 Fighting would rage across Europe , the Middle East , Africa and Asia for the next four years . On 8 January 1918 , United States President Woodrow Wilson issued a statement that became known as the Fourteen Points . In part , this speech called for Germany to withdraw from the territory it had occupied , for the creation of a Polish state , the redrawing of Europe 's borders along ethnic lines , and the formation of a League of Nations . During the autumn of 1918 , the Central Powers began to collapse . The German military was decisively defeated on the Western Front , while on the Home Front the navy mutinied prompting uprisings in Germany , which became known as the German Revolution . The German Government attempted to obtain a peace settlement based on the Fourteen Points , and maintained it was on this basis that they surrendered . Following negotiations , the Allied Powers and Germany signed an armistice , which came into effect on 11 November while German forces were still positioned in France and Belgium . 
