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World War 1 Essay | Essay on World War 1 for Students and Children in English

February 14, 2024 by Prasanna

World War 1 Essay: World War 1 was started in July 1914 and officially ended on November 11, 1918. Conflicts emerged among the most powerful forces in the modern world with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany and the Ottoman Empire (and briefly Italy) on one side, and Britain, France, Russia, and later the United States on the other side during the war.

The war took the lives of some 20 million people and the world’s great empires fell. Czarist Russia turned into reinstated as the communist Soviet Union. Imperial Germany turned into reinstated as the Weimar Republic and lost some parts of its territory in the East and West.

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Long and Short Essays on World War 1 for Students and Kids in English

We are providing students with essay samples on a long essay of 500 words and a short of 150 words on the topic of World War 1 for reference.

Long Essay on World War 1 Essay 500 Words in English

Long Essay on World War 1 Essay is usually given to classes 7, 8, 9, and 10.

World War 1 started with a European conflict and gradually it developed into a World War. Militarism, nationalism, imperialism, and alliances increased the tensions among the European countries. The first reason, militarism, is known as the trend toward developing military resources, both for national defense and the protection of colonial interests.

Militarism indicated a rise in military disbursement and it extended to military and naval forces. It put more impact on the military men upon the policies of the civilian government. As a solution to problems militarism had a preference for force. This was one of the main reasons for the First World War. The second reason is there were too many alliances that frequently clashed with each other. Every country was pawning to safeguard others, creating intertwining mutual protection schemes.

They made alliances in secret, and they created a lot of mistrust and intuition among the European powers. Their general intuition stopped their diplomats to find a proper solution to many of the crises leading to war. Imperialism was the third reason for the First World War. As some areas of the world were left to colonize, nations were competing for subsisting colonies, and they were looking for enlarging their borders with adjacent countries. The fourth cause was nationalism. Nationalism is frequently insinuated to as identification with one’s own country and support for the country. Nationalism contains a strong recognition of a group of personnel with a political entity.

The support of individuals for their own country can become of one’s nation can become hatred of other nations. These were just some of the basic reasons for the war. Many people think that the instant reason for the war was because of the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the successor to Austria-Hungary’s throne. Archduke Ferdinand was fired and murdered due to what was thought to be a political conspiracy. The Austro-Hungarian Empire suddenly doubted Serbian conspiracy in the assassination and looked to frame a response that would both punish Serbia, and make the world respect Austria-Hungary’s prestige and determination.

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The Great War lasted four years. The war was finally over after four years and it took the lives of many people. On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, a cease-fire went into effect for all fighters. Though the war has been finished, the effects, are still seen perceptible in the world today.

In the aftermath of World War 1, the political, cultural, and social order of the world was drastically changed in many places, even outside the areas directly involved in the war. Old nations were removed, new nations were formed, international organizations set up, and many new and old ideas took a stronghold in people’s minds.

As Europe fell in debt from war investment, inflation beset the continent. In addition to this, the buoyancy of previous decades was relinquished and a discouraging, gloomy outlook on life was adopted after people had experienced the ferocity of warfare and the effects of the war were brutal.

Short Essay on World War 1 Essay 150 Words in English

Short Essay on World War 1 Essay is usually given to classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

The War took the lives of approximately 20 million people and put a break in the economic development of several nations. The war happened between two parties consisting of more than one hundred nations. Though all of them did not send armed forces to the battlefield, they were a hoard of commodities and human resources and provided moral support to their companions. It continued for 4 long years from 1914 to 1918. Indian soldiers also took part in World War 1 as a colony of Britain from Africa and West Asia.

India had an aspiration that they might win independence. World War 1 war laid down the economy of the world. It led to food shortage, an outbreak of a pandemic, scarcity of vital items, etc. At the end of 1918, the war came to an end. The Allied Powers won the war. Both parties signed the Peace Treaty called an armistice.

10 Lines on World War 1 Essay in English

1. The First World War was instigated in 1914 by Serbia. 2. The cause of the war was a competition between countries to acquire weapons and build military powers. 3. In 1914, Serbia aroused anger by assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir of Austria-Hungary throne. 4. The Allied Powers, and the Central Powers fought against each other. 5. The Central Powers include countries, such as Germany, Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, and Turkey. 6. The Allied Powers consisted of Serbia, Russia, The United Kingdom, France, Italy, Japan, and Belgium. 7. India, as a British colony, supported Britain. 8. The German adopted a militaristic Schlieffen approach. 9. World War 1 was fought from trenches, so it is also called the Trench War. 10. The War ended in 1918 after both allies signed an armistice.

FAQ’s on World War 1 Essay

Question 1. List the names of the two allies of the First World War 1914-1918.

Answer: The Allied Powers and the Central Powers.

Question 2. Who declared the First World War?

Answer: Austria-Hungary.

Question 3. Name the countries of Allied Powers.

Answer: Britain, Japan, France, Italy, Russia, the USA.

Question 4.  Why did the First World War end?

Answer: The First World War ended in November 1918 when both allies signed the Peace Treaty known as an armistice.

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Why Did World War I Happen?

In this free resource on World War I, explore the causes and effects of the Great War to understand how the conflict shaped world history.

Soldiers of the Royal Irish Fusiliers in the trenches on the southern section of Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915.

Source: Ernest Brooks via Australian War Memorial

Perhaps it comes as no surprise, but the 2017 box office hit Wonder Woman took a few creative liberties in its depiction of World War I. For instance, the film portrayed Ares, the god of war, as the evil mastermind behind the conflict. In reality, it was not the gods who pushed humanity toward conflict. World War I was caused by the actions of ordinary people and political leaders. However, World War I was so violent, costly, and traumatic that it is tempting to blame an all-powerful deity bent on humanity’s destruction.

A Short History of World War I

More than twenty countries that controlled territory on six continents would declare war between 1914 and 1918, making World War I (also known as the Great War) the first truly global conflict. On one side, Britain, France, and Russia formed the Triple Entente (also known as the Allied powers or, simply, the Allies). On the other side, Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Italy made up the Triple Alliance (also known as the Central powers). Those alliances, however, were hardly static, and during the war Italy would change sides; the United States, Japan, and many other nations would join the Allied powers; the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria would join the Central powers; and Russia would withdraw altogether due to revolution back home.

Source: Atlas of World History.

By the war’s end in 1918, the Allied powers emerged victorious. However, both sides were left reeling from the scale of the violence. New technologies like chemical gas and long-range artillery drove conflict to cruel new heights. Nine million soldiers died while the civilian death toll likely exceeded ten million. Infectious diseases also ran rampant, fighting leveled infrastructure, and the financial toll of the war was immense. Following the conflict, most of the European continent was left in economic disarray.

In trying to make sense of this death and destruction, one obvious question stands out: Why did World War I break out in what had been a mostly peaceful and prosperous continent? 

How did World War I start?

Experts continue to fiercely debate this question. Yes, the 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, triggered a series of declarations of war. However many scholars argue that several other factors had been creating the conditions for conflict in Europe for decades prior. As the military historian Liddell Hart wrote, “Fifty years were spent in the process of making Europe explosive. Five days were enough to detonate it.”

This resource explores the factors that led to the outbreak of World War I and how the conflict reshaped society.

Origins of World War I

To understand the origins of World War I, let’s first go back to the early 1800s. 

For centuries, a competing patchwork of European empires and kingdoms had waged near-constant war with each other. These conflicts were generally fought over land, colonies, religion, resources, and dynastic rivalries. As a result, the borders within the continent shifted frequently.

However, after the defeat of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who had conquered most of Europe, representatives from several European powers were eager to end the cycle of war. In 1814 and 1815, these representatives met in Vienna to establish a framework for peace.. What emerged was a series of agreements and understandings that ushered in an unusual period of relative stability for the continent. The resulting diplomatic system, known as the Concert of Europe, sought to preserve peace by supporting existing dynasties over revolutionary movements.

With peace at home, Europe enjoyed a century of immense progress and global influence. Technological innovations—like the development of machine production, steel, electricity, and modern chemistry—enriched the continent. Meanwhile, improvements in shipping, railroads, and weapons allowed countries to project their power farther abroad. As a result, Europe’s strongest empires—namely, Belgium, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, and, later, Germany, Italy, and Russia— controlled much of the world throughout the nineteenth century.

However, this period of European peace and prosperity would not last forever. Many historians believe things began to unravel in the mid-1800s. The various regional conflicts and wars to unify the countries of Germany and Italy reintroduced costly warfare to the continent. But, unequivocally, Europe’s century of stability had come to a cataclysmic end with World War I.

Let’s explore three factors that brought about this great unraveling.

Three Causes of World War I

The rise of germany.

Following the Napoleonic Wars, Europe experienced a rough balance of power on the continent. In other words, the region’s strongest countries typically avoided massive conflicts with each other. The odds of conflict were mitigated because Europe’s largest powers were fairly equal in strength. This meant that the costs of going to war would almost certainly outweigh any expected benefits.

Initially, the strength of Austria, Britain, and Russia preserved peace and order. Later, Britain and Prussia (which would become part of Germany in 1871) maintained this balance as the continent’s strongest countries. The two nations both had large populations, towering economies, and robust militaries.

However, power dynamics shifted in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Britain—the world’s largest empire and the biggest naval and economic power—saw its relative strength begin to fade in the mid- to late-1800s. For generations, Britain had enjoyed global primacy through its strong trade ties, unparalleled navy, and sprawling empire. Britain's imperial power provided access to natural resources and markets around the world. However, the costs of maintaining such a vast, globe-spanning empire began to mount. Additionally, by the end of the nineteenth century, rapidly industrializing countries like the United States and Germany began to outcompete Britain. As a result, Britain’s technological and manufacturing edge over the rest of the world faded.

Germany only emerged as an independent country in 1871 when Prussian leader Otto von Bismarck unified the nation. Prior to unification, Germany had been thirty-nine independent states—made up of a group of people fairly unified in language and culture, though not religion—into a single political unit. This new, united Germany would soon become exceedingly wealthy through industrialization . The country quickly began to showcase its power on the global stage through the acquisition of colonies in Africa.

Otto von Bismarck proclaiming German unification in Versailles on January 18, 1871, as depicted in an advertisement for Liebig's Meat Extract, published in 1899.

Source: Culture Club via Getty Images

Although Bismarck worked to preserve peace on the continent by balancing among the other powers, later leaders began to assert German dominance. Notably, historians describe Kaiser Wilhelm II as insecure and arrogant. Wilhelm possessed  unbridled ambition to claim Germany’s “place in the sun.” However, his desire to improve Germany’s international standing ultimately translated into recklessness. For example, he abandoned the Reinsurance Treaty with Russia in 1890, which led to Russia becoming friendly with France—an old enemy to Germany—and then with Britain.

Wilhelm spoke openly—and belligerently—about his desire for German economic and military supremacy and endeavored to make this vision a reality. In particular, he invested heavily in military spending. Wilhelm hoped to build a navy that could challenge Britain’s globally renowned fleet. This rapid militarization ignited an arms race on the continent, which unsettled Europe’s balance of power.

Nationalism

Nationalism is a powerful force that unites people based on ethnic, linguistic, geographic, or other shared characteristics. In certain contexts, it can serve as a basis of unity, inclusion, and social cohesion for a country. But when taken to extremes, nationalism can fuel violence , division, and global disorder.

In the lead-up to World War I, nationalism fueled intense competition in Europe. The continent’s most powerful countries frequently tried to best each other through their empires, militaries, and technological innovations. Meanwhile, governments, the new mass print media, and schools and universities reinforced messages of each country’s superiority.

With memories of the Napoleonic wars long since faded, countries viewed war as a quick and easy way through which to achieve glory. In fact, some Europeans celebrated the arrival of World War I. Parades and cheering spectators sent off their soldiers to the front lines. Young men rushed to recruiting offices eager not to miss the opportunity to serve. Most people believed that “the boys will be home by Christmas.” Few imagined that the war would drag on for four years in such horrific fashion. 

Nationalism unified countries like Britain, France, and Germany—albeit to dangerous extremes. However,the same force also pulled other European empires apart. In particular, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia struggled to promote a cohesive national identity. Given their populations’ vast internal differences along ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious lines, these once-great European empires began to fracture.

In fact, the first shot of World War I—the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria—came at the fault lines of one of those multiethnic empires. Ferdinand’s assassins executed their attack in the name of Slavic nationalism.

Alliance Networks

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand could have remained a small, localized affair. After all, the attack did not directly affect the continent’s greatest forces such as Britain, France, Germany, or even Russia. Rather, it involved two lesser powers: Austria-Hungary and Serbia.

However, European leaders had spent years prior to the assassination constructing a network of alliances. These agreements were built on the promise of collective security, or the idea that an attack on one country would be treated as an attack against the entire alliance.

In theory, those alliances were intended to serve as a deterrent to conflict; a stronger country would be less inclined to attack a weaker one if the latter had the support of a powerful ally. In reality, the alliance networks had the opposite effect. The complex alliance network in Europe expanded local issues into a continent-spanning crisis. Behind Austria-Hungary stood Germany, behind Serbia stood Russia, and behind Russia stood Britain and France.

One week after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II pledged unconditional support to Austria-Hungary, however it chose to respond to the attack. With this so-called blank check assurance, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. Within days, France, Germany, and Russia announced their own cascading declarations of war.

A 1912 political cartoon depicting the web of alliances that led to World War I.

Source: Nelson Harding/Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Thus, Europe marched toward war—or, rather, as one historian describes the consequences of careless decision making, the continent found itself “sleepwalking” its way to World War I.

How did World War I change the world?

World War I was incredibly destructive. But perhaps most tragic of all, the “war to end all wars'' ultimately did nothing of the sort. Historians assert that both the conflict and its aftermath sowed the seeds for a second—and even deadlier—world war just two decades later.

Although World War I did not curtail future conflict, it nevertheless transformed society across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa. Let’s explore a few examples:

New Age of Warfare: World War I ushered in a new age of lethal military technology. These military innovations include landmines, flamethrowers, submarines, tanks, and fighter planes. Aerial photography allowed both sides to create sophisticated maps of their opponents’ positions. Long-range artillery gave soldiers the ability to shoot at enemies they could not see. And the introduction of weapons of mass destruction, including chemical gas, were used to break through the dug-in stalemates of trench warfare. The scale and severity of such combat led tens of thousands of veterans to experience debilitating psychological trauma. This condition, then known as shell shock, is now commonly referred to as post-traumatic stress disorder.

In addition, although previous wars were largely confined to the battlefield, World War I was a “total war.” The conflict saw the complete erosion of the distinction between civilian and military targets. Germany, for example, used submarines to attack civilian ships and used airships known as zeppelins to bomb cities in Britain. The war also featured mass killings and expulsions of particular ethnic groups. For example, Armenians were violently excluded from the Ottoman Empire, a practice that many scholars would later term genocide .

Senate Sergeant at Arms Charles Higgins turns forward the Ohio Clock for the first Daylight Saving Time, while Senators William Calder (NY), William Saulsbury, Jr. (DE), and Joseph T. Robinson (AR) look on in the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. in 1918.

Source: Library of Congress.

Innovations Beyond the Battlefield:  In addition to new forms of weaponry, many medical practices and common household items have their origins in war. During World War I, doctors began using sodium citrate to stop blood from clotting. Doctors also performed some of the first successful skin grafts, which paved the way for modern plastic surgery. Additionally, the invention of splints greatly reduced the lethality of certain injuries: before the war, four out of every five soldiers with a broken femur died; after the introduction of the splint, four out of every five survived.

The Great War also led to the development of Kotex, one of the first branded sanitary products (used as a cheaper and more absorbent wartime alternative to cotton bandages), the popularization of exercises like pilates (invented by a captured German bodybuilder to stay fit), and the rise in print cartoons (used both as military propaganda and to help civilians and veterans process the horrors of war).

Daylight Saving Time : Daylight saving time (DST) was developed during World War I to conserve energy and free up more daylight hours for battle. Although DST was meant to be a temporary fix, essays dating back decades argued for its implementation; in 1794, Benjamin Franklin made the case in financial (candle cost-savings), productivity (longer workdays), and moral (a remedy for laziness) terms. Although most of the world repealed DST when the first World War ended, World War II led to its quick re-adoption. DST was popularized as a long-term solution following the end of that conflict decades later. The year-round DST we observe in the United States was introduced in the winter of 1973 amidst a global energy crisis.

Vegetarian Sausage : : Before World War I, these modern grocery store staples didn’t exist. Vegetarian sausage was created in sausage-loving Germany during the war as a cheap way to add protein to meals amidst frequent food shortages. Cologne’s then-mayor Konrad Adenauer made his Kölner Wurst or “Cologne sausage” using soya, flour, corn, barley, and ground rice. Despite its use in wartime, the sausages were infamously bland. Meat substitutes available today have made big gains in texture and taste but rely on many of the same ingredients from Adenauer’s original recipe.

Plastic Surgery : Before World War I, people who experienced disfiguring wounds had limited options to choose from. However, as the number and magnitude of facial disfigurations skyrocketed among soldiers fighting in the First World War, the medical community worked quickly to invent reconstruction procedures. Dr. Harold Gillies is credited with the idea to use patients’ own facial tissue to decrease the chance of transplant rejection, leading to rapid innovation in the field of plastic surgery. Following this innovation, treatment capabilities ranged from successful skin grafts to the first sex reassignment surgeries.

Everyday Words and Phrases : Next time you “ace” a test, unexpected news leaves you “shell shocked,” or that highly anticipated movie turns out to be a “dud,” you’re using language directly handed down from wartime. From World War I, English gained words like “lousy,” which transformed from an adjective to describe lice infestations to mean weary. The British also refashioned the term“trench coat,” which transitioned from battlefield necessity to universal fashion statement. World War II added household brands Spam (a mashup of “spiced” and “ham”) and Jeep (from the initials GP, which described its wartime roots as a general purpose vehicle). The global entanglement also created a melting pot of cultural ideas and terms. For example, describing something comfortable or privileged as “cushy,” is a direct contribution to the English language from Indian troops who fought alongside the British in World War I.

Wristwatches : Before we could check the time with the phones in our pockets, most people had to dig out their pocket watch to accomplish this essential task. That proved to be quite inconvenient for soldiers in the trenches, who were also operating without church bells and factory whistles to orient themselves in time. Wristwatches, the obvious solution to this problem, were seen as feminine accessories before World War I, a perception that changed rapidly as they became a crucial part of soldiers’ gear. The phrase “synchronize your watches” came to symbolize their importance on the battlefield where fighting had to be precisely scheduled and timing was a vital tool for communication and survival.

Newsreels : The advent of the twenty-four-hour news cycle stems from one of the earliest forms of broadcast: newsreels. Without televisions, cell phones, or social media, people would line up at movie theaters to watch hour-long loops of news and entertainment features. Early video cameras were bulky, so newsreels rarely included war reporting at the start of World War I. Instead, early war news covered parades, sports events, and cultural moments like royal weddings. Yet as the war progressed and the public hungered for updates, newsreels began to include footage from the conflict. Video cameras produced unprecedented imagery for the time, including the launch of military ships, civilians fleeing their villages, prisoners of war , and cratered battlefields. Video documentation  led to a new awareness about wartime destruction.

A group of cameramen filming an event in June 1916.

Source: Topical Press Agency via Getty Images.

Changing Roles for Women: As Europe’s militaries sent millions of men to the front lines, women played an increasingly important role in professional life back home.

Thousands of women gained a taste of personal and financial independence as they staffed factories, offices, and farms to support the war effort. Pointing to these valuable contributions, women’s rights groups successfully lobbied for suffrage (voting rights) in numerous countries between 1917 and 1920. (Workers’ rights groups also highlighted these efforts—from both men and women—to push for stronger unions and greater collective bargaining power).

Women’s fashion even changed during the war too. Metal shortages led governments to ask women to stop buying corsets, leading to the creation of brassieres. And as more women began to work outside the home, they increasingly adopted factory-safe attire such as pants.

Certainly not all women experienced economic advancement during this time. World War I widowed at least three million women. As a result, these women were left to face extreme financial hardship after the conflict.

Rise and Fall of Powers: The end of World War I marked a shift in global powers. The war culminated with the fall of major empires, such as the Ottoman Empire, and the rise of a new global power, the United States .

Source: National Geographic.

The End of World War I

World War I brought about the collapse of four empires: the Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman, and Russian.

In many cases, the victors of World War I absorbed territory from those former empires. Britain and France carved up land belonging to the Ottoman Empire. Meanwhile, Germany was forced to cede its colonies in Africa and the Pacific as part of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. This peace treaty set the terms for the end of World War I in 1919. The breakup of these empires also resulted in the creation of new countries in Europe such as Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia in addition to the reemergence of old ones like Poland.

With World War I leaving even Europe’s victors badly weakened, the global center of power began shifting across the Atlantic to the United States. Even before the war, the United States had surpassed Britain to become the world’s strongest economy. After the war, the United States emerged in an even more powerful position. In 1919, Washington was uniquely situated to shape the new international order. However, the nation balked at the opportunity, as the American public was largely uninterested in international leadership at the time. Instead,the country retreated into a period of isolationism.

It would take a second world war two decades later for the United States to fully become the global power it is today.

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Causes and Effects of World War I

The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet.

World War I: ‘The War to End All Wars’

World war i facts.

The war fought between July 28, 1914, and November 11, 1918, was known at the time as the Great War, the War to End War, and (in the United States) the European War. Only when the world went to war again in the 1930s and ’40s did the earlier conflict become known as the First World War.

Its casualty totals were unprecedented, soaring into the millions. World War I is known for the extensive system of trenches from which men of both sides fought. Lethal new technologies were unleashed, and for the first time a major war was fought not only on land and on sea but below the sea and in the skies as well. The two sides were known as the Allies or Entente — consisting primarily of France, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, and later the United States — and the Central Powers, primarily comprised of Austria-Hungary (the Habsburg Empire), Germany, and the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). A number of smaller nations aligned themselves with one side or the other. In the Pacific Japan, seeing a chance to seize German colonies, threw in with the Allies. The Allies were the victors, as the entry of the United States into the war in 1917 added an additional weight of men and materiel the Central Powers could not hope to match.

WHEN DID WORLD WAR I START?

July 28, 1914

When Did World War I End?

November 11, 1918

WHERE DID WORLD WAR I TAKE PLACE?

Europe, Mediterranean, and Northern Africa

Who Won World War I?

The Allied powers, namely France, Great Britain, and the United States.

ALLIED Leaders

• Nicholas II, Czar of Russia
• Aristide Briand, Prime Minister of France (1915-1917)
• Georges Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France and Minister of War (1917–1920)
• H. H. Asquith, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1908–1916), Secretary of State for War (1914)
• David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1916–1922), Secretary of State for War (1916)
• Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States

Central Power Leaders

• Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria (1848-1916)
• Karl I, Emperor of Austria (1916-1918)
• Wilhelm II, German Emperor
• Mehmed V, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1909-1918)

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World war i summary: .

The war resulted in a dramatically changed geopolitical landscape, including the destruction of three empires: Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian. New borders were drawn at its conclusion and resentments, especially on the part of Germany, left festering in Europe. Ironically, decisions made after the fighting ceased led the War to End War to be a significant cause of the Second World War.

As John Keegan wrote in  The First World War  (Alfred A. Knopf, 1999), “The First World War was a tragic and unnecessary conflict … the train of events that led to its outbreak might have been broken at any point during the five weeks of crisis that preceded the first clash of arms, had prudence or common goodwill found a voice.”

CASUALTIES IN WORLD WAR I

In terms of sheer numbers of lives lost or disrupted, the Great War was the most destructive war in history until it was overshadowed by its offspring, the Second World War: an estimated 10 million military deaths from all causes, plus 20 million more crippled or severely wounded. Estimates of civilian casualties are harder to make; they died from shells, bombs, disease, hunger, and accidents such as explosions in munitions factories; in some cases, they were executed as spies or as “object lessons.” Additionally, as Neil M. Heyman in  World War I  (Greenwood Press, 1997) wrote, “Not physically hurt but scarred nonetheless were 5 million widowed women, 9 million orphaned children, and 10 million individuals torn from their homes to become refugees.” None of this takes into account the deaths in the Russian Civil War or the Third Balkan War, both of which directly resulted from World War I, nor the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918 that killed 50 million people worldwide, which was spread in part by conditions at the front and by soldiers returning home.

The highest national military casualty totals—killed, wounded, and missing/taken prisoner—in round numbers (sources disagree on casualty totals), were:

• Russia: 9,150,000
• Germany: 7,143,000
• Austria-Hungary: 7,000,000
• France, 6,161,000
• Britain & Commonwealth: 3,190,000
• Italy: 2,197,000
• Turkey (Ottoman Empire): 975,000
• Romania: 536,000
• Serbia: 331,000
• USA: 323,000
• Bulgaria: 267,000

For more information, click to see the  Casualties of World War I .

What Started World War I?

Prime Minister of Germany Otto von Bismarck had prophesied that when war again came to Europe it would be over “some damn foolish thing in the Balkans.” Indeed, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir apparent to the Habsburg throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife, Sophie, by a Serbian nationalist on June 28, 1914, was the match that lit the fuse—but it didn’t create the powder keg. The outbreak of war between European nations was the result of several factors:

• Concern over other countries’ military expansion, leading to an arms race and entangling alliances
• Fear of losing economic and/or diplomatic status
• Long-standing ethnic differences and rising nationalism in the Balkans
• French resentment of territorial losses in the 1871 Franco-Prussian War
• The influence exerted by military leaders

Following their 1871 victory in the Franco-Prussian War, the German states unified into a single nation. Its leader, Kaiser Wilhelm II, eldest grandson of Britain’s Queen Victoria, envisioned an Imperial Navy that could rival Great Britain’s large and renowned fleet. This would increase German influence in the world and likely allow the country to expand its colonial holdings. Britain, fearful of losing its dominance of the seas, accelerated its naval design and construction to stay ahead of the Kaiser’s ship-building program.

Russia was rebuilding and modernizing its large army and had begun a program of industrialization. Germany and Austria-Hungary saw the threat posed by Russia’s large population and, hence, its ability to raise a massive army. They formed an alliance for self-protection against the Russian bear.

France, still stinging over the loss of Alsace and part of Lorraine in the Franco-Prussian war, made an agreement allying itself with Russia in any war with Germany or Austria-Hungary. Britain, after finding itself friendless during the Second Boer War in South Africa (1899–1902) allied itself with France and worked to improve relations with the United States of America. Russia, with many ethnic groups inside its vast expanse, made an alliance with Serbia in the Balkans.

The old Ottoman Empire was crumbling; “The Sick Man of Europe” was the phrase used to describe the once-powerful state. As its ability to exert control over its holdings in the Balkans weakened, ethnic and regional groups broke away and formed new states. Rising nationalism led to the First and Second Balkan Wars, 1912 and 1913. As a result of those wars, Serbia increased its size and began pushing for a union of all South Slavic peoples. Serbian nationalism led 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir apparent to the Habsburg throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife, Sophie. Austria-Hungary, urged on by Germany, sent a list of demands to Serbia in response; the demands were such that Serbia was certain to reject them. When it did, the Habsburg Empire declared war on Serbia on July 28, exactly one month after the archduke’s assassination. Russia came in on the side of the Serbs, Germany on the side of the Habsburgs, and the entangling alliances between the nations of Europe pulled one after another into the war. Although diplomats throughout Europe strove to settle matters without warfare right up to the time the shooting started, the influence military leaders enjoyed in many nations won out—along with desires to capture new lands or reclaim old ones.

COMBAT IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR

German military planners were ready when the declarations of war began flying across Europe. They intended to hold off the Russians in the east, swiftly knock France out of the war through a maneuver known as the Schliefffen Plan, then throw their full force, along with Austria-Hungary, against the Russians. The Schliefffen Plan, named for General Count Alfred von Schlieffen who created it in 1905, called for invading the Low Countries (Luxembourg and Belgium) in order to bypass to the north the strong fortifications along the French border. After a rapid conquest of the Low Countries, the German advance would continue into northern France, swing around Paris to the west and capture the French capital. It almost worked, but German commander in chief General Helmuth von Moltke decided to send his forces east of Paris to engage and defeat the weakened French army head-on. In doing so he exposed his right flank to counterattack by the French and a British Expeditionary Force, resulting in the First Battle of the Marne, September 6–10, 1914. Despite casualties in the hundreds of thousands, the battle was a stalemate, but it stopped the German drive on Paris. Both sides began digging a network of trenches. The First Battle of the Marne was a window onto how the rest of the war would be fought: extensive trenchworks against which large numbers of men would be hurled, suffering extremely high casualties for little if any territorial gains. The centuries-old method of massed charges to break through enemy positions did not work when the men faced machine guns, barbed wire, and drastically more effective artillery than in the past.

The next four years would see battles in which millions of artillery shells were fired and millions of men were killed or mutilated. Click here to read about some of the  costliest battles of the First World War . Deadly new weapons were responsible for the unprecedented carnage.

NEW WEAPONS OF WORLD WAR I

Among the lethal technological developments that were used for the first time (or in some cases used for the first time in a major conflict) during the Great War were the machine gun, poison gas, flamethrowers, tanks and aircraft. Artillery increased dramatically in size, range and killing power compared to its 19th-century counterparts. In the war at sea, submarines could strike unseen from beneath the waves, using torpedoes to send combat and merchant ships to the bottom. Click here for more information on  Weapons of World War I .

WAR ON THE EASTERN FRONT

On the Eastern Front, the German general Paul von Hindenburg and his chief of staff Erich Ludendorff engineered strategies that gave them dramatic victories over Russian armies. The war became increasing unpopular among the Russian people. Ludendorff, sensing a chance to take Tsar Nicholas II’s country out of the war, arranged for an exiled Marxist revolutionary named Vladimir Lenin to cross Europe in a special train and get back into Russia. As hoped, Lenin helped fuel the rising revolutionary fervor. The tsar was deposed and executed with his family in the March 1917 revolution. For the first time in Russian history a republican democracy was established, but its leaders underestimated the people’s resistance to continuing the war. When the new government failed to bring about a rapid peace, it was overthrown in November by a socialist revolution led by Lenin, following which Russia signed a peace agreement with Germany.

WAR IN THE MOUNTAINS

Fighting in the high elevations of the Balkans and Alps created additional agony for soldiers fighting there: bitterly cold winters and especially rugged terrain.

Serbia, whose countryman had fired the shots that gave rise to the slaughter taking place in Europe, was invaded twice by Austria-Hungary but repulsed both attempts. In the autumn of 1915, a third invasion came. This time the Hapsburgs were joined by Germany and Bulgaria. The outnumbered Serbs gave ground. Ultimately, the Serbian Army only escaped annihilation by a demanding march through Albania to the Adriatic Sea, where the French Navy rescued the survivors.

Romania remained neutral until August 1916 when it joined the Allies and declared war on Austria-Hungary in hopes of securing additional territories including Transylvania. As the poorly trained Romanian army advanced into Transylvania, German forces invaded and occupied Romania itself, quickly knocking the country out of the war.

Italy, wooed by both sides, entered the war on the Allied side in May 1915. Its efforts were concentrated on breaking through Austria’s mountain defenses, but its poorly equipped soldiers were ground up in a series of attacks at the Isonzo River, though their opponents also suffered severely. What gains the Italians made in the war were wiped out by a rout that began at Caporeto in October 1917 and unhinged the entire line.

THE WAR SPREADS BEYOND EUROPE

While soldiers in Europe lived and died in the muddy, disease-ridden trenches, Britain attempted an attack in February 1915 against the Ottoman Empire, the “soft underbelly” of Europe, to aid the Russians and, ideally, force Turkey out of the war. An attempted invasion on the Gallipoli Peninsula resulted in a bloody repulse, but war in the interior of the Ottoman Empire met with greater success. Arab groups seeking to overthrow the empire waged a successful guerrilla war in the Mideast, led by Prince Feisal, third son of the Grand Sharif of Mecca. The revolt was aided by British liaison officer T.E. Lawrence of Wales, who became known as Lawrence of Arabia.

When the war ended, the Ottoman Empire was broken up. England and France drew borders for new countries in the Mideast without regard for ethnic and religious factions. The centuries-old tensions between the native inhabitants of the region led to many of the problems causing turmoil in the Mideast today, another irony of the War to End War.

Africa was home to a sideshow of the European fighting. European nationals and colonial troops of both sides fought against each other, but the German colonies were widely separated and unable to support each other. In German East Africa (Tanzania) an aggressive general named Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck waged a guerilla campaign against his British opponents until after the armistice was signed in Europe that ended the Great War.

In the waters of the Pacific Ocean German commerce raiders found prey among merchant vessels of Allied nations. Japan joined the Allies war effort on August 23, 1914, ostensibly in fulfillment of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of 1911. The Land of the Rising Sun seized German colonies such as the Marianas, Marshalls and Carolines island chains that would see intense fighting during the Second World War.

Among the causes of the First World War was the naval arms race that began with Britain’s deployment of HMS  Dreadnought , a new design that eschewed small, secondary arms in favor of big guns heavily armored for protection. Every nation wanted a Dreadnought, and Germany sought to increase the size of its fleet to the level of Britain’s. Accomplishing that goal while supporting large armies engaged in warfare proved impossible for Germany, but World War I saw the last great battles fought entirely between surface ships. Notable naval engagements include the Falkland Islands and Coronel off South America, and the battles of Heligoland Bight, Dogger Bank and Jutland in the North Sea. Jutland would prove to be not only the largest naval battle up to that time but the last in which fighting would take place only between surface ships. In World War II, the aircraft carrier became the most lethal surface ship and allowed enemy fleets to engage in battle without ever seeing each other from a captain’s bridge.

The most significant advance in naval warfare to come out of the Great War was the development of submarines, which the German Imperial Navy called  Unterseeboots  (undersea boats). That got shortened to U-boats, a name that became synonymous with submarine. Subs could hide beneath the waves in shipping lanes to attack merchant or combat ships with torpedoes without ever being seen. Such attacks on merchant or passenger ships without giving the crews and passengers warning so they could escape in lifeboats was considered a violation of the laws of naval warfare, and became known as “unrestricted” submarine warfare. Germany engaged in such unrestricted warfare until  U-20  sunk the British passenger liner  Lusitania  off Ireland in May 1915. Over 1,200 lives were lost, including 128 Americans, and the US threatened to break diplomatic relations with Germany. The Imperial Navy subsequently instituted strict regulations for U-boat attacks, but those went by the boards in 1917 as the Germans tried to cut off supplies to Britain and starve the island nation into submission. It was a bad decision. The renewal of unrestricted submarine warfare and subsequent sinking of three American ships brought the US into the war, after which Germany’s fate was all but sealed.

WAR IN THE AIR

Airplanes had already seen limited military before World War I began. Italian aircraft were used for reconnaissance and small-scale bombing during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911. Aircraft during World War I continued to be used primarily for reconnaissance, including photo-reconnaissance missions. The first aircraft of the war weren’t even armed, since no serious effort had been made to create a fighting flying machine. Pilots began shooting at each other with pistols and rifles. Soon various schemes were attempted to attach machine guns to planes. The breakthrough came in 1915 when Holland’s Anthony Fokker developed a method to synchronize a machine gun’s fire with the rotation of the propeller on his  Eindecker  (single-wing) design for the German air force.

Early war planes were very light and used small engines with top speeds of less than 100 mph. On many designs the engine was in the rear and pushed the plane through the air. The demands of wartime, each side trying to outdo the other’s technological advances, created rapid improvements in aircraft design. Changes might occur within weeks; in the decades following the war, such changes would take years. By war’s end small, single-engine planes had been joined by multi-engine bombers such as the Giant, which Germany used to bomb British cities. Zeppelins were also used for reconnaissance and for bombing over land and sea. Tethered barrage balloons carried observers high above the front to watch enemy troop movements—and attracted the attention of the enemy’s airborne fighters.

While the war on the ground was a miserable existence in muddy, rat- and disease-infested trenches, and millions of lives might be spent to gain a few miles of territory, the war in the air captured the imagination of the world. Using this exciting new technology to maneuver through the skies and engage the enemy in one-on-one dogfights in which skillful pilots could rise to the status of ace gave the air war a sense of glamour that still hangs over the pilots of World War I.

AMERICA JOINS THE WAR

Most Americans saw little reason for the United States to involve itself in “the European War,” though some individuals—such as young pilots excited at the notion of flying in combat—enlisted through Canada or elsewhere. President Woodrow Wilson won reelection in 1916 on the slogan, “He kept us out of war.” That same year he tried to bring the combatant nations to the bargaining table to seek an end to the war that would be fair to all, but the attempt failed.

America was drawn into the conflict by the Zimmerman telegraph and unrestricted submarine warfare. On January 16, 1917, Foreign Secretary of the German Empire Arthur Zimmerman sent a coded message to the German ambassador in Mexico City, Heinrich von Eckart informing him Germany would return to unrestricted submarine warfare on February 1, a policy that might cause America to declare war. “We shall endeavor in spite of this to keep the United States of America neutral,” Zimmerman wrote, but if those efforts failed, Eckart was to convince Mexico to become Germany’s ally. As an inducement, Eckart was authorized to offer the return of the US states of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to Mexico after America was defeated.

The code was broken, and the contents of the telegram published on March 1. Americans were outraged. Two weeks later German U-boats sank three American vessels. Wilson asked Congress on April 1 to authorize a declaration of war against Germany, which it did four days later. War was declared on the other Central Powers shortly thereafter.

When American troops and war materiel began arriving in Europe later in 1917, it unalterably shifted the balance of power in favor of the Allies. A final German offensive began on May 21, 1918, an attempt to win the war before the full weight of American strength could arrive. The Spring Offensive (also called the Ludendorff Offensive and the Kaiser’s Battle) sputtered out when German supply vehicles couldn’t keep up with the rapidly advancing soldiers across the broken, cratered battleground, and the Kaiser’s troops were left in poor defensive positions. An Allied operation that became known as the Hundred Days Offensive pushed the enemy back to the German border by September. Germany’s allies began their own peace negotiations.

The German navy mutinied. Ludendorff, architect of many German victories in the east, was dismissed. Riots broke out, often led by German Bolsheviks. Prince Max, Chancellor of Germany, authorized negotiations for peace terms and stipulated that both military and civilian representatives be involved. He then turned his title over to Friedrich Ebert, leader of the Socialist Democratic movement. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated on November 9. An agreement between the combatants called for all guns to fall silent on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Yet, even on the morning of November 11, before the designated time for the armistice to begin, some field officers ordered their men to make attacks, which accomplished little except more bloodshed.

THE ARMISTICE

A series of peace treaties were signed between the combatant nations, but the most significant was the Treaty of Versailles, signed on July 28, 1919, five years after Austria-Hungary had declared war on Serbia. Germany had hoped Woodrow Wilson would be a moderating factor that would allow for more generous peace terms, but the nations that had lost millions of young men to the weapons of the Central Powers were in no mood to be forgiving. As a result of the various treaties, the Ottoman Empire was dismantled. Austria-Hungary was broken into separate nations and forced to cede lands to successor states such as Czechoslovakia. Bulgaria was limited to a 20,000-man army, denied any aircraft or submarines and ordered to pay reparations over a 35-year period. Germany was restricted to a standing army of just 100,000 men, denied possession of certain weapons such as tanks, forced to pay reparations to its former enemies and give up all of its overseas colonies as well as some of its territories in Europe. In the coming years Germans would brood over the harsh terms and seek not only to overturn them but to inflict punishment on the nations that demanded them.

All combatant nations had concealed from their people the true extent of casualties during the war, but in Germany, where Hindenburg and Ludendorff were given control over virtually all aspects of civilian life as well as over the military, any negative reports about what was happening at the front were considered “defeatist” and were prohibited. Accordingly, much of the population believed it when they were told Germany was winning the war. The country’s sudden capitulation left them shocked and bewildered. Hindenburg claimed that the German soldier had been winning the war but was “stabbed in the back” by civilians who overthrew the monarchy. The popular old soldier was elected president of Germany, and his “stabbed in the back” myth was used to great effect by a rising political star, Adolf Hitler.

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Historical Context: The Global Effect of World War I

By steven mintz.

A recent list of the hundred most important news stories of the twentieth century ranked the onset of World War I eighth. This is a great error. Just about everything that happened in the remainder of the century was in one way or another a result of World War I, including the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, World War II, the Holocaust, and the development of the atomic bomb. The Great Depression, the Cold War, and the collapse of European colonialism can also be traced, at least indirectly, to the First World War.

World War I killed more people--more than 9 million soldiers, sailors, and flyers and another 5 million civilians--involved more countries--28--and cost more money--$186 billion in direct costs and another $151 billion in indirect costs--than any previous war in history. It was the first war to use airplanes, tanks, long range artillery, submarines, and poison gas. It left at least 7 million men permanently disabled.

World War I probably had more far-reaching consequences than any other proceeding war. Politically, it resulted in the downfall of four monarchies--in Russia in 1917, in Austria-Hungary and Germany in 1918, and in Turkey in 1922. It contributed to the Bolshevik rise to power in Russia in 1917 and the triumph of fascism in Italy in 1922. It ignited colonial revolts in the Middle East and in Southeast Asia.

Economically, the war severely disrupted the European economies and allowed the United States to become the world's leading creditor and industrial power. The war also brought vast social consequences, including the mass murder of Armenians in Turkey and an influenza epidemic that killed over 25 million people worldwide.

Few events better reveal the utter unpredictability of the future. At the dawn of the 20th century, most Europeans looked forward to a future of peace and prosperity. Europe had not fought a major war for 100 years. But a belief in human progress was shattered by World War I, a war few wanted or expected. At any point during the five weeks leading up to the outbreak of fighting the conflict might have been averted. World War I was a product of miscalculation, misunderstanding, and miscommunication.

No one expected a war of the magnitude or duration of World War I. At first the armies relied on outdated methods of communication, such as carrier pigeons. The great powers mobilized more than a million horses. But by the time the conflict was over, tanks, submarines, airplane-dropped bombs, machine guns, and poison gas had transformed the nature of modern warfare. In 1918, the Germans fired shells containing both tear gas and lethal chlorine. The tear gas forced the British to remove their gas masks; the chlorine then scarred their faces and killed them.

In a single day at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, 100,000 British troops plodded across no man's land into steady machine-gun fire from German trenches a few yards away. Some 60,000 were killed or wounded. At the end of the battle, 419,654 British men were killed, missing, or wounded.Four years of war killed a million troops from the British Empire, 1.5 million troops from the Hapsburg Empire, 1.7 million French troops, 1.7 million Russians, and 2 million German troops. The war left a legacy of bitterness that contributed to World War II twenty-one years later.

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World War I Battles: Timeline

By: History.com Editors

Updated: May 10, 2024 | Original: April 8, 2021

For four years, from 1914 to 1918, World War I raged across Europe's western and eastern fronts after growing tensions and then the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria ignited the war . Trench warfare and the early use of tanks, submarines and airplanes meant the war’s battles were devastatingly bloody, claiming an estimated 40 million military and civilian casualties, including 20 million deaths. Fighting under brutal conditions, World War I battles on both land and at sea saw mass carnage, but few decisive victories, with some conflicts waging for months on end. Below is a timeline of the war's most significant battles.

Battle of Mons: August 23, 1914

The first European clash since 1815’s Battle of Waterloo, the Battle of Mons takes place in Mons, Belgium, with a British Expeditionary Force that numbers about 75,000 fighting an estimated 150,000 Germans in an attempt to hold the Mons-Conde Canal. In the final of four “Battles of the Frontier” held in the first weeks of World War I, the British forces are overpowered and forced to retreat, handing the Germans a strategic victory. Some 1,600 British and 5,000 Germans casualties are reported.

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Battle of Tannenberg: August 26-August 30, 1914

Dubbed the Battle of Tannenberg by the victorious Germans in revenge for the 1410 conflict in which the Poles crushed the Teutonic Knights, this would be the country’s biggest win against Russia along the Eastern Front. The battle begins with Russian armies attacking German troops in German East Prussia (now Poland) from the south and the east, which, at first, works. But after intercepting unencrypted radio messages from the Russians, the Germans are able to reorganize their strategy, forcing the Russians into retreat. The Germans pursued the Russians, essentially annihilating the armies with 30,000 casualties and more than 90,000 taken prisoner.

First Battle of the Marne: September 6-12, 1914

The First Battle of the Marne marks an Allied victory about 30 miles northeast of Paris, where the French army and British Expeditionary Force stop Germany’s swift advance into France. With an exhausted and weakened German force that had sent nearly a dozen divisions to fight in East Prussia and Belgium, the German First Army faces a counterattack and is forced to retreat to the Lower Aisne River, where the first trench warfare of the conflict begins.

First Battle of Ypres: October 19 to November 22, 1914

In what would become known as the “Race to the Sea,” the First Battle of Ypres begins, the first of three battles to control the ancient Flemish city on Belgium’s north coast that allows access to English Channel ports and the North Sea. The massive conflict—involving an estimated 600,000 Germans and 420,000 Allies—continues for three weeks until brutal winter weather brings it to an end. Typical of so many World War I battles, both sides engage in trench warfare and suffer massive casualties, but neither makes significant gains.

Battle of Dogger Bank: January 24, 1915

After decoding intercepted German messages , the British Grand Fleet attacks the German Kaiserliche Marine in the North Sea, sparking the Battle of Dogger Bank . The smaller German squadron retreats, but can’t outrun the British. Long-range gunfire ensues but while the German SMS Blücher cruiser is sunk, the British HMS Lion is severely damaged.

Battle of Verdun: February 21 to December 18, 1916

The Battle of Verdun becomes World War I’s longest single battle . It lasts nearly a year as the French Army fends off a surprise German offensive that causes mass losses on both sides, with more than 600,000 total casualties.

In an attempt to cripple France’s part in the war and cause a massive blow to its army’s morale, the Germans choose to attack the fort of Verdun, along the banks of the Meuse River. The Germans make advances in the bloody conflict until July when their offensive is called off. The French then begin retaking the stronghold and, as winter sets in and the first Battle of the Somme rages, the Verdun fighting finally comes to an end.

Battle of Gallipoli: February 19, 1915, to January 9, 1916

In modern warfare’s first major beach landing, the Gallipoli Campaign sees British and French troops invading the Ottoman Empire at the peninsula of Gallipoli in the Dardanelles Straits (now western Turkey). The invasion is an effort to control the sea route and seize Constantinople. With Western Front fighting stalled, the Ally forces intend the attack to be a swift victory, but ultimately withdraw, suffering some 180,000 casualties, including more than 28,000 Australian soldiers.

Battle of Jutland: May 31 to June 1, 1916

World War I’s biggest naval conflict, the Battle of Jutland off the coast of Denmark marks the first and only showdown between German and British battleships. After German forces attack the Royal Navy, 250 ships and 100,000 men take part in the bloody fight, with both sides losing thousands of lives and several ships. Although there is no clear victor, Britain is able to secure North Sea shipping lanes and continue a blockade of German ports. This blockade proves pivotal to the Allies eventually winning the war.

Battle of the Somme: July 1 to November 13, 1916

During one of history's bloodiest battles, on the first day alone of the first Battle of the Somme , British forces suffer more than 57,000 casualties, including 20,000 deaths, as they attempt to overrun German trenches and are easily gunned down.

The Allies soon change tactics in their attempt to fight back the Germans on the Western Front along the Somme River in France, but make minimal breakthroughs over a nearly five-month period. Notable for the firsts use of tanks, the battle finally ends with more than a million casualties.

Battles of the Isonzo: June 23, 1915 to October 24, 1917

The 12 battles held along the Italian Front at the Isonzo River at the Adriatic Sea (now part of Slovenia), see the Italians repeatedly attacking the Austrians to gain control of the area and entry to Vienna. After Italy makes some progress after multiple failed attempts, Germany eventually joins the Austrian troops, forcing Italy into retreat.

Third Battle of Ypres: July 31 to November 6, 1917

Also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, the Battle of Passchendaele takes place in Ypres, Belgium, as British forces, with help from the French and the use of tanks, launch an attack to wrest control of Ypres from the Germans. Attacks and counterattacks ensue for four months in the rain and mud, with Canadian forces brought in to help relieve the troops but little ground being won. In the end, it is considered a victory for the Allies, with but one that costs both sides more than 550,000 casualties.

Battle of Vimy Ridge: April 9-Apr 12, 1917

In its first attack as a unified force, the Canadian Corps , consisting of the four Canadian divisions, launches an Easter Sunday offensive at Vimy Ridge in northern France, claiming a quick and decisive victory over the Germans in three days. Part of the Allied Battle of Arras, the well-planned battle uses new artillery tactics and marks the corps as an elite force.

June Offensive: July 1-July 4, 1917

In an attack by Russian forces against the Austro-Hungarians and Germans in Galicia, the June Offensive (also called the Kerensky Offensive and the July Offensive) operation takes place, ordered by Russian Minister of War Alexander Kerensky against the nation's popular calls for peace. Despite early gains, Russian troops suffer mass casualties and soon revolt. They are quickly overtaken by an Austro-German counterattack and the Russian army essentially disintegrates.

Battle of Caporetto: October 24 to December 19, 1917

Immortalized by Ernest Hemingway 's A Farewell to Arms , the Battle of Caporetto , also called the 12th Battle of the Isonzo, is waged on the Italian Front near Kobarid (now part of Slovenia). German and Austro-Hungarian forces soundly defeat the Italian front line, resulting in nearly 700,000 Italian casualties and seriously diminishing morale.

Battle of Cambrai: November 20 to December 5, 1917

In World War I's first large-scale tank offensive, the Battle of Cambrai near Cambrai, France, ultimately gains little ground, but changes the course of modern warfare with the use of tank brigades and new artillery methods.

On November 20, British forces engage in a surprise attack, gaining some new territory over the next several days. But on November 30, a massive German counterattack results in most of that ground being recovered.

Second Battle of the Somme: March 21 to April 5, 1918

Fought along the Somme River basin in France, the Second Battle of the Somme is launched by the Germans, hoping to capitalize on the Russian army's collapse and attacking British trenches with gas and artillery fire. The British are forced into retreat and the Germans win their biggest single territorial gain along the Western Front since the war's onset. But within a week the Allies regroup and the German offensive begins to lose steam and is eventually halted .

Ludendorff Offensive March 21 to July 18, 1918

Also known as the Ludendorff Offensive, the 1918 Spring Offensive begins with the Germans launching a string of attacks along the Western Front in hopes of winning the war before U.S. troops can join the Allies. Despite making successful advances in four attacks, the territory they retake or newly control doesn’t lead to strategic gains. With the American forces arriving in July, a counteroffensive and exhausted soldiers, the Germans, while claiming victory, are badly weakened.

Second Battle of the Marne: July 15-18, 1918

In their last offensive attack of the war, the Germans strike Ally troops near the Marne River in France's Champagne region in a diversionary attempt to lure them from a separate planned attack in Flanders. But fooled by a set of false trenches implemented by the French, the Germans are met by heavy fire and a counterattack by French and American troops as they approach the actual front lines and are forced to retreat.

Battle of Amiens: August 8-11, 1918

The opening attack of what would be come to be called the Hundred Days Offensive, the Battle of Amiens sees one of the most successful advances of World War I, with Allied troops securing more than eight miles in the conflict’s first fog-covered day, later called "the black day of the German Army" by General Erich Ludendorff. Catching the Germans by surprise, the Allies attack with the help of 2,000 guns, 1,900 planes and 500 tanks, causing large-scale German casualties and a fatal blow to morale.

Battles of the Meuse-Argonne: September 26 to November 11, 1918

More than 1 million American soldiers take part in the Battles of the Meuse-Argonne in France's dense Forest of Argonne and along the Meuse River, making it the American Expeditionary Forces' biggest World War I operation. It would leave 26,000 Americans dead , with 120,000-plus casualties—the deadliest battle in U.S. history. Joined by the French and aided by tanks and U.S. Air Service planes, the Allies capture tens of thousands of German prisoners and, after four months, Germany finally cedes, beginning its last retreat.

Battle of Cambrai: September 27 to October 11, 1918

As part of the Hundred Days Offensive, British and Canadian Corps forces strike a decisive victory in Cambrai in northern France, which had been held by Germany since 1914. Surrounded, exhausted and with disintegrating morale, the Germans face the certainty that the war has been lost.

Battle of Mons: November 11, 1918

Fought on World War I's final day, the Canadian Corps captures Mons, Belgium, held by the Germans since 1914, in the Battle of Mons . The early morning offensive happens hours before troops learn that Germany has agreed to an armistice at 11 a.m. It also marks the final death of an Allied soldier, a Canadian shot by a sniper minutes before the gunfire ends.

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The Causes and Effects of World War I Essay

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Introduction

The effects of World War I can be seen around the world even now, more than one hundred years after its end; however, there is still no consensus as to its cause. In the words of Alfred Korzybski, “the destruction was brought about by nationalism, entangled alliances, narrow ethnic concerns, and desires for political gain – forces that are still with people today.” (cited in Levinson, 2014). Even though the majority of United States citizens did not have the direct experience of the terrific upset that the war caused in Europe, it can be argued that the country’s concern with championing democracy around the globe is one of its products (Levinson, 2014).

Many historians agree that an atmosphere of twentieth-century Europe was conducive to the creation of a complex mixture of economic, social, and political reasons that translated into powerful forces of imperialistic, nationalistic, and militaristic movements leading to the diplomatic crises of 1914 (Donaldson, 2014). Therefore, it can be said that the blame for the war could not be assigned to any individual country or a group of countries.

Nonetheless, the issue of responsibility was the main focus of the world in the years following the Armistice of 1918 (Donaldson, 2014). To this end, the Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors of the War and the Enforcement of Penalties met in Paris in 1919 (Donaldson, 2014). The investigation conducted by the commission showed that Germany and Austria, along with Turkey and Bulgaria as their allies, were responsible for the aggressive foreign policy tactics that led to the precipitation of the war (Donaldson, 2014).

The start of World War I was precipitated by the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, on June 28, 1914 (Mulligan, 2010) The elimination of the high-standing official was carried out by the group of secret society members called Black Hand and directed by Bosnian Serb Danilo Ilić (Storey, 2009). The political objective of the murder was to separate Austria-Hungary’s South Slav provinces to combine them into Yugoslavia (Storey, 2009).

In response to the killing of their official, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia that commanded its government to prosecute the assassins. The objective of the ultimatum was to make its terms so strict that Serbia would be forced to reject it, thereby giving an excuse for launching a small war against it (Storey, 2009). Taking into consideration that Serbia had diplomatic relationships with Russia strengthened by their shared Slavic ties, the Austro-Hungarian government decided to take precautions against the two countries declaring war on it and allied with Germany. It is agreed that Germany was not opposed to Austro-Hungarian bellicosity, but rather supported and encouraged it, thus providing one more reason for the precipitation of the Great War (Levinson, 2014).

Even though Serbia’s response to the ultimatum was placating, Austria-Hungary decided to take aggressive action and declare war. It is argued that the main reason for World War I was the web of entangling alliances among the countries having an interest in the conflict between Austro-Hungary and Serbia (Storey, 2009). Following the Austro-Hungarian declaration of war, the Russian monarch mobilized his army because of the binding commitment of the treaty signed by the two countries.

As a result, on August 3, 1914, Germany declared war on the Russian Empire (Levinson, 2014). France was bound by treaty to Russia, and, therefore, had to start a war on Austria-Hungary and Germany. Even though a treaty tying France and Britain was loosely worded, the latter country had “a moral obligation” to defend the former (Levinson, 2014). Therefore, Britain and its allies Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Japan, and the Union of South Africa also took a bellicose stance against Germany and offered their assistance in the military action against the country (Levinson, 2014). Thus, a gigantic web of entangling alliances pushed numerous countries to the precipice of war over what was intended to be a small-scale conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia.

Numerous other reasons led to World War I. The conflicting political interests of Russia and Japan over Manchuria and Korea resulted in a military defeat of Russia (Levinson, 2014). Therefore, the country wanted to restore its dignity by a victorious war. During the same period, a lot of small nations were seething with discontent over the Turkish and Austro-Hungarian rule, thereby providing an opportunity for the Russian Empire further to stir resentment by firing up nationalistic zeal under a pretense of pan-Slavic narrative (Levinson, 2014).

Austria-Hungary, on the other hand, sought an opportunity to establish its influence over a vast territory of mixed nations; the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne provided them with a perfect excuse for the initiation of the war. Political clashes in Germany were a reason for the country’s government to resort to the military conflict as a way of “averting civil unrest” (Levinson, 2014). Another factor that caused World War I was the desire of France to revenge a military defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1871 (Levinson, 2014).

It is impossible to name a single reason for the initiation of World War I. However, it is clear that the entangling web of alliances among numerous parties participating in the war, as well as complicated plots of governments and empires, led the small-scale dispute between Austria-Hungary and Serbia escalating into a military conflict that swept the entire world.

Donaldson, P. (2014). Interpreting the origins of the First World War. Teaching History , 155 (4), 32-33.

Levinson, M. (2014). Ten cautionary GS lessons from World War I. Et Cetera, 71 (1), 41-48.

Mulligan, W. (2010). The origins of the First World War . Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Storey, W. (2009). The First World War . Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

• The Late 19th Century and the First World War, 1850-1918
• Eastern Crisis of 1875-1878
• Weddings in the Slavic Folklore
• World War I, Its Origin and Allies
• The Worst Team in History: the Gallipoli Failure
• Principal Causes of the First World War
• "Two Cheers for Versailles" by Mark Mazower
• Germany's Aims in the First World War
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1. IvyPanda . "The Causes and Effects of World War I." October 9, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-causes-and-effects-of-world-war-i/.

Bibliography

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The Urgent Lessons of World War I

Brian Frydenborg | 12.12.18

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,— My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie:  Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori [Latin for “Sweet and fitting it is to die for one’s country”].

— “Dulce et Decorum est,” 1917-1918, by Wilfred Owen , British poet who fought in the war

The past weeks should have been a remarkable occasion to reflect on history, on the magnitude, costs, and legacy of what was once commonly known as the Great War, the most cataclysmic single war in Western history ever up until that point or at least since the fall of Rome and easily one of the worst and most lethal in world history .

And yet reflection on the war and its horrific costs and legacies has been woefully lacking. Whether it was due to questionable political and behavioral decisions during centenary commemorations that overshadowed the remembrances , a news media that sorely lacks competency in this type of historical examination, or a combination of reasons, something vital was missing: sober reflection that takes a measure of history, of its impact on the present and potential effects on the future, and on the many millions of lives cut short in conditions few of us could even imagine, let alone endure.

Indeed, it is hard to say which is most stunning: the incredible impact that four measly years in the span of human history had on the world one-hundred years ago, the impact it is still having and will continue to have, the incredible toll of lives lost (around some 16.5 million dead—about half military, half civilian— by some solid estimates , surpassed only by the next , and, we may hope, last, World War that followed just a few decades later), or the utter lack of general awareness today of all of these things.

Facing History and Ourselves

In the spirit of righting pretty much the one thing that can be righted still, below is an effort to wage war against this lack of awareness, an outline of four important ways we should all respect what World War I can teach us still, a century after its conclusion.

1. War is possible no matter how great things seem.

One of the most remarkable things about World War I is how advanced, culturally speaking, Germany, Great Britain, France, and Austria-Hungary were just before the war: they represented the most advanced civilizations Earth had to offer technologically, scientifically, culturally. They were producing arguably the greatest contemporary works of art, literature, architecture, and music, and, inarguably, the greatest contemporary works of science, medicine, and machinery. They were all rich and stable, and, with the exception of Germany as a rising and newly unified state, had been great powers for many centuries. And they all had intense, intimate ties with each other, both between individual leaders and as empires and nations as a whole, ties that bound them culturally, economically, socially, and politically. As the first years of the twentieth century unfolded, the world (at least the Western world) seemed to be entering a new era of globalization , peace, prosperity, luxury, electricity, increasing access to information, communication, booming technology, relatively rapid travel, improving medicine, and cooperation (an era not unlike our current one). In fact, Europe had seen the longest stretch of peace since the Pax Romana of ancient Rome : with just a few notable exceptions, there were no wars on the European continent from the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

None of this mattered: not the long peace, not the advanced technology, not the increasingly interrelated ties between future combatant leaders, nations, and peoples, nor their representing the peaks of human civilization at the time. What was then a long peace rapidly devolved into one of the most destructive wars in human history, one that erupted between these most advanced nations in the world because of a series of freak events and decisions that caught pretty much everyone off guard in terms of the results.

The violence in the human animal is always there , below the surface if not on the surface, ready to break out without warning; nations and human society, as collections of individual humans, are clearly no different.

2. “Stupid is as stupid does.”

One hundred years after the outbreak of World War I, Graham Allison, the famed international relations scholar most recognized for his analysis of the Cuban Missile Crisis (a crisis remarkably influenced by World War I), made clear that for him , World War I’s most important lesson is that “despite the fact that there’s many reasons for believing that something . . . would make no sense, and therefore would be incredible, and therefore maybe even impossible, shit happens.”

In this case, these nations had so many more reasons not to go to war than to go to war, and even when everyone was losing so much, and gaining almost nothing but death and destruction, they persisted in conducting the war even after bloody stalemates often became the norm, the war raging on for years even after this. None of this was rational or in the self-interests of these nations, but that is the course they chose. Of the leaders of the major powers who went to war in 1914, none would remain in power by the war’s end; four of the six main initial belligerents—Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire—had their governments overthrown in revolutions (“the greatest fall of monarchies in history,” to quote the late Christopher Hitchens) and lost their empires by the war’s end , while Britain and France were so weakened that the roots of the post–World War II unraveling of their empires were set in motion. In other words, the war was ruinous for all the major players that started it and suicidal for most of them. And still they perpetuated it.

Many books over many years have been written about this , many lectures given and panels held , many articles penned—and it would be easy for me to write a whole series of articles about the awful decision making just before and throughout the war. But what is important to note here is that, when confronted with a range of options, the belligerents often chose a horrible option when there were better ones available, and they often doubled down on the same or similar decisions despite repeated failure, continuing stalemate, and appalling loss of life. As the old adage goes, repeating the same failed actions in the hopes of a different result is the very definition of insanity, and insanity describes the nature of World War I (not just in hindsight but also contemporaneously) as well as any other word.

Whether in the outbreaks of wars or in their conduct, the role of stupidity and insanity in such affairs is considered by many to have no finer example than World War I. And yet, this lesson is harrowingly relevant event today, as the 2003 US decision to invade Iraq and the early incompetent years of its occupation there make all too clear.

3. A bad peace just means more war.

As great the Roman historian Tacitus, nearly two thousand years ago, quoted the sentiments of some Roman leaders discussing a possible war, “for a miserable peace even war was a good exchange!” A bad peace is not only a definite recipe for misery, but far more often than not is merely a prelude to further violent conflict. The brief peace after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s government in 2003 is an excellent recent example, but perhaps no example in contemporary thinking exists more so as an example of a bad peace than the post–World War I settlements , most famously the much-maligned 1919 Versailles treaty that saw harsh terms imposed on Germany, but also a string of other , far lesser-known treaties .

In fact, though the war “ended” in 1918, there was hardly a break in the east, where violent conflicts continued or erupted and persisted for years, including the deadly Russian Civil War, which itself claimed the lives of millions. In the west, rebellion and civil war erupted in the United Kingdom’s Irish territory (bad enough that many fled Ireland, including my grandparents to New York). Even after Versailles, more treaties had to be concluded and were being negotiated well into the 1920s, particularly concerning the former Ottoman Empire’s territories , which Britain and France had planned to split between themselves since the infamous Sykes-Picot agreement was reached secretly during the war in 1916.

This bad peace not only led to the messy wars that raged right after World War I, and to World War II, but also in large part set the stage for many wars since then. Just since the 1990s, there were wars in the Balkans, wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Africa’s World War in the Congo, various Arab-Israeli conflicts, Russia’s wars with Georgia and Ukraine, the Gulf War, the Iraq War, and civil wars, insurgencies, or separatist conflicts in countries spanning the globe, even in a region as remote as the Pacific.

There’s even the war with ISIS.

A good number of these conflicts are still ongoing in one form or another and can arguably trace their causation more to the aftermath of World War I than that of World War II. That this is the case one hundred years after the end of World War I is as good an indication as anything of the terrible price of a bad or failed peace.

4. There is no divine “plan”; decisions of war and peace are up to us and only us, and we own the results.

“The First World War was a tragic and unnecessary conflict.” So begins the first chapter of the late historian John Keegan’s The First World War . Not everything has meaning or happens for a reason; some monumental efforts come to naught, some conflicts are pointless and meaningless, and lives—many millions—can be lost in vain. Considering that World War II happened just a little over two decades after the fighting stopped in World War I, to a large extent much of World War I’s deaths can be said to have been in vain, and this does not even address the futility of the suicidal tactics throughout the war that produced a great many casualties that can be said to have been totally unnecessary, especially in the trench warfare on the Western Front.

In addition, the stupidity of the strategic decisions that led to truly global war and its perpetuation also showcase how utterly avoidable and unnecessary the overall conflict was. Unlike World War II, which especially in Europe was motivated by sharply different ideologies that were being aggressively exported, World War I was generally lacking in ideology , more or less just a competition among empires that were exploitative of their subjects. For many (probably most) fighting in the war, they could not even explain why they were fighting beyond mere nationalism and coercion.

Few people know one of the worst outrages of the war, perhaps the most awful example of senseless battlefield slaughter of the entire conflict. Though the final armistice on the Western Front was reached in the early morning hours of November 11, 1918, just after 5 a.m., it was not put into effect until 11 a.m., allowing several hours of unforgiveable, pointless slaughter. Not one person needed to die in those final hours, likely the most needless carnage on the field of battle of the entire war. Incredibly, the Allies kept up assaults against the German lines “until the very last minute,” notes Adam Hochschild , a great chronicler of the era. He continues:

Since the armies tabulated their casualty statistics by the day and not by the hour, we know only the total toll for November 11th: twenty-seven hundred and thirty-eight men from both sides were killed, and eighty-two hundred and six were left wounded or missing. But since it was still dark at 5  a.m. , and attacks almost always took place in daylight, the vast majority of these casualties clearly happened after the Armistice had been signed, when commanders knew that the firing was to stop for good at 11  a.m.  The day’s toll was greater than both sides would suffer in Normandy on D Day, 1944. And it was incurred to gain ground that Allied generals knew the Germans would be vacating days, or even hours, later.

One particular story Hochschild shares is especially heartbreaking: “Private Henry Gunther, of Baltimore, became the last American to be killed in the war, at 10:59  a.m. , when he charged a German machine-gun crew with his bayonet fixed. In broken English, the Germans shouted at him to go back, the war was about to stop. When he didn’t, they shot him.”

This was hardly just a case of a few callous or glory-obsessed commanders. Hochschild sheds light on the true extent of such disgraceful leadership: “A few Allied generals held their troops back when they heard that the Armistice had been signed, but they were in the minority.”

He concludes: “And so thousands of men were killed or maimed during the last six hours of the war for no political or military reason whatever. . . . The war ended as senselessly as it had begun.”

Taking into account all of this, the idea that there was some great divine plan guiding these events is an obscenity, even more so if one can accept the idea it was with willful divine purpose that so many people would be conscripted by governments that dehumanized them into cannon fodder, some even being conditioned and led, often unthinking and slavishly, to commit outrages and atrocities against the defenseless. On this note, it is no surprise that from the trenches of World War I , The Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien— who fought on the Western Front , saw most of his closest friends die there, and was so deeply shaped by the war like nearly everyone of his generation— could draw inspiration for orcs. Writing to his son in 1944 , who was fighting in World War II, and commenting on the war and on war in general—commentary obviously influenced by his experience in World War I—Tolkien multiple times noted the potential for all kinds of people to become orcs. In one letter, commenting on the war effort against the Axis powers, he wrote that “we are attempting to conquer Sauron with the Ring. And we shall (it seems) succeed. But the penalty is, as you will know, to breed new Saurons, and slowly turn Men and Elves into Orcs.” In another: “I think the orcs as real a creation as anything in ‘realistic’ fiction . . . only in real life they are on both sides, of course.” In a third, he is even more explicit about even his own countrymen’s ability to become orc-like:

There are no genuine Uruks [a special kind of strong orc bred for war], that is folk made bad by the intention of their maker; and not many who are so corrupted as to be irredeemable (though I fear it must be admitted that there are human creatures that seem irredeemable short of a special miracle, and that there are probably abnormally many of such creatures in Deutschland [Nazi Germany] and Nippon [Imperial Japan]—but certainly these unhappy countries have no monopoly: I have met them, or thought so, in England’s green and pleasant land).

That so many millions of people could be reduced to mere means to evil ends, often with little or no choice or agency, is as much proof against the idea of some divine plan orchestrated by a concerned celestial being as anything.

“Both Kipling and Owen,” wrote Hitchens of two World War I–era poets he admired, “came to the conclusion that too many lives had been ‘taken’ rather than offered or accepted, and that too many bureaucrats had complacently accepted the sacrifice as if they themselves had earned it.”

Thus, millions died in a wholly unnecessary, deeply avoidable, strategically stupid war that was generally conducted with stupid tactics throughout, resulting in possibly the worst loss of life in such a short time in all of human history, until World War II outdid even this two decades later.

If anything, these sobering realities—that war can happen at any time, can be incredibly stupid, that planning for war’s aftermath is so crucial for avoiding further conflict, and that there is not a master plan from some spiritual being—teaches us that our actions are of the utmost importance and are all we can hope or strive for besides luck: everything happens not for a grander reason, but simply because of the mix of chance and of the consequences of our own decisions and those of others. In other words, whatever “plan” there is carries on not in spite of human willpower, but only because of it, and, if it even exists, exists only because of it. Therefore, our decisions throughout our lives—personal political, national—are what matter most, and rather than just toss up our hands and place hope in some greater plan beyond our power to absolve us from having to fret over our own decisions, it is our very decisions that are supremely powerful and which must be given the greatest weight and consideration, and for which we must take the greatest responsibility.

If all we truly have to count on are our decisions and actions, we cannot trust in some nonexistent cosmic plan, only in ourselves and our fellow humans, as problematic as that is. If anything, then, there is an even greater urgency in helping our fellow humans develop their potential, because much of our lives and existence will depend on them, along with ourselves, being equipped and in positions to make better decisions than they would generally otherwise.

It is these decisions that affect our world, our lives, together with chance. Chance is indifferent and immovable, but human action is not, so it is in helping each other that we have our only hope. The less we support each other, then, the higher the chance for deadly conflict of the very type epitomized by the Great War. Contrary to much of the spirit of human history, then, instead of placing blind faith in some sort of divine power to actually intervene to guide, protect, and empower us, we must place that faith in humanity, and for placing that faith to be a safe bet, we must guide, protect, and empower each other.

Ultimately, the very horrors exhibited by humankind in World War I and the lessons discussed here are all the more reason why we must focus on helping our fellow human beings if we want to avoid such abysmal catastrophes in the future. That is not to oversimplify a very complex conflict , or to show disrespect for the millions who fought, died, and sacrificed in this great tragedy; far from it. Rather, to honor their sacrifices, we must heed these lessons so that such needless sacrifice is not forced upon many millions in the future. In many ways, this one-hundred-year-old conflict is shaping our world today more than any of the wars that have been fought since.

Here let us end as we began, with words of Wilfred Owen from 1918:

This book is not about heroes. English Poetry is not yet fit to speak of them. Nor is it about deeds or lands, nor anything about glory, honour, dominion or power, except War. Above all, this book is not concerned with Poetry. The subject of it is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity. Yet these elegies are not to this generation, This is in no sense consolatory. They may be to the next. All the poet can do to-day is to warn.

Owen died, twenty-five years of age, in action on the Western Front almost exactly a week to the hour before its Armistice went into effect; his mother received notification of his death on Armistice Day itself, as her local church bells were ringing in celebration.

Brian E. Frydenborg is an American freelance writer and consultant from the New York City area who has been based in Amman, Jordan, since early 2014. He holds an MS in Peace Operations and specializes in a wide range of interrelated topics, including international and US policy and politics, security, conflict, terrorism and counterterrorism, humanitarianism, development, social justice, and history. You can follow and contact him on Twitter:  @bfry1981 .

15 Comments

"There were no wars on the European continent from the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914." It's hard to fathom where such an ignorant statement fits into the article which largely decries the modern ignorance of history.

Correct. There were numerous wars in that period in Europe. Many people have incorrectly said the last war ended in 1871, the Franco-Prussian war. There was a war in the Balkans in 1912 and maybe others.

At least get the map right – the nation is not named "Great Britain"; it is "The United Kingdom".

Britain was not called the UK then.

Concur with Scott Miller – Napoleon's defeat inspired his grandson (with German goading) to attack in 1870. The subsequent French defeat drove the militarization of French society and schools, paving the way for eager participation in the slaughter to come. Go visit the Great War Museum just outside of Paris. It will be well worth your time if you are unfamiliar with French society and the military pre-WWI.

While I agree with the general thrust of this article that the First World War was pointless, and that we could just as easily blunder into another pointless conflagration, the author of this article seems to have a rather superficial understanding of the First World War, or European history in general.

First, I'd say that the Russo-Turkish War of 1829-29, the Crimean War, the Wars of German Unification, the Wars of Italian Unification, the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, 1st and 2nd Balkan Wars, account for more than a "few notable exceptions" to the supposed century of peace between 1815 and 1914. That just off the top of my head and doesn't include any of the revolutions or wars of independence that dotted the 19th century. That list of wars had as belligerents all the major European belligerents from WW1, and most of the minor ones too.

Second, to the point about the fighting on NOV 11, it's not quite as clear cut as it was simply pointless slaughter. To some extent it was, but, it must be remembered that they were signing an armistice and not a peace treaty. On certain points of the front, attacking was inexcusable. On others, American and allied forces were attacking to seize important terrain while the Germans were on the back foot, in the event that hostilities started back up. Also, with communications as they were at the time, a delay between signing the armistice and it coming into effect is just common sense. Getting word to the units all along the line would take some time.

Lastly, I'm assuming that the author has read The Sleepwalkers, as a review is linked. My reading of that book did not leave me with the impression that Europe's leadership in the summer of 1914 was stupid, or insane. Making that statement here undermines the whole message of the article; if we're attempting to avoid future pointless warfare, we need to understand why people made poor decisions in the past and not simply chalk it up to stupidity or insanity.

Thank you all for reading. A few points:

1.) I used the word "notable" in describing the exceptions to the relatively peaceful trends of the period for a reason. The examples that some of you were correct in mentioning are exactly what I had in mind and why I qualified my statement that there were "notable exceptions." To our modern sensibilities, all wars are terrible and such sentiment is appropriate, and whether the Risorgimento or the Balkan Wars, people died and there were important consequences to these conflicts. But in comparison to the periods both before and after, the stretch of 1816-1913 contained conflicts that were generally shorter in duration, more contained geographically, less deadly, less complex, and were fewer and farther between. In fact, in each century from the end of the Pax Romana through the end of the 1700s and the Napoleonic Wars, wars were generally longer in duration, more widespread geographically, deadlier, more complex, and more numerous and frequent than in the period 1816-1913. Indisputably, that period is among the most peaceful in Europen history, third only to the Pax Romana and the post-WWII international order. Taking the long view, there is no question of the relative peace of 1816-1913, in spite of the "notable exceptions" you were not wrong to raise.

2.) Throughout the war, of course there were numerous, even many, individual tactical and strategic decisions that were wise and competent. Notably, the Russians had impressively rebounded before the Czarist government was overthrown. The issues of insanity and stupidity very correctly overshadow these positive developments in a larger-picture sense, as, especially on the Western Front, the aggregate totality of the decisions made and the fact that so many failed actions were repeated with little variation in execution or results over not just a period of days, weeks, or months, but over years, means that despite individual acts that could be deemed competent or better at the time, the overall collections of tactics and strategies executed cannot be said to be only stupid or insane in hindsight. Such was the sentiment at the time that of the major initial belligerents, not one set of leadership that entered the war was running the show when the curtain mercifully came down in 1918.

3.) As for the final day on the Western Front, the telegraph predated the American Civil War, so allowing almost six-additional hours of mostly unrestrained hostilities after the warring parties reached an armistice agreement–not a cease-fire, but if you check the history the Germans by 5AM had agreed to humiliating and clear capitulation–when it would hardly have taken anywhere near that long to notify all parties truly is the definition of callous madness. Many of the men knew this at the time: many artillerymen deliberately aimed their shells to miss and the Germans who had Allied troops in their sites pleaded with them to stop, that the war was about to end, that they did not want to kill them. I think that pretty much sums that up.

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts, and especially for reading in the first place.

-The Author

Very good article. Yhankyou.

You are too kind!!!

Fake news, from Modern War Institute at West Point.

Wandering what Special Education MIS classes are taught Modern War Institute.

First and Second Balkan Wars not in studies at your institution.

"there were no wars on the European continent from the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914."

I addressed that in the clause just before the quotation you used: "with just a few notable exceptions, there were no wars on the European continent from the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914." What you speak of are some of the notable exceptions!

The Germans knew they couldn’t win a long war vs France and GB. They had to be aggressive early. Their destruction of France and GB early made it so the war wasn’t going to end peacefully and it was going to go to the last man if needed. How could GB and France ask for peace when they lost so many men. And Germany had couldn’t surrender when not a single battle was fought on its own soil.

What happened in Sarajevo in 1914, where Germans incited Austrians to declare war, the breach of Belgian neutrality and many other episodes make it evident who began WW1. Versailles was too soft on Germany. The división of that country in Bavaria, Prussia and Rheinland would had avoided WW2

Crimean war was senseless too and more of a vengeful act upon Russia of the then grandson then president of France Napoleons grandson and stupid enough were the English who were just as unjust in most countries they ruled to join in instead of staying out of it altogether Christian people have a tendency to war with each other

I'm not a scholar nor a qualified historian who pretend to compete among others to post a pure technical opinion that matter the chronologic and speculative events about the "culture of wars". The only,and primary crucial important thing , I'd like to tell is that :" war" is not to glorify! War is the worst and inhumane decision to take . But at same time we ,as human , can't to ignore the truth obout the instinctual tendency to fight for survival in some extreme circumstance. Nowadays, in civilised emancipate societies is enough the tremendous lesson that we learn about wars, and specially the ww I. Is time to tuner the corner and work hard to glorify the life in any of is form. In reading this beautiful article I've felted an extraordinary gratitude to the author for the great insights and his commitment to promote the respect of the sacrality of life on that planet. I'd like to express my appreciation towards the author about this article. I'd like also to add an observation about a comments that make me emotionally and culturally to think about because, more than one readers, where semantically arguing about the chronologic and historical event of war rather than give evidences of them interest and emphatically participation of the nature and scope of this article. Regard Domenico Sepe

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Course: US history   >   Unit 7

• The presidency of Woodrow Wilson
• Blockades, u-boats and sinking of the Lusitania
• Zimmermann Telegram
• United States enters World War I
• World War I: Homefront

The United States in World War I

• Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points
• Paris Peace Conference and Treaty of Versailles
• More detail on the Treaty of Versailles and Germany
• The League of Nations
• The Treaty of Versailles
• The First World War

• World War I was the deadliest conflict until that point in human history, claiming tens of millions of casualties on all sides.
• Under President Woodrow Wilson, the United States remained neutral until 1917 and then entered the war on the side of the Allied powers (the United Kingdom, France, and Russia).
• The experience of World War I had a major impact on US domestic politics, culture, and society. Women achieved the right to vote, while other groups of American citizens were subject to systematic repression.

War in Europe and US neutrality

Principal combatants on each side included:.

The United States enters World War I

World war i on the home front, aftermath: consequences of world war i, what do you think.

• For more on the origins of the First World War, see Margaret MacMillan, The War that Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 (New York: Random House, 2014).
• For more on the nature of the fighting on the Western front, see Ian Ousby, The Road to Verdun: World War I’s Most Momentous Battle and the Folly of Nationalism (New York: Random House, 2002).
• Christopher Capozzola, Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 7.
• For more on the experience of American soldiers in WWI, see Edward M. Coffman, The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1998).
• For more on the women’s rights movement, see Eleanor Flexner and Ellen Fitzpatrick, Century of Struggle: The Woman’s Rights Movement in the United States (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1996).
• For more, see Capozzola, Uncle Sam Wants You.
• For more, see John Milton Cooper, Jr., Breaking the Heart of the World: Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010).

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World War I

World war i topics.

An introduction to World War I

The major players Germany Great Britain France Russia Austria-Hungary United States Ottoman Empire Serbia

Causes of war Kaiser Wilhelm II Nationalism Imperialism Militarism Alliances The Balkans Assassination in Sarajevo The July crisis

War erupts Schlieffen Plan Western Front The Eastern Front The Gallipoli campaign The Italian front A true world war

Waging war Trench warfare The weapons of war Chemical weapons War at sea and in the air Total war Opposition to the war War poets

Towards an end The Russian Revolution America enters the war The German surrender The Treaty of Versailles A new Europe The human cost

With the exception of primary sources, all content on this website is © Alpha History 2018-23. This content may not be copied, republished or redistributed without the express permission of Alpha History. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use .

Top of page

Collection Newspaper Pictorials: World War I Rotogravures, 1914 to 1919

Francis Ferdinand shot at Serajevo.

Kaiser's War Council at Potsdam.

Austro-Hungarian note to Serbia.

Austria declared war on Serbia.

State of war in Germany.

Germany declared war on Russia.

German ultimatum to Belgium.

Germany declared war on France.

Great Britain declared war on Germany.

France declared war on Austria.

Great Britain declared war on Austria.

Fall of Liége.

British Army landed in France; Russian advance into East Prussia.

Germans occupied Brussels.

Japan declared war on Germany.

Fall of Namur.

Sack of Louvain.

German victory of Tannenberg.

British victory in the Bight.

New Zealanders in Samoa.

Russians took Lemberg.

Paris Government at Bordeaux.

Pact of London signed.

End of retreat from Mons.

First Marne battle begun.

First Aisne battle begun.

Russians evacuated East Prussia.

Sept.  23

First British air raid in Germany.

Oct.  9

Fall of Antwerp.

Belgian Government at Havre.

First battle of Ypres begun.

Naval action off Coronel.

Great  Britain declared war on Turkey.

Fall of Tsing-tao.

Emden sunk.

Nov.  21

British occupied Basra.

Austrians in Belgrade.

Naval battle off the Falklands.

Serbians retook Belgrade.

Germans bombarded West Hartlepool.

Huessein Kamel, Sultan of Egypt.

First air raid on England. 

Excerpted from The War of the Nations: Portfolio of Rotogravure Etchings , 526-27.

Home — Essay Samples — History — World History — WW1 And Its Effects On The World

Ww1 and Its Effects on The World

• Categories: Germany Russia World History

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Published: Mar 18, 2021

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The Human Toll of World War i

This essay about World War I highlights its profound human cost and lasting impact. From 1914 to 1918 the war resulted in over 17 million deaths with modern weaponry and trench warfare contributing to the horrors faced by soldiers. Civilians endured immense suffering due to disrupted supplies and economic collapse. The aftermath reshaped societies leaving enduring legacies of loss and sacrifice commemorated by memorials worldwide.

How it works

World War I also known as the Great War remains a poignant reminder of the immense human toll exacted by 20th-century conflict. From 1914 to 1918 nations worldwide were embroiled in a devastating struggle that reshaped global politics and society leaving a profound legacy of loss and resilience.

The scale of death during World War I was staggering. Estimates suggest that more than 10 million military personnel and around 7 million civilians lost their lives directly or indirectly due to the war. These figures highlight the widespread devastation and suffering experienced by communities across Europe and beyond.

Soldiers faced unimaginable challenges on the battlefield. The introduction of modern weaponry such as machine guns tanks and chemical agents transformed warfare into a brutal and mechanized struggle for survival. Trench warfare in particular became synonymous with the horrors of the conflict exposing soldiers to constant danger and psychological trauma.

For civilians caught in the midst of war life became a daily struggle for survival. The disruption of food supplies the collapse of economies and the spread of disease exacerbated by unsanitary conditions contributed to widespread hardship and suffering. Families were torn apart and entire communities were left reeling from the devastation wrought by the war.

The aftermath of World War I reverberated far beyond its immediate conclusion. The loss of a generation of young men had profound social and cultural implications reshaping demographics and leaving lasting scars on societies. Memorials erected in cities and towns across the world stand as solemn reminders of the sacrifice made by millions who gave their lives in the pursuit of national and ideological goals.

In conclusion World War I stands as a tragic testament to the devastating impact of global conflict on human lives. The millions who perished whether on the battlefield or as civilians affected by the war’s repercussions left an enduring legacy of courage and sacrifice. As we reflect on this chapter of history we honor their memory and strive to learn from the lessons of the past in our pursuit of a more peaceful and just world.

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