Διαδικτυακές Εφαρμογές και Συστήματα Διαχείρισης Περιεχομένου The Trenches of WW1 World War I or the First World War , often abbreviated as WWI or WW1 , was a major global conflict that began on 28 July 1914 and ended on 11 November 1918. Referred to by contemporaries as the " Great War ", its belligerents included much of Eur ope , the Russian Empire , the United States , and the Ottoman Empire , with fighting taking place across Europe, the Middle East , Africa and parts of Asia . New technology, including the recent invention of the airplane, trench warfare , and especially chemical weapons made it one of the deadliest conflicts in history . An estimated 9 million soldiers died in combat, with another 5 million civilian deaths as a result of military actions, hunger and disease. [2] Millions more died in genocides within the Ottoman Empire and the 1918 influenza pandemic , which was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war.