year=1977|publisher=Clarendon Press|edition=1986|isbn=978-0-19-822125-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Zieger |first=Robert H. |title=America's Great War: World War I and the American experience |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2001|isbn=978-0-8476-9645-1}}
{{Refend}}


== External links ==
===Animated maps===
{{Spoken Wikipedia|date=24 June 2006 |World War I (part 1).ogg |World War I (part 2).ogg |World War I (part 3).ogg}}
* [http://www.the-map-as-history.com/demos/tome06/ An animated map "Europe plunges into war"]
{{Sister project links|voy=World War I|World War I}}
* [http://www.the-map-as-history.com/demos/tome03/ An animated map of Europe at the end of the war]
===Archival materials===
* [https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Links_to_Other_WWI_Sites Links to other WWI Sites] from World War I Document Archive
* [https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/ The World War One Document Archive], from Brigham Young U.
* [http://www.1914-1918-online.net/#:~:text=International%20Encyclopedia%20of%20the%20First%20World%20War%20%E2%80%9D,authors%2C%20editors%2C%20and%20partners%20from%20over%20fifty%20countries. International Encyclopedia of the First World War]
* [https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/yourcountry/collections/the-outbreak-of-the-first-world-war/ Records on the outbreak of World War I] from the UK Parliamentary Collections
* [http://www.greatwar.nl/ The Heritage of the Great War / First World War. Graphic colour photos, pictures and music]
* European Newspapers from the [http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/tel4/newspapers/search?query=&decade=1910-1919&month=7&year=1914&&count=50 start of the First World War] and the [http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/tel4/newspapers/search?query=&decade=1910-1919&month=11&year=1918&count=50 end of the war]
* [http://www.europeanfilmgateway.eu/node/33/efg1914/multilingual%3A1 WWI Films] on the European Film Gateway
* [http://www.britishpathe.com/workspaces/page/ww1-the-definitive-collection The British Pathé WW1 Film Archive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324234810/http://www.britishpathe.com/workspaces/page/ww1-the-definitive-collection |date=24 March 2019 }}
* [http://digitalcollections.library.ubc.ca/cdm/landingpage/collection/WWIphoto World War I British press photograph collection] – A sampling of images distributed by the British government during the war to diplomats overseas, from the UBC Library Digital Collections
* [http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/search?query=&field=all&war=worldwari Personal accounts of American World War I veterans], Veterans History Project, [[Library of Congress]]
* [https://archive.org/details/butlerlibrarywwipamphlets WWI Pamphlets 1913-1920] {{--}} A collection of WWI Pamphlets 1913-1920 contributed by [[Columbia University Libraries]], available online on [[Internet Archive]]
=== Library guides ===
* [http://natlib.govt.nz/researchers/guides/first-world-war National Library of New Zealand]
* [http://guides.sl.nsw.gov.au/wwi-and-australia State Library of New South Wales]
* [https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/wwi/wwi.html US Library of Congress]
* [http://libraries.iub.edu/guide-world-war-i-resources Indiana University Bloomington] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150605065400/http://libraries.iub.edu/guide-world-war-i-resources |date=5 June 2015 }}
* [http://guides.nyu.edu/content.php?pid=568692 New York University] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405020007/http://guides.nyu.edu/content.php?pid=568692 |date=5 April 2015 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141020223852/http://guides.library.ualberta.ca/worldwar1914 University of Alberta]
* [https://oac.cdlib.org/search?style=oac4;Institution=California%20State%20Library::California%20History%20Room;idT=AEK-6409 California State Library, California History Room. Collection: California. State Council of Defense. California War History Committee. Records of Californians who served in World War I, 1918–1922.]


{{World War I}}
{{World War I}}
{{WWI history by nation}}
{{WWI history by nation}}
{{American conflicts}}
{{Balkan Wars}}
{{Great Power diplomacy}}
{{use dmy dates|date=December 2010}}
{{Western world}}
{{Eastern world}}
{{Authority control}}


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Latest revision as of 01:32, 20 December 2024

World War I
From top to bottom, left to right:
Date28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918
(4 years, 3 months and 14 days)
Location
Result Allied Powers victory (see Aftermath of World War I)
Territorial
changes
Belligerents
Allied Powers:
 and Empire:
and others ...
Central Powers: and others ...
Commanders and leaders
See Main Allied leaders See 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[b] or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in Europe and the Middle East, as well as in parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific, and in Europe was characterised by trench warfare; the widespread use of artillery, machine guns, and chemical weapons (gas); and the introductions of tanks and aircraft. World War I was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, resulting in an estimated 10 million military dead and more than 20 million wounded, plus some 10 million civilian dead from causes including genocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly Spanish flu pandemic.

The causes of World War I included the rise of Germany and decline of the Ottoman Empire, which disturbed the long-standing balance of power in Europe, as well as economic competition between nations triggered by industrialisation and imperialism. Growing tensions between the great powers and in the Balkans 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. After Russia mobilised in Serbia's defence, Germany declared war on Russia and France, who had an alliance. The United Kingdom entered after Germany invaded Belgium, whose neutrality it guaranteed, and the Ottomans joined the Central Powers in November. Germany's strategy in 1914 was to quickly defeat France, then to transfer its forces to the east, but its advance was halted in September, and by the end of the year 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 gained a decisive advantage, despite costly offensives. Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and others joined in from 1915 onward.

In April 1917, the United States entered the war on the Allied side following Germany's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare against Atlantic shipping. Later that year, the Bolsheviks seized power in the Russian October Revolution, and Soviet Russia signed an armistice with the Central Powers in December, followed by a separate peace in March 1918. That month, Germany launched an offensive in the west, which despite initial successes left the German Army exhausted and demoralised. A successful Allied counter-offensive from August 1918 caused a collapse of the German front line. By early November, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary had each signed armistices with the Allies, leaving Germany isolated. Facing a revolution at home, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated on 9 November, and the war ended with the Armistice of 11 November 1918.

The Paris Peace Conference of 1919–1920 imposed settlements on the defeated powers, most notably the Treaty of Versailles, by which Germany lost significant territories, was disarmed, and was required to pay large war reparations to the Allies. The dissolution of the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires redrew national boundaries and resulted in the creation of new independent states, including Poland, Finland, the Baltic states, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. The League of Nations was established to maintain world peace, but its failure to manage instability during the interwar period contributed to the outbreak of World War II in 1939.

Names

Before World War II, the events of 1914–1918 were generally known as the Great War or simply the World War.[1] In August 1914, the magazine The Independent wrote "This is the Great War. It names itself".[2] In October 1914, the Canadian magazine Maclean's similarly wrote, "Some wars name themselves. This is the Great War."[3] Contemporary Europeans also referred to it as "the war to end war" and it was also described as "the war to end all wars" due to their perception of its unparalleled scale, devastation, and loss of life.[4] The first recorded use of the term First World War was in September 1914 by German biologist and philosopher Ernst Haeckel who stated, "There is no doubt that the course and character of the feared 'European War' ... will become the first world war in the full sense of the word."[5]

Background

Political and military alliances

Map of Europe focusing on Austria-Hungary and marking the central location of ethnic groups in it including Slovaks, Czechs, Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, Romanians, Ukrainians, Poles.
Rival military coalitions in 1914:[c]

For much of the 19th century, the major European powers maintained a tenuous balance of power, known as the Concert of Europe.[6] After 1848, this was challenged by Britain's withdrawal into so-called splendid isolation, the decline of the Ottoman Empire, New Imperialism, and the rise of Prussia under Otto von Bismarck. Victory in the 1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War allowed Bismarck to consolidate a German Empire. Post-1871, the primary aim of French policy was to avenge this defeat,[7] but by the early 1890s, this had switched to the expansion of the French colonial empire.[8]

In 1873, Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors, which included Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany. After the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War, the League was dissolved due to Austrian concerns over the expansion of Russian influence in the Balkans, an area they considered to be of vital strategic interest. Germany and Austria-Hungary then formed the 1879 Dual Alliance, which became the Triple Alliance when Italy joined in 1882.[9] For Bismarck, the purpose of these agreements was to isolate France by ensuring the three Empires resolve any disputes between themselves. In 1887, Bismarck set up the Reinsurance Treaty, a secret agreement between Germany and Russia to remain neutral if either were attacked by France or Austria-Hungary.[10]

World empires and colonies c. 1914

For Bismarck, peace with Russia was the foundation of German foreign policy but in 1890, he was forced to retire by Wilhelm II. The latter was persuaded not to renew the Reinsurance Treaty by his new Chancellor, Leo von Caprivi.[11] This gave France an opening to agree the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1894, which was then followed by the 1904 Entente Cordiale with Britain. The Triple Entente was completed by the 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention. While not formal alliances, by settling long-standing colonial disputes in Asia and Africa, British support for France or Russia in any future conflict became a possibility.[12] This was accentuated by British and Russian support for France against Germany during the 1911 Agadir Crisis.[13]

Arms race

SMS Rheinland, a Nassau-class battleship, Germany's first response to the British Dreadnought, 1910

German economic and industrial strength continued to expand rapidly post-1871. Backed by Wilhelm II, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz sought to use this growth to build an Imperial German Navy, that could compete with the British Royal Navy.[14] This policy was based on the work of US naval author Alfred Thayer Mahan, who argued that possession of a blue-water navy was vital for global power projection; Tirpitz had his books translated into German, while Wilhelm made them required reading for his advisors and senior military personnel.[15]

However, it was also an emotional decision, driven by Wilhelm's simultaneous admiration for the Royal Navy and desire to surpass it. Bismarck thought that the British would not interfere in Europe, as long as its maritime supremacy remained secure, but his dismissal in 1890 led to a change in policy and an Anglo-German naval arms race began.[16] Despite the vast sums spent by Tirpitz, the launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 gave the British a technological advantage.[14] Ultimately, the race diverted huge resources into creating a German navy large enough to antagonise Britain, but not defeat it; in 1911, Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg acknowledged defeat, leading to the Rüstungswende or 'armaments turning point', when he switched expenditure from the navy to the army.[17]

This decision was not driven by a reduction in political tensions but by German concern over Russia's quick recovery from its defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and subsequent 1905 Russian Revolution. Economic reforms led to a significant post-1908 expansion of railways and transportation infrastructure, particularly in its western border regions.[18] Since Germany and Austria-Hungary relied on faster mobilisation to compensate for their numerical inferiority compared to Russia, the threat posed by the closing of this gap was more important than competing with the Royal Navy. After Germany expanded its standing army by 170,000 troops in 1913, France extended compulsory military service from two to three years; similar measures were taken by the Balkan powers and Italy, which led to increased expenditure by the Ottomans and Austria-Hungary. Absolute figures are difficult to calculate due to differences in categorising expenditure since they often omit civilian infrastructure projects like railways which had logistical importance and military use. It is known, however, that from 1908 to 1913, military spending by the six major European powers increased by over 50% in real terms.[19]

Conflicts in the Balkans

Ethno-linguistic map of Austria-Hungary, 1910. Bosnia-Herzegovina was annexed in 1908.
Photo of large white building with one sign saying "Moritz Schiller" and another in Arabic; in front is a cluster of people looking at a poster on the wall.
Sarajevo citizens reading a poster with the proclamation of the Austrian annexation in 1908

The years before 1914 were marked by a series of crises in the Balkans, as other powers sought to benefit from the Ottoman decline. While Pan-Slavic and Orthodox Russia considered itself the protector of Serbia and other Slav states, they preferred the strategically vital Bosporus straits to be controlled by a weak Ottoman government, rather than an ambitious Slav power like Bulgaria. Russia had ambitions in northeastern Anatolia while its clients had overlapping claims in the Balkans. These competing interests divided Russian policy-makers and added to regional instability.[20]

Austrian statesmen viewed the Balkans as essential for the continued existence of their Empire and saw Serbian expansion as a direct threat. The 1908–1909 Bosnian Crisis began when Austria annexed the former Ottoman territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which it had occupied since 1878. Timed to coincide with the Bulgarian Declaration of Independence from the Ottoman Empire, this unilateral action was denounced by the European powers, but accepted as there was no consensus on how to resolve the situation. Some historians see this as a significant escalation, ending any chance of Austria cooperating with Russia in the Balkans, while also damaging diplomatic relations between Serbia and Italy.[21]

Tensions increased after the 1911–1912 Italo-Turkish War demonstrated Ottoman weakness and led to the formation of the Balkan League, an alliance of Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece.[22] The League quickly overran most of the Ottomans' territory in the Balkans during the 1912–1913 First Balkan War, much to the surprise of outside observers.[23] The Serbian capture of ports on the Adriatic resulted in partial Austrian mobilisation, starting on 21 November 1912, including units along the Russian border in Galicia. The Russian government decided not to mobilise in response, unprepared to precipitate a war.[24]

The Great Powers sought to re-assert control through the 1913 Treaty of London, which had created an independent Albania while enlarging the territories of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece. However, disputes between the victors sparked the 33-day Second Balkan War, when Bulgaria attacked Serbia and Greece on 16 June 1913; it was defeated, losing most of Macedonia to Serbia and Greece, and Southern Dobruja to Romania.[25] The result was that even countries which benefited from the Balkan Wars, such as Serbia and Greece, felt cheated of their "rightful gains", while for Austria it demonstrated the apparent indifference with which other powers viewed their concerns, including Germany.[26] This complex mix of resentment, nationalism and insecurity helps explain why the pre-1914 Balkans became known as the "powder keg of Europe".[27][28][29][30]

Prelude

Sarajevo assassination

Traditionally thought to show the arrest of Gavrilo Princip (right), this photo is now believed by historians to depict an innocent bystander, Ferdinand Behr on 28 June 1914.[31][32]

On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, visited Sarajevo, the capital of the recently annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina. Cvjetko Popović, Gavrilo Princip, Nedeljko Čabrinović, Trifko Grabež, Vaso Čubrilović (Bosnian Serbs) and Muhamed Mehmedbašić (from the Bosniaks community),[33] from the movement known as Young Bosnia, took up positions along the Archduke's motorcade route, to assassinate him. Supplied with arms by extremists within the Serbian Black Hand intelligence organisation, they hoped his death would free Bosnia from Austrian rule.[34]

Čabrinović threw a grenade at the Archduke's car and injured two of his aides. The other assassins were also unsuccessful. An hour later, as Ferdinand was returning from visiting the injured officers in hospital, his car took a wrong turn into a street where Gavrilo Princip was standing. He fired two pistol shots, fatally wounding Ferdinand and his wife Sophie.[35]

According to historian Zbyněk Zeman, in Vienna "the event almost failed to make any impression whatsoever. On 28 and 29 June, the crowds listened to music and drank wine, as if nothing had happened."[36] Nevertheless, the impact of the murder of the heir to the throne was significant, and has been described by historian Christopher Clark as a "9/11 effect, a terrorist event charged with historic meaning, transforming the political chemistry in Vienna".[37]

Expansion of violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Crowds on the streets in the aftermath of the anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo, 29 June 1914

Austro-Hungarian authorities encouraged subsequent anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo.[38][39] Violent actions against ethnic Serbs were also organised outside Sarajevo, in other cities in Austro-Hungarian-controlled Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. Austro-Hungarian authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina imprisoned approximately 5,500 prominent Serbs, 700 to 2,200 of whom died in prison. A further 460 Serbs were sentenced to death. A predominantly Bosniak special militia known as the Schutzkorps was established, and carried out the persecution of Serbs.[40][41][42][43]

July Crisis

Cheering crowds in London and Paris on the day war was declared.

The assassination initiated the July Crisis, a month of diplomatic manoeuvring between Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France and Britain. Believing that Serbian intelligence helped organise Franz Ferdinand's murder, Austrian officials wanted to use the opportunity to end their interference in Bosnia and saw war as the best way of achieving this.[44] However, the Foreign Ministry had no solid proof of Serbian involvement.[45] On 23 July, Austria delivered an ultimatum to Serbia, listing ten demands made intentionally unacceptable to provide an excuse for starting hostilities.[46]

Serbia ordered general mobilization on 25 July, but accepted all the terms, except for those empowering Austrian representatives to suppress "subversive elements" inside Serbia, and take part in the investigation and trial of Serbians linked to the assassination.[47][48] Claiming this amounted to rejection, Austria broke off diplomatic relations and ordered partial mobilisation the next day; on 28 July, they declared war on Serbia and began shelling Belgrade. Russia ordered general mobilization in support of Serbia on 30 July.[49]

Anxious to ensure backing from the SPD political opposition by presenting Russia as the aggressor, German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg delayed the commencement of war preparations until 31 July.[50] That afternoon, the Russian government were handed a note requiring them to "cease all war measures against Germany and Austria-Hungary" within 12 hours.[51] A further German demand for neutrality was refused by the French who ordered general mobilization but delayed declaring war.[52] The German General Staff had long assumed they faced a war on two fronts; the Schlieffen Plan envisaged using 80% of the army to defeat France, then switching to Russia. Since this required them to move quickly, mobilization orders were issued that afternoon.[53] Once the German ultimatum to Russia expired on the morning of 1 August, the two countries were at war.

At a meeting on 29 July, the British cabinet had narrowly decided its obligations to Belgium under the 1839 Treaty of London did not require it to oppose a German invasion with military force; however, Prime Minister Asquith and his senior Cabinet ministers were already committed to supporting France, the Royal Navy had been mobilised, and public opinion was strongly in favour of intervention.[54] On 31 July, Britain sent notes to Germany and France, asking them to respect Belgian neutrality; France pledged to do so, but Germany did not reply.[55] Aware of German plans to attack through Belgium, French Commander-in-Chief Joseph Joffre asked his government for permission to cross the border and pre-empt such a move. To avoid violating Belgian neutrality, he was told any advance could come only after a German invasion.[56] Instead, the French cabinet ordered its Army to withdraw 10 km behind the German frontier, to avoid provoking war. On 2 August, Germany occupied Luxembourg and exchanged fire with French units when German patrols entered French territory; on 3 August, they declared war on France and demanded free passage across Belgium, which was refused. Early on the morning of 4 August, the Germans invaded, and Albert I of Belgium called for assistance under the Treaty of London.[57][58] Britain sent Germany an ultimatum demanding they withdraw from Belgium; when this expired at midnight, without a response, the two empires were at war.[59]

Progress of the war

Opening hostilities

Confusion among the Central Powers

Germany promised to support Austria-Hungary's invasion of Serbia, but interpretations of what this meant differed. Previously tested deployment plans had been replaced early in 1914, but those had never been tested in exercises. Austro-Hungarian leaders believed Germany would cover its northern flank against Russia.[60]

Serbian campaign

Serbian Army Blériot XI "Oluj", 1915

Beginning on 12 August, the Austrians and Serbs clashed at the battles of the Cer and Kolubara; over the next two weeks, Austrian attacks were repulsed with heavy losses. As a result, Austria had to keep sizeable forces on the Serbian front, weakening their efforts against Russia.[61] Serbia's victory against Austria-Hungary in the 1914 invasion has been called one of the major upset victories of the twentieth century.[62] In 1915, the campaign saw the first use of anti-aircraft warfare after an Austrian plane was shot down with ground-to-air fire, as well as the first medical evacuation by the Serbian army.[63][64]

German offensive in Belgium and France

German soldiers on the way to the front in 1914; at this stage, all sides expected the conflict to be a short one.

Upon mobilisation, in accordance with the Schlieffen Plan, 80% of the German Army was located on the Western Front, with the remainder acting as a screening force in the East. Rather than a direct attack across their shared frontier, the German right wing would sweep through the Netherlands and Belgium, then swing south, encircling Paris and trapping the French army against the Swiss border. The plan's creator, Alfred von Schlieffen, head of the German General Staff from 1891 to 1906, estimated that this would take six weeks, after which the German army would transfer to the East and defeat the Russians.[65]

The plan was substantially modified by his successor, Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. Under Schlieffen, 85% of German forces in the west were assigned to the right wing, with the remainder holding along the frontier. By keeping his left-wing deliberately weak, he hoped to lure the French into an offensive into the "lost provinces" of Alsace-Lorraine, which was the strategy envisaged by their Plan XVII.[65] However, Moltke grew concerned that the French might push too hard on his left flank and as the German Army increased in size from 1908 to 1914, he changed the allocation of forces between the two wings to 70:30.[66] He also considered Dutch neutrality essential for German trade and cancelled the incursion into the Netherlands, which meant any delays in Belgium threatened the viability of the plan.[67] Historian Richard Holmes argues that these changes meant the right wing was not strong enough to achieve decisive success.[68]

French bayonet charge during the Battle of the Frontiers; by the end of August, French casualties exceeded 260,000, including 75,000 dead.

The initial German advance in the West was very successful. By the end of August, the Allied left, which included the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), was in full retreat, and the French offensive in Alsace-Lorraine was a disastrous failure, with casualties exceeding 260,000.[69] German planning provided broad strategic instructions while allowing army commanders considerable freedom in carrying them out at the front, but von Kluck used this freedom to disobey orders, opening a gap between the German armies as they closed on Paris.[70] The French army, reinforced by the British expeditionary corps, seized this opportunity to counter-attack and pushed the German army 40 to 80 km back. Both armies were then so exhausted that no decisive move could be implemented, so they settled in trenches, with the vain hope of breaking through as soon as they could build local superiority.

In 1911, the Russian Stavka agreed with the French to attack Germany within fifteen days of mobilisation, ten days before the Germans had anticipated, although it meant the two Russian armies that entered East Prussia on 17 August did so without many of their support elements.[71]

By the end of 1914, German troops held strong defensive positions inside France, controlled the bulk of France's domestic coalfields, and inflicted 230,000 more casualties than it lost itself. However, communications problems and questionable command decisions cost Germany the chance of a decisive outcome, while it had failed to achieve the primary objective of avoiding a long, two-front war.[72] As was apparent to several German leaders, this amounted to a strategic defeat; shortly after the First Battle of the Marne, Crown Prince Wilhelm told an American reporter "We have lost the war. It will go on for a long time but lost it is already."[73]

Asia and the Pacific

Japanese soldiers occupy an abandoned German trench during the Siege of Tsingtao, 1914

On 30 August 1914, New Zealand occupied German Samoa (now Samoa). On 11 September, the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force landed on the island of New Britain, then part of German New Guinea. On 28 October, the German cruiser SMS Emden sank the Russian cruiser Zhemchug in the Battle of Penang. Japan declared war on Germany before seizing territories in the Pacific, which later became the South Seas Mandate, as well as German Treaty ports on the Chinese Shandong peninsula at Tsingtao. After Vienna refused to withdraw its cruiser SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth from Tsingtao, Japan declared war on Austria-Hungary, and the ship was sunk in November 1914.[74] Within a few months, Allied forces had seized all German territories in the Pacific, leaving only isolated commerce raiders and a few holdouts in New Guinea.[75][76]

African campaigns

Some of the first clashes of the war involved British, French, and German colonial forces in Africa. On 6–7 August, French and British troops invaded the German protectorates of Togoland and Kamerun. On 10 August, German forces in South-West Africa attacked South Africa; sporadic and fierce fighting continued for the rest of the war. The German colonial forces in German East Africa, led by Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, fought a guerrilla warfare campaign and only surrendered two weeks after the armistice took effect in Europe.[77]

Indian support for the Allies

British Indian Army infantry divisions in France; these troops were withdrawn in December 1915, and served in the Mesopotamian campaign.

Before the war, Germany had attempted to use Indian nationalism and pan-Islamism to its advantage, a policy continued post-1914 by instigating uprisings in India, while the Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition urged Afghanistan to join the war on the side of Central Powers. However, contrary to British fears of a revolt in India, the outbreak of the war saw a reduction in nationalist activity.[78][79] Leaders from the Indian National Congress and other groups believed support for the British war effort would hasten Indian Home Rule, a promise allegedly made explicit in 1917 by Edwin Montagu, the Secretary of State for India.[80]

In 1914, the British Indian Army was larger than the British Army itself, and between 1914 and 1918 an estimated 1.3 million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In all, 140,000 soldiers served on the Western Front and nearly 700,000 in the Middle East, with 47,746 killed and 65,126 wounded.[81] The suffering engendered by the war, as well as the failure of the British government to grant self-government to India afterward, bred disillusionment, resulting in the campaign for full independence led by Mahatma Gandhi.[82]

Western Front

Trench warfare begins

British Indian soldiers digging trenches in Laventie, France, 1915

Pre-war military tactics that had emphasised open warfare and individual riflemen proved obsolete when confronted with conditions prevailing in 1914. Technological advances allowed the creation of strong defensive systems largely impervious to massed infantry advances, such as barbed wire, machine guns and above all far more powerful artillery, which dominated the battlefield and made crossing open ground extremely difficult.[83] Both sides struggled to develop tactics for breaching entrenched positions without heavy casualties. In time, technology enabled the production of new offensive weapons, such as gas warfare and the tank.[84]

After the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914, Allied and German forces unsuccessfully tried to outflank each other, a series of manoeuvres later known as the "Race to the Sea". By the end of 1914, the opposing forces confronted each other along an uninterrupted line of entrenched positions from the Channel to the Swiss border.[85] Since the Germans were normally able to choose where to stand, they generally held the high ground, while their trenches tended to be better built; those constructed by the French and English were initially considered "temporary", only needed until an offensive would destroy the German defences.[86] Both sides tried to break the stalemate using scientific and technological advances. On 22 April 1915, at the Second Battle of Ypres, the Germans (violating the Hague Convention) used chlorine gas for the first time on the Western Front. Several types of gas soon became widely used by both sides and though it never proved a decisive, battle-winning weapon, it became one of the most feared and best-remembered horrors of the war.[87][88]

Continuation of trench warfare

German casualties at the Somme, 1916

In February 1916, the Germans attacked French defensive positions at the Battle of Verdun, lasting until December 1916. Casualties were greater for the French, but the Germans bled heavily as well, with anywhere from 700,000[89] to 975,000[90] casualties between the two combatants. Verdun became a symbol of French determination and self-sacrifice.[91]

The Battle of the Somme was an Anglo-French offensive from July to November 1916. The opening day on 1 July 1916 was the bloodiest single day in the history of the British Army, which suffered 57,500 casualties, including 19,200 dead. As a whole, the Somme offensive led to an estimated 420,000 British casualties, along with 200,000 French and 500,000 Germans.[92] The diseases that emerged in the trenches were a major killer on both sides. The living conditions led to disease and infection, such as trench foot, lice, typhus, trench fever, and the 'Spanish flu'.[93]

Battleships of the Hochseeflotte, 1917

At the start of the war, German cruisers were scattered across the globe, some of which were subsequently used to attack Allied merchant shipping. These were systematically hunted down by the Royal Navy, though not before causing considerable damage. One of the most successful was the SMS Emden, part of the German East Asia Squadron stationed at Qingdao, which seized or sank 15 merchantmen, a Russian cruiser and a French destroyer. Most of the squadron was returning to Germany when it sank two British armoured cruisers at the Battle of Coronel in November 1914, before being virtually destroyed at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December. The SMS Dresden escaped with a few auxiliaries, but after the Battle of Más a Tierra, these too were either destroyed or interned.[94]

Soon after the outbreak of hostilities, Britain began a naval blockade of Germany. This proved effective in cutting off vital supplies, though it violated accepted international law.[95] Britain also mined international waters which closed off entire sections of the ocean, even to neutral ships.[96] Since there was limited response to this tactic, Germany expected a similar response to its unrestricted submarine warfare.[97]

The Battle of Jutland[d] in May/June 1916 was the only full-scale clash of battleships during the war, and one of the largest in history. The clash was indecisive, though the Germans inflicted more damage than they received; thereafter the bulk of the German High Seas Fleet was confined to port.[98]

U-155 exhibited near Tower Bridge in London, after the 1918 Armistice

German U-boats attempted to cut the supply lines between North America and Britain.[99] The nature of submarine warfare meant that attacks often came without warning, giving the crews of the merchant ships little hope of survival.[99][100] The United States launched a protest, and Germany changed its rules of engagement. After the sinking of the passenger ship RMS Lusitania in 1915, Germany promised not to target passenger liners, while Britain armed its merchant ships, placing them beyond the protection of the "cruiser rules", which demanded warning and movement of crews to "a place of safety" (a standard that lifeboats did not meet).[101] Finally, in early 1917, Germany adopted a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, realising the Americans would eventually enter the war.[99][102] Germany sought to strangle Allied sea lanes before the United States could transport a large army overseas, but, after initial successes, eventually failed to do so.[99]

The U-boat threat lessened in 1917, when merchant ships began travelling in convoys, escorted by destroyers. This tactic made it difficult for U-boats to find targets, which significantly lessened losses; after the hydrophone and depth charges were introduced, destroyers could potentially successfully attack a submerged submarine. Convoys slowed the flow of supplies since ships had to wait as convoys were assembled; the solution was an extensive program of building new freighters. Troopships were too fast for the submarines and did not travel the North Atlantic in convoys.[103] The U-boats sunk more than 5,000 Allied ships, at the cost of 199 submarines.[104]

World War I also saw the first use of aircraft carriers in combat, with HMS Furious launching Sopwith Camels in a successful raid against the Zeppelin hangars at Tondern in July 1918, as well as blimps for antisubmarine patrol.[105]

Southern theatres

War in the Balkans

Refugee transport from Serbia in Leibnitz, Styria, 1914

Faced with Russia in the east, Austria-Hungary could spare only one-third of its army to attack Serbia. After suffering heavy losses, the Austrians briefly occupied the Serbian capital, Belgrade. A Serbian counter-attack in the Battle of Kolubara succeeded in driving them from the country by the end of 1914. For the first 10 months of 1915, Austria-Hungary used most of its military reserves to fight Italy. German and Austro-Hungarian diplomats scored a coup by persuading Bulgaria to join the attack on Serbia.[106] The Austro-Hungarian provinces of Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia provided troops for Austria-Hungary. Montenegro allied itself with Serbia.[107]

Bulgarian soldiers in a trench, preparing to fire against an incoming aeroplane

Bulgaria declared war on Serbia on 14 October 1915 and joined in the attack by the Austro-Hungarian army under Mackensen's army of 250,000 that was already underway. Serbia was conquered in a little more than a month, as the Central Powers, now including Bulgaria, sent in 600,000 troops in total. The Serbian army, fighting on two fronts and facing certain defeat, retreated into northern Albania. The Serbs suffered defeat in the Battle of Kosovo. Montenegro covered the Serbian retreat toward the Adriatic coast in the Battle of Mojkovac on 6–7 January 1916, but ultimately the Austrians also conquered Montenegro. The surviving Serbian soldiers were evacuated to Greece.[108] After the conquest, Serbia was divided between Austro-Hungary and Bulgaria.[109]

In late 1915, a Franco-British force landed at Salonica in Greece to offer assistance and to pressure its government to declare war against the Central Powers. However, the pro-German King Constantine I dismissed the pro-Allied government of Eleftherios Venizelos before the Allied expeditionary force arrived.[110]

The Macedonian front was at first mostly static. French and Serbian forces retook limited areas of Macedonia by recapturing Bitola on 19 November 1916 following the costly Monastir offensive, which brought stabilisation of the front.[111]

Austro-Hungarian troops executing captured Serbians, 1917. Serbia lost about 850,000 people during the war, a quarter of its pre-war population.[112]

Serbian and French troops finally made a breakthrough in September 1918 in the Vardar offensive, after most German and Austro-Hungarian troops had been withdrawn. The Bulgarians were defeated at the Battle of Dobro Pole, and by 25 September British and French troops had crossed the border into Bulgaria proper as the Bulgarian army collapsed. Bulgaria capitulated four days later, on 29 September 1918.[113] The German high command responded by despatching troops to hold the line, but these forces were too weak to re-establish a front.[114]

The disappearance of the Macedonian front meant that the road to Budapest and Vienna was now opened to Allied forces. Hindenburg and Ludendorff concluded that the strategic and operational balance had now shifted decidedly against the Central Powers and, a day after the Bulgarian collapse, insisted on an immediate peace settlement.[115]

Ottoman Empire

Australian troops charging near a Turkish trench during the Gallipoli campaign

The Ottomans threatened Russia's Caucasian territories and Britain's communications with India via the Suez Canal. The Ottoman Empire took advantage of the European powers' preoccupation with the war and conducted large-scale ethnic cleansing of the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian Christian populations—the Armenian genocide, Greek genocide, and Sayfo respectively.[116][117][118]

The British and French opened overseas fronts with the Gallipoli (1915) and Mesopotamian campaigns (1914). In Gallipoli, the Ottoman Empire successfully repelled the British, French, and Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs). In Mesopotamia, by contrast, after the defeat of the British defenders in the siege of Kut by the Ottomans (1915–1916), British Imperial forces reorganised and captured Baghdad in March 1917. The British were aided in Mesopotamia by local Arab and Assyrian fighters, while the Ottomans employed local Kurdish and Turcoman tribes.[119]

The Suez Canal was defended from Ottoman attacks in 1915 and 1916; in August 1916, a German and Ottoman force was defeated at the Battle of Romani by the ANZAC Mounted Division and the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division. Following this victory, an Egyptian Expeditionary Force advanced across the Sinai Peninsula, pushing Ottoman forces back in the Battle of Magdhaba in December and the Battle of Rafa on the border between the Egyptian Sinai and Ottoman Palestine in January 1917.[120]

Russian forest trench at the Battle of Sarikamish, 1914–1915

Russian armies generally had success in the Caucasus campaign. Enver Pasha, supreme commander of the Ottoman armed forces, dreamed of re-conquering central Asia and areas that had been previously lost to Russia. He was, however, a poor commander.[121] He launched an offensive against the Russians in the Caucasus in December 1914 with 100,000 troops, insisting on a frontal attack against mountainous Russian positions in winter. He lost 86% of his force at the Battle of Sarikamish.[122] General Yudenich, the Russian commander from 1915 to 1916, drove the Turks out of most of the southern Caucasus.[122]

Kaiser Wilhelm II and Prince Leopold of Bavaria inspecting Turkish troops of the 15th Corps in East Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Poland).

The Ottoman Empire, with German support, invaded Persia (modern Iran) in December 1914 to cut off British and Russian access to petroleum reservoirs around Baku.[123] Persia, ostensibly neutral, had long been under British and Russian influence. The Ottomans and Germans were aided by Kurdish and Azeri forces, together with a large number of major Iranian tribes, while the Russians and British had the support of Armenian and Assyrian forces. The Persian campaign lasted until 1918 and ended in failure for the Ottomans and their allies. However, the Russian withdrawal from the war in 1917 led Armenian and Assyrian forces to be cut off from supply lines, outnumbered, outgunned and isolated, forcing them to fight and flee towards British lines in northern Mesopotamia.[124]

The Arab Revolt, instigated by the British Foreign Office, started in June 1916 with the Battle of Mecca, led by Sharif Hussein. The Sharif declared the independence of the Kingdom of Hejaz and, with British assistance, conquered much of Ottoman-held Arabia, resulting finally in the Ottoman surrender of Damascus. Fakhri Pasha, the Ottoman commander of Medina, resisted for more than 2+12 years during the siege of Medina before surrendering in January 1919.[125]

The Senussi tribe, along the border of Italian Libya and British Egypt, incited and armed by the Turks, waged a small-scale guerrilla war against Allied troops. The British were forced to dispatch 12,000 troops to oppose them in the Senussi campaign. Their rebellion was finally crushed in mid-1916.[126]

Total Allied casualties on the Ottoman fronts amounted to 650,000 men. Total Ottoman casualties were 725,000, with 325,000 dead and 400,000 wounded.[127]

Italian Front

Isonzo Offensives 1915–1917

Though Italy joined the Triple Alliance in 1882, a treaty with its traditional Austrian enemy was so controversial that subsequent governments denied its existence and the terms were only made public in 1915.[128] This arose from nationalist designs on Austro-Hungarian territory in Trentino, the Austrian Littoral, Rijeka and Dalmatia, considered vital to secure the borders established in 1866.[129] In 1902, Rome secretly had agreed with France to remain neutral if the latter was attacked by Germany, effectively nullifying its role in the Triple Alliance.[130]

When the war began in 1914, Italy argued the Triple Alliance was defensive and it was not obliged to support an Austrian attack on Serbia. Opposition to joining the Central Powers increased when Turkey became a member in September, since in 1911 Italy had occupied Ottoman possessions in Libya and the Dodecanese islands.[131] To secure Italian neutrality, the Central Powers offered them Tunisia, while in return for an immediate entry into the war, the Allies agreed to their demands for Austrian territory and sovereignty over the Dodecanese.[132] Although they remained secret, these provisions were incorporated into the April 1915 Treaty of London; Italy joined the Triple Entente and, on 23 May, declared war on Austria-Hungary,[133] followed by Germany fifteen months later.

Austro-Hungarian trench at 3,850 metres in the Ortler Alps, one of the most challenging fronts of the war

The pre-1914 Italian army was short of officers, trained men, adequate transport and modern weapons; by April 1915, some of these deficiencies had been remedied but it was still unprepared for the major offensive required by the Treaty of London.[134] The advantage of superior numbers was offset by the difficult terrain; much of the fighting took place high in the Alps and Dolomites, where trench lines had to be cut through rock and ice and keeping troops supplied was a major challenge. These issues were exacerbated by unimaginative strategies and tactics.[135] Between 1915 and 1917, the Italian commander, Luigi Cadorna, undertook a series of frontal assaults along the Isonzo, which made little progress and cost many lives; by the end of the war, Italian combat deaths totalled around 548,000.[136]

In the spring of 1916, the Austro-Hungarians counterattacked in Asiago in the Strafexpedition, but made little progress and were pushed by the Italians back to Tyrol.[137] Although Italy occupied southern Albania in May 1916, their main focus was the Isonzo front which, after the capture of Gorizia in August 1916, remained static until October 1917. After a combined Austro-German force won a major victory at Caporetto, Cadorna was replaced by Armando Diaz who retreated more than 100 kilometres (62 mi) before holding positions along the Piave River.[138] A second Austrian offensive was repulsed in June 1918. On 24 October, Diaz launched the Battle of Vittorio Veneto and initially met stubborn resistance,[139] but with Austria-Hungary collapsing, Hungarian divisions in Italy demanded they be sent home.[140] When this was granted, many others followed and the Imperial army disintegrated, the Italians taking over 300,000 prisoners.[141] On 3 November, the Armistice of Villa Giusti ended hostilities between Austria-Hungary and Italy which occupied Trieste and areas along the Adriatic Sea awarded to it in 1915.[142]

Eastern Front

Initial actions

Emperor Nicholas II and Grand Duke Nikolaevich following the Russian capture of Przemyśl, the longest siege of the war.

As previously agreed with French president Raymond Poincaré, Russian plans at the start of the war were to simultaneously advance into Austrian Galicia and East Prussia as soon as possible. Although their attack on Galicia was largely successful, and the invasions achieved their aim of forcing Germany to divert troops from the Western Front, the speed of mobilisation meant they did so without much of their heavy equipment and support functions. These weaknesses contributed to Russian defeats at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes in August and September 1914, forcing them to withdraw from East Prussia with heavy losses.[143][144] By spring 1915, they had also retreated from Galicia, and the May 1915 Gorlice–Tarnów offensive allowed the Central Powers to invade Russian-occupied Poland.[145]

Despite the successful June 1916 Brusilov offensive against the Austrians in eastern Galicia,[146] shortages of supplies, heavy losses and command failures prevented the Russians from fully exploiting their victory. However, it was one of the most significant offensives of the war, diverting German resources from Verdun, relieving Austro-Hungarian pressure on the Italians, and convincing Romania to enter the war on the side of the Allies on 27 August. It also fatally weakened both the Austrian and Russian armies, whose offensive capabilities were badly affected by their losses and increased disillusion with the war that ultimately led to the Russian revolutions.[147]

Meanwhile, unrest grew in Russia as the Tsar remained at the front, with the home front controlled by Empress Alexandra. Her increasingly incompetent rule and food shortages in urban areas led to widespread protests and the murder of her favourite, Grigori Rasputin, at the end of 1916.[148]

Romanian participation

World War I is located in Romania
Bucharest
Bucharest
Timișoara (Banat)
Timișoara (Banat)
Cluj (Transylvania)
Cluj (Transylvania)
Chișinău (Moldova)
Chișinău (Moldova)
Constanța (Dobruja)
Constanța (Dobruja)
Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Hungary
Hungary
Mărășești
Mărășești
Oituz
Oituz
Romania key locations 1916–1918 (using 2024 borders)

Despite secretly agreeing to support the Triple Alliance in 1883, Romania increasingly found itself at odds with the Central Powers over their support for Bulgaria in the Balkan Wars and the status of ethnic Romanian communities in Hungarian-controlled Transylvania,[149] which comprised an estimated 2.8 million of the 5.0 million population.[150] With the ruling elite split into pro-German and pro-Entente factions,[151] Romania remained neutral for two years while allowing Germany and Austria to transport military supplies and advisors across Romanian territory.[152]

In September 1914, Russia acknowledged Romanian rights to Austro-Hungarian territories including Transylvania and Banat, whose acquisition had widespread popular support,[150] and Russian success against Austria led Romania to join the Entente in the August 1916 Treaty of Bucharest.[152] Under the strategic plan known as Hypothesis Z, the Romanian army planned an offensive into Transylvania, while defending Southern Dobruja and Giurgiu against a possible Bulgarian counterattack.[153] On 27 August 1916, they attacked Transylvania and occupied substantial parts of the province before being driven back by the recently formed German 9th Army, led by former Chief of Staff Erich von Falkenhayn.[154] A combined German-Bulgarian-Turkish offensive captured Dobruja and Giurgiu, although the bulk of the Romanian army managed to escape encirclement and retreated to Bucharest, which surrendered to the Central Powers on 6 December 1916.[155]

In the summer of 1917, a Central Powers offensive began in Romania under the command of August von Mackensen to knock Romania out of the war, resulting in the battles of Oituz, Mărăști and Mărășești where up to 1,000,000 Central Powers troops were present. The battles lasted from 22 July to 3 September and eventually, the Romanian army was victorious advancing 500 km2. August von Mackensen could not plan for another offensive as he had to transfer troops to the Italian Front.[156] Following the Russian revolution, Romania found itself alone on the Eastern Front and signed the Treaty of Bucharest with the Central Powers, which recognised Romanian sovereignty over Bessarabia in return for ceding control of passes in the Carpathian Mountains to Austria-Hungary and leasing its oil wells to Germany. Although approved by Parliament, King Ferdinand I refused to sign it, hoping for an Allied victory in the west.[157] Romania re-entered the war on 10 November 1918 on the side of the Allies and the Treaty of Bucharest was formally annulled by the Armistice of 11 November 1918.[158][e]

Central Powers peace overtures

On 12 December 1916, after ten brutal months of the Battle of Verdun and a successful offensive against Romania, Germany attempted to negotiate a peace with the Allies.[160] However, this attempt was rejected out of hand as a "duplicitous war ruse".[160]

"They shall not pass", a phrase typically associated with the defence of Verdun

US president Woodrow Wilson attempted to intervene as a peacemaker, asking for both sides to state their demands. Lloyd George's War Cabinet considered the German offer to be a ploy to create divisions among the Allies. After initial outrage and much deliberation, they took Wilson's note as a separate effort, signalling that the US was on the verge of entering the war against Germany following the "submarine outrages". While the Allies debated a response to Wilson's offer, the Germans chose to rebuff it in favour of "a direct exchange of views". Learning of the German response, the Allied governments were free to make clear demands in their response of 14 January. They sought restoration of damages, the evacuation of occupied territories, reparations for France, Russia and Romania, and a recognition of the principle of nationalities.[161] The Allies sought guarantees that would prevent or limit future wars.[162] The negotiations failed and the Entente powers rejected the German offer on the grounds of honour, and noted Germany had not put forward any specific proposals.[160]

Final years of the war

Russian Revolution and withdrawal

Territory lost by Russia under the 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

By the end of 1916, Russian casualties totalled nearly five million killed, wounded or captured, with major urban areas affected by food shortages and high prices. In March 1917, Tsar Nicholas ordered the military to forcibly suppress strikes in Petrograd but the troops refused to fire on the crowds.[163] Revolutionaries set up the Petrograd Soviet and fearing a left-wing takeover, the State Duma forced Nicholas to abdicate and established the Russian Provisional Government, which confirmed Russia's willingness to continue the war. However, the Petrograd Soviet refused to disband, creating competing power centres and causing confusion and chaos, with frontline soldiers becoming increasingly demoralised.[164]

Following the Tsar's abdication, Vladimir Lenin—with the help of the German government—was ushered from Switzerland into Russia on 16 April 1917. Discontent and the weaknesses of the Provisional Government led to a rise in the popularity of the Bolshevik Party, led by Lenin, which demanded an immediate end to the war. The Revolution of November was followed in December by an armistice and negotiations with Germany. At first, the Bolsheviks refused the German terms, but when German troops began marching across Ukraine unopposed, they acceded to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on 3 March 1918. The treaty ceded vast territories, including Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and parts of Poland and Ukraine to the Central Powers.[165]

With the Russian Empire out of the war, Romania found itself alone on the Eastern Front and signed the Treaty of Bucharest with the Central Powers in May 1918. Under the terms of the treaty, Romania ceded territory to Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria and leased its oil reserves to Germany. However, the terms also included the Central Powers' recognition of the union of Bessarabia with Romania.[166][167]

United States enters the war

President Wilson asking Congress to declare war on Germany, 2 April 1917

The United States was a major supplier of war material to the Allies but remained neutral in 1914, in large part due to domestic opposition.[168] The most significant factor in creating the support Wilson needed was the German submarine offensive, which not only cost American lives but paralysed trade as ships were reluctant to put to sea.[169]

On 6 April 1917, Congress declared war on Germany as an "Associated Power" of the Allies.[170] The US Navy sent a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join the Grand Fleet, and provided convoy escorts. In April 1917, the US Army had fewer than 300,000 men, including National Guard units, compared to British and French armies of 4.1 and 8.3 million respectively. The Selective Service Act of 1917 drafted 2.8 million men, though training and equipping such numbers was a huge logistical challenge. By June 1918, over 667,000 members of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) were transported to France, a figure which reached 2 million by the end of November.[171]

Despite his conviction that Germany must be defeated, Wilson went to war to ensure the US played a leading role in shaping the peace, which meant preserving the AEF as a separate military force, rather than being absorbed into British or French units as his Allies wanted.[172] He was strongly supported by AEF commander General John J. Pershing, a proponent of pre-1914 "open warfare" who considered the French and British emphasis on artillery misguided and incompatible with American "offensive spirit".[173] Much to the frustration of his Allies, who had suffered heavy losses in 1917, he insisted on retaining control of American troops, and refused to commit them to the front line until able to operate as independent units. As a result, the first significant US involvement was the Meuse–Argonne offensive in late September 1918.[174]

Nivelle Offensive (April–May 1917)

Files of soldiers with rifles slung follow close behind a tank, there is a dead body in the foreground
Canadian Corps troops at the Battle of Vimy Ridge, 1917

In December 1916, Robert Nivelle replaced Pétain as commander of French armies on the Western Front and began planning a spring attack in Champagne, part of a joint Franco-British operation.[175] Poor security meant German intelligence was well informed on tactics and timetables, but despite this, when the attack began on 16 April the French made substantial gains, before being brought to a halt by the newly built and extremely strong defences of the Hindenburg Line. Nivelle persisted with frontal assaults and, by 25 April, the French had suffered nearly 135,000 casualties, including 30,000 dead, most incurred in the first two days.[176]

Concurrent British attacks at Arras were more successful, though ultimately of little strategic value.[177] Operating as a separate unit for the first time, the Canadian Corps' capture of Vimy Ridge is viewed by many Canadians as a defining moment in creating a sense of national identity.[178][179] Though Nivelle continued the offensive, on 3 May the 21st Division, which had been involved in some of the heaviest fighting at Verdun, refused orders to go into battle, initiating the French Army mutinies; within days, "collective indiscipline" had spread to 54 divisions, while over 20,000 deserted.[180]

Sinai and Palestine campaign (1917–1918)

British artillery battery on Mount Scopus in the Battle of Jerusalem, 1917.

In March and April 1917, at the First and Second Battles of Gaza, German and Ottoman forces stopped the advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, which had begun in August 1916 at the Battle of Romani.[181][182] At the end of October 1917, the Sinai and Palestine campaign resumed, when General Edmund Allenby's XXth Corps, XXI Corps and Desert Mounted Corps won the Battle of Beersheba.[183] Two Ottoman armies were defeated a few weeks later at the Battle of Mughar Ridge and, early in December, Jerusalem had been captured following another Ottoman defeat at the Battle of Jerusalem.[184][185][186] About this time, Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein was relieved of his duties as the Eighth Army's commander, replaced by Djevad Pasha, and a few months later the commander of the Ottoman Army in Palestine, Erich von Falkenhayn, was replaced by Otto Liman von Sanders.[187][188]

In early 1918, the front line was extended and the Jordan Valley was occupied, following the First Transjordan and the Second Transjordan attacks by British Empire forces in March and April 1918.[189]

German offensive and Allied counter-offensive (March–November 1918)

Between April and November 1918, the Allies increased their front-line rifle strength while German strength fell by half.[190]

In December 1917, the Central Powers signed an armistice with Russia, thus freeing large numbers of German troops for use in the West. With German reinforcements and new American troops pouring in, the outcome was to be decided on the Western Front. The Central Powers knew that they could not win a protracted war, but they held high hopes for success in a final quick offensive.[191] Ludendorff drew up plans (Operation Michael) for the 1918 offensive on the Western Front. The operation commenced on 21 March 1918, with an attack on British forces near Saint-Quentin. German forces achieved an unprecedented advance of 60 kilometres (37 mi).[192] The initial offensive was a success; after heavy fighting, however, the offensive was halted. Lacking tanks or motorised artillery, the Germans were unable to consolidate their gains. The problems of re-supply were also exacerbated by increasing distances that now stretched over terrain that was shell-torn and often impassable to traffic.[193] Germany launched Operation Georgette against the northern English Channel ports. The Allies halted the drive after limited territorial gains by Germany. The German Army to the south then conducted Operations Blücher and Yorck, pushing broadly towards Paris. Germany launched Operation Marne (Second Battle of the Marne) on 15 July, in an attempt to encircle Reims. The resulting counter-attack, which started the Hundred Days Offensive on 8 August,[194] led to a marked collapse in German morale.[195][196][197]

Allied advance to the Hindenburg Line

American soldiers firing on German entrenched positions during the Meuse-Argonne offensive, 1918

By September, the Germans had fallen back to the Hindenburg Line. The Allies had advanced to the Hindenburg Line in the north and centre. German forces launched numerous counterattacks, but positions and outposts of the Line continued falling, with the BEF alone taking 30,441 prisoners in the last week of September. On 24 September, the Supreme Army Command informed the leaders in Berlin that armistice talks were inevitable.[198]

The final assault on the Hindenburg Line began with the Meuse-Argonne offensive, launched by American and French troops on 26 September. Two days later the Belgians, French and British attacked around Ypres, and the day after the British at St Quentin in the centre of the line. The following week, cooperating American and French units broke through in Champagne at the Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge (3–27 October), forcing the Germans off the commanding heights, and closing towards the Belgian frontier.[199] On 8 October, the Hindenburg Line was pierced by British and Dominion troops of the First and Third British Armies at the Second Battle of Cambrai.[200]

Breakthrough of Macedonian front (September 1918)

Bulgarian major Ivanov with white flag surrendering to Serbian 7th Danube regiment near Kumanovo

Allied forces started the Vardar offensive on 15 September at two key points: Dobro Pole and near Dojran Lake. In the Battle of Dobro Pole, the Serbian and French armies had success after a three-day-long battle with relatively small casualties, and subsequently made a breakthrough in the front, something which was rarely seen in World War I. After the front was broken, Allied forces started to liberate Serbia and reached Skopje at 29 September, after which Bulgaria signed an armistice with the Allies on 30 September.[201][202]

Armistices and capitulations

Italian troops reach Trento during the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, 1918

The collapse of the Central Powers came swiftly. Bulgaria was the first to sign an armistice, the Armistice of Salonica on 29 September 1918.[203] German Emperor Wilhelm II in a telegram to Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand I described the situation thus: "Disgraceful! 62,000 Serbs decided the war!".[204][205] On the same day, the German Supreme Army Command informed Kaiser Wilhelm II and the Imperial Chancellor Count Georg von Hertling, that the military situation facing Germany was hopeless.[206]

On 24 October, the Italians began a push that rapidly recovered territory lost after the Battle of Caporetto. This culminated in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, marking the end of the Austro-Hungarian Army as an effective fighting force. The offensive also triggered the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the last week of October, declarations of independence were made in Budapest, Prague, and Zagreb. On 29 October, the imperial authorities asked Italy for an armistice, but the Italians continued advancing, reaching Trento, Udine, and Trieste. On 3 November, Austria-Hungary sent a flag of truce and accepted the Armistice of Villa Giusti, arranged with the Allied Authorities in Paris. Austria and Hungary signed separate armistices following the overthrow of the Habsburg monarchy. In the following days, the Italian Army occupied Innsbruck and all Tyrol, with over 20,000 soldiers.[207]

On 30 October, the Ottoman Empire capitulated, and signed the Armistice of Mudros.[203]

German government surrenders

Ferdinand Foch (second from right) pictured outside the carriage in Compiègne after agreeing to the armistice that ended the war there.[208]

With the military faltering and with widespread loss of confidence in the Kaiser leading to his abdication and fleeing of the country, Germany moved towards surrender. Prince Maximilian of Baden took charge on October 3 as Chancellor of Germany. Negotiations with President Wilson began immediately, in the hope that he would offer better terms than the British and French. Wilson demanded a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary control over the German military.[209]

The German Revolution of 1918–1919 began at the end of October 1918. Units of the German Navy refused to set sail for a last, large-scale operation in a war they believed to be as good as lost. The sailors' revolt, which then ensued in the naval ports of Wilhelmshaven and Kiel, spread across the whole country within days and led to the proclamation of a republic on 9 November 1918, shortly thereafter to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and German surrender.[210][211][212][213][214]

Aftermath

In the aftermath of the war, the German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian empires disappeared.[f] Numerous nations regained their former independence, and new ones were created. Four dynasties fell as a result of the war: the Romanovs, the Hohenzollerns, the Habsburgs, and the Ottomans. Belgium and Serbia were badly damaged, as was France, with 1.4 million soldiers dead,[215] not counting other casualties. Germany and Russia were similarly affected.[216]

Formal end of the war

The signing of the Treaty of Versailles in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, 28 June 1919, by Sir William Orpen

A formal state of war between the two sides persisted for another seven months, until the signing of the Treaty of Versailles with Germany on 28 June 1919. The US Senate did not ratify the treaty despite public support for it,[217][218] and did not formally end its involvement in the war until the Knox–Porter Resolution was signed on 2 July 1921 by President Warren G. Harding.[219] For the British Empire, the state of war ceased under the provisions of the Termination of the Present War (Definition) Act 1918 concerning:

  • Germany on 10 January 1920.[220]
  • Austria on 16 July 1920.[221]
  • Bulgaria on 9 August 1920.[222]
  • Hungary on 26 July 1921.[223]
  • Turkey on 6 August 1924.[224]
Greek prime minister Eleftherios Venizelos signing the Treaty of Sèvres

Some war memorials date the end of the war as being when the Versailles Treaty was signed in 1919, which was when many of the troops serving abroad finally returned home; by contrast, most commemorations of the war's end concentrate on the armistice of 11 November 1918.[225]

Peace treaties and national boundaries

Map of territorial changes in Europe after World War I (as of 1923)

The Paris Peace Conference imposed a series of peace treaties on the Central Powers officially ending the war. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles dealt with Germany and, building on Wilson's 14th point, established the League of Nations on 28 June 1919.[226][227]

The Central Powers had to acknowledge responsibility for "all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by" their aggression. In the Treaty of Versailles, this statement was Article 231. This article became known as the "War Guilt Clause", as the majority of Germans felt humiliated and resentful.[228] The Germans felt they had been unjustly dealt with by what they called the "diktat of Versailles". German historian Hagen Schulze said the Treaty placed Germany "under legal sanctions, deprived of military power, economically ruined, and politically humiliated."[229] Belgian historian Laurence Van Ypersele emphasises the central role played by memory of the war and the Versailles Treaty in German politics in the 1920s and 1930s:

Active denial of war guilt in Germany and German resentment at both reparations and continued Allied occupation of the Rhineland made widespread revision of the meaning and memory of the war problematic. The legend of the "stab in the back" and the wish to revise the "Versailles diktat", and the belief in an international threat aimed at the elimination of the German nation persisted at the heart of German politics. Even a man of peace such as [Gustav] Stresemann publicly rejected German guilt. As for the Nazis, they waved the banners of domestic treason and international conspiracy in an attempt to galvanise the German nation into a spirit of revenge. Like a Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany sought to redirect the memory of the war to the benefit of its policies.[230]

Meanwhile, new nations liberated from German rule viewed the treaty as a recognition of wrongs committed against small nations by much larger aggressive neighbours.[231]

Dissolution of Austria-Hungary after war

Austria-Hungary was partitioned into several successor states, largely but not entirely along ethnic lines. Apart from Austria and Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia received territories from the Dual Monarchy (the formerly separate and autonomous Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia was incorporated into Yugoslavia). The details were contained in the treaties of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Trianon. As a result, Hungary lost 64% of its total population, decreasing from 20.9 million to 7.6 million, and losing 31% (3.3 out of 10.7 million) of its ethnic Hungarians.[232] According to the 1910 census, speakers of the Hungarian language included approximately 54% of the entire population of the Kingdom of Hungary. Within the country, numerous ethnic minorities were present: 16.1% Romanians, 10.5% Slovaks, 10.4% Germans, 2.5% Ruthenians, 2.5% Serbs and 8% others.[233] Between 1920 and 1924, 354,000 Hungarians fled former Hungarian territories attached to Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia.[234]

The Russian Empire lost much of its western frontier as the newly independent nations of Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland were carved from it. Romania took control of Bessarabia in April 1918.[235]

National identities

After 123 years, Poland re-emerged as an independent country. The Kingdom of Serbia and its dynasty, as a "minor Entente nation" and the country with the most casualties per capita,[236][237][238] became the backbone of a new multinational state, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later renamed Yugoslavia. Czechoslovakia, combining the Kingdom of Bohemia with parts of the Kingdom of Hungary, became a new nation. Romania would unite all Romanian-speaking people under a single state, leading to Greater Romania.[239]

In Australia and New Zealand, the Battle of Gallipoli became known as those nations' "Baptism of Fire". It was the first major war in which the newly established countries fought, and it was one of the first times that Australian troops fought as Australians, not just subjects of the British Crown, and independent national identities for these nations took hold. Anzac Day, commemorating the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), celebrates this defining moment.[240][241]

In the aftermath of World War I, Greece fought against Turkish nationalists led by Mustafa Kemal, a war that eventually resulted in a massive population exchange between the two countries under the Treaty of Lausanne.[242] According to various sources,[243] several hundred thousand Greeks died during this period, which was tied in with the Greek genocide.[244]

Casualties

Men transporting a wounded Ottoman soldier at Sirkeci

The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I was about 40 million: estimates range from around 15 to 22 million deaths[245] and about 23 million wounded military personnel, ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in human history. The total number of deaths includes between 9 and 11 million military personnel, with an estimated civilian death toll of about 6 to 13 million.[245][246]

Of the 60 million European military personnel who were mobilised from 1914 to 1918, an estimated 8 million were killed, 7 million were permanently disabled, and 15 million were seriously injured. Germany lost 15.1% of its active male population, Austria-Hungary lost 17.1%, and France lost 10.5%.[247] France mobilised 7.8 million men, of which 1.4 million died and 3.2 million were injured.[248] Approximately 15,000 deployed men sustained gruesome facial injuries, causing social stigma and marginalisation; they were called the gueules cassées (broken faces). In Germany, civilian deaths were 474,000 higher than in peacetime, due in large part to food shortages and malnutrition that had weakened disease resistance. These excess deaths are estimated as 271,000 in 1918, plus another 71,000 in the first half of 1919 when the blockade was still in effect.[249] Starvation caused by famine killed approximately 100,000 people in Lebanon.[250]

Emergency military hospital during the Spanish flu pandemic in Camp Funston, Kansas, 1918

Diseases flourished in the chaotic wartime conditions. In 1914 alone, louse-borne epidemic typhus killed 200,000 in Serbia.[251] Starting in early 1918, a major influenza epidemic known as Spanish flu spread across the world, accelerated by the movement of large numbers of soldiers, often crammed together in camps and transport ships with poor sanitation. The Spanish flu killed at least 17 to 25 million people,[252][253] including an estimated 2.64 million Europeans and as many as 675,000 Americans.[254] Between 1915 and 1926, an epidemic of encephalitis lethargica affected nearly 5 million people worldwide.[255][256]

Eight million equines mostly horses, donkeys and mules died, three-quarters of them from the extreme conditions they worked in.[257]

War crimes

Chemical weapons in warfare

French soldiers making a gas and flame attack on German trenches in Flanders

The German army was the first to successfully deploy chemical weapons during the Second Battle of Ypres (April–May 1915), after German scientists under the direction of Fritz Haber at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute developed a method to weaponize chlorine.[g][259] The use of chemical weapons had been sanctioned by the German High Command to force Allied soldiers out of their entrenched positions, complementing rather than supplanting more lethal conventional weapons.[259] Chemical weapons were deployed by all major belligerents throughout the war, inflicting approximately 1.3 million casualties, of which about 90,000 were fatal.[259] The use of chemical weapons in warfare was a direct violation of the 1899 Hague Declaration Concerning Asphyxiating Gases and the 1907 Hague Convention on Land Warfare, which prohibited their use.[260][261]

Genocides by the Ottoman Empire

Armenians killed during the Armenian genocide. Image taken from Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, written by Henry Morgenthau Sr. and published in 1918.[262]

The ethnic cleansing of the Ottoman Empire's Armenian population, including mass deportations and executions, during the final years of the Ottoman Empire is considered genocide.[263] The Ottomans carried out organised and systematic massacres of the Armenian population at the beginning of the war and manipulated acts of Armenian resistance by portraying them as rebellions to justify further extermination.[264] In early 1915, several Armenians volunteered to join the Russian forces and the Ottoman government used this as a pretext to issue the Tehcir Law (Law on Deportation), which authorised the deportation of Armenians from the Empire's eastern provinces to Syria between 1915 and 1918. The Armenians were intentionally marched to death and a number were attacked by Ottoman brigands.[265] While the exact number of deaths is unknown, the International Association of Genocide Scholars estimates around 1.5 million.[263][266] The government of Turkey continues to deny the genocide to the present day, arguing that those who died were victims of inter-ethnic fighting, famine, or disease during World War I; these claims are rejected by most historians.[267]

Other ethnic groups were similarly attacked by the Ottoman Empire during this period, including Assyrians and Greeks, and some scholars consider those events to be part of the same policy of extermination.[268][269][270] At least 250,000 Assyrian Christians, about half of the population, and 350,000–750,000 Anatolian and Pontic Greeks were killed between 1915 and 1922.[271]

Prisoners of war

British prisoners guarded by Ottoman forces after the First Battle of Gaza in 1917

About 8 million soldiers surrendered and were held in POW camps during the war. All nations pledged to follow the Hague Conventions on fair treatment of prisoners of war, and the survival rate for POWs was generally much higher than that of combatants at the front.[272]

Around 25–31% of Russian losses (as a proportion of those captured, wounded, or killed) were to prisoner status; for Austria-Hungary 32%; for Italy 26%; for France 12%; for Germany 9%; for Britain 7%. Prisoners from the Allied armies totalled about 1.4 million (not including Russia, which lost 2.5–3.5 million soldiers as prisoners). From the Central Powers, about 3.3 million soldiers became prisoners; most of them surrendered to Russians.[273]

Soldiers' experiences

Allied personnel was around 42,928,000, while Central personnel was near 25,248,000.[216][274] British soldiers of the war were initially volunteers but were increasingly conscripted. Surviving veterans returning home often found they could discuss their experiences only among themselves, so formed "veterans' associations" or "Legions".

Conscription

U.S. Army recruiting poster with Uncle Sam, 1917

Conscription was common in most European countries. However, it was controversial in English-speaking countries,[275] It was especially unpopular among minority ethnicities—especially the Irish Catholics in Ireland,[276] Australia,[277][278] and the French Catholics in Canada.[279][280]

In the US, conscription began in 1917 and was generally well-received, with a few pockets of opposition in isolated rural areas.[281] The administration decided to rely primarily on conscription, rather than voluntary enlistment, to raise military manpower after only 73,000 volunteers enlisted out of the initial 1 million target in the first six weeks of war.[282]

Military attachés and war correspondents

Military and civilian observers from every major power closely followed the course of the war.[283] Many were able to report on events from a perspective somewhat akin to modern "embedded" positions within the opposing land and naval forces.[284][285]

Economic effects

Macro- and micro-economic consequences devolved from the war. Families were altered by the departure of many men. With the death or absence of the primary wage earner, women were forced into the workforce in unprecedented numbers. At the same time, the industry needed to replace the lost labourers sent to war. This aided the struggle for voting rights for women.[286]

Poster showing women workers, 1915

In all nations, the government's share of GDP increased, surpassing 50% in both Germany and France and nearly reaching that level in Britain. To pay for purchases in the US, Britain cashed in its extensive investments in American railroads and then began borrowing heavily from Wall Street. President Wilson was on the verge of cutting off the loans in late 1916 but allowed a great increase in US government lending to the Allies. After 1919, the US demanded repayment of these loans. The repayments were, in part, funded by German reparations that, in turn, were supported by American loans to Germany. This circular system collapsed in 1931 and some loans were never repaid. Britain still owed the United States $4.4 billion[h] of World War I debt in 1934; the last installment was finally paid in 2015.[287]

Britain turned to her colonies for help in obtaining essential war materials whose supply from traditional sources had become difficult. Geologists such as Albert Kitson were called on to find new resources of precious minerals in the African colonies. Kitson discovered important new deposits of manganese, used in munitions production, in the Gold Coast.[288]

Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles (the so-called "war guilt" clause) stated Germany accepted responsibility for "all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies."[289] It was worded as such to lay a legal basis for reparations, and a similar clause was inserted in the treaties with Austria and Hungary. However, neither of them interpreted it as an admission of war guilt.[290] In 1921, the total reparation sum was placed at 132 billion gold marks. However, "Allied experts knew that Germany could not pay" this sum. The total sum was divided into three categories, with the third being "deliberately designed to be chimerical" and its "primary function was to mislead public opinion ... into believing the 'total sum was being maintained.'"[291] Thus, 50 billion gold marks (12.5 billion dollars) "represented the actual Allied assessment of German capacity to pay" and "therefore ... represented the total German reparations" figure that had to be paid.[291]

This figure could be paid in cash or in-kind (coal, timber, chemical dyes, etc.). Some of the territory lost—via the Treaty of Versailles—was credited towards the reparation figure as were other acts such as helping to restore the Library of Louvain.[292] By 1929, the Great Depression caused political chaos throughout the world.[293] In 1932 the payment of reparations was suspended by the international community, by which point Germany had paid only the equivalent of 20.598 billion gold marks.[294] With the rise of Adolf Hitler, all bonds and loans that had been issued and taken out during the 1920s and early 1930s were cancelled. David Andelman notes "Refusing to pay doesn't make an agreement null and void. The bonds, the agreement, still exist." Thus, following the Second World War, at the London Conference in 1953, Germany agreed to resume payment on the money borrowed. On 3 October 2010, Germany made the final payment on these bonds.[i]

The Australian prime minister, Billy Hughes, wrote to the British prime minister, David Lloyd George, "You have assured us that you cannot get better terms. I much regret it, and hope even now that some way may be found of securing agreement for demanding reparation commensurate with the tremendous sacrifices made by the British Empire and her Allies." Australia received £5,571,720 in war reparations, but the direct cost of the war to Australia had been £376,993,052, and, by the mid-1930s, repatriation pensions, war gratuities, interest and sinking fund charges were £831,280,947.[299]

Support and opposition for the war

Support

Poster urging women to join the British war effort, published by the Young Women's Christian Association, 1915

In the Balkans, Yugoslav nationalists such as the leader, Ante Trumbić, strongly supported the war, desiring the freedom of Yugoslavs from Austria-Hungary and other foreign powers and the creation of an independent Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav Committee, led by Trumbić, was formed in Paris on 30 April 1915 but shortly moved its office to London.[300] In April 1918, the Rome Congress of Oppressed Nationalities met, including Czechoslovak, Italian, Polish, Transylvanian, and Yugoslav representatives who urged the Allies to support national self-determination for the peoples residing within Austria-Hungary.[301]

In the Middle East, Arab nationalism soared in Ottoman territories in response to the rise of Turkish nationalism during the war, with Arab nationalist leaders advocating the creation of a pan-Arab state. In 1916, the Arab Revolt began in Ottoman-controlled territories of the Middle East to achieve independence.[302]

In East Africa, Iyasu V of Ethiopia was supporting the Dervish state who were at war with the British in the Somaliland campaign.[303] Von Syburg, the German envoy in Addis Ababa, said, "now the time has come for Ethiopia to regain the coast of the Red Sea driving the Italians home, to restore the Empire to its ancient size." The Ethiopian Empire was on the verge of entering World War I on the side of the Central Powers before Iyasu's overthrow at the Battle of Segale due to Allied pressure on the Ethiopian aristocracy.[304]

Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps First Contingent in Bermuda, winter 1914–1915, before joining 1 Lincolnshire Regiment in France in June 1915. The dozen remaining after Guedecourt on 25 September 1916, merged with a Second Contingent. The two contingents suffered 75% casualties.

Several socialist parties initially supported the war when it began in August 1914.[301] But European socialists split on national lines, with the concept of class conflict held by radical socialists such as Marxists and syndicalists being overborne by their patriotic support for the war.[305] Once the war began, Austrian, British, French, German, and Russian socialists followed the rising nationalist current by supporting their countries' intervention in the war.[306]

Italian nationalism was stirred by the outbreak of the war and was initially strongly supported by a variety of political factions. One of the most prominent and popular Italian nationalist supporters of the war was Gabriele D'Annunzio, who promoted Italian irredentism and helped sway the Italian public to support intervention in the war.[307] The Italian Liberal Party, under the leadership of Paolo Boselli, promoted intervention in the war on the side of the Allies and used the Dante Alighieri Society to promote Italian nationalism.[308] Italian socialists were divided on whether to support the war or oppose it; some were militant supporters of the war, including Benito Mussolini and Leonida Bissolati.[309] However, the Italian Socialist Party decided to oppose the war after anti-militarist protestors were killed, resulting in a general strike called Red Week.[310] The Italian Socialist Party purged itself of pro-war nationalist members, including Mussolini.[310] Mussolini formed the pro-interventionist Il Popolo d'Italia and the Fasci Rivoluzionario d'Azione Internazionalista ("Revolutionary Fasci for International Action") in October 1914 that later developed into the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento in 1919, the origin of fascism.[311] Mussolini's nationalism enabled him to raise funds from Ansaldo (an armaments firm) and other companies to create Il Popolo d'Italia to convince socialists and revolutionaries to support the war.[312]

Patriotic funds

On both sides, there was large-scale fundraising for soldiers' welfare, their dependents and those injured. The Nail Men were a German example. Around the British Empire, there were many patriotic funds, including the Royal Patriotic Fund Corporation, Canadian Patriotic Fund, Queensland Patriotic Fund and, by 1919, there were 983 funds in New Zealand.[313] At the start of the next world war the New Zealand funds were reformed, having been criticised as overlapping, wasteful and abused,[314] but 11 were still functioning in 2002.[315]

Opposition

Many countries jailed those who spoke out against the conflict. These included Eugene Debs in the US and Bertrand Russell in Britain. In the US, the Espionage Act of 1917 and Sedition Act of 1918 made it a federal crime to oppose military recruitment or make any statements deemed "disloyal". Publications at all critical of the government were removed from circulation by postal censors,[316] and many served long prison sentences for statements of fact deemed unpatriotic.

Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street) after the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin

Several nationalists opposed intervention, particularly within states that the nationalists were hostile to. Although the vast majority of Irish people consented to participate in the war in 1914 and 1915, a minority of advanced Irish nationalists had staunchly opposed taking part.[317] The war began amid the Home Rule crisis in Ireland that had resurfaced in 1912, and by July 1914 there was a serious possibility of an outbreak of civil war in Ireland. Irish nationalists and Marxists attempted to pursue Irish independence, culminating in the Easter Rising of 1916, with Germany sending 20,000 rifles to Ireland to stir unrest in Britain.[318] The British government placed Ireland under martial law in response to the Easter Rising, though once the immediate threat of revolution had dissipated, the authorities did try to make concessions to nationalist feeling.[319] However, opposition to involvement in the war increased in Ireland, resulting in the Conscription Crisis of 1918.

Other opposition came from conscientious objectors—some socialist, some religious—who had refused to fight. In Britain, 16,000 people asked for conscientious objector status.[320] Some of them, most notably prominent peace activist Stephen Hobhouse, refused both military and alternative service.[321] Many suffered years of prison, including solitary confinement. Even after the war, in Britain, many job advertisements were marked "No conscientious objectors need to apply".[322]

On 1–4 May 1917, about 100,000 workers and soldiers of Petrograd, and after them, the workers and soldiers of other Russian cities, led by the Bolsheviks, demonstrated under banners reading "Down with the war!" and "all power to the Soviets!". The mass demonstrations resulted in a crisis for the Russian Provisional Government.[323] In Milan, in May 1917, Bolshevik revolutionaries organised and engaged in rioting calling for an end to the war, and managed to close down factories and stop public transportation.[324] The Italian army was forced to enter Milan with tanks and machine guns to face Bolsheviks and anarchists, who fought violently until May 23 when the army gained control of the city. Almost 50 people (including three Italian soldiers) were killed and over 800 people were arrested.[324]

Technology

Royal Air Force Sopwith Camel. In April 1917, the average life expectancy of a British pilot on the Western Front was 93 flying hours.[325]

World War I began as a clash of 20th-century technology and 19th-century tactics, with the inevitably large ensuing casualties. By the end of 1917, however, the major armies had modernised and were making use of telephone, wireless communication,[326] armoured cars, tanks (especially with the advent of the prototype tank, Little Willie), and aircraft.[327]

Captain Marcel Courmes, pilot of the French 2nd Bombardment, Group GB 2, in August 1915

Artillery also underwent a revolution. In 1914, cannons were positioned in the front line and fired directly at their targets. By 1917, indirect fire with guns (as well as mortars and even machine guns) was commonplace, using new techniques for spotting and ranging, notably, aircraft and the field telephone.[328]

Fixed-wing aircraft were initially used for reconnaissance and ground attack. To shoot down enemy planes, anti-aircraft guns and fighter aircraft were developed. Strategic bombers were created, principally by the Germans and British, though the former used Zeppelins as well.[329] Towards the end of the conflict, aircraft carriers were used for the first time, with HMS Furious launching Sopwith Camels in a raid to destroy the Zeppelin hangars at Tønder in 1918.[330]

Diplomacy

1917 political cartoon about the Zimmermann Telegram

The non-military diplomatic and propaganda interactions among the nations were designed to build support for the cause or to undermine support for the enemy. For the most part, wartime diplomacy focused on five issues: propaganda campaigns; defining and redefining the war goals, which became harsher as the war went on; luring neutral nations (Italy, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, Romania) into the coalition by offering slices of enemy territory; and encouragement by the Allies of nationalistic minority movements inside the Central Powers, especially among Czechs, Poles, and Arabs. In addition, multiple peace proposals were coming from neutrals, or one side or the other; none of them progressed very far.[331][332][333]

Legacy and memory

Memorials

The Italian Redipuglia War Memorial, which contains the remains of 100,187 soldiers

Memorials were built in thousands of villages and towns. Close to battlefields, those buried in improvised burial grounds were gradually moved to formal graveyards under the care of organisations such as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the American Battle Monuments Commission, the German War Graves Commission, and Le Souvenir français. Many of these graveyards also have monuments to the missing or unidentified dead, such as the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing and the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.[334][335]

In 1915, John McCrae, a Canadian army doctor, wrote the poem In Flanders Fields as a salute to those who perished in the war. It is still recited today, especially on Remembrance Day and Memorial Day.[336][337]

A typical village war memorial to soldiers killed in World War I

National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri, is a memorial dedicated to all Americans who served in World War I. The Liberty Memorial was dedicated on 1 November 1921.[338]

The British government budgeted substantial resources to the commemoration of the war during the period 2014 to 2018. The lead body is the Imperial War Museum.[339] On 3 August 2014, French President François Hollande and German President Joachim Gauck together marked the centenary of Germany's declaration of war on France by laying the first stone of a memorial in Vieil Armand, known in German as Hartmannswillerkopf, for French and German soldiers killed in the war.[340] As part of commemorations for the centenary of the 1918 Armistice, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the site of the signing of the Armistice of Compiègne and unveiled a plaque to reconciliation.[341]

Historiography

... "Strange, friend," I said, "Here is no cause to mourn."
"None," said the other, "Save the undone years"... 

— Wilfred Owen, Strange Meeting, 1918[342]

The first efforts to comprehend the meaning and consequences of modern warfare began during the initial phases of the war and are still underway more than a century later. Teaching World War I has presented special challenges. When compared with World War II, the First World War is often thought to be "a wrong war fought for the wrong reasons"; it lacks the metanarrative of good versus evil that characterizes retellings of the Second World War. Lacking recognizable heroes and villains, it is often taught thematically, invoking simplified tropes that obscure the complexity of the conflict.[343]

Historian Heather Jones argues that the historiography has been reinvigorated by a cultural turn in the 21st century. Scholars have raised entirely new questions regarding military occupation, radicalisation of politics, race, medical science, gender and mental health. Among the major subjects that historians have long debated regarding the war include: Why the war began; why the Allies won; whether generals were responsible for high casualty rates; how soldiers endured the poor conditions of trench warfare; and to what extent the civilian home front accepted and endorsed the war effort.[344][345]

Unexploded ordnance

As late as 2007, unexploded ordnance at battlefield sites like Verdun and Somme continued to pose a danger. In France and Belgium, locals who discover caches of unexploded munitions are assisted by weapons disposal units. In some places, plant life has still not recovered from the effects of the war.[343]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ The Russian Empire during 1914–1917, the Russian Republic during 1917. The Bolshevik government signed a separate peace with the Central Powers shortly after their armed seizure of power, resulting in a Central Powers victory on the Eastern Front of the war, and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic's defeat. However, this peace treaty was nullified by an Allied Powers victory on the Western Front, and the end of the war.
  2. ^ Often abbreviated as WWI or WW1
  3. ^ Only the Triple Alliance was a formal "alliance"; the others listed were informal patterns of support.
  4. ^ German: Skagerrakschlacht, or "Battle of the Skagerrak"
  5. ^ Bessarabia remained part of Romania until 1940, when it was annexed by Joseph Stalin as the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic;[159] following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, it became the independent Republic of Moldova
  6. ^ Unlike the others, the successor state to the Russian Empire, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, retained similar external borders, via retaining or quickly recovering lost territories.
  7. ^ A German attempt to use chemical weapons on the Russian front in January 1915 failed to cause casualties.[258]
  8. ^ 109 in this context – see Long and short scales
  9. ^ World War I officially ended when Germany paid off the final amount of reparations imposed on it by the Allies.[295][296][297][298]

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