The Great War: World War I (1914–1918)
The early years of the 20th century were full of optimism. Europe had enjoyed decades of
scientific progress, industrial growth, and cultural brilliance. Cities sparkled with electric lights,
railways connected nations, and great powers boasted about their modern armies. Yet beneath
this prosperity, rivalries festered. Alliances, nationalism, militarism, and imperial ambitions
quietly piled dry wood. In 1914, all it took was one spark to ignite the deadliest war humanity
had ever seen.
The Spark in Sarajevo
On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary visited Sarajevo, the capital of
Bosnia. Bosnia had recently been annexed by Austria-Hungary, angering Serbian nationalists
who dreamed of a united Slavic nation. A young Bosnian Serb, Gavrilo Princip, was part of a
group determined to strike back. As the Archduke’s car turned down a street, Princip stepped
forward, pulled out a pistol, and fired two shots. Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were killed.
The assassination set off a chain reaction. Austria-Hungary, furious, blamed Serbia. Backed by
Germany, it issued harsh ultimatums. Serbia, supported by Russia, resisted. Within weeks,
nations across Europe were pulled into war, bound by alliances. By August 1914, Europe was at
war.
The Alliances and the War Fronts
Two major sides formed:
The Allies: France, Russia, Britain, and later Italy, the U.S., and others.
The Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.
The war quickly expanded beyond Europe, as colonies in Africa and Asia were drawn in.
Millions from India, Africa, and Australia would serve in European armies, showing how global
this conflict truly became.
The Schlieffen Plan and the Western Front
Germany’s leaders feared being crushed between Russia in the east and France in the west. Their
solution was the Schlieffen Plan: defeat France quickly by invading through neutral Belgium,
then turn to Russia.
In August 1914, German troops stormed into Belgium. Britain, outraged at the violation of
Belgian neutrality, declared war on Germany. The German advance seemed unstoppable until
September, when French and British forces stopped them at the Battle of the Marne. The war
then froze into trenches stretching from the North Sea to Switzerland.
Here, the world witnessed the horrors of trench warfare. Soldiers lived in mud, surrounded by
rats, lice, and disease. Machine guns, barbed wire, and heavy artillery made attacking nearly
suicidal. For years, both sides fought battles like Verdun and the Somme, where hundreds of
thousands died for just a few miles of land.
The Eastern Front
Unlike the west, the Eastern Front was more mobile. Germany and Austria fought Russia across
vast territories. Early Russian advances were crushed at battles like Tannenberg in 1914, where
an entire Russian army was destroyed. Millions of Russian soldiers, poorly equipped, died or
were captured. The suffering fueled unrest back home, setting the stage for revolution.
New Weapons of War
World War I introduced terrifying new technologies:
Machine guns that could fire hundreds of rounds a minute.
Poison gas, first used by Germany at Ypres in 1915, choking and blinding soldiers.
Tanks, lumbering machines that tried to break trench stalemates.
Aircraft, used first for reconnaissance, then for dogfights and bombing runs.
Submarines (U-boats), which sank enemy ships in the Atlantic, threatening supply lines.
This was industrialized war: nations used factories, science, and mass mobilization to kill on a
scale never seen before.
Life on the Home Front
The war wasn’t only fought in trenches. Civilians at home faced shortages, rationing, and air
raids. Women entered factories, driving ambulances, and serving as nurses. Their contribution to
the war effort would later fuel demands for voting rights in many countries. Propaganda filled
newspapers and posters, urging citizens to support the war, buy bonds, and view the enemy as
monsters.
In colonies, men were recruited—sometimes forced—to fight for empires they had never seen.
Soldiers from India, Africa, Canada, and Australia found themselves dying in muddy fields in
France or scorching deserts in the Middle East.
The War Expands: Gallipoli and the Middle East
In 1915, the Allies tried to open a new front by invading the Ottoman Empire at Gallipoli, near
the Dardanelles. The campaign was a disaster. Ottoman forces, led by commanders like Mustafa
Kemal (later Atatürk), held firm. Thousands of Allied troops, especially Australians and New
Zealanders (the ANZACs), died.
In the Middle East, however, the war took a different turn. The British encouraged Arab leaders
to revolt against Ottoman rule. Figures like T.E. Lawrence—“Lawrence of Arabia”—supported
these uprisings, weakening the Ottoman grip.
America Enters the War
For much of the war, the United States stayed neutral. But German unrestricted submarine
warfare, which sank ships like the Lusitania carrying American civilians, angered the public.
Then, in 1917, the Zimmermann Telegram was revealed: Germany had offered Mexico an
alliance against the U.S.
These provocations, combined with sympathy for the Allies, pushed America into the war in
April 1917. Fresh American troops and supplies gave the Allies a massive advantage.
Russia Withdraws
Meanwhile, in Russia, years of suffering and defeat led to revolution. In 1917, Tsar Nicholas II
abdicated, and later that year the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, seized power. They
promised peace, and in 1918, Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, exiting the war. This
allowed Germany to focus on the west—but time was running out.
The Final Push and Germany’s Defeat
In 1918, Germany launched a massive offensive on the Western Front, hoping to win before
American forces arrived in full strength. At first, they advanced, but by summer, the Allies
counterattacked with overwhelming numbers and fresh morale.
By the autumn of 1918, the Central Powers collapsed. Bulgaria, the Ottomans, and Austria-
Hungary surrendered. Germany, facing revolution at home and exhausted armies, signed an
armistice on November 11, 1918. The war was over.
The Cost of the Great War
World War I left the world shattered:
Around 16 million dead and 21 million wounded.
Entire towns and landscapes destroyed.
Old empires—Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and the Ottomans—collapsed.
New nations emerged in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
The peace, however, was harsh. At the Treaty of Versailles (1919), Germany was blamed for
the war, forced to pay reparations, and stripped of territory. This bitterness would later fuel the
rise of Adolf Hitler and the outbreak of World War II.
Legacy
World War I was called “the war to end all wars,” but it did the opposite. It reshaped borders,
toppled monarchies, advanced women’s rights, and changed warfare forever. For those who
lived through it, the trenches, the mud, the gas, and the endless waiting between bombardments
left scars for life. For the world, it was a grim lesson in how fragile peace could be—and how
easily humanity could destroy itself.
