World War I casualtiesThe total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I is estimated to be 15 to 22 million deaths and about 21 million wounded military personnel, making it one of the deadliest military conflicts in human history. The total number of deaths includes nine to 11 million military personnel. The civilian death toll was about six to 13 million. The Triple Entente (also known as the Allies) lost about six million military personnel while the Central Powers lost about four million. At least two million di...
Allies of World War IMilitary coalition in World War IThe Allies or the Entente (UK: , US: ) was an international military coalition of countries led by the French Republic, the United Kingdom, the Russian Empire, the United States, the Kingdom of Italy, and the Empire of Japan against the Central Powers of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Tsardom of Bulgaria in World War I (1914–1918). By the end of the first decade of the 20th century, the major European powers were divided between the Triple Enten...
Aviation in World War IWorld War I was the first major conflict involving the use of aircraft. Tethered observation balloons had already been employed in several wars and would be used extensively for artillery spotting. Germany employed Zeppelins for reconnaissance over the North Sea and Baltic Sea and also for strategic bombing raids over the Eastern Front and Britain. Airplanes were just coming into military use at the outset of the war. Initially, they were used mostly for reconnaissance. Pilots and engineers learned from experien...
War crimes in World War IDuring World War I (1914–1918), belligerents from both the Allied Powers and Central Powers violated international criminal law, committing numerous war crimes. This includes the use of indiscriminate violence and massacres against civilians, torture, sexual violence, forced deportation and population transfer, death marches, the use of chemical weapons and the intentional targeting of Red Cross personnel and medical facilities. The governments of all major combatants had previously signed the Hague Convention...
Central PowersThe Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires, were one of the two main coalitions that fought in World War I (1914–1918). It consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria; this was also known as the Quadruple Alliance. The Central Powers' origin was the alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1879. Despite having nominally joined the Triple Alliance before, Italy did not take part in World War I on the side of the Central Powers and later joined on...
Genocides in history (World War I through World War II)Overview of genocides from 1914 to 1945Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people in whole or in part. The term was coined in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin. It is defined in Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) of 1948 as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; de...
Artillery of World War IThe artillery of World War I, improved over that used in previous wars, influenced the tactics, operations, and strategies that were used by the belligerents. This led to trench warfare and encouraged efforts to break the resulting stalemate at the front. World War I raised artillery to a new level of importance on the battlefield. The First World War saw many developments in artillery warfare. Artillery could now fire the new high explosive shells, and throw them farther and at a higher rate of fire. Because of...
Spanish fluThe 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the misleading name Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest probable cases were documented in March 1918 in Haskell County, Kansas, United States, with further cases recorded in France, Germany and the United Kingdom in April. Two years later, nearly a third of the global population, or an estimated 500 million people, had been infected. Estim...
World warA world war is an international conflict that involves most or all of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for the two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century: World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). Some historians have also characterized other global conflicts as world wars, such as the Seven Years' War, Cold War, and the war on terror. EtymologyThe Oxford English Dictionary had cited the first known usage in the English ...
Machine gunA machine gun (MG) is a fully automatic and rifled firearm designed for sustained direct fire. Automatic firearms of 20 mm (0.79 in) caliber or more are usually classified as autocannons rather than machine guns. As a class of military kinetic projectile weapons, machine guns are designed to be mainly used as infantry support weapons and generally used when attached to a bipod or tripod, a fixed mount or a heavy weapons platform for stability against recoil. Many machine guns also use belt feeding and open bolt ...
CoalitionA coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. FormationAccording to A Guide for Political Parties published by the National Democratic Institute and the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights, there are five steps to coalition building. The first step in coalition building involves developing a party strategy that will prepare for successful neg...
List of wars by death tollThis list of wars by death toll includes some deaths directly or indirectly caused by the deadliest wars in history. These numbers encompass the deaths of military personnel resulting directly from battles or other wartime actions, as well as wartime or war-related civilian deaths, often caused by war-induced epidemics, famines, or genocides. Due to incomplete records, the destruction of evidence, differing counting methods, and various other factors, the death tolls of wars are often uncertain and highly debate...*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.