The First World War was fought from 1914 to 1918 across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East, with naval operations extending the conflict across the world’s oceans. Its history encompasses military campaigns, political change, imperial mobilisation, economic disruption and the experiences of soldiers and civilians.
First World War
The First World War was a global conflict in which military operations, imperial power, political change, economic resources and the movement of people were closely connected. Fighting took place across several continents and oceans, while the war transformed societies both on and away from the battlefields.
Causes of the First World War
The outbreak of war in 1914 resulted from a combination of long-term political, military and economic developments and the immediate crisis that followed the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
Battles and Campaigns
The war involved major battles and campaigns in several theatres. The military history includes the Western Front, Gallipoli, the Eastern Front, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific and major naval operations.
Battles and Campaigns of the First World War
Western Front
The Western Front became one of the principal theatres of the war in Europe. Trench warfare, artillery, major offensives and changing methods of warfare shaped the fighting between Germany and the Allied forces.
Global Conflict
The First World War was fought far beyond the Western Front. Fighting took place in Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East, while naval warfare extended across the world’s oceans. Empire, international trade, logistics, resources and political change connected distant theatres and societies.
Home Front
The war transformed civilian life as governments mobilised populations, economies and resources. In Britain, recruitment and conscription, rationing, industry, women, propaganda, censorship, conscientious objection and political tensions all became part of the wartime experience.
Technology and Warfare
The First World War saw major developments in weapons and military technology. Artillery, machine guns, aircraft, tanks, chemical weapons and changing methods of warfare altered the character of combat.
Development of New Weapons in the First World War · Machine Guns: Types and Tactics
Medicine in the First World War
The scale and nature of industrial warfare created major medical challenges and contributed to developments in surgery, blood transfusion, X-rays, trauma treatment and other areas of medical practice.
Medicine in the First World War
War Poetry
Poetry provides an important contemporary and later perspective on the experiences, attitudes and consequences of the First World War.
The End of the War
The final campaigns of 1918 brought the military defeat of the Central Powers and the end of the fighting. The consequences of the war continued long after the Armistice.
First World War Statistics
First World War military statistics provide figures relating to the conflict and its participants.