World War I (1914–18) was a global industrial conflict fought chiefly between the Allied and Central Powers, defined by trench warfare, machine guns, artillery and the first use of poison gas and aircraft at scale. It killed some 17 million people, soldiers and civilians, and ended with the collapse of the German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian empires. The war drew on the full economic and human resources of mass industrial societies. Its settlement at Versailles imposed harsh terms and redrew borders.
It levelled towns across the Western Front and prompted major reconstruction programmes in France and Belgium, including rebuilt and reconceived towns. It redrew the political map of Europe and the Middle East, creating new states and mandates whose cities and capitals reflected the new order.
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