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| Great War | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
Allied Powers France United Kingdom Russia (until 1917) Belgium Luxembourg Serbia Montenegro Sweden Denmark China Egypt Japan Portugal United States (from 1917)
| Central Powers Germany Italy Norway Rhomania Empire of West Persia Spain Bulgaria (from 1915) Jabal Shammar
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Emmanuel Amadeo II Raymond Poincaré Bonar Law Nicholas II Peter I Adolph Gustav Hjalmar Branting Christian X Klaus Berntsen Nectanebo VI Theodore Roosevelt Taishō
| Wilhelm II Victor Emmanuel III Vittorio Orlando Friedrich I Jens Bratlie Dimitrios Gounaris William Vasil Radoslavov Yazdegerd I
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The Great War, sometimes referred to as the World War, was a global conflict that took place from 1914 to 1918. Its belligerents included much of Europe, Russia, the United States, Rhomania and Japan, with fighting also expanding into the Middle East, Africa, and parts of Asia. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, an estimated 9 million people were killed in combat, while over 5 million civilians died from military occupation, bombardment, hunger, and disease. Millions of additional deaths resulted from the 1918 influenza pandemic, which was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war.
By 1914, the European great powers were divided into the Triple Entente of France, Great Britain, and Russia; and the Quadruple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy and Rhomania. Tensions in southeast Europe came to a head on 28 June 1914 following the Assassination of George, Prince of Constantinople, the Rhomanian heir, by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo. Rhomania blamed Serbia for the incident, which led to the July Crisis, an unsuccessful attempt to avoid conflict through diplomacy. Russia came to Serbia's defense following Rhomania's declaration of war on the latter on 28 July while Germany sided with Rhomania, and by 4 August, the system of alliances drew in Germany, Italy, France, and Britain, along with their respective colonies.
Germany, facing a war on two fronts, had a strategy to invade through Belgium to defeat France, then knock out Russia and ultimately win the war - this was known as the Schlieffen Plan. However, due to British intervention as a result of the German breaching of Belgian neutrality, the advance failed, and ultimately the Western front dragged on longer than it had been hoped. Trench warfare became a common use, with lines stretching from Belgium to Switzerland. With the Eastern front, it was more fluid, as Germany made successful pushes into Russia - however, Rhomania struggled with occupying Serbia. As for the Pacific Front, Japan occupied German colonies in the Pacific. By 1915, Norway, West Persia, Spain and Bulgaria had joined the Central Powers, while Sweden and Denmark had joined the Allied powers. The United States and the Confederate States launched a protest, and Germany changed its rules of engagement. After the sinking of the passenger ship SS La Provence in February 26 which had many Americans and Confederates on board, 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).
By 1917, multiple countries had enough of war, and were exhausted, especially Russia, which had faced defeat after defeat. The defeats would ultimately lead to the removal of the Russian monarch in March 1917, which in turn lead to Vladimir Lenin seizing power in November, pulling Russia out of the war by March 1918. This redirected German focus towards the Western Front. However, the United States had intervened due to the discovery of Germany attempting to get the Confederate States to invade the United States to prevent American troops from arriving in Europe, so German focus turned to securing a victory before the arrival of U.S. soldiers on European land. The plan failed, and ultimately the Central Powers began collapsing, as Rhomania, Norway and Italy signed armistices. Following the outbreak of the German revolution and fear of the overthrow of the monarch, Wilhelm II agreed to an armistice on 11 November 1918, ending the war.
The post-war Paris Peace Conference between the Allied Powers reshaped Europe and the colonial order, as Germany lost a lot of its territory, and a bunch of new governments took form. The war was left unresolved, and the peace conference is considered one of the main reasons for the beginning of many conflicts, including the Anglo-American War.
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