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World War I, 1914-18, also called the Great War, was a conflict, chiefly in Europe, among most of the world's great powers. On one side were the Allies (chiefly France, Britain, Russia, and the U.S.); on the other were the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey). Prominent among the war's causes were the imperialist, territorial, and economic rivalries of the great powers.

The German empire in particular was determined to establish itself as the preeminent power on the Continent. The Germans were also intent on challenging the naval superiority of Britain. However, it was rampant nationalism -- especially evident in the Austro-Hungarian empire -- that furnished the immediate cause of hostilities. On June 28, 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated at Sarajevo by a Serbian nationalist. One month later, after its humiliating demands were refused, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Other declarations of war followed quickly, and soon every major power in Europe was in the war.

On the Western Front, the Germans smashed through Belgium, advanced on Paris, and approached the English Channel. After the first battles of the Marne and Ypres, however, the Germans became stalled. Grueling trench warfare and the use of poison gas began all along the front and, for the next three years, the battle lines remained virtually stationary despite huge casualties at Verdun and in the Somme offensive during 1916.

On the Eastern Front, the Central Powers were more successful. The Germans defeated the Russians at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes (Aug.-Sept. 1914). Serbia and Montenegro fell by the end of 1915. In the south, the Italian campaigns were inconclusive, though they benefited the Allied cause by keeping large numbers of Austrian troops tied up down there. In Turkey, the Allies' ambitious Gallipoli Campaign (1915), an attempt to force Turkey out of the war, was a costly failure.

In the Middle East, T.E. Lawrence stirred Arab revolt against Turkey. U.S. neutrality had been threatened since 1915, when the British ship Lusitania was sunk. By 1917 unrestricted German submarine warfare had caused the U.S. to enter the war on the side of the Allies.

An American Expeditionary Force, commanded by General Pershing, landed in France and saw its first action at Chateau-Thierry (June 1917). In March 1918 the new Soviet government signed the Treaty of