World War I

World War I (WWI or WW1), also known as the First World War, or the Great War, was a global war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. Over 9 million combatants and 7 million civilians died as a result of the war (including the victims of a number of genocides), a casualty rate exacerbated by the belligerents' technological and industrial sophistication, and the tactical stalemate caused by trench warfare, a grueling form of warfare in which the defender held the advantage. It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved.

The war drew in all the world's economic great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the United Kingdom/British Empire, France and the Russian Empire) versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. Although Italy was a member of the Triple Alliance alongside Germany and Austria-Hungary, it did not join the Central Powers, as Austria-Hungary had taken the offensive, against the terms of the alliance. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war: Italy, Japan and the United States joined the Allies, while the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers.

Great War (disambiguation)

The Great War is an alternative term for World War I. It may also refer to:

Historical conflicts

These are all in translation from the original language.

Works of popular culture

Great War (series)

Great War is an alternate history trilogy by Harry Turtledove, which follows How Few Remain. It is part of Turtledove's Southern Victory Series series of novels. It takes the Southern Victory Series Earth from 1914 to 1917.

The Great War saga

Smarting from two defeats at the hands of the Confederate States of America, which was allied with the United Kingdom and France, the United States of America has turned to an alliance with the strengthening German Empire as well as Austria Hungary, and The Ottoman Empire. The US military has been reformed along German lines, and gets a great deal of technical assistance from Germany, especially with regard to fighter aircraft. The antebellum Republican Party has mostly collapsed, discredited by the defeats, leaving the right-winged Democratic Party and the left-winged Socialist Party (whose rise was aided by the defection of former president Abraham Lincoln and his supporters from the Republicans to the Socialists) as the main political parties in the United States.