World War I (Milkdromeda)

World War I
Date 28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918 (4 years, 3 months and 2 weeks) Place Europe, Africa, Middle East and North America Result Allied victory
Belligerents
Allied Powers France British Empire Russian Empire Japan Montenegro United States (form 1917) Mexico (form 1917 Canada (form 1917) Sweden Denmark Romania (from 1916) Portugal (from 1916) ... and others	Central Powers Austria-Hungary Ottoman Empire Bulgaria (from 1915),br/>Italy (form Late 1917)

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World War I often abbreviated as WWI or WW1, and sometimes called the Great War or The FIrst Great War was a global conflict that left unprecedented destruction and death, with millions of people killed. Its belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, Mexico, Canada and the German Empire. Fighting took place across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and parts of Asia and Mexico. New technology, including the recent invention of the airplane, trench warfare, and especially chemical weapons made it one of the deadliest conflicts in history. An estimated 10.7 million soldiers died in combat, with another 3 million civilian deaths as a result of military actions, hunger, and disease. Millions more died in genocides within the Ottoman Empire and the 1918 influenza pandemic, which was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war.

Prior to 1914, the European great powers were divided between the Triple Entente, comprising France, Russia, and Britain, and the Double Alliance, containing Austria-Hungary and Italy. Tensions in the Balkans came to a head on 28 June 1914 following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Austro-Hungarian heir, by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia, which led to the July Crisis, an unsuccessful attempt to avoid conflict through diplomacy. On 28 July 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and Russia came to the latter's defence. By 4 August, the system of entangling alliances drew in Germany, France, and Britain, along with their respective colonies, although Italy initially remained neutral. In November 1914, the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary formed the Central Powers, and on 26 April 1915, Italy joined Britain, France, Russia, and Serbia as the Allies of World War I.