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World War I
World War I engulfed the world in total and devastating warfare with loss of life on an unimaginable scale. With the centenary of this epoch-changing conflict upon us, the stories of the men, women and children whose lives were affected by the fighting and its aftermath, as well as accounts of the battles themselves, will take centre stage.
When Austria–Hungary declared war on 28 July 1914 – one month after the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the issue of the July Ultimatum – the world had begun its descent into a war that would claim the innocence of generations to come. Britain added its backing to France, Russia and Serbia on 4 August 1914, and so was plunged into a four-year period of mud-soaked trench warfare on the Western Front, desert campaigns and pioneering air reconnaissance.
Through military campaigns, large and small, the facts of this ‘war to end all wars’ soon became apparent. The Western Front became a zone of attrition, with small gains costings tens of thousands of lives, particularly in the bloodbath of the Somme in 1916. Here the French and British, along with other Allied forces, lost thousands of men with little to nothing to show for it at the end of the fighting. Meanwhile in Gallipoli, the Allied Dardanelles naval campaign was repelled by the Ottomans, forcing retreat of both land and sea forces. Victories were of the ‘strategic’ nature, such as the First Battle of Marne, and it became a contest of supplies and endurance.
The United States entered the war on 6 April 1917, after Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare and it was brought to Wilson’s attention that the German empire was attempting to ally and support Mexico in its conflict with the US. After conscripting over 2 million men to the army, soldiers were transported to reinforce Allied forces. With supplies running thing on both sides of the conflict, the addition of fresh US resources would prove a large factor in victory being swayed towards the Allies on 11 November 1918.
Of course, the war not only brought about death and destruction on a massive scale, but also saw a boom in technological advancement. Aircraft were developed and improved upon, tanks were used for the first time at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette in 1916 and gas warfare became a terrifying facet of the conflict, trialled by the German forces at Second Ypres. Not only that, but there was a great of war poetry, such figures as Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon penning poems that would stick in the public consciousness as a reminder of conscientious objection.
Remembering this crucial war is essential. Remembrance Day and the poppy are just small examples of that act: continuing to talk about it, write about it and keeping the memory of those who fought alive in everyday life will ensure that the sacrifice of a previous generation is never forgotten.
Read more about WWI
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How a shocking naval disaster nearly sank Winston Churchill
The worst naval catastrophe of the First World War
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Britain’s forgotten soldiers: POWs of the First World War
180,000 British troops were captured on the Western Front – their stories should be better known
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The first trenches of the First World War
The first trenches of the Western Front were dug along the Chemin des Dames
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A British soldier’s kit in the First World War
The British Expeditionary Force that went to war in 1914 was arguably the best equipped and trained force in Europe
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The first and last Victoria Crosses of the First World War
Both were earned in canal battles, but there the similarities end...
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Black servicemen: Unsung heroes of the First World War
Addressing the near-total exclusion from our history books of black servicemen in WWI
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The boys who won the First World War
Giving due credit to the officers of the line
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How the First World War changed combat forever
The game-changing developments of WWI
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A victim of the Somme
The story of Lieutenant George Neale Higginson
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Somme timeline
A timeline of the Battle of the Somme
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Civilians in Palestine and Syria in the First World War
Examining those caught in the middle of this clash of empires
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Tactics at Ypres
Lessons of camouflage, field craft and markmanship
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The first Victoria Crosses of the First World War
The first Victoria Crosses of WWI were awarded at Nimy on 23 August 1914
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The forgotten front: East Africa 1914-1918
The East African campaign has languished in undeserved obscurity over the years
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Verdun timeline
A timeline of the Battle of Verdun
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Verdun: Setting the scene
The background to the longest, and one of the most costly, battles in history
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The siege of Kut-al-Amara, 1916
The forgotten British disaster in Iraq
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How the talking book was born
It all started when the RNIB began providing books to war-blinded soldiers
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Kitchener: A great man or a great poster?
The man who formed the centrepiece for a host of recruitment posters
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Changes to medical practice from 1914 - 1918
The Great War presented an opportunity for advances in healthcare
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17 First World War books recommended by our military experts
Books to give you a fuller perspective of the First World War
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Gerald Gliddon’s reflections on the Somme
Gerald Gliddon explains why the Somme is still significant 100 years on
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The Battle of the Somme in infographics
Facts and figures from one of the largest battles of WWI
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10 defining objects from the Somme
Personal items and military artefacts from WWI
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The ‘big naval show’ of the Great War
Commander Harry Pennell and the Battle of Jutland
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The Battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916
The battle that won the war
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‘Kitchener’s Mob’ on the Somme
The ‘Pals’ faced their first major test in France, 1916
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Captain David Henderson: Labour Party leader’s son on the Somme
15 September was a bloody day for the sons of parliament leaders
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Memoir of a Tommy: Life on the Somme
An account of life in the trenches that challenges perceptions of how troops viewed the First World War
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The Battle of Flers-Courcelette
The first successful use of tanks on the battlefield
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The signing of Armistice
The day the fighting finally stopped
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Bread: A slice of First World War history
British measures to maintain bread supplies during World War I
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Room 40’s brilliant World War I codebreakers
Great minds of the top secret rookery of British naval intelligence
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Neuve Chapelle 1915: The BEF’s first offensive
The operation was the first planned offensive strike conducted by the British Expeditionary Force during the First World War
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The Commonwealth War Graves Commission: A centenary of commemoration
How one man, in founding the CWGC, forever changed the way we remember the fallen
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A timeline of Passchendaele
Before, during and after the Third Battle of Ypres, also known as Passchendaele
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The Third Battle of Ypres in photos
Moving images of the battle preparation and the horrific conditions men of all sides were tasked to fight in at Passchendaele
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Executions for desertion in World War I
302 British and Commonwealth soldiers were executed during the Great War
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Early aerial warfare: Darfur 1916
How British airplanes were first used to control enemies where conditions were too harsh for the regular army
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Combined arms warfare at Cambrai
How tanks, combined with air strikes and artillery assaults, were used successfully in the Battle of Cambrai
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Zero hour at Amiens: The dawn of victory in 1918
The surprise Allied attack on 8 August 1918 leading to the last 100 days of the First World War
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The Armistice and its aftermath in photographs
Images from the end of World War I show both victory and devastation
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A Gloucestershire Lad in World War I
A young Gloucestershire man’s memories of World War One
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Compelling and contradictive: The real Western Front
The British soldiers who made the best of a bad situation
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Weaponry in World War I
The weaponry used by the British, French and German armies at the Battle of Ypres
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Evacuation of the wounded in World War I
How injured soldiers were moved and treated during the war
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Rupert Brooke’s Royal Naval Division friends on the Somme, 1916
Four friends and their journeys through the Battle of the Somme
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Ask the author: Andrew Ferguson on Ghosts of War
A quick Q&A with author Andrew Ferguson about his book, Ghosts of War
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The Legacy of Messines
An extract from The Pillar of Fire: The Battle of Messines Ridge June 1917
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Disaster at the Chilwell shell-filling factory
An explosion at Chilwell’s shell-filling factory killed 130 workers on 1 July 1918
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How were changing attitudes to WWI reflected in poetry?
War poetry began in 1914 as patriotic but dissolved into revulsion at the needless waste of human life...
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Breaking the Hindenburg Line: The capture of St Quentin Canal
The audacious assault upon the Hindenburg Line at St Quentin Canal in 1918 turned the tide for the Allies
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The art of remembering: The WWI memorials of Morris & Alice Meredith Williams
Artist couple Morris & Alice Meredith Williams created many war memorials, from stained glass to sculptures
