( also the First World War , also old-fash the Great War )
a war (1914–18) between the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey) and the Allies (Britain, France, Russia, Italy and the US). Most of the fighting took place in Europe, around the borders of Eastern Germany, Poland and Russia, and in north-east France and Belgium, where millions of soldiers died in long battles between armies in trenches (= long narrow holes dug in the ground). For many people these battles represent the essential horror and waste of war. The Germans agreed to stop fighting in 1918, after more than 10 million people had been killed.