Portal:World War I

The World War I portal World War I (abbreviated WWI), also known as the First World War, the Great War and The War to End all Wars was a global military conflict that took place mostly in Europe between 1914 and 1918. The main combatants were the Allied Powers, led by France, the Russian Empire, the British Empire, Serbia, Belgium, and later Italy, Romania and the United States, who fought against the Central Powers: Austria-Hungary, the German Empire, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire (present day Turkey). Much of the fighting in World War I took place along the Western Front, within a system of opposing manned trenches and fortifications (separated by a "no man's land") running from the North Sea to the border of Switzerland. On the Eastern Front, the vast eastern plains and limited rail network prevented a trench warfare stalemate from developing, although the scale of the conflict was just as large. Hostilities also occurred on and under the sea and — for the first time — in the air. More than nine million soldiers died on the various battlefields, and millions more civilians perished. The war caused the disintegration of four empires: the Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman, and Russian. Germany lost its overseas empire, and states such as Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were created, or recreated, as in the cases of Lithuania and Poland. This contributed to a decisive break with the world order that had emerged after the Napoleonic Wars, which was modified by the mid-19th century’s nationalistic revolutions. The results of World War I would also be important factors in the development of World War II just over two decades later. Selected event The Battle of Gallipoli (sometimes referred to as the first D-Day) took place on the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli from April 1915 to January 1916 during the First World War. A joint British and French operation was mounted in order to eventually capture the Ottoman capital of Istanbul. The attempt failed, with heavy casualties on both sides. In Turkey the campaign is known as the Çanakkale Savaşları, after the province of Çanakkale. In the United Kingdom it is called the Dardanelles Campaign or Gallipoli, and in France, Australia, New Zealand and Newfoundland it is usually known as the "Gallipoli Campaign". Read more... Selected equipment The Webley Revolver (also known/referred to as the Webley Break-Top Revolver or Webley Self-Extracting Revolver) was, in various marks, the standard issue service pistol for the armed forces of the United Kingdom, the British Empire, and the Commonwealth from 1887 until 1963. The Webley service revolver was most notably used in World War I (as the Webley Mk VI), although it had actually been adopted in 1887 (as the Webley Mk I) and risen to prominence during the Boer War of 1899-1902 (as the Webley Mk IV), and were of the "top-break" variety (breaking open much like a double-barrel shotgun to be reloaded), with the advantage of also being self-extracting—the act of breaking the revolver open also operated the extractor, removing the spent cartridges from the cylinder. Firing the hard-hitting .455 Webley cartridge, the Webley service revolvers are the most powerful of the top-break revolvers ever produced. Although the .455 calibre Webley is no longer in military service, the .38/200 Webley Mk IV variant is still sporadically in use as a police sidearm in a number of countries. Read more... Selected quote "You will be home before the leaves have fallen from the trees." — Kaiser Wilhelm II, August 1914 Selected picture Italian troops entrenched along the Isonzo river. Photo credit: Unknown Italian government photographer. Scanned from a public domain text by The Great War Primary Documents Archive. Selected biography Gavrilo Princip (Serbian Cyrillic: Гаврило Принцип) (pronounced (gäv´ri:lo: pri:n´tsip) (July 25, 1894 – April 28, 1918) was a Serb member of the Young Bosnia secret society who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. The event, known as the assassination in Sarajevo, prompted the Austrian action against Serbia that led to World War I. He is sometimes nicknamed "The Man That Started World War I". Having been too young at the time of the assassination (19) to face the death penalty, Princip received the maximum sentence of twenty years in prison, where he was held in harsh conditions worsened by the war. He died of tuberculosis on April 28, 1918 at Theresienstadt. Read more... Did you know...? ...that the USS Grebe survived both World War I and the attack on Pearl Harbor, only to be destroyed by a hurricane in 1943? ...that German sailor Max Reichpietsch, who served on the battleship SMS Friedrich der Große, was executed by firing squad in 1917 for anti-war agitation in the German Navy? ...that The War Illustrated was a WWI magazine first published eighteen days after the United Kingdom declared war on Germany? ...that Flora Sandes, who served with the Serbian Army, was the only British woman to officially enrol as a soldier in World War I? Major topics Theatres Main events Specific articles Participants See also Prelude: • Causes • Sarajevo assassination • July Ultimatum Main theatres: • Western Front • Eastern Front • Italian Front • Middle Eastern Theatre • Balkan Theatre • Atlantic Theatre Other theatres: • African Theatre • Pacific Theatre General timeline: • WWI timeline 1914: • German invasion of Belgium • Battle of Liège • Battle of Tannenberg • Invasion of Serbia • First Battle of the Marne • First Battle of Arras • Battle of Sarikamish 1915: • Mesopotamian campaign • Gallipoli Campaign • Italian Campaign • Conquest of Serbia 1916: • Battle of Verdun • Battle of the Somme • Battle of Jutland • Brusilov Offensive • Conquest of Romania • Great Arab Revolt 1917: • Capture of Baghdad • Second Battle of Arras • Battle of Passchendaele • Battle of Caporetto • Conquest of Palestine 1918: • Spring Offensive • Hundred Days Offensive • Meuse-Argonne Offensive • Armistice with Germany • Armistice with Ottoman Empire • Military engagements • Naval warfare • Air warfare • Cryptography • Poison gas • Railways • Technology • Trench warfare • Partition of Ottoman Empire Civilian impact and atrocities: • Armenian Genocide • Assyrian genocide • Greek genocide Aftermath: • Aftermath • Casualties • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk • Paris Peace Conference • Treaty of Versailles • Treaty of St. Germain • Treaty of Neuilly • Treaty of Trianon • Treaty of Sèvres • Treaty of Lausanne • League of Nations Entente Powers • Russian Empire • French • British Empire   » United Kingdom   » Australia   » Canada   » India   » New Zealand   » South Africa • Italy • Romania • United States • Serbia • Portugal • Republic of China • Japan • Belgium • Montenegro • Greece • Armenia • more… Central Powers • German Empire • Austria-Hungary • Ottoman Empire • Bulgaria • A war to end all wars • Female roles • Literature • Total war • Spanish flu • Veterans Contemporaneous conflicts: • First Balkan War (1912-13) • Second Balkan War (1913) • Maritz Rebellion (1914-15) • Easter Rising (1916) • Pancho Villa Expedition (1916-17) • Russian Revolution (1917) • Russian Civil War (1917–21) • Finnish Civil War (1918) • North Russia Intervention (1918–19) • Greater Poland Uprising (1918–19) • Polish–Soviet War (1919-21) • Irish War of Independence also known as the Anglo-Irish War (1919–21) • Turkish War of Independence also known as the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22) • Irish Civil War (1922–23) Things you can do From the World War I task force of the Military history WikiProject: Attention needed ...to referencing and citation  • ...to coverage and accuracy  • ...to structure  • ...to grammar  • ...to supporting materials  Popular pages Full list Cleanup needed   Adriatic Campaign of World War I • Atlantic U-boat campaign of World War I • Balkans Campaign (World War I) • Battle of Belleau Wood • Battle of Chunuk Bair • Battle of Gully Ravine • Battle of Pozières • Battle of Sari Bair • Eastern Front (World War I) • Italian Front (World War I) • Robert Nivelle • Serbian Campaign of World War I • South-West Africa Campaign • Landing at Suvla Bay • Max von Boehn (General) • Johannes von Eben • Naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign • Naval warfare in the Mediterranean during World War I Requested articles  Bombardment of Samogneux • Srem offensive (1914) • Otto von Lauenstein de • Georg Fuchs (General) de • Götz von König de • Black Sea Campaign (World War I) • Battle of Augustów (1914) • Battle of the Nete • Battle of Musalla • Battle of Qasr-i-Shirin • Battle of Qom • Battle of Hamadan • Occupation of Tabriz • Affair of Umm at Tubal • Battle of al-Samn • Battle of Namacurra • Makombe rebellion • Barue uprising • Ettore Mambretti • Philippe Henri Joseph d'Anselme • Paul Leblois • Auguste Clément Gérôme • Hristo Burmov •Panagiotis Gargalidis • Georgios Leonardopoulos • Konrad von Hippel • Hermann von Ziegesar • Paul von Kneussl Expansion needed   Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I • Battle of Behobeho • Battle of Cambrai (1918) • Battle of Caporetto • Battle of Courtrai (1918) • Battle of Dodoma • Battle of Dutumi • Battle of Kahe • Battle of Kiawe Bridge • Battle of Kibata (1916) • Battle of Kibata (1917) • Battle of Kidodi • Battle of Kilosa • Battle of Kimbaramba • Battle of Krithia Vineyard • Battle of Lukigura • Battle of the Lys (1918) • Battle of Mpotona • Battle of Nambanje • Battle of Mahiwa • Battle of Matamondo • Battle of Mlali • Battle of Morogoro • Battle of Mkalamo • Battle of Mouquet Farm • Battle of Narungombe • Battle of the Nek • Battle of Njinjo • Occupation of German Samoa • Battle of Rumbo • Samarrah Offensive • Battle of Scimitar Hill • Battle of Sharqat • Battle of St. Quentin Canal • Battle of Utete • Battle of Wami • Battle of the Wazzir • Demilitarisation • First Battle of Villers-Bretonneux • Second Battle of Krithia • Second Battle of Kut • Second Battle of the Isonzo • Second Battle of Morlancourt • Third Battle of Krithia • Third Battle of the Isonzo • Fifth Battle of the Isonzo • Seventh Battle of the Isonzo • Ninth Battle of the Isonzo • Tenth Battle of the Isonzo • Operation Marne-Rheims • Joseph B. Sanborn • Robert Kosch de Images needed   Add an article here! Merging needed   Add an article here! Citations needed   Spring Offensive • Hundred Days Offensive • 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company Translation needed  Schlacht in den Karpaten (Large battle in the Carpathians) Categories ▼ World War I ► World War I by country ► Aftermath of World War I ► Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War ► Aviation in World War I ► World War I casualties ► Centenary of the outbreak of World War I ► Centenary of World War I ► World War I crimes ► Cultural history of World War I ► Economic history of World War I ► World War I espionage ► Events cancelled due to World War I ► Historiography of World War I ► Home front during World War I ► Humanitarian aid organizations of World War I ► Intelligence of World War I ► World War I legislation ► World War I-related lists ► Military logistics of World War I ► Military equipment of World War I ► Military animals of World War I ► Military medicine in World War I ► Military operations of World War I ► Military units and formations of World War I ► Naval history of World War I ► People of World War I ► Politics of World War I ► World War I propaganda ► Science and technology during World War I ► World War I sites ► Theatres of World War I ► Works about World War I ► Wikipedia books on World War I ► World War I stubs Featured content A.E.J. Collins Arthur Ernest Percival Arthur Henry Cobby Battle of Arras (1917) Battleship Blair Anderson Wark Dreadnought Edgar Towner Edwin Taylor Pollock Finnish Civil War Francis Harvey Frank Hubert McNamara George Jones (RAAF officer) German occupation of Luxembourg in World War I Harry Murray HMS Royal Oak (1914) Issy Smith James Newland John Whittle Kaiser class battleship List of First World War Victoria Cross recipients Pre-dreadnought battleship Prince Louis of Battenberg Raymond Brownell Richard Williams (RAAF officer) Second Ostend Raid Stanley Goble Ronald Niel Stuart Thomas Crisp Western Front (World War I) William Bostock Władysław Sikorski Associated Wikimedia