World War I: Facts & Related Content
News •
Wartime Christmas greetings sent by biscuit revealed in Leeds
• Dec. 23, 2025, 6:51 PM ET (BBC)
A prickly Ralph Fiennes uplifts a town through music during WWI in 'The Choral'
• Dec. 22, 2025, 12:25 AM ET (NPR)
Facts
| Also Known As | Great War • First World War • WWI |
|---|---|
| Date | July 28, 1914 - November 11, 1918 |
| Participants | Bulgaria • France • Germany • Italy • Japan • Ottoman Empire • Portugal • Russia • United Kingdom • United States |
Did You Know?
- When World War 1 began in the summer of 1914, most people assumed the war would be finished by Christmas.
- The booming of the artillery at the Western front could sometimes be heard all the way back in Britain.
- German and British soldiers called a truce on Christmas in 1914 and played a soccer game together.
Photos and Videos
Related Topics and References
Topics
The Great War Infographic of Deaths and MilestonesTimeline of World War IMilitary Commanders of World War IWomen in World War I: A Photo GalleryAll Quiet on the Western FrontU-boatLeaders of World War I8 Questions About World War I AnsweredBattles of World War IRemembrance Sunday
Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic
- India: World War I and its aftermath
- China: China in World War I
- United Kingdom: World War I
- 20th-century international relations: Introduction
- history of Europe: The shock of World War I
- United States: The United States enters the Great War
- 20th-century international relations: The roots of World War I, 1871–1914
- France: World War I
- Germany: World War I
- Italy: World War I and fascism
- English literature: The literature of World War I and the interwar period
- Canada: World War I
- Australia: World War I
- history of publishing: Effects of World War I
- Egypt: World War I and independence
- French literature: The impact of World War I
Timeline
Eastern Front
1914 - 1918
Battle of the Frontiers
August 4, 1914 - September 6, 1914
Battle of Morhange-Sarrebourg
August 20, 1914 - August 22, 1914
Battle of Mons
August 23, 1914
Battle of Tannenberg
August 26, 1914 - August 30, 1914
First Battle of the Marne
September 6, 1914 - September 12, 1914
First Battle of Ypres
October 19, 1914 - November 22, 1914
Battle of Tanga
November 2, 1914 - November 5, 1914
Battle of the Falkland Islands
December 8, 1914
Christmas Truce
December 24, 1914 - December 25, 1914
battle of Gallipoli
1915
Battle of Dogger Bank
January 24, 1915
Gallipoli Campaign
February 16, 1915 - January 9, 1916
naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign
February 19, 1915 - March 18, 1915
Second Battle of Ypres
April 22, 1915 - May 25, 1915
Battle of Verdun
February 21, 1916 - December 18, 1916
Battle of Jutland
May 31, 1916 - June 1, 1916
First Battle of the Somme
July 1, 1916 - November 13, 1916
Battle of Arras
April 9, 1917 - May 17, 1917
Battle of Passchendaele
July 31, 1917 - November 6, 1917
Battle of Caporetto
October 24, 1917 - December 19, 1917
Battle of Gaza
November 1917
Battle of Cambrai
November 20, 1917 - December 8, 1917
Battle of Belleau Wood
June 1, 1918 - June 26, 1918
Battle of Amiens
August 8, 1918 - August 11, 1918
Battle of Saint-Mihiel
September 12, 1918 - September 16, 1918
Battle of Cambrai
September 27, 1918 - October 11, 1918
Battle of Mons
November 11, 1918
Key People
Sir Charles Monro
British army officer
Winston Churchill
prime minister of United Kingdom
Kemal Atatürk
president of Turkey
Woodrow Wilson
president of United States
David Lloyd George
prime minister of United Kingdom
Georges Clemenceau
prime minister of France
Franz Joseph
emperor of Austria-Hungary
George Patton
United States general
Herbert Hoover
president of United States
Nicholas II
tsar of Russia
William II
emperor of Germany
Jan Smuts
South African statesman
Erich Ludendorff
German general
Nikola Pašić
prime minister of Serbia
Ferdinand Foch
marshal of France
H.H. Asquith, 1st earl of Oxford and Asquith
prime minister of United Kingdom
John J. Pershing
United States general
Eleuthérios Venizélos
prime minister of Greece
Paul von Hindenburg
German president
Sir Robert Borden
prime minister of Canada
Causes and Effects
Causes
- A naval arms race between Great Britain and the German Empire made conflict on the high seas almost inevitable.
- German success in the Franco-German War fostered a belief in the supremacy of Prussian militarism.
- Germany's annexation of Alsace-Lorraine after the Franco-German War aroused a deep longing for revenge in the French people.
- The Balkan Wars virtually eradicated the Ottoman presence in Europe, but led to violent strife among the victors.
- The assassination of Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand by South Slav nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914.
Effects
- As many as 8.5 million soldiers and 13 million civilians died as a result of the war.
- Failure to deliver mandated reparations leads to the armed occupation of the Ruhr River valley region by French and Belgian troops.
- German militarists perpetuate the myth that the German Army was undefeated in battle, undermining faith in the civilian government of the Weimar Republic.
- Imperial dynasties in Austria-Hungary, Germany, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia collapsed.
- Mass movement of troops and refugees helped spread the Spanish flu, a devastating influenza pandemic that claimed as many as 50 million lives in 1918-19.
- Ottoman territories in the Middle East are divvied up among the victorious Allied powers at the Conference of San Remo.
- The League of Nations is established, but its effectiveness is hampered by the non-participation of the United States.
