European theatre of World War I

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First European War
Part of World War I
From left to right, top to bottom Australian gunners on a duckboard track in Château Wood, near Hooge, 1917 A French Saint-Chamond tank ("Teddy") with a 75 mm field gun, Condé-sur-Aisne, 1917 Russian cavalry during the Brusilov Offensive, 1916 Predominantly Polish troops of the Austro-Hungarian Army fire on Imperial Russian forces entrenched on the Pustki hill in the Carpathian Mountains, 1915 Italian 75mm anti-aircraft gun during the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo, 1917 Bulgarian infantry during the Monastir offensive, 1916
Date 3 August 1914 – 11 November 1918 (4 years, 3 months, 1 week and 1 day) Location Europe Result Allied victory End of World War I Treaty of Versailles
Belligerents
Allied Powers: France  British Empire  United Kingdom  Canada  Australia New Zealand  India  South Africa  Newfoundland Russian Empire (until March 1917)  Russian Republic (until November 1917)  Italy  United States  Romania  Serbia (until 1918)  Yugoslavia (from 1918)  Montenegro (until 1918) Belgium  Greece Portugal  Siam Russian SFSR	Central Powers:  German Empire  Austria-Hungary  Bulgaria  Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Robert Nivelle Philippe Pétain John French Douglas Haig Grand Duke Nikolai Nicholas II Mikhail Alekseyev Aleksei Brusilov Lavr Kornilov Vladimir Lenin Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz John J. Pershing Constantin Prezan Ion Inculeț Petar Bojović Peter I of Serbia Petar Bojović Janko Vukotić Albert I Panagiotis Danglis	Helmuth von Moltke Erich von Falkenhayn Paul von Hindenburg Erich Ludendorff Leopold of Bavaria Archduke Friedrich Conrad von Hötzendorf A. A. von Straußenburg Nikola Zhekov Enver Pasha
Casualties and losses
Military dead: 5,000,000	Military dead: 3,500,000
4,700,000 civilians killed or died of disease

Although considerable conflict took place outside Europe, the European theatre (also known as the First European War) was the main theatre of operations during World War I and was where the war began and ended. During the four years of conflict, battle was joined by armies of unprecedented size, which were equipped with new mechanized technologies. The conflict left tens of millions dead or wounded.

The European theatre is divided into four main theatres of operations: the Western Front, the Eastern Front, the Italian Front, and the Balkans Front. Not all of Europe was involved in the war, nor did fighting take place throughout all of the major combatants’ territory. The United Kingdom was nearly untouched by the war. Most of France was unaffected, as was most of Germany and Italy.

Some large countries in Europe remained neutral for the entire war such as Sweden and Spain – the Great War passed them by without much impact. On the other hand, some countries were conquered (Serbia, Belgium, Romania). Other countries like Russia and the Ottoman Empire saw armies marching over much of their lands, with a great deal of resulting devastation.

Although the United States did join the war, due to Great Britain's control over the Atlantic Ocean, the only fighting for the U.S. Army was in Europe on the Western Front. The American army was transported by ship across the ocean so it could fight the Germans in France.