1918 : End of World War I

Germany, now freed from fighting the Russians in the east after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, launched a final and massive attack all along the Western Front in the spring of 1918. At last the line of trenches was broken . The Entente powers, now under a single commander, Marshall Foch, was able to counter-attack in the summer and, aided by American soldiers and tanks could push the Germans back to the German frontier.

Germany's allies (Turkey, Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary) collapsed as minority peoples rose up against the empires, encouraged by Wilson's Fourteen Points. In Germany the Kaiser was overthrown and a German republic was declared (the Weimar Republic).On 11th November 1918 an Armistice (agreement to end the fighting) was signed and the First World War came to an end. A Peace Conference in Paris and the signing of the Peace treaties would follow in 1919.