World War I
World War I—also known as the Great War—pitted Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire against Great Britain, the United States, France, Russia, Italy and Japan. New military technology resulted in unprecedented carnage. By the time the war was over and the Allied Powers claimed victory, more than 16 million people—soldiers and civilians alike—were dead.
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This World War I timeline of battles outlines the most important engagements of the 1914-1918 war, from the first Battle of Mons to the final 1918 armistice.
When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia in 1914, each of their allies quickly joined the fight.
World War I’s legacy of debt, protectionism and crippling reparations set the stage for a global economic disaster.
These World War I inventions made life easier during—and after—the war.
3 Military Technologies Deployed for the First Time in World War I
The Harlem Hellfighters
The Harlem Hellfighters
The Harlem Hellfighters were an African-American infantry unit in WWI who spent more time in combat than any other American unit. Despite their courage, sacrifice and dedication to their country, they returned home to face racism and segregation from their fellow countrymen.
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The Armenian genocide was the systematic killing and deportation of millions of Armenians by Ottoman Empire Turks from 1915-1920, during and after World War I.
In the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I, British, French, Australian and New Zealand troops failed to take the Gallipoli Peninsula from German-Turkish forces.
The League of Nations, a global diplomatic group developed after World War I to solve disputes before they erupted into open warfare, had failed by 1940.
The Battle of the Somme was a deadly Allied offensive against German forces along the Western Front of World War I, near the Somme River in France.
Field Marshal Sir John French, Earl of Ypres, served as the commander in chief of the British Expeditionary Forces during World War I.
Who was the Red Baron? Baron Manfred von Richthofen was born on May 2, 1892, into an affluent family of Prussian nobles in what is now Poland. He enjoyed a privileged upbringing and spent his youth hunting and playing sports before being enrolled in mil...
Ferdinand Foch was a French military leader who served as supreme commander of the Allied armies during the final months of World War I.
U.S. Army general John J. Pershing (1860-1948) commanded the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in Europe during World War I. The president and first captain of the West Point class of 1886, he served in the Spanish- and Philippine-American Wars and was tasked to lead a punitive raid against the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa.
The Treaties of Brest-Litovsk was a seires of treaties Russia signed with the Central Powers ending its participation in WWI.
Dardanelles Campaign: Background As the only waterway between the Black Sea in the east and the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the Dardanelles was a much-contested area from the beginning of World War I. The stakes for both sides were high: British cont...
Erich Ludendorff was a prominent general and war hero who played a crucial role in shaping and overhauling Germany’s World War I tactics. His innovative approaches to modern warfare left a lasting impression, but controversy surrounds him due to his association with Adolf Hitler and his support of the Nazi Party.
Paul von Hindenburg was a significant and controversial political figure in German history who served as the second president of the Weimar Republic. While some praised him for stabilizing Germany in the wake of World War I sanctions, Hindenburg played a key role in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power.
The United States entered World War I in 1917, following the sinking of the British ocean liner Lusitania and the shocking discovery of the Zimmermann telegram.
Begun in 1914, World War I saw unprecedented levels of carnage.
On May 7, 1915, less than a year after World War I (1914-18) began in Europe, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the RMS Lusitania, a British ocean liner en route from New York to Liverpool, England. More than 1,100 crew and passengers died, including more than 120 Americans.
Joseph Joffre played a significant role in shaping the outcome of World War I. The commander-in-chief of the French Army became an iconic symbol of French resistance for his defense against the German invasion on the Western Front.
