World War I
Photo: Makizox, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
World War I, usually called the First World War in the Commonwealth and called The Great War in its time, was one of the largest armed conflicts in history. It took place between 1914 and 1918, mainly in Europe and Africa, though a few naval battles occurred in Asia and the Pacific Ocean. The Western Front, running through Belgium and Northeastern France, was particularly destructive. Some called it "the war to end all wars", but that did not work out; it was followed only about twenty years later by the even more destructive World War II.
In the 2010s, the centennial anniversaries, and the passing away of the last veterans, have revived interest in the war. It has also gotten more attention in narrative media as the 2010s focus more on morally ambiguous characters and plots to which WWI lends itself better than WWII with its commonly accepted heroes and villains.
In 2023 a grand total of 139 funerary and memorial sites of WWI were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List - 96 in Northern France and 43 in Belgium.
UnderstandThis war, like the next war, is a war to end war. In 1914, Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo by Serbian nationalists. This event sparked tension between Austria-Hungary and Serbia.
SitesGermany held a number of colonies at the outset of the war. Given Germany's naval inferiority to the UK and the small garrisons deployed in the colonies, it was no surprise that most were in Allied hands by late 1914.
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Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "World War I" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo: Makizox, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons