Portal:World War I

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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, and later Italy, Romania and the United States, who fought against the Central Powers: Austria-Hungary, the German Empire, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire.

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 was 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.

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Selected event

The First Battle of the Marne (also known as the Miracle of the Marne) was a World War I battle fought from September 5 to September 12, 1914. It was a Franco-British victory against the German army under German Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Younger.

The battle of the Marne was a major turning point of World War I. By the end of August 1914, the whole Allied army on the Western Front had been forced into a general retreat back towards Paris. Meanwhile the two main German armies continued through France. It seemed that Paris would be taken as both the French and the British fell back towards the Marne River.

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Selected equipment

The Lewis Gun is a pre-World War I era squad automatic weapon/machine gun of American design that was most widely used by the forces of the British Empire. It first saw combat with the Belgian Army in World War I, and continued in service all the way through to World War II. It is visually distinctive because of a wide tubular cooling shroud around the barrel and top mounted pan magazines. The British quickly claimed it as their own, adopting it in late 1915 (much like their invention of the Peabody-Martini-Henry rifle). Each Lewis Gun required a team of two gunners, one to fire and one to carry ammunition and reload, and the whole rifle squad was trained to fire it in case the gunners were incapacitated.

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"We will support Britain to the last man and the last shilling."
Andrew Fisher, August 1914
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The evacuation of W Beach, Helles, on 7 January, 1916.

Photo credit: Lt. Ernest Brooks.

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Selected biography

Armando Diaz (December 5, 1861February 29, 1928) was an Italian general and a Marshal of Italy. On the outbreak of the World War I, he was assigned to the high command as head of the unit's operations under General Luigi Cadorna. He was promoted to 2-star general in June, 1916, and assumed the command of the 49th division and then the 23rd army corps. The Battle of Caporetto, in October 1917, was disastrous to the army, and on November 8, 1917, he was called to succeed Cadorna as chief of general staff. Recovered what remained of the army, he organized the resistance on Mount Grappa and at the Battle of the Piave River. In 1918 he led the Italian troops in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, and in his famous bollettino della Vittoria (Victory Address) he communicated the rout of the Austrian army and success of the Italians.

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Did you know...

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Major topics

World War I
Theatres Main events Specific articles Participants See also

Prelude:
Causes
Sarajevo assassination
The 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:
Battle of Liège
Battle of Tannenberg
Invasion of Serbia
First Battle of the Marne
First Battle of Arras
Battle of Sarikamis
1915:
Mesopotamian Campaign
Battle of Gallipoli
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:
Second Battle of Arras (Vimy Ridge)
Battle of Passchendaele
Capture of Baghdad
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
People
Poison gas
Railways
Technology
Trench warfare
Partition of Ottoman Empire

Civilian impact and atrocities:
Armenian Genocide
Assyrian 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
Flag of Russia Russian Empire
Flag of France France
Flag of the United Kingdom British Empire
  » Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
  » Flag of Australia Australia
  » Flag of Canada Canada
  » Flag of India India
  » Flag of New Zealand New Zealand
  » Flag of Dominion of Newfoundland Newfoundland
  » Flag of South Africa South Africa
Flag of Italy Italy
Flag of Romania Romania
Flag of the United States United States
Flag of Serbia Serbia
Flag of Portugal Portugal
Flag of the Republic of China Republic of China
Flag of the Empire of Japan Japan
Flag of Belgium Belgium
Flag of Montenegro Montenegro
Flag of Greece Greece
Flag of Armenia Armenia
more…

Central Powers
Flag of German Empire German Empire
Flag of Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary
Ottoman flag Ottoman Empire
Flag of Bulgaria 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 Campaign (1918-19)
Wielkopolska 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 (1919-1922)
Irish Civil War (1922-23)

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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
Requested articles 
Courtai_Offensive • Battle_of_the_Selle • Battle of the Argesul • Battle of Dunajetz • Battle_of_La_Bassée • Battle_of_Messines_(1914) • Battle_of_Armentières • Battle of Kahe • Battle of Dodoma • Battle of the Drina • Battle of Mkalamo • Battle of Lukigura • Battle of Matamondo • Battle of Wami • Battle of Kilosa • Battle of Mlali • Battle of Morogoro • Battle of Kidodi • Battle of Dutumi • Battle of Kisaki • Battle of Njinjo • Battle_of_Es_Sinn • Battle of Kimbaramba • Battle of Kibata (1916) • Battles of Çanakkale • Battle of Behobeho • Battle of Kibata (1917) • Battle of Mpotona • Battle of Utete • Battle of Nambanje • Battle of Jebel Hamlin • Battle of Kiawe Bridge • Battle of Rumbo • Battle of Scarpe • Battle of Narungombe • Battle of Mahiwa • Battle of Nyangao • Bombardment of Samogneux • Gilbert Clayton • James Deveraux • Franz Freiherr Rohr von Denta • Leopold Freiherr von Hauer • Alexander Freiherr von Krobatin • Battle_of_Sheikh_Sa'ad • Battle_of_the_Wadi • Battle_of_Hanna • Battle_of_Dujaila_Redoubt • Battle_of_Jebel_Hamlin • Battle_of_Istabulat • Srem offensive (1914);
Expansion needed 
Battle_of_Albert_(1914)Battle_of_Arras_(1914)Second_Battle_of_KutSamarrah_OffensiveBattle_of_RamadiBattle_of_SharqatThird_Battle_of_the_IsonzoBattle of Cambrai (1918)Second_Battle_of_the_IsonzoFifth_Battle_of_the_IsonzoSeventh_Battle_of_the_IsonzoNinth_Battle_of_the_IsonzoTenth_Battle_of_the_IsonzoBattle of Heligoland BlightBattle of CaporettoOperation Marne-RheimsDemilitarisation
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