1914 – 1918
A global war that began when leaders turned the Sarajevo assassination and July Crisis into a general European conflict, then mobilized empires and societies across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Pacific, and the Atlantic. Industrialized firepower, mass armies, blockade, occupation, forced labor, famine, disease, and genocide killed military personnel and civilians on an immense scale. Millions of colonized soldiers and laborers served, often coercively, while campaigns outside the Western Front reshaped states and borders. The war destroyed four empires and intensified revolution, anticolonial politics, population displacement, and unresolved territorial conflicts; the later Second World War was connected to this settlement but was not an automatic consequence of it.
Chapter-by-chapter narrative with maps, primary sources, and key events.
Explore battles on a live map with a timeline slider and territory overlays.
Deep-dive into every major engagement — commanders, casualties, significance.
Biographical flip cards with real portraits, facts, and full biography pages.
Trace each figure's full life journey — birth, education, battles, and death — on a live map.
Scroll-driven visualization of casualties — each dot a thousand lives.
Weapons, war machines, and the military innovations that defined how this conflict was fought.
Cause-and-effect chains tracing the war's long shadow on history.
War crimes, massacres, and the darkest chapters of this conflict — documented for history.
A global war that began when leaders turned the Sarajevo assassination and July Crisis into a general European conflict, then mobilized empires and societies across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Pacific, and the Atlantic. Industrialized firepower, mass armies, blockade, occupation, forced labor, famine, disease, and genocide killed military personnel and civilians on an immense scale. Millions of colonized soldiers and laborers served, often coercively, while campaigns outside the Western Front reshaped states and borders. The war destroyed four empires and intensified revolution, anticolonial politics, population displacement, and unresolved territorial conflicts; the later Second World War was connected to this settlement but was not an automatic consequence of it.
The Great War was fought from 1914 to 1918.
The Great War was fought between Allied Powers and Central Powers.
An estimated 19,700,000 people died in The Great War, including roughly 9,700,000 military and 10,000,000 civilian deaths. Figures are scholarly estimates and vary by source.
Major engagements included Brusilov Offensive, Hundred Days Offensive, Battle of the Somme, and Battle of Passchendaele (Third Ypres).