World War I
1914–1918 global conflict
World War I, 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. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, World War I resulted in an estimated 15 to 22 million deaths, including those in war crimes and genocides. The war also helped spread the Spanish flu pandemic. The conflict saw important developments in weaponry, including the first large-scale use of machine guns, artillery, aircraft, chemical weapons, and tanks.
The causes of World War I included the rise of the German Empire, which disturbed the long-standing balance of power in Europe, and the exacerbation of imperial rivalries, as reflected in new alliances and an arms race between the great powers. Tensions in the Balkans reached a breaking point on 28 June 1914 when Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, assassinated Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia and declared war on 28 July, upon which the Russian Empire mobilised in Serbia's defence. In early August, Germany declared war on Russia and France; the United Kingdom entered the war after Germany invaded Belgium. Germany's strategy in 1914 was to quickly defeat France, but its advance was halted in September, and the Western Front solidified into a near-continuous line of fortified trenches from the English Channel to Switzerland. The Eastern Front was more dynamic, but neither side gained a decisive advantage, despite costly offensives.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q361. The Library of Congress control number is sh85148236. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1914 and 1918.
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This entry incorporates text from “World War I” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.