the first world war essay

• History Classics
• Your Profile
• Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window)
• This Day In History
• History Podcasts
• History Vault

World War I

By: History.com Editors

Updated: May 10, 2024 | Original: October 29, 2009

World War I, also known as the Great War, started in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. His murder catapulted into a war across Europe that lasted until 1918. During the four-year conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Canada, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers). Thanks to new military technologies and the horrors of trench warfare, World War I saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction. By the time the war was over and the Allied Powers had won, more than 16 million people—soldiers and civilians alike—were dead.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Tensions had been brewing throughout Europe—especially in the troubled Balkan region of southeast Europe—for years before World War I actually broke out.

A number of alliances involving European powers, the Ottoman Empire , Russia and other parties had existed for years, but political instability in the Balkans (particularly Bosnia, Serbia and Herzegovina) threatened to destroy these agreements.

The spark that ignited World War I was struck in Sarajevo, Bosnia, where Archduke Franz Ferdinand —heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire—was shot to death along with his wife, Sophie, by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914. Princip and other nationalists were struggling to end Austro-Hungarian rule over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Great War

The two-night event The Great War begins Monday, May 27 at 8/7c and streams the next day.

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand set off a rapidly escalating chain of events: Austria-Hungary , like many countries around the world, blamed the Serbian government for the attack and hoped to use the incident as justification for settling the question of Serbian nationalism once and for all.

Kaiser Wilhelm II

Because mighty Russia supported Serbia, Austria-Hungary waited to declare war until its leaders received assurance from German leader Kaiser Wilhelm II that Germany would support their cause. Austro-Hungarian leaders feared that a Russian intervention would involve Russia’s ally, France, and possibly Great Britain as well.

On July 5, Kaiser Wilhelm secretly pledged his support, giving Austria-Hungary a so-called carte blanche, or “blank check” assurance of Germany’s backing in the case of war. The Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary then sent an ultimatum to Serbia, with such harsh terms as to make it almost impossible to accept.

World War I Begins

Convinced that Austria-Hungary was readying for war, the Serbian government ordered the Serbian army to mobilize and appealed to Russia for assistance. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and the tenuous peace between Europe’s great powers quickly collapsed.

Within a week, Russia, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Serbia had lined up against Austria-Hungary and Germany, and World War I had begun.

The Western Front

According to an aggressive military strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan (named for its mastermind, German Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen ), Germany began fighting World War I on two fronts, invading France through neutral Belgium in the west and confronting Russia in the east.

On August 4, 1914, German troops crossed the border into Belgium. In the first battle of World War I, the Germans assaulted the heavily fortified city of Liege , using the most powerful weapons in their arsenal—enormous siege cannons—to capture the city by August 15. The Germans left death and destruction in their wake as they advanced through Belgium toward France, shooting civilians and executing a Belgian priest they had accused of inciting civilian resistance. 

First Battle of the Marne

In the First Battle of the Marne , fought from September 6-9, 1914, French and British forces confronted the invading German army, which had by then penetrated deep into northeastern France, within 30 miles of Paris. The Allied troops checked the German advance and mounted a successful counterattack, driving the Germans back to the north of the Aisne River.

The defeat meant the end of German plans for a quick victory in France. Both sides dug into trenches , and the Western Front was the setting for a hellish war of attrition that would last more than three years.

Particularly long and costly battles in this campaign were fought at Verdun (February-December 1916) and the Battle of the Somme (July-November 1916). German and French troops suffered close to a million casualties in the Battle of Verdun alone.

HISTORY Vault: World War I Documentaries

Stream World War I videos commercial-free in HISTORY Vault.

World War I Books and Art

The bloodshed on the battlefields of the Western Front, and the difficulties its soldiers had for years after the fighting had ended, inspired such works of art as “ All Quiet on the Western Front ” by Erich Maria Remarque and “ In Flanders Fields ” by Canadian doctor Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae . In the latter poem, McCrae writes from the perspective of the fallen soldiers:

Published in 1915, the poem inspired the use of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance.

Visual artists like Otto Dix of Germany and British painters Wyndham Lewis, Paul Nash and David Bomberg used their firsthand experience as soldiers in World War I to create their art, capturing the anguish of trench warfare and exploring the themes of technology, violence and landscapes decimated by war.

The Eastern Front

On the Eastern Front of World War I, Russian forces invaded the German-held regions of East Prussia and Poland but were stopped short by German and Austrian forces at the Battle of Tannenberg in late August 1914.

Despite that victory, Russia’s assault forced Germany to move two corps from the Western Front to the Eastern, contributing to the German loss in the Battle of the Marne.

Combined with the fierce Allied resistance in France, the ability of Russia’s huge war machine to mobilize relatively quickly in the east ensured a longer, more grueling conflict instead of the quick victory Germany had hoped to win under the Schlieffen Plan .

Russian Revolution

From 1914 to 1916, Russia’s army mounted several offensives on World War I’s Eastern Front but was unable to break through German lines.

Defeat on the battlefield, combined with economic instability and the scarcity of food and other essentials, led to mounting discontent among the bulk of Russia’s population, especially the poverty-stricken workers and peasants. This increased hostility was directed toward the imperial regime of Czar Nicholas II and his unpopular German-born wife, Alexandra.

Russia’s simmering instability exploded in the Russian Revolution of 1917, spearheaded by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks , which ended czarist rule and brought a halt to Russian participation in World War I.

Russia reached an armistice with the Central Powers in early December 1917, freeing German troops to face the remaining Allies on the Western Front.

America Enters World War I

At the outbreak of fighting in 1914, the United States remained on the sidelines of World War I, adopting the policy of neutrality favored by President Woodrow Wilson while continuing to engage in commerce and shipping with European countries on both sides of the conflict.

Neutrality, however, it was increasingly difficult to maintain in the face of Germany’s unchecked submarine aggression against neutral ships, including those carrying passengers. In 1915, Germany declared the waters surrounding the British Isles to be a war zone, and German U-boats sunk several commercial and passenger vessels, including some U.S. ships.

Widespread protest over the sinking by U-boat of the British ocean liner Lusitania —traveling from New York to Liverpool, England with hundreds of American passengers onboard—in May 1915 helped turn the tide of American public opinion against Germany. In February 1917, Congress passed a $250 million arms appropriations bill intended to make the United States ready for war.

Germany sunk four more U.S. merchant ships the following month, and on April 2 Woodrow Wilson appeared before Congress and called for a declaration of war against Germany.

Gallipoli Campaign

With World War I having effectively settled into a stalemate in Europe, the Allies attempted to score a victory against the Ottoman Empire, which entered the conflict on the side of the Central Powers in late 1914.

After a failed attack on the Dardanelles (the strait linking the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean Sea), Allied forces led by Britain launched a large-scale land invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula in April 1915. The invasion also proved a dismal failure, and in January 1916 Allied forces staged a full retreat from the shores of the peninsula after suffering 250,000 casualties.

Did you know? The young Winston Churchill, then first lord of the British Admiralty, resigned his command after the failed Gallipoli campaign in 1916, accepting a commission with an infantry battalion in France.

British-led forces also combated the Ottoman Turks in Egypt and Mesopotamia , while in northern Italy, Austrian and Italian troops faced off in a series of 12 battles along the Isonzo River, located at the border between the two nations.

Battle of the Isonzo

The First Battle of the Isonzo took place in the late spring of 1915, soon after Italy’s entrance into the war on the Allied side. In the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, also known as the Battle of Caporetto (October 1917), German reinforcements helped Austria-Hungary win a decisive victory.

After Caporetto, Italy’s allies jumped in to offer increased assistance. British and French—and later, American—troops arrived in the region, and the Allies began to take back the Italian Front.

World War I at Sea

In the years before World War I, the superiority of Britain’s Royal Navy was unchallenged by any other nation’s fleet, but the Imperial German Navy had made substantial strides in closing the gap between the two naval powers. Germany’s strength on the high seas was also aided by its lethal fleet of U-boat submarines.

After the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915, in which the British mounted a surprise attack on German ships in the North Sea, the German navy chose not to confront Britain’s mighty Royal Navy in a major battle for more than a year, preferring to rest the bulk of its naval strategy on its U-boats.

The biggest naval engagement of World War I, the Battle of Jutland (May 1916) left British naval superiority on the North Sea intact, and Germany would make no further attempts to break an Allied naval blockade for the remainder of the war.

World War I Planes

World War I was the first major conflict to harness the power of planes. Though not as impactful as the British Royal Navy or Germany’s U-boats, the use of planes in World War I presaged their later, pivotal role in military conflicts around the globe.

At the dawn of World War I, aviation was a relatively new field; the Wright brothers took their first sustained flight just eleven years before, in 1903. Aircraft were initially used primarily for reconnaissance missions. During the First Battle of the Marne, information passed from pilots allowed the allies to exploit weak spots in the German lines, helping the Allies to push Germany out of France.

The first machine guns were successfully mounted on planes in June of 1912 in the United States, but were imperfect; if timed incorrectly, a bullet could easily destroy the propeller of the plane it came from. The Morane-Saulnier L, a French plane, provided a solution: The propeller was armored with deflector wedges that prevented bullets from hitting it. The Morane-Saulnier Type L was used by the French, the British Royal Flying Corps (part of the Army), the British Royal Navy Air Service and the Imperial Russian Air Service. The British Bristol Type 22 was another popular model used for both reconnaissance work and as a fighter plane.

Dutch inventor Anthony Fokker improved upon the French deflector system in 1915. His “interrupter” synchronized the firing of the guns with the plane’s propeller to avoid collisions. Though his most popular plane during WWI was the single-seat Fokker Eindecker, Fokker created over 40 kinds of airplanes for the Germans.

The Allies debuted the Handley-Page HP O/400, the first two-engine bomber, in 1915. As aerial technology progressed, long-range heavy bombers like Germany’s Gotha G.V. (first introduced in 1917) were used to strike cities like London. Their speed and maneuverability proved to be far deadlier than Germany’s earlier Zeppelin raids.

By the war’s end, the Allies were producing five times more aircraft than the Germans. On April 1, 1918, the British created the Royal Air Force, or RAF, the first air force to be a separate military branch independent from the navy or army. 

Second Battle of the Marne

With Germany able to build up its strength on the Western Front after the armistice with Russia, Allied troops struggled to hold off another German offensive until promised reinforcements from the United States were able to arrive.

On July 15, 1918, German troops launched what would become the last German offensive of the war, attacking French forces (joined by 85,000 American troops as well as some of the British Expeditionary Force) in the Second Battle of the Marne . The Allies successfully pushed back the German offensive and launched their own counteroffensive just three days later.

After suffering massive casualties, Germany was forced to call off a planned offensive further north, in the Flanders region stretching between France and Belgium, which was envisioned as Germany’s best hope of victory.

The Second Battle of the Marne turned the tide of war decisively towards the Allies, who were able to regain much of France and Belgium in the months that followed.

The Harlem Hellfighters and Other All-Black Regiments

By the time World War I began, there were four all-Black regiments in the U.S. military: the 24th and 25th Infantry and the 9th and 10th Cavalry. All four regiments comprised of celebrated soldiers who fought in the Spanish-American War and American-Indian Wars , and served in the American territories. But they were not deployed for overseas combat in World War I. 

Blacks serving alongside white soldiers on the front lines in Europe was inconceivable to the U.S. military. Instead, the first African American troops sent overseas served in segregated labor battalions, restricted to menial roles in the Army and Navy, and shutout of the Marines, entirely. Their duties mostly included unloading ships, transporting materials from train depots, bases and ports, digging trenches, cooking and maintenance, removing barbed wire and inoperable equipment, and burying soldiers.

Facing criticism from the Black community and civil rights organizations for its quotas and treatment of African American soldiers in the war effort, the military formed two Black combat units in 1917, the 92nd and 93rd Divisions . Trained separately and inadequately in the United States, the divisions fared differently in the war. The 92nd faced criticism for their performance in the Meuse-Argonne campaign in September 1918. The 93rd Division, however, had more success. 

With dwindling armies, France asked America for reinforcements, and General John Pershing , commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, sent regiments in the 93 Division to over, since France had experience fighting alongside Black soldiers from their Senegalese French Colonial army. The 93 Division’s 369 regiment, nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters , fought so gallantly, with a total of 191 days on the front lines, longer than any AEF regiment, that France awarded them the Croix de Guerre for their heroism. More than 350,000 African American soldiers would serve in World War I in various capacities.

Toward Armistice

By the fall of 1918, the Central Powers were unraveling on all fronts.

Despite the Turkish victory at Gallipoli, later defeats by invading forces and an Arab revolt that destroyed the Ottoman economy and devastated its land, and the Turks signed a treaty with the Allies in late October 1918.

Austria-Hungary, dissolving from within due to growing nationalist movements among its diverse population, reached an armistice on November 4. Facing dwindling resources on the battlefield, discontent on the homefront and the surrender of its allies, Germany was finally forced to seek an armistice on November 11, 1918, ending World War I.

Treaty of Versailles

At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, Allied leaders stated their desire to build a post-war world that would safeguard itself against future conflicts of such a devastating scale.

Some hopeful participants had even begun calling World War I “the War to End All Wars.” But the Treaty of Versailles , signed on June 28, 1919, would not achieve that lofty goal.

Saddled with war guilt, heavy reparations and denied entrance into the League of Nations , Germany felt tricked into signing the treaty, having believed any peace would be a “peace without victory,” as put forward by President Wilson in his famous Fourteen Points speech of January 1918.

As the years passed, hatred of the Versailles treaty and its authors settled into a smoldering resentment in Germany that would, two decades later, be counted among the causes of World War II .

World War I Casualties

World War I took the lives of more than 9 million soldiers; 21 million more were wounded. Civilian casualties numbered close to 10 million. The two nations most affected were Germany and France, each of which sent some 80 percent of their male populations between the ages of 15 and 49 into battle.

The political disruption surrounding World War I also contributed to the fall of four venerable imperial dynasties: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Turkey.

Legacy of World War I

World War I brought about massive social upheaval, as millions of women entered the workforce to replace men who went to war and those who never came back. The first global war also helped to spread one of the world’s deadliest global pandemics, the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, which killed an estimated 20 to 50 million people.

World War I has also been referred to as “the first modern war.” Many of the technologies now associated with military conflict—machine guns, tanks , aerial combat and radio communications—were introduced on a massive scale during World War I.

The severe effects that chemical weapons such as mustard gas and phosgene had on soldiers and civilians during World War I galvanized public and military attitudes against their continued use. The Geneva Convention agreements, signed in 1925, restricted the use of chemical and biological agents in warfare and remain in effect today.

Photo Galleries

Sign up for Inside History

Get HISTORY’s most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week.

By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Networks. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States.

More details : Privacy Notice | Terms of Use | Contact Us

• Advanced Search

Version 1.0

Last updated 08 october 2014, the everyday as involved in war.

This essay examines how the "everyday" functions in war, not only for those on the home fronts, but for those in combat roles and for those living between the lines. Five important qualities, among others, shape the everyday in World War I: Waiting, Staying Connected, Food and Shelter, Managing Fear, and Camaraderie. Each of these themes plays out at the homes of those left behind, in the camps of civilian and military prisoners, in occupied zones, and at the fronts.

Table of Contents

• 1 Introduction
• 3 Staying Connected
• 4 Food and Shelter
• 5 Managing Fear
• 6 Camaraderie
• 7 Conclusion

Selected Bibliography

Introduction ↑.

Although war by definition constitutes an unusual, abnormal state, much of the work of war is mundane and ordinary. Everyday activities continue while soldiers, civilians, prisoners, and others caught up in war try to manage their wartime lives. Part of the disconcerting reality of war is this juxtaposition – danger and fear in the midst of the ordinary. War in its ugliness defies imagination, but it also produces a state of uncertainty that cannot be maintained through every moment of every day. Humans cling to their routines and create new everyday “normal” activities in the midst of war. In her memoir, Testament of Youth , Vera Brittain (1893-1970) captures the sense of everyday that triumphs when war arrives, wryly noting of English society in 1914:

This essay examines how the ‘everyday’ functions in war, not only for those at the home fronts, but for those in combat roles and for those living between the lines. While many themes mark the experience of the everyday in wartime, this essay will focus on five important qualities that shape the everyday in World War I: Waiting, Staying Connected, Food and Shelter, Managing Fear, and Camaraderie. Each of these themes plays out at the homes of those left behind, in the camps of civilian and military prisoners, in occupied zones, and at the fronts.

The First World War’s rich archives of wartime letters , poetry , journalism , and fiction provide ample evidence of the main work of war—waiting. Whether it be women’s diaries documenting their lives far from the front or soldiers’ letters home from the front, wartime writing emphasizes the endless waits for information, the boredom of inaction, and the focus on mundane tasks as distractions. Filling time became a major focus for men, women, and children in wartime. Some of this waiting could be quite charged with fear, for example when waiting for the end of an air raid or anticipating the moment when a whistle would signal the beginning of a battle. Time could be both enemy and savior in these situations, and the ordinary people caught up in war recognized this tension in their recording of experiences and thoughts.

As American Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875-1935) wrote in her poem, “I Sit and Sew” everyday activities such as sewing might distract from the war, but they also served as a reminder of the futility of war and the distance between soldiers at war and those at home. Other women also wrote of their sense of helplessness in the face of larger forces. German artist Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) depicted the sense of helpless waiting in some of her lithographs, sculpture and poetry, and waiting was a central theme in much of her war art . [2] Kollwitz and others, such as British artist Christopher Nevinson (1889-1946) , captured the endless waiting of civilians, depicting their gray visages as they stood in yet another queue for food or supplies.

To distract themselves from the waiting, especially for news of loved ones, civilian women joined organizations to support the war effort or took wartime jobs. Many of these groups created boxes of comforts for soldiers or prisoners , but the organizations also performed civic duties, helped with harvests, worked with refugees , and provided medical services . Keeping busy was a watchword for many women and feeling useful in “home” service was a vital factor in maintaining morale . These organizations also allowed women to express patriotism and to feel a sense of belonging to the war effort or to associations promoting war causes.

For civilians on the home fronts, war brought periods of intense anxiety and excitement, which in some ways highlighted the problem of the silences and ennui of war. Children , a focus of great official concern because of lack of supervision and disruptions to education during the war, found ways to amuse themselves with war games, service to the nation, and membership in societies and clubs. In the United States , young Girl Scouts sold war bonds on city street corners and earned war service badges, while in Vienna, students joined volunteer corps to assist the war effort. [3] Children’s curiosity with the strangeness of war could overcome boredom; in Belgium , children interacted with soldiers and laborers from multiple countries, learning new words, songs, and games. Of course, orphans, refugee children or those living with the dangers of bombardment or malnutrition saw little to celebrate in the wartime environment.

Soldiers also took refuge from boredom and inactivity by engaging in little domestic activities, both to ease their daily lives and to fill time at the fronts. Countless soldier journals and letters speak of time spent mending, playing cards or other games, reading, writing, and facing an opposing team on the sporting fields. Soldiers produced newspapers and art in the trenches , they visited local towns and historic sites or spent time at recreation huts (such as those staffed by the Salvation Army) and local canteens, and they sought sex, alcohol, and excitement. David Woodward’s work provides one example of such temptations in his description of British soldiers in wartime Egypt . He quotes A. W. Fletcher who saw Cairo as “a city blessed with grandeur unequalled in the world yet packed with all the lust and vice conceivable.” [4] Little wonder that military planners sought tamer alternatives for soldiers’ spare time, as in this example of Chinese laborers gaming in France .

Prisoners of war, both military and civilian, certainly had time to kill during their enforced confinement. For instance, Ottoman officer Mehmet Arif Ölçen (1893-1958) befriended a local family during his time in Russian captivity, and this family helped him find supplies to make a lute, which he learned to play in his spare time. [5] For prisoners of war, ordinary soldiers or officers, the waiting and inactivity could bring madness, especially depending on their location and status. Many prisoners worked inside or outside the camp for pay or in a voluntary capacity, but periods of forced inactivity were the lot of most POWs during their captivities. Austrian artist and interned civilian, Paul Cohen-Portheim (1880-1932) , described the “complete futility” of life behind wire, noting that time was an enemy to be fought with the tools at hand, namely reading, lectures, theatre, sports. Despite this burst of activities and the re-creation of as much of "everyday" life as possible, Cohen-Portheim wrote that the sameness, the caged quality of life, and the restrictions imposed were a burden that no amount of activity could banish. In fact, the little things became the points of contention: “It is not the men of bad character or morals you begin to hate, but the men who draw their soup through their teeth, clean their ears with their fingers at dinner. ...” [6]

Waiting was an aspect of the everyday life of war that permeated life in the combat zones and behind the lines, and filling this time became not just a personal concern for individuals, but governments also sought to tame and fill free time. The degree to which people had to put their lives on hold varied considerably across national lines, class, gender, race lines, and even as the war progressed, making it difficult to generalize. What is clear during World War I is that morale depended upon citizens feeling a sense of purpose and meaning in their war service and sacrifice, so too much leisure time to think about the implications of the war could undermine the national effort.

Staying Connected ↑

Recent scholarship has demonstrated the importance of retaining civilian identities and connectedness for both combatants and their loved ones at home and in camps. Martha Hanna’s study of Marie Pireaud's (1892-1978) and Paul Pireaud’s (1890–1970) wartime correspondence is an excellent example of how letter-writing helped the young French married couple keep their relationship alive during separation. Each offered advice, shared news and fears, and longed for a time when they could be together, providing a sense of a shared life despite the war. As Hanna argues, their letters provided a link for both of them and a glimpse of the everyday normal life they might one day enjoy. [7] Other scholars such as Helen McCartney (United Kingdom) and Christa Hämmerle (Germany and Austria) have documented the detailed correspondence that moved between soldiers and their friends and families, demonstrating the joy that each got in hearing about their loved ones’ daily interactions and activities but also the conflict and misunderstandings that absence could create. [8] Despite tension, descriptions of the mundane forged connections that made the distances, both physical and emotional, seem less insurmountable.

For those without extensive families in certain countries, letters arrived from adopted “godmothers,” known as marraines de guerre . This formal arrangement between women at the home front and soldiers at the front was peculiarly French, although more informal or small-scale versions of organized letter-writing to adopted soldiers developed in other areas later in the war (in Germany, United States, etc.). The marraines , as Margaret Darrow argues, wrote to soldiers without family or those who were cut off from their families in occupied zones, and these godmothers of war saw this work as a Christian service and wartime mission. Godmothers not only reminded soldiers of what they were fighting for, but they provided a link to the everyday lives these men had left. [9]

Prisoners of war also craved long detailed letters about home life, and many chided relatives who did not keep up a frequent correspondence. Henri Pirenne (1862-1935) , a middle-class Belgian history professor interned in Germany for opposing the occupying regime , worried in his journal when letters from his wife did not arrive. He documented letters and postcards obsessively in the journal, often editorializing about what might have held up the post. When packages or letters did arrive for him, he was overjoyed, as on Monday, 3 April 1916, when he confided to his war diary: “I received from Jenny a large package...she has not forgotten me!” Not only was he glad to see this “touching” sign of his spouse’s love, but the everyday, personal items she included made him feel at ease in the foreign world of a prison camp. He outlined the contents: “I found, along with food, linen, tobacco, my pipe, my work glasses (pince-nez) ...” With these signs of home and a photo of his wife now on his bedside table, his spirits lifted. [10]

In some cases, those separated from their homes attempted to recreate their prewar lives and surroundings. Alon Rachamimov’s study of Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war in Russia demonstrates the multitude of ways that soldiers and officers tried to find normalcy in their daily lives, whether they were sent to do agricultural work or confined to military prisoner of war camps. [11] At Ruhleben , a Berlin racetrack turned internment camp for mostly British civilians, the inmates created a whole street of shops named “Bond Street” around a muddy square they called Trafalgar. Here, printers, dentists, and other tradespeople worked to create a marketplace for the camp. Posters announced camp elections for local offices, upcoming theatrical and musical productions, and sporting events. For internees, having a sense of a community evoked the everyday and helped stave off the sense of isolation and restriction that inevitably marked their lives. At prison camps around the world, inmates sought to re-create the lives they had lost in order to regain their pre-war status or comfort in whatever way possible. [12]

For soldiers, the everyday comforts of home could provide a sense of connectedness that saw them through the boredom and the danger of life at the front. The letters of men from the 13 th Australian Field Ambulance to entertainer Rita Squire demonstrate well the importance of emotional connections to home in fostering well-being. F. R. Foster penned a note to Squire in July 1918 asking for signed photographs for the men in the unit. He explained:

Squire evidently complied with the request, because the unit’s officers wrote a month later thanking her for the photos. Another member of the unit wrote again in September:

These letters beautifully evoke an image of the unit sitting around the gramophone after dinner imagining home and the woman behind the voice. It could be a scene in many households, an everyday pleasure of music and companionship, thus functioning in opposition to the wartime scenes surrounding them.

Organizations around the world sent packages to soldiers and prisoners with everything from food to reading material to clothing. For those preparing the packages, the assembly of ordinary items into a package showed love, care, and commitment, but it could also give these civilians a sense of service in the cause. The packages themselves provided necessities of everyday life, often suited to particular groups or climates. For instance, the Indian Soldiers’ Fund sent items to soldiers and laborers in France, Palestine, Mesopotamia, East Africa , and other theaters of war. Comforts included hair oil, pencils, matches, condensed milk, cigarettes, and gramophones. Soldiers wrote to the Fund to thank their benefactors for particular items; one Labour company showed special appreciation in May 1918 for “before all the Hockey Sticks and balls” which “have been most thoroughly appreciated and have given real pleasure.” [14]

Other groups, including many religious groups and social clubs, targeted the dispossessed for help with the everyday necessities of life. For example, the Society of Friends (Quakers), a pacifist organization primarily located in the United Kingdom and the United States, developed multiple missions in Europe to help those displaced by war. Some of the Friends worked in devastated regions of France to help rebuild villages, build furniture, and clothe/house refugees. Others paired with counterparts in enemy countries to relieve the distress of “alien” women and children stranded behind enemy lines, and English Quakers developed Liebesgaben (love gifts) as small comforts packets for victims of war in enemy countries. In one such arrangement, Elisabeth Rotten (1882-1964) worked in Germany with British women whose husbands had been interned, while her counterpart in Britain helped German women in similar situations. [15]

Food and Shelter ↑

There is little more important to daily life than food and shelter, and war only made these necessities more central to everyday activity. Long-held routines of food preparation fell apart with shortages in basic necessities, and by the end of the war, most of the belligerents had intervened to a greater or lesser degree in the lives of citizens to meet the voracious needs of the wartime state. Officials sought to rationalize foodstuffs, heat, clothing, conservation, and energy use, and they relied on both propaganda and legislation to meet these goals. Sometimes this intervention had tragic costs, as in Nyasaland, where the British occupying army requisitioned rice and cattle, creating famine conditions for civilians in the area. [16] In fact the needs of daily life for those in occupied or combat zones often were reshaped by the wartime requirements - billeting, requisitions, and restrictions on movements meant changed routines and disrupted livelihoods. This was particularly true for refugees, who lost homes, jobs, and familiarity when they fled the violence of war.

Rationing and food-related propaganda featured in the war programs of virtually every belligerent nation. Civilian and military officials worried about harvests, shipping, food distribution, shortages, and prices, and whole government departments arose to manage the food politics of the war. Rationing, when managed well, could ease tensions, but many states had trouble creating effective flows of supplies while keeping prices under control. Food riots were not uncommon occurrences in major urban centers , and strikes over food became particularly acute as the war entered its third and fourth years. Vienna, Paris, Berlin and Turin, for example, all experienced demonstrations, while in Russia, food scarcity contributed to the revolutionary atmosphere in the streets.

Urban, working-class women proved particularly important in the food battles of the wartime years. As the main breadwinners during the war and as those responsible for waiting in queues, doing without basic necessities, and stretching budgets to make ends meet, women lost patience with inefficiencies of state rationing and price controls. For those living behind the Allied blockade , especially in German and Austrian cities, shortages became acute by the end of the war, sparking multiple demonstrations, attacks on shops, and protests of all kinds. [17] Russia, too, experienced a breakdown of the social fabric with the mounting losses of wartime and the poor management of the economy, and working-class female consumers particularly played a role in the emerging street unrest that framed the revolutionary upheaval of 1917. [18]

In addition to feeding their own citizens, some countries also contributed to upkeep of victims of war through humanitarian aid organizations. The International Red Cross and national governments shipped packages to prisoners of war with basic foodstuffs and clothing, while local communities and religious organizations organized food and clothing drives. One such organized aid organization was the Commission for Relief in Belgium , a project to relieve food shortages in Belgium using personnel from neutral nations such as the United States (until 1917), the Netherlands , and Spain . Food and clothing aid took many forms during the war and helped ease the disruption of everyday life for some war victims.

Obtaining food, especially in countries experiencing the Allied blockade, became an all-consuming task as the war proceeded. Caroline Ethel Cooper (1871-1961) , living in Leipzig during the war, confided to her sister in a 1917 letter:

In occupied zones , scarcity was particularly acute when large numbers of forces were billeted in towns and villages. In her diary of life in wartime Ghent, Belgian writer Virginie Loveling (1836-1923) chronicles the frustrations of fluctuating prices, shortages of food and fuel, and the hassles of billeting soldiers. In August 1916, she complained about the quality of the bread, formerly a staple of her diet:

Another woman living in Brussels wrote of similar problems with basic necessities, noting in the summer of 1916: “It is incredible to see how thin so many people are getting...I have lost 10 kilos ½ in weight since the end of 1915..." [21]

Other war zones suffered not only the loss of their everyday lives during war, but they faced continuing deprivation as civil war and wartime damage continued to devastate their livelihoods and threaten their lives. In Poland , American Chauncey McCormick (1884-1954) described conditions he found in January 1919 as conflict continued with Polish-Soviet war of 1919-1921:

Other observers in Poland, Lithuania, Serbia , Italy and other zones of conflict describe the attempts of ordinary people to continue with their everyday lives in the midst of bombed-out homes, food shortages, vicious cold, and violence. In fact, the disruption of everyday life continued long into the "peace" in some countries. A January 1920 report from Austria describes food queues reminiscent of wartime:

Food and shelter also became everyday concerns for the men at the fronts. Virgilio Bonamore, an Italian soldier fighting in the Julian Alps , describes his preoccupation with life’s necessities in July 1915:

Many men decried the poor food and shelter of the trenches on the Western Front , while others described the experience as a prolonged camping trip. Location mattered, as did the local arrangements for shelter and provisions, and at various points in the war demands for more concern about soldiers’ everyday needs arose. In armies that did a poor job of caring for the wellbeing of soldiers, desertion rates were high. Erik Jan Zürcher’s work, for example, demonstrates that the Ottoman army’s poor nutrition, sanitation and equipment (especially footwear) led to terrible conditions for soldiers and led to a loss of nearly 500,000 men to desertion by war’s end. [25]

Perhaps the place where food security mattered the most to everyday life was in prisoner of war camps, both military and civilian, during the war. At the mercy of local guards, civilian and military prisoners had little control over the very basic needs they might have – beds, food, clothing, bathing, water. Camp conditions varied greatly over the course of the war and from site to site and by nation, military rank and social class, but in places where prisoner care was poor, daily life could be a misery. Ukrainian civilian internees in western Canada found themselves living in inadequate tents in winter, hiking miles to a work site in snow, while internees from the SMS Emden found themselves living a privileged life in Berrima, Australia . However, even in areas where conditions were more favorable, the strain of living in confinement led to riots over food and housing. [26]

Managing Fear ↑

If food and housing were important matters to those caught up in war, another everyday occurrence was learning to live with fear. For many, the fear was a personal one – "will I live or die?" For others, fear was a nagging worry about a loved one far away or a vague threat of an attack close to home. Such concerns led to a renegotiation of daily routines, with the need for news being paramount. Fear led to shifts in religious practice, daily rituals, and family life. In some cases, those involved in war lost faith in God and lost trust in their political and community leaders. War dissolved social and community ties, and it disrupted family life in unprecedented ways.

Because of the new threat of air raids in World War I, nations policed cities to protect them from the threat of death from the air. In London, tunnels became air raid shelters, windows were blacked out, and civilians were asked to memorize charts showing aircraft, so they could identify enemy planes. Mrs. E. Fernside described in a letter the effect of such aerial terror on life in the city:

As air raids demonstrate, even those far from the battlefields could experience the dislocations and shortages of war as disruptions of everyday life. In South American port cities, Britain and Germany’s trade wars left families unemployed and sometimes led to violence against people and property. German immigrants in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Guatemala , and Brazil , German immigrants faced restriction of their livelihoods through blacklists established by Allied governments and destruction of their educational and cultural institutions. Likewise, in the United States, state governments abolished German-language teaching in large parts of the country. For minorities, enemy aliens , or recent immigrants, war spelled a new everyday reality for them that marked them as outsiders and sometimes as dangers to the communities. The institutions that had hitherto provided a sense of belonging and safety became taboo in a transformed wartime climate of fear and suspicion of foreigners.

For inhabitants of combat and occupation zones, fear could become an integral part of daily life. Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau and Annette Becker document the terror of deportation, atrocities by invading armies, and deliberate campaigns of terror in their work 14-18: Understanding the Great War . They quote Claude Debussy’s (1862-1918) ditty, set to music:

Audoin-Rouzeau and Becker argue that the violence of war is not confined to war, but instead it shapes the post-war everyday realities of life for former soldiers and for the civilians who suffered pain, bereavement , and separation. The brutal nature of wartime violence, they claim, became "lodged at the heart of Western society." [29] This culture of violence created the violence of the Freikorps in Eastern Europe and set the stage for fascist thugs in Europe, but more importantly, it reshaped households and nations around the world.

Even without the lingering terrors of war and loss, the influenza epidemic would have been a major trauma for families, but as an ending to the war, flu added to the misery. John Berry, in his book on this modern plague, estimates that approximately 5 percent of the world’s population perished from flu in a two-year period. [30] Added to wartime deaths and influenza were outbreaks of typhus, cholera, and tuberculosis in areas that had been devastated by war, such as Austria and Serbia. In the decade following the war, famine also struck in areas such as Persia and the Soviet Union. All this led to a post-war world that approached the idea of everyday normalcy in a much different way.

Camaraderie ↑

One way that civilians and soldiers alike sought to cope with fear and the tedium of a long war was through the companionship of other like-minded people. Emotional bonds are important for humans to maintain if they are to have a sense of safety in the midst of chaos, and many organizations developed to create bonds of emotion and intellect in wartime. Because of the organization of war, social networks developed among soldiers at the fronts, and camaraderie is an important reason men chose to continue as soldiers. [31] In memoirs and letters, men describe their obligations to other men, and they develop close emotional attachments to the other soldiers in their units. Such attachments continued into the post-war world, with the developed of veterans’ organizations to foster those ties and commitments.

Trench newspapers and magazines filled a certain need, too, for news, gossip and insider humor at the front. Likewise, underground postal services and newspapers strengthened resistance and provided information to occupied populations, despite the danger. At home, newsreels, radio, newspapers, and letters became vital lifelines during the war, providing real information about loved ones but also an imaginative connection between home and front. Even in prison camps, inmates developed newspapers to entertain themselves and create bonds within this accidental society. In addition to printed and oral news, gossip and rumor tied people together in wartime. When information was such an important part of personal safety at the front or in a prison camp, rumors could be life-saving. Knowing the inside gossip fostered a sense of belonging as well.

A multitude of organizations developed at home fronts that were designed to harness the energy and fears of the local population. Civilians joined charities to provide goods for soldiers and prisoners, for feeding and housing refugee populations, and for caring for the victims of war at home. From national Red Cross groups to international food aid charities, people lined up to volunteer their time and to interact with others in service. For women, the sense of purpose that war work provided them could be exciting and fulfilling, and it could take their minds off the absence of their loved ones. In Richmond, Virginia, women war workers banded together to try to create a Service Legion for civilians that would parallel the newly emergent veterans organizations for men. Women sent in detailed descriptions of their war service in order to gain membership and legitimacy. [32]

Perhaps nowhere were the distractions of group organization more important than in internment and prisoner of war camps, where inactivity and isolation could be dangerous. In the camps of World War I, camaraderie provided an antidote to depression and boredom, but it also created alliances within the prison societies that evolved. Historian Henri Pirenne, interned first as a civilian in a military officers’ camp and then in the Holzminden civilian internment camp, found a joy in offering university classes for his fellow inmates and in taking language classes from a Russian prisoner in the camp. [33] Other military and civilian prisoners joined theatrical societies, debating clubs, sports teams, and other leisure-oriented organizations. At prison camps around the world, the trappings of everyday life reappeared.

Conclusion ↑

Everyday life goes on, even in the midst of madness, and humans sought ways to cling to the ordinary pleasures of daily existence even as the extraordinary events of war intervened. Photos from the period often show juxtapositions that illustrate this contradiction between the odd circumstance of war and the ordinary lives of those caught up in it. An American soldier doing his laundry next to a French washerwomen or a mother holding a baby, who in turn clasps a piece of ammunition - war creates these moments of ordinariness in the midst of chaos.

The bigger question this essay raises is how the war generation translated and adjusted their war routines to peacetime. What does the new post-war “everyday” life look like? For many, waiting is again a feature of post-war life as demobilization proceeds at a snail’s pace for many soldiers and prisoners of war were not immediately released Others face dislocation, stress, unemployment, and physical or emotional ill health. In wartime, people tried to build a new everyday mentality in order to cope with war, but after the conflict ends, the easy normalcy that many expected never materialized.

Tammy M. Proctor, Utah State University

Section Editor: Christa Hämmerle

• ↑ Brittain, Vera: Testament of Youth, New York 1989, pp. 100-101.
• ↑ Schulte, Regina: “Käthe Kollwitz’s Sacrifice,” History Workshop Journal 41 (1996), pp. 193-221.
• ↑ Proctor, Tammy M.: Scouting for Girls: A Century of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, Santa Barbara 2009, p. 29; Healy, Maureen: Vienna and the Fall of the Habsburg Empire: Total War and Everyday Life in World War I, Cambridge 2004, pp. 242-244.
• ↑ Woodward, David R.: Hell in the Holy Land: World War I in the Middle East, Lexington 2006, p. 26.
• ↑ Leiser, Gary (trans. and ed.): Vetluga Memoir: A Turkish Prisoner of War in Russia, 1916-1918, Gainesville 1995, pp. 74-78.
• ↑ Cohen-Portheim, Paul: Time Stood Still: My Internment in England, 1914-1918, New York 1932, pp. 83-84 and p. 89.
• ↑ Hanna, Martha: Your Death Would be Mine: Paul and Marie Pireaud in the Great War, Cambridge 2006, p. 288.
• ↑ McCartney, Helen B.: Citizen Soldiers: The Liverpool Territorials in the First World War, Cambridge 2005 and Christa Hämmerle, “‘You Let a Weeping Woman Call You Home?’: Private Correspondences during the First World War in Austria and Germany ,” in Earle, Rebecca (ed.): Epistolary Selves: Letters and Letter-Writers, 1600-1945, Aldershot 1999.
• ↑ Darrow, Margaret: French Women and the First World War: War Stories of the Home Front, Oxford 2000, pp. 79-82.
• ↑ Lyon, Bryce and Lyon, Mary (eds.): The Journal de guerre of Henri Pirenne, Amsterdam et al. 1976, pp. 46-51.
• ↑ See, in particular, Rachamimov, Alon: POWs and the Great War: Captivity on the Eastern Front, Oxford 2002.
• ↑ Proctor, Tammy M.: Civilians in a World at War, 1914-1918, New York 2010, chapter 7.
• ↑ Letters dated 22 July 1918, 26 August 1918, 19 September 1918; PR86/173 Letters to Rita Squire (performer), Australian War Memorial Official Records.
• ↑ The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, “Fifth Report of the Indian Soldiers’ Fund for the Period 1 January 1918, to July, 1919,” London, 1919, pp. 5, 18; MSS F120 Indian Soldiers Fund, Private Papers, Oriental and India Office, British Library.
• ↑ Proctor, Civilians in a World at War 2010, p. 188.
• ↑ Stapleton, Tim: “The Impact of the First World War on African People,” in Laband, John (ed.): Daily Lives of Civilians in Wartime Africa: From Slavery Days to Rwandan Genocide, Westport 2007, p. 124.
• ↑ See, for instance, Davis, Belinda J.: Home Fires Burning: Food, Politics, and Everyday Life in World War I Berlin, Chapel Hill 2000 and Healy, Vienna and the Fall of the Habsburg Empire 2004.
• ↑ Alpern Engel, Barbara: “Not by Bread Alone: Subsistence Riots in Russia during World War I,” Journal of Modern of History 69:4 (1997), pp. 696-721.
• ↑ Denholm, Decie (ed.): Behind the Lines: One Woman’s War 1914-18, The Letters of Caroline Ethel Cooper, London 1982, p. 215.
• ↑ Stynen, Ludo and Van Peteghem, Sylvia (eds.): In Oorlogsnood. Virginie Lovelings Dagboek 1914-1918 [In Wartime: Virginie Loveling’s Diary, 1914-1918], Gent 1999, p. 464.
• ↑ Mary Thorp Diary, Saturday, 9 June 1916; Documentarie centrum Ieper, In Flanders Fields Museum.
• ↑ Letter to Edith McCormick, 27 January 1919; Box 1, Folder 1: Correspondence, Chauncey McCormick papers, Hoover Institution.
• ↑ Rissick, Apollonia E.: “Distribution of Relief in Vienna. Friends Relief Mission,” 17 Jan 1920; Friends War Victims’ Relief Committee Box 1, Folder 1 Correspondence, 1919-1920 (Austria Hungary), Hoover Institution.
• ↑ Quoted in Palmer, Svetlana and Wallis, Sarah (eds.): Intimate Voices from the First World War, New York 2003, p. 157.
• ↑ Zürcher, Jan Erik: "Between Death and Desertion: The Experience of the Ottoman Soldier in World War I," Turcica 28 (1996), pp. 245-249.
• ↑ Proctor, Civilians in a World at War 2010, pp. 208-211.
• ↑ Letters of Mrs. E. Fernside, volume 1, Con Shelf, Imperial War Museum.
• ↑ Quoted in Audoin-Rouzeau, Stéphane and Becker, Annette: 14-18: Understanding the Great War, New York 2002, pp. 52-53.
• ↑ Audoin-Rouzeau and Becker, 14-18, p. 226.
• ↑ Berry, John: The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History, New York 2004, p. 397.
• ↑ See Crouthamel, Jason: The Great War and German Memory: Society, Politics and Psychological Trauma, 1914-1945, Liverpool 2010.
• ↑ Service Legion membership applications, Margaret Ethel Kelley Kern papers, Box 280, Folder 7, Library of Virgina.
• ↑ Lyon and Lyon (eds), Henri Pirenne 1976, p. 161.
• Alpern Engel, Barbara: Not by bread alone. Subsistence riots in Russia during World War I , in: The Journal of Modern History 69/4, 1997, pp. 696-721, doi : 10.1086/245591 .
• Audoin-Rouzeau, Stéphane / Becker, Annette: 1914-1918. Understanding the Great War , London 2002: Profile.
• Brittain, Vera: Testament of youth. An autobiographical study of the years 1900-1925 , New York 1933: The Macmillan Company.
• Cohen-Portheim, Paul: Time stood still. My internment in England, 1914-1918 , New York 1932: E. P. Dutton and Company.
• Cooper, Caroline Ethel / Denholm, Decie (ed.): Behind the lines. One woman's war, 1914-1918. The letters of Caroline Ethel Cooper, London 1982: Jill Norman & Hobhouse
• Crouthamel, Jason: The Great War and German memory. Society, politics and psychological trauma, 1914-1945 , Exeter 2009: University of Exeter Press.
• Darrow, Margaret H.: French women and the First World War. War stories of the home front , Oxford; New York 2000: Berg.
• Davis, Belinda: Home fires burning. Food, politics, and everyday life in World War I Berlin , Chapel Hill 2000: University of North Carolina Press.
• Hämmerle, Christa: 'You let a weeping woman call you home?' Private correspondences during the First World War in Austria and Germany , in: Earle, Rebecca (ed.): Epistolary selves. Letters and letter-writers, 1600-1945, Aldershot, Hants, England; Brookfield, Vermont 1999: Ashgate, pp. 152-182.
• Hanna, Martha: Your death would be mine. Paul and Marie Pireaud in the Great War , Cambridge; London 2008: Harvard University Press.
• Healy, Maureen: Vienna and the fall of the Habsburg Empire. Total war and everyday life in World War I , Cambridge 2004: Cambridge University Press.
• Loveling, Virginie, Stynen, Ludo / van Peteghem, Sylvia (eds.): In oorlogsnood. Virginie Lovelings dagboek 1914-1918 (In wartime. Virginie Loveling’s diary, 1914-1918) , Ghent 1999: Koninklijke Academie voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde.
• McCartney, Helen B.: Citizen soldiers. The Liverpool Territorials in the First World War , Cambridge; New York 2005: Cambridge University Press.
• Ölçen, Mehmet Arif / Leiser, Gary: Vetluga memoir. A Turkish prisoner of war in Russia, 1916-1918 , Gainesville 1995: University Press of Florida.
• Palmer, Svetlana / Wallis, Sarah: Intimate voices from the First World War , New York 2003: W. Morrow.
• Pirenne, Henri, Lyon, Bryce D. / Lyon, Mary (eds.): The journal de guerre of Henri Pirenne , Amsterdam 1976: North-Holland.
• Proctor, Tammy M.: Civilians in a world at war, 1914-1918 , New York 2010: New York University Press.
• Rachamimov, Alon (Iris): POWs and the Great War. Captivity on the Eastern front , New York 2002: Berg Publishers.
• Schulte, Regina: Käthe Kollwitz's sacrifice , in: History Workshop Journal 1996/41, 1996, pp. 193-221.
• Woodward, David R.: Hell in the holy land. World War I in the Middle East , Lexington 2006: University Press of Kentucky.
• Zürcher, Erik-Jan: Between death and desertion. The experience of the Ottoman soldier in World War I , in: Turcica 28, 1996, pp. 235-258, doi : 10.2143/TURC.28.0.2004343 .

Proctor, Tammy M.: The Everyday as Involved in War , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2014-10-08. DOI : 10.15463/ie1418.10453 .

This text is licensed under: CC by-NC-ND 3.0 Germany - Attribution, Non-commercial, No Derivative Works.

Related Articles

External links.

World War I Introduction and Overview

Belligerent nations.

• Origins of World War I

World War I on Land

World war i at sea, technical innovation, modern view.

• M.A., Medieval Studies, Sheffield University
• B.A., Medieval Studies, Sheffield University

World War I was a major conflict fought in Europe and around the world between July 28, 1914, and November 11, 1918. Nations from across all non-polar continents were involved , although Russia, Britain, France, Germany, and Austria-Hungary dominated. Much of the war was characterized by stagnant trench warfare and massive loss of life in failed attacks; over eight million people were killed in battle.

The war was fought by two main power blocks: the Entente Powers , or 'Allies,' comprised of Russia, France, Britain (and later the U.S.), and their allies on one side and the Central Powers of Germany, Austro-Hungary, Turkey, and their allies on the other. Italy later joined the Entente. Many other countries played smaller parts on both sides.

Origins of World War I

To understand the origins , it is important to understand how politics at the time. European politics in the early twentieth century were a dichotomy: many politicians thought war had been banished by progress while others, influenced partly by a fierce arms race, felt war was inevitable. In Germany, this belief went further: the war should happen sooner rather than later, while they still (as they believed) had an advantage over their perceived major enemy, Russia. As Russia and France were allied, Germany feared an attack from both sides. To mitigate this threat, the Germans developed the Schlieffen Plan , a swift looping attack on France designed to knock it out early, allowing for concentration on Russia.

Rising tensions culminated on June 28th, 1914 with the assassination of  Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand  by a Serbian activist, an ally of Russia. Austro-Hungary asked for German support and was promised a 'blank cheque'; they declared war on Serbia on July 28th. What followed was a sort of domino effect as more and more nations joined the fight . Russia mobilized to support Serbia, so Germany declared war on Russia; France then declared war on Germany. As German troops swung through Belgium into France days later, Britain declared war on Germany too. Declarations continued until much of Europe was at war with each other. There was widespread public support.

After the swift German invasion of France was stopped at the Marne, 'the race to the sea' followed as each side tried to outflank each other ever closer to the English Channel. This left the entire Western Front divided by over 400 miles of trenches, around which the war stagnated. Despite massive battles like Ypres , little progress was made and a battle of attrition emerged, caused partly by German intentions to 'bleed the French dry' at Verdun and Britain's attempts on the Somme . There was more movement on the Eastern Front with some major victories, but there was nothing decisive and the war carried on with high casualties.

Attempts to find another route into their enemy’s territory led to the failed Allied invasion of Gallipoli, where Allied forces held a beachhead but were halted by fierce Turkish resistance. There was also conflict on the Italian front, the Balkans, the Middle East, and smaller struggles in colonial holdings where the warring powers bordered each other.

Although the build-up to war had included a naval arms race between Britain and Germany, the only large naval engagement of the conflict was the Battle of Jutland, where both sides claimed victory. Instead, the defining struggle involved submarines and the German decision to pursue Unrestricted Submarine Warfare (USW). This policy allowed submarines to attack any target they found, including those belonging to the 'neutral' United States, which caused the latter to enter the war in 1917 on behalf of the Allies, supplying much-needed manpower.

Despite Austria-Hungary becoming little more than a German satellite, the Eastern Front was the first to be resolved, the war causing massive political and military instability in Russia, leading to the Revolutions of 1917 , the emergence of socialist government and surrender on December 15. Efforts by the Germans to redirect manpower and take the offensive in the west failed and, on November 11, 1918 (at 11:00 am), faced with allied successes, massive disruption at home and the impending arrival of vast US manpower, Germany signed an Armistice, the last Central power to do so.

Each of the defeated nations signed a treaty with the Allies, most significantly the Treaty of Versailles which was signed with Germany, and which has been blamed for causing further disruption ever since. There was devastation across Europe: 59 million troops had been mobilized, over 8 million died and over 29 million were injured. Huge quantities of capital had been passed to the now emergent United States and the culture of every European nation was deeply affected and the struggle became known as The Great War or The War to End All Wars.

World War I was the first to make major use of machine guns, which soon showed their defensive qualities. It was also the first to see poison gas used on the battlefields, a weapon which both sides made use of, and the first to see tanks, which were initially developed by the allies and later used to great success. The use of aircraft evolved from simply reconnaissance to a whole new form of aerial warfare.

Thanks partly to a generation of war poets who recorded the horrors of the war and a generation of historians who castigated the Allied high command for their decisions and ‘waste of life’ (Allied soldiers being the 'Lions led by Donkeys'), the war was generally viewed as a pointless tragedy. However, later generations of historians have found mileage in revising this view. While the Donkeys have always been ripe for recalibration, and careers built on provocation have always found material (such as Niall Ferguson's The Pity of War ), the centenary commemorations found historiography split between a phalanx wishing to create a new martial pride and sideline the worst of the war to create an image of a conflict well worth fighting and then truly won by the allies, and those who wished to stress the alarming and pointless imperial game millions of people died for. The war remains highly controversial and as subject to attack and defense as the newspapers of the day.

• World War I Timeline: 1914, The War Begins
• 5 Key Causes of World War I
• World War I: A Stalemate Ensues
• The Causes and War Aims of World War One
• The Fourteen Points of Woodrow Wilson's Plan for Peace
• World War I Timeline From 1914 to 1919
• Causes of World War I and the Rise of Germany
• The Major Alliances of World War I
• Key Historical Figures of World War I
• World War I: A Battle to the Death
• World War 1: A Short Timeline Pre-1914
• The Countries Involved in World War I
• World War I: Opening Campaigns
• The First Battle of the Marne
• World War I: A Global Struggle
• World War 1: A Short Timeline 1915

World War One Essay

Germany was responsible for World War One. To what extent do you agree with this statement? 

Essay by Laura Iafur, 3rd Form

Taking place on 28th July 1914 until 11th November 1918, World War One was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, ending the lives of millions of people. Although no one country deserves more blame than the other countries, many would argue that the country of Serbia, after all, it was a group of Serbian terrorists who killed the hero of the Austrian-Hungarian empire, Franz Ferdinand. This is considered by many, what triggered this war. Others suggest Austria-Hungarian is to blame the most, they wanted war with Serbia even before Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, it seems like the assassination was the opportunity they were waiting for. Some could even say that it was Russia, who was the first to mobilize its troops, creating even more tension in an already unstable Europe. These countries are all guilty for such a violent war, but Germany, being the one that has the blank cheque to Austria-Hungary, is the most responsible of all; without backing up Austria-Hungary, it is improbable that Austria-Hungary would have acted so recklessly.

On 5th July 1914, Germany gave the “blank cheque” of unconditional support to the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, fully aware of the consequences it was probably going to bring. At that moment, Germany had the strongest army, with 2,200,000 soldiers and warships, this guaranteed Austria-Hungary that no matter how drastically they acted, they would receive massive support from Germany. If Germany had not given this back up to Austria-Hungary, they most likely would have done something other than declaring war. Germany knew that Russia would most likely help Serbia, which meant that a local war would escalate into a Global war, but they did it anyway.

Germany also dragged Britain into the war when using the Schlieffen plan. On 2nd August, Germany asked for permission for their army to pass through Belgium, to get to France, but they were refused. Sir Edward Grey proposed to Germany that Britain would stay if Germany did not attack France, but the German generals denied this. On 3rd August, Germany violated international treaties by invading Belgium, a neutral country; knowing that Britain was obligated to help Belgium if an invasion occurred. Therefore, Britain declared war on Germany on 4th August 1914.

The enormous increase in tension between these countries was one of the main reasons for this war to start, there are various factors that led to more tension, many in which Germany was involved. One of these factors was the German and British naval race which did not make Britain happy. (“Britannia rules the waves”), and at the end of 1914, Britain was this race.

The Moroccan crisis, 1906, was another factor. The French wanted to conquer Morocco and Britain agreed to help, but in 1905 Kaiser Wilhelm visited Morocco and promised to protect it against anyone who threatened it. The French and British were furious. Germany had to promise to stay out of Morocco, which didn’t make them happy at all. In 1911, there was a revolution in Morocco, the French sent in an army to control it. Kaiser Wilhelm sent a gunboat to the Moroccan part of Agadir; this angered the French and British. Germany was forced to back down, which made them very angry, it increased their resentment. Kaiser Wilhelm was determined to win the next crisis.  All this evidence shows that Germany, at that point was ashamed. They had lost various crisis issues and since they could not allow themselves another defeat. Germany had decided they needed to prove their power, this being the reason they acted in such a careless manner.

Austria-Hungary also deserves part of the blame; they were the ones who declared war first on Serbia on 28th July, 1914. Before 1914, assassinations of royal figures did not usually result in war. However, Austria-Hungary saw the Sarajevo assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife as an opportunity to conquer and destroy Serbia. The Austrian Chief of Staff General Hotzendoz wanted to attack Serbia long before the assassination.

Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum to Serbia (23rd  July) with ten very exigent requests that needed to be accepted to avoid military conflict. Serbia accepted all requests apart from one, which was to allow Austria-Hungary to enter Serbia and oversee investigation and prosecution on the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. Nonetheless, this was not enough for Austria-Hungary, so they declared war, and with Germany’s support, it would’ve provided an easy win.

On the other hand, if Austria-Hungary did not make a move against Serbia, the different nationalities living in the Austria-Hungarian territory could act against their leaders giving the impression to other countries that there won’t have been any consequences. Austria-Hungary could have acted in a different manner on the Serbia war, but it was due to Germany who empowered them to act this way.

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand was conducted by a Serbian terrorist named Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia, 28th June 1914. This was the spark that caused the war. Gavrilo was a nationalist who wanted Bosnia to be its own country, and when Ferdinand announced his trip to SaraJevo, it was the perfect opportunity to strike against Austria-Hungary. Gavrilo was a member of a terrorist group named, Black Hand. Austria-Hungary suspected the involvement of Serbia in the Bosnian attack, thus representing the final act in a long-standing rivalry between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Russia did not want a war, the Russian Grand Council decided if Serbia was to be invaded, it would have to request a conference to asses the issue. However, Russia had previous issues with Serbia regarding the Bosnian crisis in 1908.

To conclude, World War One was a chain reaction triggered by the assassination Franz Ferdinand; however, Serbia wasn’t mostly responsible but Germany, who pushed Austria-Hungary in making those decisions leading to the global conflict. The alliance system was created to prevent war, but it did the total opposite, where all the countries were forced to join the war.

House Magazine Archive

165 World War 1 Topics for Essays with Examples

Looking for good World War 1 topics to write about? This area of study is exciting, controversial, and worth analysing!

• 🔝 Top 10 WW1 Topics to Write about
• 📝 WW1 Essay: How to Write
• 🏆 Best WW1 Essay Topics & Examples

💡 Good Essay Topics on WW1

• 🔎 Interesting Topics to Write about WW1
• ⭐ WW1 Research Topics
• 📃 Simple & Easy WW1 Essay Titles
• ❓ WW1 Essay Questions

In your WW1 essay, you might want to focus on the causes of the conflict, its participants, or answer the question of who started the First World War. In this article, we’ve gathered 139 WW1 ideas that you can use in any project, presentation, or even debate. There are also great World War 1 essay examples to inspire you even more.

🔝 Top 10 World War 1 Topics to Write about

• Causes of World War I
• Political and military alliances before the WWI
• Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand as the starting point of WW1
• Naval warfare of World War I
• Ottoman Empire in World War 1
• The role of technology in World War 1
• The use of chemical weapons in WWI
• The most cruel war crimes of WW1
• Armenian genocide as a part of World War 1
• The effects and consequences of WW1

📝 World War 1 Essay: How to Write

With over 60 million people mobilized and involving countries all around the world, any World War 1 Essay is bound to touch upon a wide variety of topics.

The mechanics behind the start of the war, its process, and results all interconnect, which may make the subject seem hard to understand and harder to outline.

However, navigating your way around World War 1 essay questions is only a matter of taking note of a few cornerstone historical processes.

Before You Start Your Outline

Do some research on your assigned issue. The more books and journals you peruse, the more aware of your subject you will be. You will not use all of them, but you will form an understanding of which titles your essay needs.

As you continue your research, start compiling your bibliography, which will be the backbone of your essay’s credibility. World War 1 is a highly historiographical event, and you will be sure to find a wide variety of literature on it on the internet.

Write down some essential terms and think about how they relate to your essay. Imperialism, nationalism, the Versailles treaty are good starter examples of omnipresent processes and results of World War 1. Doing so may help you give your essay a new, previously explored perspective.

Structuring your Thoughts into an Essay Outline

After you have finished with your sources and key terms, think about how you can split your main theme into subtopics.

Even if your essay is a single page, doing so will allow you to divide your ideas evenly between paragraphs. If it is on the longer side, think about including subheadings in your work.

This action gives your essay a more rigid structure that is easy to read. Additionally, now is the time to think about your essay’s title. World War 1 essay titles should reflect your stance as the writer and hint at the conclusion that you will draw.

You may feel like your outlined subheadings are overlapping, making your essay seem messy. In this case, find and read a World War 1 essay sample. Plagiarism is a severe academic offense, but getting inspired by someone else’s work, while giving credit, is not.

Beginning to Write

You should try to start your essay with something that attracts the attention of your readers. This World War 1 essay hook can be a fact or an intriguing explanation of a process central to your topic. Then, in this paragraph:

• Give your readers a brief overview of the events that are relevant to your essay;
• Hint at your intent, explain your methods and make your point of view clear;
• Make sure your readers are aware of what problems you will touch upon;
• Create a working thesis statement that will be your guideline throughout your work.

Each paragraph you include should link back to your thesis statement. Always be sure to ask yourself when writing:

• Does this further my argument?
• Can my facts be used against me? How can I fix that?
• Is there a different perspective on this issue?
• Could I remove this without hurting the quality of my essay?
• Is my structure reflective of the problem it is covering? What can I do better?

Remember that a good structure reflects the amount of effort you put into your work. Need a sample to get inspired? Head over to IvyPanda!

🏆 Best World War 1 Essay Topics & Examples

• First World War: Causes and Effects This later led to the entry of countries allied to Serbia into the war so as to protect their partners. In conclusion, the First World War led to the loss of many lives.
• Positive and Negative Effects of WW1 on Canada: Essay Nonetheless, the war led to great negative impacts such as loss of lives, economic downtrend, and the generation of tensions involving the Francophones and Anglophones who disagreed after the emergence of the notion of conscription.
• American Dream After World War I People lost vision of what this dream was supposed to mean and it became a dream, not of the vestal and industrious, but of the corrupt coterie, hence corrupting the dream itself.
• Total War of World War I The paper will demonstrate that the First World War was a total war since it bore most the hallmark characteristics of the total war including unlimited warfare, prioritization of armament efforts, involvement of the civilian […]
• World War I Technology Although the question of the origins of the Great War is highly debated, and although this war is considered by many as the beginning of a new stage in history and the real starting point […]
• Ernest Hemingway’s Personality and His Reflections on WWI The events of World War I and Hemmingway’s personal experiences seemed to have an impact on his writings as he sought to establish himself alongside great writers in the Lost Generation, thus portraying his sensitivity.
• Causes of WWI and WWII: Comparing and Contrasting In the following paper, Kenneth Waltz’s levels of analysis will be used for the comparison and contrast of causes of WWI and WWII. The second similarity refers to the distribution of power and the division […]
• Effects of the Industrial Revolution in Relation to World War I During the last period of the 19th century all the way to the early 20th century, Europe and America experienced revolutions in communication, transportation and weapons which were very crucial particularly in the manner in […]
• Federal Government Expansion During World War I The period between 1914 and 1918 was marked by the increased role of the federal government in the United States and the dramatic expansion of its bureaucracies.
• The Causes and Effects of World War I To this end, the Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors of the War and the Enforcement of Penalties met in Paris in 1919. It is impossible to name a single reason for the initiation […]
• Aboriginal Soldiers in the World War I and II Additionally, the paper will argue that the role and experiences of Aboriginal soldiers and the manner in which they have been overshadowed by other significant events in Australian history.
• The Book “The First World War” by John Keegan However, the emergence of the bill of the right to people’s life across the globe is owed to the occurrence of the First and the Second World War.
• The Aftermath of World War I for Germany In spite of the fact that Germany was one of the most powerful European states before the war’s start in 1914, World War I led to the political, economic, and social decline in the country […]
• World War 1 Origins (How and Why the War Started) William Anthony Hay claims that according to McMeekin, a tutor of international relations, “The war’s real catalyst lay in Russia’s ambition to supplant the waning Ottoman Empire in the Near East and to control the […]
• America’s Involvement in World War I The issues that led to America’s involvement in this were the German’s resumption of unexpected submarine attacks and the Zimmerman telegram.
• Life of Soldiers During the World War I In this paper, we are going to discuss how the World War I affected live of people and what was the life of soldiers and civilians serving and living on the frontlines.
• Eastman Kodak Company and Fujifilm The Eastman Kodak Company has been focusing on photography and has currently added the use of technology in combining images and information in order to alter the ways through which businesses and people communicate.
• Effects of World War I on the Development of Modern Art For the artists and most of the people in Europe, the time that preceded the World War I, the actual war period and the aftermath of the was presented a period of profound disillusionment 13.
• Events Leading Up to WWI This move also contributed to the start of the conflict and eventually to the war. This decision was vehemently opposed by the Slavs, which saw Russia come to the aid of Serbia while on the […]
• The Progressive Movement and the American Entry Into World War I The motivations of the progressive movement were complex and varied, but they all sought to improve the lives of the people of the United States.
• World War I as the Catastrophe of the 20th Century There were increased cataclysms in Europe over time; for instance, the war laid a foundation for the rise of Hitler and increased the influence of the Nazism ideology.
• World War I: American Policy of Neutrality Even though the people of America were shocked and firmly against involvement in the war, the US president thought of the crisis as a turning point that could significantly change America’s place in the world.
• Economic Causes of World War I As of 1860, the American South was generating 75% of the world’s cotton due to the institution of slavery on the part of its wealthy farmers.
• The Role of Canada in World War I The beginning of the war was marked by great losses in the field and in the economy of the state. By the war’s end, Canada had shown itself as a great power, which allowed the […]
• America’s Progressive Era and World War I This paper will outline the events leading to America’s entrance into the war, the obstacles faced by the U.S.military, and the role of American women and minorities.
• The Entry of the United States Into World War I The United States is believed to have entered the war after sinking the American liner Lusitania by a German submarine in 1915. Due to the competent actions of President W.
• Role the United States of America in the World War I The main result of the battle was the victory of the Entente and the collapse of the four largest empires: the Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and German.
• Impact of World War I on the American Army Some of the major strategies include the use of airplanes in the field of battle, employing armored vehicles, and electronic communication.
• The United States Priorities Following World War I Gentile, Linick, and Shurkin single out four important periods in the evolution of the US army: Constitutional moorings and the 19th century, the Spanish-American War to Total War, and the Korean War to Total Force […]
• Biggest Influence on the US Involvement in World War I Although a combination of factors including trade alliances and the interception of the Zimmerman note encouraged the decision to join the fray, Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare was the biggest reason for the US involvement.
• Nationalism in Europe Before WWI This movement was the result of effective propaganda and an aggressive policy aimed at the redistribution of territories and the seizure of power.
• Factors Leading to the Termination of World War I However, the deliberate humiliation of the German leadership at the hand of the Allied forces perpetrated through the signing of the “war guilt clause” indicates that the reason for the Allied forces was not solely […]
• World War I Causes by Ethnic Problems in Austro-Hungary The presence of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne in the said maneuvers was the perfect opportunity. After the capture of Gavrilo Princip it was time for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to react and teach the […]
• World War I: Medias of Propaganda in the U.S. Posters of World War 1 presented a different style of propaganda because of the war time effort of U S government.
• America Changes After World War I Among the various changes underwent by America during their recovery period in the 1920s were changes in culture, economy as well as in the workforce.
• America in World War I One of the events that led America into the First World War was when a liner belonging to the British was sunk by the U-boat belonging to Germans.
• The Nature of the Fighting in World War I and World War II So, the results of this war were awful, but still, speaking about the losses of the World War II, it can be said, that it was the bloodiest conflict in human history. The most obvious […]
• Treaty of Versailles History: The Pact of Peace After WWI The differences among the winners of the war, later on, led to the emergence of more conflicts simply because Germany was not fully weakened; it is believed that the conflicts between these nations were the […]
• The Wars Between 1815 and WWI in Europe Tsar Nicholas moved into Moldavia and Wallachia and secret accords with the Austrian and British governments for the disposition of the Ottoman empire were formulated in 1844 in London.
• World War I Within the Context of Military Revolution The main peculiarity of the World War I is the advent of the so-called “three-dimensional conflict”, which means that the combat is held also in the air.
• Life Before World War I and Life of Soldiers in Trenches The future of these Habsburg domains, assembled over the centuries by marriage, purchase and conquest, was the subject of endless coffee-table speculation, but the subsequent demise of the monarchy should not necessarily encourage the notion […]
• Great Depression of Canada and Conscription During World War I in Canada Due to the depression in the United States, the people across the border were not able to buy the wheat produced and cultivated in Canada and as a result, the exports declined.
• Anti-War Movement DADA Vs. Propaganda Posters of WWI In relation to the causes of the WWI, these can considered as pertinent specifically on the basis that the reasons can be related to the type of society that is present during the said era.
• Leadership in the World War I Environment Military leadership is the process of influencing others to accomplish the mission by providing purpose, direction, and motivation and the basic responsibilities of a leader are the accomplishments of the mission and the welfare of […]
• World War 1 and Technological Improvement The was sparked by the assassination of the Heir to the Austrian throne, Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip on June 28th, 1914.
• The Battle of Verdun: World War One The choice of Verdun as the center of interest by the Germans was not very effective because the French men lost faith in the fortresses and the need to defend them.
• Imperialist Global Order After World War I Thus, the general trend of the after-war years was the dismantling of multiethnic empires and the establishment of new nation-states. However, World War I also created new challenges to the existing hierarchies of wealth and […]
• Soccer Influence on Sociopolitical Aspects of WWI During this period, many footballers and athletes were tempted or encouraged to join the militaries of their respective countries and become part of the ongoing war.
• Idealist Philosophy After World War I Although I disagree with the philosophy of idealism, it is a fact that it managed to create a better world following the events of World War I.
• World War I and Its Outbreak Causes Some of the events that influenced the eruption of World War I include the Franco-Prussian war, the Moroccan crisis, the Balkan wars, and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand from Austria.
• World War I and Battle of Vimy Ridge for Canadians If the authors of the required readings gathered for a discussion of the First World War and Vimy Ridge, they would be likely to agree and disagree with one another on some points.
• Aftermath of the WWI The source concludes that the provisions of the treaty were unfavorable to the government and the people of Germany, something that forced the country’s leaders to respond with militarization of the state.
• Trucial States’ History From World War I to the 1960s During the decline of the pearling industry, the British were highly vigilant to sustain the existing regional trend of alienation amongst leaders and the people.
• World War I and Its Aftermath In 1930, Hitler’s ambitions and the rise of Nazism was boosted by president’s declaration that the state was to be ruled autocratically.
• American Experiences in World War I: Radio Broadcast There was a heated debate in the American society concerning the county’s involvement in the Great War, and President Wilson was heavily criticized not only for the fact of entering the war but also for […]
• World War I and the 1920s In this case, American citizens went from industry workers and soldiers during the World War I to the explorers, who discover different forms of entertainment in the 1920s because of stabilization of the politics in […]

🔎 Interesting Topics to Write about World War 1

• World War I, Its Origin and Allies Many researchers consider the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in June 1914 in Sarajevo to be the reason for the start of World War I.
• The Progressive Era and World War I To achieve the intended goals, many progressives began by exposing the major evils and challenges that were affecting the United States towards the end of the 19th century.
• World War I for Americans: Before and After It is important to say that lower classes had to deal with the biggest number of issues, and they have suffered the most.
• France Before World War I and After World War II To overcome the negative consequences of the Franco-Prussian War, France needed to focus on new perspectives for the state’s economic and political development, and such an approach could provide the state with the necessary resources […]
• Pozieres Battle in World War I on Western Front The battle for the village of Pozieres was one of the deadliest and most remarkable for the Australian troops which took part in the First World War.
• Native Americans Role in World War I Most of the students who went to schools away from the reserves came to the realization that they were, ‘first Americans and then indians second.’3 The schools also taught patriotic songs as well as observation […]
• American History From Reconstruction to World War I However, despite the popular opinion of the individual initiative of the first settlers, the federal government played a great role in facilitating the settlement of the West.
• America & World War I The three years have been used to argue that the US was unwilling to enter the war; that the US was neutral as Woodrow Wilson had declared.
• From World War One to Globalization Even though the First World War shook Europe to the core, the combination of the first and the Second World War created a three world order, modeled along three rival political affiliations.
• How the Federal Bureaucracy Expanded During WWI? The role of the bureaucracy was expansive during the war since the state was expected to provide many services to the citizens, something that led to the formulation of stronger rules and regulations to guide […]
• The Expansion of Federal Bureaucracy During WWI With these, a number of government agencies were created during the WWI particularly when it emerged that there was a need to regulate or control industrial sector as well as the call for the US […]
• Role of Civilian Population in World War I Not only did the war encouraged people to join their forces in order to fight the enemy, but also affected their perception of the state’s key political processes raising political engagement rates among population, WWI […]
• WWI: Germany’s Secret Gambles The “interception of the German arms shipment by the Royal Navy” led to the quick suppression of the Eastern uprising and execution of key leaders of the Irish Republicans.
• The Second Battlefield: Women, Modernism, and the First World War The first theme is the connection of writings of women on the subject of the First World War and the modernism theoretical constructs.
• Watching the World Fall Apart: A Post-WWI Vision of the World in the Works of Otto Dix, Max Beckmann and George Grosz While it is quite understandable that at the current stage of the development of humankind, some conflicts still have to be resolved with the use of coercive methods, war as a massive homicide still remains […]
• First World War and Germany In particular, the author is more concerned with giving the effects of the war on the German people, unlike other authors who generalize the effects of the war.
• Ernist Junger’s World War I Experiences When the Storm of Steel was published, it became a favorite in Germany since it adored the greatness of war and the huge sacrifices made by the Germany warriors to end the war victoriously.
• World War I Technological Advancements World War I saw the application of several new technologies to the battlefield, the most important being that of the internal combustion engine, which permitted the development of the first successful mechanized armored fighting vehicles1.
• The First World War and the Russian Revolution Scholars argue that Russia’s involvement in the First World War and the economic consequences are the primary causes of the revolution.
• United States and World War I The paper further gives an in-depth analysis of how the Germans waged war against the European countries and the circumstances that forced the United States to abandon its neutrality to take part in the Great […]
• WWI-War: Revolution, and Reconstruction In as much as soldiers and civilians garnered experience during WWI, it is imperative to acknowledge that the unsuitable environment at the forefront led to deterioration of health standards; furthermore, civilians were forced to live […]
• The Causes of the First World War In his description of the war, it is clear that Europe played a key role towards the formation of the war alliances.
• The Role of Airplanes During World War I (1914-1918) The government further formed a consultative ‘Aircraft Production Board’ that was made up of members of the Army, Navy, as well as the sector to assess the Europeans’ fortunes in aircraft sector in a bid […]
• The World War I The war brought to the fore various issues which had been in the air in the end of the nineteenth century and in the beginning of the twentieth century.
• Importance of Accountability: World War I It is clear from the beginning of this article, that the statistics on the World War I causalities indicates that the Germans suffered fewer casualties compared to their western counterparts, who are the French and […]
• America and Democracy, at Home and Abroad, During and Just After the First World War Democracy is a kind of regime in which all eligible citizens are allowed to contribute to the decisions of the state.
• Causes and Consequences of World War 1 In social and economic cycles, the interaction of the whites and Blacks was controlled by the laws that neither of the groups was allowed to cross the other party’s path.
• Changes in the Middle East After the World War I The involvement in the war by the countries from the Middle East not only led to loss of power but also spurred the economic decline and created social problems.

⭐ World War 1 Research Topics

• Industrialization and Competition for Resources Which Led to the First World War
• Factors That Made the First World War Unique
• Identify and Evaluate Two Main Themes That Have Defined Management Thought Since the End of the First World War.
• The Events and Results of the First World War I
• Terrible Beauty: Music and Writing of the First World War
• Liberal Democracy and Capitalism After World War 1
• European Politics and the Impact of French Foreign Policy Before the First World War
• Chemical Warfare During the First World War
• The First World War and Russian Revolution
• European Diplomacy and the First World War
• With What Justification Can World War 1 Be Called a Total War
• The Catalyst for the First World War
• The Reasons for the Economic Prosperity in America After the First World War
• Events Leading for the First World War
• Imperialistic Rivalries and the Road to the First World War
• Shaping the American Dream, Defining Success From the First World War to Present
• Austro-Serbian Relations Provoked the First World War
• America and the First World War
• The Purpose and Intent of the League of Nations After the First World War
• The First World War Impact on Australian Economy
• The Long Term and Short Term Causes of World War 1

📃 Simple & Easy World War 1 Essay Titles

• European Goods Market Integration in the Very Long Run: From the Black Death to the First World War
• The Reasons for the American Support for the Involvement in the First World War
• Military Technology During the First World War
• German Foreign Policy and the Impact of Nationalism on It Before the First World War
• The American Foreign Policy After the First World War
• The Economic, Social, and Political Impact of the First World War on Eur
• Technological Advancements During the First World War
• The World Before the First World War According to Barbara Tuchman
• The Effects That the First World War Had on Many People
• The Effective Weapons Used in the First World War
• Women’s Work During the First World War
• Diplomatic Crises: The First World War and the Cuban Missile Crisis
• The First World War Changed the Way People Thought About War and Patriotism
• Gender Roles During the First World War
• The Reasons for the Outbreak of the First World War
• Australia’s Economic and Military Contribution in the First World War
• The First World War: A New Era of Military Conflict
• German Propaganda During the First World War
• Analyzing Propaganda During World War 1
• Britain During the First World War and the Social and Welfare Reforms

❓ World War 1 Essay Questions

• How Important Was the Entry of the U.S. Into the First World War?
• Was the First World War a Total War?
• What Effect Did the First World War Have on Germany?
• How Significant Was the First World War?
• In What Ways Were People’s Lives at Home Affected by the First World War?
• The Russian Revolution Us a Direct Result of the First World War
• How Did Medical Care Change During the First World War?
• How the First World War Created Modern America?
• Was the First World War the Cause of the February Revolution in Russia?
• Was the First World War Inevitable?
• How Did the First World War Change the Role of Women?
• How Industrialization Powered the First World War?
• Why Did the First World War Last So Long?
• How Far Was the First World War Responsible for the Growth of the Labour Party and the Decline of the Liberal Party?
• Why Did the United States Entry Into World War 1?
• How Did the United States Prepare to Fight for the First World War?
• How Did the First World War Set the Global Stage for the Second World War?
• Why Did World War 1 End So Quickly After the Years of Stalemate?
• Why Did the First World War End When It Did?
• How Did the First World War Affect Britain Society?
• How Did Women Affected World War 1?
• How Did Imperialism Cause World War 1?
• How the First World War Impacted the Homefronts of Participating Nations?
• Was the Alliance System the Main Cause of the First World War?
• How Did the Middle East Change as a Result of World War 1?
• Why Did the Ottomans Enter the First World War?
• Why Did Germany Lose the First World War?
• What Was the Most Important Cause of the First World War?
• How Did the Allies Win World War 1?
• Why Did Some Men Oppose Women’s Employment in the Industry During the First World War?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, March 2). 165 World War 1 Topics for Essays with Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/world-war-1-essay-examples/

"165 World War 1 Topics for Essays with Examples." IvyPanda , 2 Mar. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/world-war-1-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . (2024) '165 World War 1 Topics for Essays with Examples'. 2 March.

IvyPanda . 2024. "165 World War 1 Topics for Essays with Examples." March 2, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/world-war-1-essay-examples/.

1. IvyPanda . "165 World War 1 Topics for Essays with Examples." March 2, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/world-war-1-essay-examples/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "165 World War 1 Topics for Essays with Examples." March 2, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/world-war-1-essay-examples/.

• Iraq War Research Ideas
• Vietnam War Paper Topics
• American Revolution Topics
• Cuban Revolution Ideas
• Afghanistan War Essay Topics
• French Revolution Paper Topics
• Modern History Topics
• Revolutionary War Essay Ideas

Home — Essay Samples — History — Imperialism — Main Causes of World War 1: Discussion

Main Causes of World War 1: Discussion

• Categories: Imperialism Nationalism

About this sample

Words: 645 |

Updated: 16 November, 2023

Words: 645 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

The essay explores the causes of World War 1, which took place from 1914 to 1918. It begins with a brief overview of the war's timeline and the major countries involved, including the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan, the United States of America, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. The essay then delves into the four main causes of the war: Militarism, Nationalism, Imperialism, and Alliances.

Militarism is discussed as the policy of maintaining a strong military force and a readiness to use it aggressively for defense. The significant arms buildup and military spending by various countries, including Germany, are highlighted as contributing factors to the outbreak of the war.

Nationalism is described as the strong attachment to one's own nation and culture. It is explained how nationalism led to conflicts, including the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which triggered Austria's desire for revenge.

Imperialism, the expansion of a nation's power by dominating other countries, is presented as a factor due to the competition among European powers over control of African resources and territories.

Lastly, the essay discusses the role of Alliances, where countries formed partnerships to defend each other, often resulting in a domino effect of declarations of war.

Table of contents

• Causes of World War 1

Video Version

Causes o f world war 1, nationalism and imperialism.

A Good Hook Examples for WWI Essay

• A Glimpse into the Trenches: Step back in time and experience the chilling reality of life in the trenches of World War I. In this essay, we’ll immerse ourselves in the harrowing tales of soldiers who faced the horrors of the Great War.
• The War to End All Wars: Explore the monumental impact of World War I on global history. In this essay, we’ll dissect the events that led to the war, the key players, and the lasting consequences that continue to shape our world today.
• The Poetry of Conflict: World War I inspired a generation of poets to capture the raw emotions of battle. Join us as we analyze the powerful verses and poignant imagery that emerged from the trenches.
• Lessons from the Great War: As we commemorate the centennial of World War I, it’s crucial to reflect on the lessons learned from this catastrophic conflict. This essay delves into the war’s impact on diplomacy, technology, and the human spirit.
• Unsung Heroes of WWI: Beyond the famous generals and political leaders, there were countless unsung heroes in the Great War. In this essay, we’ll shine a light on the remarkable stories of bravery and sacrifice from the trenches to the home front.
• Strachan, H. (2014). The First World War: To Arms. Oxford University Press.
• MacMillan, M. (2013). The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914. Random House.
• Fay, S. B. (1928). The Origins of the World War (Vol. 1). The Macmillan Company.
• Gildea, R. (2003). Children of the Revolution: The French, 1799-1914. Harvard University Press.
• Kennedy, P. M. (1980). The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism, 1860-1914. Allen & Unwin.

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Dr. Heisenberg

Verified writer

• Expert in: History Government & Politics

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

3 pages / 1369 words

9 pages / 4121 words

4 pages / 1650 words

1 pages / 1783 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Imperialism

Hotel Rwanda is a powerful film that depicts the horrors of the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Directed by Terry George, the movie showcases a true story of how a hotel manager, Paul Rusesabagina, saved countless lives amidst the [...]

In the annals of history, Japan's imperialist policies stand as a complex and transformative chapter that had far-reaching implications for the nation and the world. This essay will meticulously dissect Japan's imperialist [...]

American imperialism, a historical phenomenon, has evolved and adapted to the changing dynamics of the modern world. In contemporary times, the United States continues to exert its influence globally, albeit through different [...]

Imperialism is defined as one country’s domination of the political, economic, and social life of another country. In the late 1800s, Europeans colonized countries, traded slaves, gold, and many other various resources. One of [...]

It is strong debated, even today, who to blame for the Mexican War. Was it something bound by fate to occur due to rising tensions between the U.S. and Mexico? Was it a ploy by James K. Polk to gain territory in a pursuit of [...]

Imperialism, a multifaceted phenomenon driven by economic, political, and ideological motives, left an indelible mark on the world. While some argue that it brought progress and development, others emphasize the exploitative and [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

The Two Sides of World War I: Allies and Central Powers

This essay is about the two primary alliances in World War I: the Allies and the Central Powers. It explains the composition and motivations of each side, with the Allies including countries like France, Russia, and the United Kingdom, later joined by the United States and others, while the Central Powers included Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. The essay discusses how the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggered the war, leading to a global conflict characterized by trench warfare and technological advancements in weaponry. The involvement of the United States helped tip the balance in favor of the Allies, leading to the eventual collapse of the Central Powers. The essay also covers the aftermath of the war, including the Treaty of Versailles and its long-term impact.

How it works

The First World Conflict, also acknowledged as the Grand Warfare, unfolded as a worldwide confrontation spanning from 1914 to 1918, embroiling numerous paramount powers globally, segregating them into two principal coalitions: the Allied Forces and the Central Blocs. Comprehending these dichotomous factions proves indispensable in apprehending the intricacy and magnitude of the warfare, alongside its profound reverberations on the 20th century.

The Allied Forces, originally labeled the Triple Entente, comprised France, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Gradually, they were augmented by Italy, Japan, the United States, and sundry other nations.

The bedrock of the Allied Forces lay in a succession of treaties and reciprocal defense compacts contrived to offset the might of the Central Blocs. France and Russia had forged an alliance in the twilight of the 19th century, while the United Kingdom aligned with them in the nascent phase of the 20th century due to escalating tensions with Germany. The Allied forces were impelled by a confluence of defensive maneuvers, colonial aspirations, and the aspiration to sustain equilibrium of authority in Europe.

The Central Blocs, initially identified as the Triple Alliance, encompassed Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, notwithstanding Italy defecting to join the Allied Forces in 1915. The Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria subsequently aligned with the Central Blocs. Germany, the preponderant constituent of this coalition, endeavored to assert its hegemony in Europe and extend its sphere of influence globally. Austria-Hungary, a heterogeneous empire, confronted internal and external exigencies, precipitating its union with Germany. The Ottoman Empire, grappling to retain its extensive territories, perceived the conflict as a prospect to reclaim lost lands and prestige. The Central Blocs were impelled by an amalgam of territorial aspirations, strategic concerns, and mutual defense obligations.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in June 1914 catalyzed a chain of events escalating swiftly into a full-fledged war. Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war on Serbia activated a labyrinth of alliances drawing in all the preeminent European powers. Germany’s backing of Austria-Hungary and Russia’s endorsement of Serbia laid the groundwork for an overarching conflagration. When Germany invaded Belgium to circumvent French defenses, the United Kingdom declared war on Germany, cementing the schism between the two factions.

The conflict expeditiously permeated beyond Europe, enmeshing colonies and territories across the globe. The Allied Forces and Central Blocs skirmished on myriad fronts, including the Western Front, the Eastern Front, and in locales such as the Middle East and Africa. Trench warfare, distinguished by appalling conditions and elevated casualty rates, emerged as a defining facet of the Western Front. Technological innovations in armaments, encompassing machine guns, tanks, and chemical weaponry, exacerbated the lethality and destructiveness of the conflict.

The intervention of the United States in the conflict in 1917 furnished a substantial impetus to the Allied Forces. Galvanized by German unrestrained submarine warfare and the Zimmermann Telegram, which laid bare Germany’s overture for a military coalition with Mexico against the United States, American engagement brought in fresh troops and resources to the beleaguered Allied Forces. The infusion of American forces tilted the scales in favor of the Allied Forces, precipitating a succession of triumphant offensives against the Central Blocs.

The disintegration of the Central Blocs commenced in late 1918. Internal discord, economic adversity, and military setbacks undermined the capacity of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria to perpetuate the struggle. The Allied Forces, reinforced by American support and superior resources, unleashed a sequence of decisive assaults breaching German defenses. The armistice on November 11, 1918, heralded the cessation of hostilities, yet the ramifications of the war would resonate for decades to come.

The Treaty of Versailles, concluded in 1919, formally terminated the conflict and imposed punitive measures on Germany, encompassing substantial territorial cessions, military constraints, and indemnity payments. The treaty aspired to forestall future conflicts but instead sowed the seeds of animosity and economic hardship in Germany, contributing to the ascendance of Adolf Hitler and the eruption of World War II.

The legacy of World War I is profound and extensive-reaching. The war engendered redrawing of national boundaries, precipitated the dissolution of empires, and reshaped the geopolitical panorama of Europe and the Middle East. The human toll was staggering, with myriad soldiers and civilians succumbing or sustaining injuries. The psychological aftermath of the war, dubbed “shell shock” at the time, underscored the severe mental and emotional repercussions on survivors.

In summation, the duality of World War I, epitomized by the Allied Forces and the Central Blocs, was propelled by a convoluted nexus of alliances, strategic imperatives, and historical grievances. The unprecedented scale and devastation of the war left an indelible imprint, persistently influencing global politics and society. The Great War serves as a sobering testament to the perils of modern warfare and underscores the significance of international collaboration and diplomacy in averting future conflicts.

Cite this page

The Two Sides of World War I: Allies and Central Powers. (2024, May 21). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/the-two-sides-of-world-war-i-allies-and-central-powers/

"The Two Sides of World War I: Allies and Central Powers." PapersOwl.com , 21 May 2024, https://papersowl.com/examples/the-two-sides-of-world-war-i-allies-and-central-powers/

PapersOwl.com. (2024). The Two Sides of World War I: Allies and Central Powers . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-two-sides-of-world-war-i-allies-and-central-powers/ [Accessed: 21 May. 2024]

"The Two Sides of World War I: Allies and Central Powers." PapersOwl.com, May 21, 2024. Accessed May 21, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/the-two-sides-of-world-war-i-allies-and-central-powers/

"The Two Sides of World War I: Allies and Central Powers," PapersOwl.com , 21-May-2024. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-two-sides-of-world-war-i-allies-and-central-powers/. [Accessed: 21-May-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2024). The Two Sides of World War I: Allies and Central Powers . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-two-sides-of-world-war-i-allies-and-central-powers/ [Accessed: 21-May-2024]

Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade

Hire a writer to get a unique paper crafted to your needs.

Our writers will help you fix any mistakes and get an A+!

Please check your inbox.

You can order an original essay written according to your instructions.

Trusted by over 1 million students worldwide

1. Tell Us Your Requirements

2. Pick your perfect writer

3. Get Your Paper and Pay

Hi! I'm Amy, your personal assistant!

Don't know where to start? Give me your paper requirements and I connect you to an academic expert.

short deadlines

100% Plagiarism-Free

Certified writers

• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar

UPSC Coaching, Study Materials, and Mock Exams

Enroll in ClearIAS UPSC Coaching Join Now Log In

Call us: +91-9605741000

First World War (1914-1918): Causes and Consequences

Last updated on October 10, 2023 by Alex Andrews George

Table of Contents

The Two Groups: Allies vs Central Powers

Causes of the First World War

In the background there were many conflicts between European nations. Nations grouped among themselves to form military alliances as there were tension and suspicion among them. The causes of the First World War were:

(1) Conflict between Imperialist countries: Ambition of Germany

• Conflict between old imperialist countries (Eg: Britain and France) vs new imperialist countries (Eg: Germany).
• Germany ship – Imperator.
• German railway line – from Berlin to Baghdad.

(2) Ultra Nationalism

• Pan Slav movement – Russian, Polish, Czhech, Serb, Bulgaria and Greek.
• Pan German movement.

(3) Military Alliance

• Triple Alliance or Central Powers (1882) – Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary.
• Triple Entente or Allies (1907) – Britain, France, Russia.

Note: Although Italy was a member of the Triple Alliance alongside Germany and Austria-Hungary, it did not join the Central Powers, as Austria-Hungary had taken the offensive, against the terms of the alliance.   These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war: Italy, Japan and the United States joined the Allies, while the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers.

(4) International Anarchy

• Secret agreement between Britain and France allowing Britain to control Egypt and France to take over Morocco. Germany opposed, but settled with a part of French Congo.
• Hague conference of 1882 and 1907 failed to emerge as an international organisation.

(5) Balkan Wars

• Many Balkan nations (Serbia, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece and Montenegro) were under the control of Turkey. They defeated Turkey in the First Balkan War. The subsequent war was between the Balkan countries themselves – Eg:  Serbia vs Bulgaria.
• Defeated countries like Turkey and Bulgaria sought German help.

(6) Alsace-Loraine

• During German unification, Germany got Alsace-Loraine from France. France wanted to capture Alsace-Loraine back from Germany.

(7) Immediate Cause: assassination of Francis Ferdinand

• Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian native (in Bosnia). Austria declared war on Serbia on 28th July, 1914. [Reason for assassination: Annexation by Austria the Bosnia-Herzegovina, against the congress of Berlin, 1878]

The Course of the War

• Group 1 (Allies): Serbia, Russia, Britian, France, USA, Belgium, Portugal, Romania etc
• Group 2 (Central Powers): Austria-Hungary, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Bulgaria etc.
• War on Western Side: Battle of Marne.
• War on Eastern Side: Battle of Tennenberg (Russia was defeated).
• War on the Sea: Batter of Dogger Bank (Germany was defeated), Battle of Jutland (Germany retreated).
• USA entered in 1917.
• Russia withdrew in 1917 after October Revolution.

Treaty of Versailles, Paris

• Germany signed a treaty with Allies (Triple Entente) on 28th June 1919. It was signed at Versailles, near Paris. (14 points)
• Leaders: Clemenceau – France, Lloyd George – Britain, Woodrow Wilson – USA, Orlando – Italy.

Treaties after World War I

• Treaty of Paris – with Germany.
• Treaty of St.Germaine – with Austria.
• Treaty of Trianon- with Hungary.
• Treaty of Neuilly – with Bulgaria.
• Treaty of Severes – with Turkey.

Consequences of First World War

• Rule of King ended in Germany: Germany became a republic on November 1918. The German Emperor Kaiser William II fled to Holland.
• Around 1 crore people were killed.
• Unemployment and famine.
• The fall of Russian empire after October revolution (1917) which resulted in the formation of USSR (1922)
• Emergence of USA as a super power.
• Beginning of the end of European supremacy.
• Japan became a powerful country in Asia.
• Poland, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia became new independent states.
• Baltic countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithvania – became independent.
• Rule of Ottamans came to an end in Turkey.
• New boundary lines were drawn for Austria, Germany and Turkey.
• Strengthened independence movements in Asia and Africa.
• League of Nations came into being.
• Germany had to return Alsace-Loraine to France.
• German colonies were shared.
• Germany gave up Saar coal field.
• Germany gave up Polish corridor, and made city of Danzig independent.
• Monarchy was abolished in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Turkey and Russia.
• The harsh clauses of the Treaty of Versailles finally resulted in the second world war .

Related posts

• Treaty of Versailles
• Second World War (1939-1945): Causes and Consequences

Aim IAS, IPS, or IFS?

About Alex Andrews George

Alex Andrews George is a mentor, author, and social entrepreneur. Alex is the founder of ClearIAS and one of the expert Civil Service Exam Trainers in India.

He is the author of many best-seller books like 'Important Judgments that transformed India' and 'Important Acts that transformed India'.

A trusted mentor and pioneer in online training , Alex's guidance, strategies, study-materials, and mock-exams have helped many aspirants to become IAS, IPS, and IFS officers.

Reader Interactions

October 25, 2016 at 7:17 pm

May 8, 2024 at 12:43 am

keep your feet covered

November 21, 2016 at 11:32 pm

June 27, 2018 at 10:15 pm

Nice and precise

July 31, 2017 at 10:03 pm

Thanks.. It’s good

September 1, 2017 at 5:06 pm

That was very essential

February 20, 2018 at 7:51 pm

thank you very much.

April 28, 2018 at 3:28 pm

June 22, 2018 at 9:47 pm

Good…..

August 2, 2018 at 3:09 pm

In the course of war, italy is mentioned with central powers while it has joined the allies. Please clarify

December 17, 2020 at 7:02 pm

shut up idiot

August 28, 2018 at 5:26 am

Its very good answer😊

September 23, 2018 at 2:51 pm

Helpful resources

October 1, 2018 at 2:49 pm

Very nice covered

October 13, 2018 at 9:32 pm

U should defined it little more ….but overall it is good

March 30, 2021 at 9:24 am

You didn’t mention about the powerful weapons that was owned by the European countries. Please clarify that portion. Otherwise it’s a very precise and useful note. Thank you.

November 9, 2018 at 1:03 am

January 31, 2019 at 9:55 am

very good answer

February 28, 2019 at 7:01 am

Thanks a lot.

February 28, 2019 at 7:02 am

March 3, 2019 at 5:57 pm

Thank you Its a very nice answer Thus I can get full marks So i am thankful to you

March 22, 2019 at 1:22 pm

April 25, 2019 at 9:36 pm

you are my rolemodal

May 22, 2019 at 3:33 am

nice task….& thanks alot…!!!!

July 17, 2019 at 10:02 pm

I really appreciate may Almighty reward you with goodness

October 8, 2019 at 3:44 pm

Was very useful for ICSE projects (history and civics). Thanks a lot.

November 4, 2019 at 6:39 am

Ath polichu….😁😂

November 23, 2019 at 11:35 pm

Very good sir

November 25, 2019 at 2:42 am

Thank you. Learnt a lot

June 13, 2020 at 9:19 pm

Thanks, It was nice!

December 5, 2020 at 3:22 pm

Thanks, it helped in-home assignment

February 4, 2021 at 11:29 am

You forgot to mention ottoman empire

You forgot to mention ottoman empire in the central power

March 12, 2021 at 3:26 pm

Interesting topic. Great job . Thank you.

March 13, 2023 at 9:35 pm

I like how well u explained ww1 it’s a really good. I Like this article this article is a reliable source!

March 14, 2023 at 3:29 am

Thank U For Making This Helped Me With History Thanks Learned Alot!!!!!!

May 8, 2023 at 8:45 pm

YOu forgot to tak about the ottoman emprire

June 3, 2023 at 11:10 pm

Nice but no clear explanation

January 20, 2024 at 10:36 am

World War I, also known as the First World War, was a massive conflict that occurred from July 28, 1914, to November 11, 1918. It involved major global powers divided into two alliances: the Allies (comprising the British Empire, France, and the Russian Empire) and the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary). The war’s causes were multifaceted, including conflicts between imperialist countries, Germany’s ambitions, ultra-nationalism, military alliances, international anarchy, Balkan Wars, Alsace-Lorraine dispute, and the assassination of Francis Ferdinand. The war led to significant consequences and the Treaty of Versailles in Paris, which aimed to establish peace. 🌍💥🤔

January 20, 2024 at 11:00 am

World War I, a colossal conflict from 1914 to 1918, involved major powers forming two opposing alliances: the Allies (including the British Empire, France, and Russia) against the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary). Key causes were imperialist rivalries, with Germany’s ambitions and military buildup, ultra-nationalism fueling movements like Pan-Slav and Pan-German, military alliances (Triple Alliance and Triple Entente), and international disputes like Egypt and Morocco. These tensions escalated until the assassination of Francis Ferdinand triggered the war. The aftermath brought the Treaty of Versailles and reshaped the world order, marking a pivotal moment in history. 🌍🔥🕊️ #WWI #History

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Don’t lose out without playing the right game!

Follow the ClearIAS Prelims cum Mains (PCM) Integrated Approach.

Join ClearIAS PCM Course Now

UPSC Online Preparation

• Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)
• Indian Administrative Service (IAS)
• Indian Police Service (IPS)
• IAS Exam Eligibility
• UPSC Free Study Materials
• UPSC Exam Guidance
• UPSC Prelims Test Series
• UPSC Syllabus
• UPSC Online
• UPSC Prelims
• UPSC Interview
• UPSC Toppers
• UPSC Previous Year Qns
• UPSC Age Calculator
• UPSC Calendar 2024
• About ClearIAS
• ClearIAS Programs
• ClearIAS Fee Structure
• IAS Coaching
• UPSC Coaching
• UPSC Online Coaching
• ClearIAS Blog
• Important Updates
• Announcements
• Book Review
• ClearIAS App
• Work with us
• Advertise with us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms and Conditions
• Talk to Your Mentor

Featured on

and many more...

Take ClearIAS Mock Exams: Analyse Your Progress

Analyse Your Performance and Track Your All-India Ranking

Ias/ips/ifs online coaching: target cse 2025.

Are you struggling to finish the UPSC CSE syllabus without proper guidance?