Sinking of the RMS Lusitania
May 7, 1915
Sinking of the British liner Lusitania by a German U-boat off Ireland, which killed 1,198 people, including 128 Americans, and turned US opinion against Germany.
Battles 1
July 28, 1914 – November 11, 1918
Key commanders
Allies 12
Nicholas II of Russia
Emperor, Russia
George V
King, United Kingdom
Woodrow Wilson
President, United States
Emperor Taishō
belligerent leader
Joseph Joffre
Marshal of France, Commander-in-Chief of the French Army (1914–1916)
Raymond Poincaré
belligerent leader
Georges Clemenceau
David Lloyd George
Ferdinand Foch
John French
Field Marshal, Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (1914–1915)
Robert Nivelle
General, Commander of the French Second Army; French Commander-in-Chief (1916–1917)
Philippe Pétain
General, Commander at Verdun; French Commander-in-Chief (1917)
Central Powers 13
Wilhelm II
Emperor, Germany
Paul von Hindenburg
Commander, German Eighth Army
Erich Ludendorff
Mehmed V
Sultan, Ottoman Empire
Mehmed VI
Sultan, Ottoman Empire
Franz Joseph I of Austria
belligerent leader
Charles I of Austria
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Commander, Ottoman forces at Gallipoli
Helmuth von Moltke the Younger
Chief of the German General Staff, Germany (1914)
Erich von Falkenhayn
Chief of the German General Staff, Germany (1914–1916)
Alexander von Kluck
Generaloberst, Commander of the German First Army
Enver Pasha
Minister of War, Ottoman Empire; de facto Commander-in-Chief
Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf
Field Marshal, Chief of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff