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World War I or the First World War, also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Central Powers. Main areas of conflict included Europe and the Middle East, as well as parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific. There were important developments in weaponry including tanks, aircraft, artillery, machine guns, and chemical weapons. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, it resulted in an estimated 30 million military casualties, plus another 8 million civilian deaths from war-related causes and genocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly Spanish flu pandemic.
The Supreme War Command ; initially the Joint Supreme War Command was a military headquarters established on 7 September 1916 to exert command over all of the armed forces of the Central Powers in the First World War. The creation of the command had been discussed by German political figures by mid-1916 but was implemented at the request of Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff, who were appointed to effective command of the Imperial German Army on 29 August. Germany's key ally Austria-Hungary was ambivalent on the matter but eventually agreed to the proposal on 3 September. The other two Central Powers, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire, formally agreed at a conference on 6 September and the OKL was established the following day.
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires, were one of the two main coalitions that fought in World War I (1914–1918). It consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria; this was also known as the Quadruple Alliance.