World War I

Clockwise from the top: The road to Bapaume in the aftermath of the Battle of the Somme, 1916

British Mark V tanks crossing the Hindenburg Line, 1918

sinking after hitting a mine in the Dardanelles, 1915

A British Vickers machine gun crew wearing gas masks during the Battle of the Somme, 1916

German Albatros D.III biplane fighters near Douai, France, 1917

Rival military coalitions in 1914: Triple Entente in green; Triple Alliance in brown. Only the Triple Alliance was a formal "alliance"; the others listed were informal patterns of support.

, a, Germany's first response to the British Dreadnought

Sarajevo citizens reading a poster with the proclamation of the Austrian annexation in 1908

Traditionally thought to show the arrest of Gavrilo Princip (right), historians now believe this photo depicts an innocent bystander, Ferdinand Behr

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

Ethno-linguistic map of Austria-Hungary, 1910. Bosnia-Herzegovina was annexed in 1908.

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

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

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

The British Indian infantry divisions were withdrawn from France in December 1915, and sent to Mesopotamia.

Trenches of the 11th Cheshire Regiment at Ovillers-la-Boisselle, on the Somme, July 1916

Royal Irish Rifles in a communications trench, first day on the Somme, 1916

King George V (front left) and a group of officials inspect a British munitions factory in 1917.

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

Refugee transport from Serbia in Leibnitz, Styria, 1914

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

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

Australian troops charging near a Turkish trench during the Gallipoli Campaign

Mehmed V greeting Wilhelm II on his arrival at Constantinople

Kaiser Wilhelm II inspecting Turkish troops of the 15th Corps in East Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Poland). Prince Leopold of Bavaria, the Supreme Commander of the German Army on the Eastern Front, is second from the left.

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

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

Romanian troops during the Battle of Mărășești, 1917

Emperor Nicholas II and Commander-in-Chief Nikolai Nikolaevich in the captured Przemysl. The Russian Siege of Przemyśl was the longest siege of the war.

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

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

The Allied Avenue, 1917 painting by Childe Hassam, that depicts Manhattan's Fifth Avenue decorated with flags from Allied nations

French infantry advance on the Chemin des Dames, April 1917

Canadian Corps troops at the Battle of Vimy Ridge, 1917

10.5 cm Feldhaubitze 98/09 and Ottoman artillerymen at Hareira in 1917 before the Southern Palestine offensive

British artillery battery on Mount Scopus in the Battle of Jerusalem, 1917. Foreground, a battery of 16 heavy guns. Background, conical tents and support vehicles.

Ottoman troops during the Mesopotamian campaign

French soldiers under General Gouraud, with machine guns amongst the ruins of a cathedral near the Marne, 1918

British 55th (West Lancashire) Division soldiers blinded by tear gas during the Battle of Estaires, 10 April 1918

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

Aerial view of ruins of Vaux-devant-Damloup, France, 1918

16th Bn (Canadian Scottish), advancing during the Battle of the Canal du Nord, 1918

An American major, piloting an observation balloon near the front, 1918

Italian troops reach Trento during the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, 1918. Italy's victory marked the end of the war on the Italian Front and secured the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Ferdinand Foch, second from right, pictured outside the carriage in Compiègne after agreeing to the armistice that ended the war there. The carriage was later chosen by Nazi Germany as the symbolic setting of Pétain's June 1940 armistice.

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

Greek prime minister Eleftherios Venizelos signing the Treaty of Sèvres

Dissolution of Austria-Hungary after war

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

Emergency military hospital during the Spanish flu pandemic, which killed about 675,000 people in the United States alone, Camp Funston, Kansas, 1918

Tanks on parade in London at the end of World War I

38-cm "Lange Max" of Koekelare (Leugenboom),the biggest gun in the world in 1917

A Canadian soldier with mustard gas burns, c. 1917–1918

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

Luftstreitkräfte Fokker Dr.I being inspected by Manfred von Richthofen, also known as the Red Baron.

Mobile radio station in German South West Africa, using a hydrogen balloon to lift the antenna

Austro-Hungarian soldiers executing men and women in Serbia, 1916

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

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

German prisoners in a French prison camp during the later part of the war

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

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

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.

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

The Deserter, 1916: Anti-war cartoon depicting Jesus facing a firing squad with soldiers from five European countries

Possible execution at Verdun at the time of the mutinies in 1917. The original French text accompanying this photograph notes, however, that the uniforms are those of 1914–15 and that the execution may be that of a spy at the beginning of the war.

Bolshevik leaders Lenin and Trotsky promised "Peace, Land and Bread" to the impoverished masses

Young men registering for conscription, New York City, 5 June 1917

Military recruitment in Melbourne, Australia, 1914

British volunteer recruits in London, August 1914

1917 political cartoon about the Zimmermann Telegram. The message was intercepted by the British; its publication caused outrage and contributed to the U.S. entry into World War I.

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

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

A 1919 book for veterans, from the US War Department

War memorial to soldiers of the 49th Bengalee Regiment (Bangali Platoon) in Kolkata, India, who died in the war.

World War I or the First World War, often abbreviated as WWI or WW1, began on 28 July 1914 and ended on 11 November 1918.

- World War I

500 related topics

Austria-Hungary

Constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918.

Silver coin: 5 corona, 1908 - The bust of Franz Joseph I facing right surrounded by the legend "Franciscus Iosephus I, Dei gratia, imperator Austriae, rex Bohemiae, Galiciae, Illyriae et cetera et apostolicus rex Hungariae"

Electoral districts of Austria and Hungary in the 1880s. On the map opposition districts are marked in different shades of red, ruling party districts are in different shades of green, independent districts are in white.

Emperor Franz Joseph I visiting Prague and opening the new Emperor Francis I Bridge in 1901

Kraków, a historical Polish city in the Austro-Hungarian Empire where in 1870 authorities allowed the use of the Polish language in the Jagiellonian University

Coronation of Francis Joseph I and Elisabeth Amalie at Matthias Church, Buda, 8 June 1867

Map of the counties of the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen (Hungary proper and Croatia-Slavonia)

Circuits (Kreise) of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Banja Luka, Bihać, Mostar, Sarajevo, Travnik, Tuzla

Demonstration for universal right to vote in Prague, Bohemia, 1905

Bosnian Muslim resistance during the battle of Sarajevo in 1878 against the Austro-Hungarian occupation

Recruits from Bosnia-Herzegovina, including Muslim Bosniaks (31%), were drafted into special units of the Austro-Hungarian Army as early as 1879 and were commended for their bravery in service of the Austrian emperor, being awarded more medals than any other unit. The jaunty military march Die Bosniaken Kommen was composed in their honor by Eduard Wagnes.

Traditional clothing in Hungary, late 19th century

Parade in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, 1900

Romantic style Great Synagogue in Pécs, built by Neolog community in 1869

Religions in Austria–Hungary, from the 1881 edition of Andrees Allgemeiner Handatlas. Catholics (both Roman and Uniate) are blue, Protestants purple, Eastern Orthodox yellow, and Muslims green.

Funeral in Galicia by Teodor Axentowicz, 1882

Ethno-linguistic map of Austria–Hungary, 1910

Meyers Konversations-Lexikon ethnographic map of Austria–Hungary, 1885

Literacy in Austria–Hungary (census 1880)

Literacy in Hungary by counties in 1910 (excluding Croatia)

Orthodox Jews from Galicia in Leopoldstadt, Vienna, 1915

A 20-crown banknote of the Dual Monarchy, using all official and recognized languages (the reverse side was Hungarian)

Black Friday, 9 May 1873, Vienna Stock Exchange. The Panic of 1873 and Long Depression followed.

A stentor reading the day's news in the Telefonhírmondó of Budapest

Detailed railway map of Austrian and Hungarian railways from 1911

The start of construction of the underground in Budapest (1894–1896)

The SS Kaiser Franz Joseph I (12,567 t) of the Austro-Americana company was the largest passenger ship ever built in Austria. Because of its control over the coast of much of the Balkans, Austria–Hungary had access to several seaports.

This picture of the arrest of a suspect in Sarajevo is usually associated with the capture of Gavrilo Princip, although some believe it depicts Ferdinand Behr, a bystander.

Franz Josef I and Wilhelm II
with military commanders during World War I

Italian troops in Trento on 3 November 1918, after the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. Italy's victory marked the end of the war on the Italian Front and secured the dissolution of Austria–Hungary.

The revolt of ethnic Czech units in Austria in May 1918 was brutally suppressed. It was considered a mutiny by the code of military justice.

The Treaty of Trianon: Kingdom of Hungary lost 72% of its land and 3.3 million people of Hungarian ethnicity.

Czechoslovak declaration of independence rally in Prague on Wenceslas Square, 28 October 1918

It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War and was dissolved shortly after its defeat in the First World War.

The Triple Entente (from French entente meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

A 1914 Russian poster in which the upper inscription reads "agreement". The uncertain Britannia (right) and Marianne (left) look to the determined Mother Russia (centre) to lead them in the coming war.

At the start of World War I in 1914, all three Triple Entente members entered it as Allied Powers against the Central Powers: Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Central Powers

[[File: Leaders of the Central Powers - Vierbund.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Leaders of the Central Powers (left to right):

German soldiers in the battlefield in August 1914 on the Western Front shortly after the outbreak of war

German battlecruiser heavily damaged after the Battle of Jutland

German Fokker Dr.I fighter aircraft of Jasta 26 at Erchin in German-occupied territory of France

Austro-Hungarian soldiers in a trench on the Italian front

Austro-Hungarian soldiers marching up Mount Zion in Jerusalem in the Ottoman Empire, during the Middle Eastern campaign

Ottoman soldiers in military preparations for an assault on the Suez Canal in 1914

Kaiser Wilhelm II visiting the Turkish cruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim during his stay in Istanbul in October 1917 as a guest of Sultan Mehmed V

Bulgarian soldiers firing at incoming aircraft

Lij Iyasu, ruler of Ethiopia until 1916 pictured in his Ottoman-style turban

Poster for a 1916 charity bazaar raising funds for widows and orphans of the Central Power states.

A postcard depicting the flags of the Central Powers' countries

The collapse of the Central Powers in 1918

The leaders of the Central Powers in 1914

The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires, was one of the two main coalitions that fought World War I (1914–18).

Triple Alliance (1882)

Military alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.

The Triple Alliance as opposed to the Triple Entente in 1914

Cartoon of the Berlin satirical journal Lustige Blätter. In the Triple Alliance, an adult German drags the Austrian boy along, while the Italian child throws a tantrum to stay with the French cockerel.

On 18 October 1883 Carol I of Romania, through his Prime Minister Ion C. Brătianu, had also secretly pledged to support the Triple Alliance, but he later remained neutral in the First World War due to viewing Austria-Hungary as the aggressor.

July Crisis

Political cartoon titled "Der Stänker" ("The Troublemaker"), published in the German satirical magazine Kladderadatsch on 9 August 1914, depicting the nations of Europe sitting at a table. (1st panel) The Central Powers hold their noses in distaste as tiny Serbia joins the table, while Russia reacts with joy. (2) Serbia stabs Austria-Hungary, to everyone's apparent shock. Germany immediately offers support to Austria. (3) Austria demands satisfaction from Serbia, while a relaxed Germany with hands in its pockets does not notice Russia and France come to agreement in the background. (4) Austria manhandles Serbia, while an alarmed Germany looks to an angry Russia and presumably makes an agreement with the Ottoman Empire, and France tries to talk to Britain. (5) A general brawl erupts with Germany and France immediately confronting each other, as Britain looks on in dismay. To the right, another combatant threatens to join from the darkness, possibly Japan or Bulgaria.

Illustration of the assassination in the Italian newspaper La Domenica del Corriere, 12 July 1914

Dragutin Dimitrijević, leader of the Black Hand and prominent member of the Serbian General Staff.

Austrian propaganda after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand depicting an Austrian fist crushing an ape-like caricature of a Serbian holding a bomb and dropping a knife, and stating "Serbia must die!" (Sterben purposefully misspelled as sterbien to make it rhyme with Serbien.)

Emperor Franz Joseph was 84 years old in 1914. Though disturbed by the murder of his heir, Franz Joseph largely left decision-making during the July Crisis to foreign minister Leopold Berchtold, army chief of staff Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, and the other ministers.

Wilhelm II of Germany was known for his impetuous personality, described by one scholar as "not lacking in intelligence, but he did lack stability, disguising his deep insecurities by swagger and tough talk."

European diplomatic alignments before the war. Germany and the Ottoman Empire allied after the outbreak of war.

A map of ethnic groups in Austria-Hungary in 1910. Austrian leaders believed that irredentism by ethnic Croats and Serbs, abetted by their co-ethnics in Serbia, was an existential threat to the Empire.

Hungarian Prime Minister Tisza and Chief of the Army General Staff Hötzendorf in Vienna, 15 July 1914

Count Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, Chief of the General Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1906 to 1917, determined the earliest that Austria could declare war was 25 July.

Erich von Falkenhayn, Prussian Minister of War from 1913 to 1914, urged an attack on Russia.

French strategists had approved Plan XVII in May 1913 to be implemented in the event of a war between France and Germany. It envisioned an all-out counter-offensive to meet a German attack. The actual implementation of Plan XVII in five phases begun on 7 August, now known as the Battle of the Frontiers, resulted in French defeat.

Non-commissioned officers of the Imperial Russian Army, 24 July 1914

Austria-Hungary's telegram to the Kingdom of Serbia declaring war, 28 July 1914

Cartoon titled "The Globe Trotter" in U.S. newspaper Rock Island Argus on 29 July 1914 depicting "General War Scare" running from resolved U.S.-Mexico tension to "all points in Europe"

The Schlieffen Plan refers to German strategic thinking about how to go to war with France. Germany believed that, in the event of war with France and Russia, the German path to victory would be to quickly defeat France before turning to fight Russia, who were less able to mobilize and move troops to the front. The need for a quick resolution in the Western Front prompted German plans to avoid French defensive fortifications (depicted here as blue areas) by maneuvering north and violating Belgian neutrality. However, invading Belgium greatly increased the risk of drawing in the British Empire, which expressed a moral responsibility for Belgian security, thereby reducing the chance of victory. Germany was unable to avoid the pitfalls of these competing imperatives in August 1914.

Vladimir Sukhomlinov, Minister of War of the Russian Empire, insisted a partial mobilization was impossible for Russia.

Cartoon titled "The Army Worm" in the U.S. newspaper Chicago Daily News depicting "War Menace" threatening the people of Europe, 1914

A Berlin crowd listens as a German officer reads Wilhelm II's order for mobilisation, 1 August 1914.

A soldier of the Canadian Expeditionary Force before sailing from Quebec to Britain on 21 August 1914, less than two months after the assassination in Sarajevo.

British satirical magazine Punch depicted Belgium as a scrappy youth blocking the passage of elderly, bullying Germany, August 1914

The July Crisis was a series of interrelated diplomatic and military escalations among the major powers of Europe in the summer of 1914, which led to the outbreak of World War I (1914–1918).

Great power

Sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale.

German historian Leopold von Ranke in the mid-19th century attempted to scientifically document the great powers.

The Congress of Vienna by Jean-Baptiste Isabey, 1819

The "Big Four" at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919: David Lloyd George, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, Georges Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson

The "Big Three" of Europe at the Yalta Conference: Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin

The Allied leaders of the Asian and Pacific Theatre: Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill meeting at the Cairo Conference in 1943

Since then, the international balance of power has shifted numerous times, most dramatically during World War I and World War II.

Schlieffen Plan

The Schlieffen Plan (Schlieffen-Plan, ) is a name given after the First World War to pre-war German war plans, due to the influence of Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen and his thinking on an invasion of France and Belgium, which began on 4 August 1914.

Treaty of London (1915)

Multiple geographical names mentioned below changed in the discussed period.

Rival military coalitions in 1914: Triple Entente in green; Triple Alliance in brown

Sidney Sonnino became the Italian Foreign Minister in November 1914.

Russian interests were represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Sazonov.

Foreign Secretary Edward Grey was the principal British negotiator.

Territories promised to Italy by the Entente in the South Tyrol, the Austrian Littoral, and Dalmatia (tan), and the Snežnik Plateau area (green)

The Yugoslav Committee was representing interests of the South Slavs living in Austria-Hungary.

Approximate extent of territorial promises (red) to Serbia at the expense of Austria-Hungary made around the time of conclusion of the Treaty of London.

Italian zone in Asia Minor under the Agreement of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne

United States President Woodrow Wilson objected to the Treaty of London at the Paris Peace Conference.

Reception of Gabriele d'Annunzio upon arrival in Rijeka in 1919

The Treaty of London (Trattato di Londra) or the Pact of London (Patto di Londra) was a secret agreement concluded on 26 April 1915 by the United Kingdom, France, and Russia on the one part, and Italy on the other, in order to entice the latter to enter World War I on the side of the Triple Entente.