"The First World War remains one of the central disasters of European history, perhaps even world history, at a time of groundbreaking scientific discoveries, massive economic growth, and incredible cultural exchange."
"Months spent shivering in hovels dug into the rank earth, enduring disease and artillery bombardment, ended only by pointless frontal assaults on machine gun positions. What could better demonstrate the futility of war?"
"Up until the invention of aircraft, the entire military history of Italy, from Rome to WWI, has been concentrated on conflicts and invasions that originated at sea or through the northern territory that connects the peninsula with the rest of Europe."
"Lord of the Rings has some of the best meditations on post-World War One Europe ever we've seen."
"A hundred years on, the Great War still has enduring resonance, but our understanding of it is often a caricatured mixture of mud, death, poets, and poppies."
"The great hope was 'never again' that 1914-18 would be, in the cliché of the time, the war to end all war."
"Now even in reality, we have heard stories in World War I where both opposing sides chose not to fight and had moments of peace."
"When I go to a World War I reenactment, I don't want to just get hit by a paintball. The value is from running through a trench at night, flares popping off overhead, people screaming orders, and gunfire going off all around me."
"The First World War is fought on a scale never before seen in the whole of human history."
"The First World War changes the course of human history."
"The power of Christmas is such that in the First World War, it caused bitter enemies to cross trenches to lay down their arms and celebrate together."
"Cynical Germans were convinced their own leaders had sold them out and surrendered too early. They called it the stab in the back."
"Mussolini's rise, like that of Hitler, had its roots in World War I."
"World War I had ended, and with it, the world was forever changed."
"Gallipoli is remembered because of the ANZACs; it was their first real taste of war on that scale."
"The repulsing of the Allies was considered a major victory," a moment of triumph.
"Name the German aviator in a red Fokker triplane shot down over the Som River on April 21st, 1918 in World War I. That'd be Orville Reddenfokker."
"The Arab revolt did contribute to the victory of the Allies first of all is protected British flank and Palestine."
"37 days after the visit to Sarajevo, a war had broken out."
"This war... rightly been described as the primal catastrophe."
"A World War One strategy game sounds like it's gonna be a lot of trench warfare, it's not that exciting. Well guys, they made it, they just... there's so many cool mechanics and features in this that make it a lot of fun and interesting."
"The German forces have stalled for now, but they will regroup. Take advantage of the lull and push their command trench."
"The legacy of the barnbow workers and all munitions workers was the remarkable change in Britain's fortunes during World War One."
"At the end of the Great War, the balance of power was drastically changed."
"What was good was the guy driving all night on the interstate and the guy out there picking working on a potato harvester."
"From out of the sunlight, a new poor appeared and dove straight into the German formation. It was Chapman."
"Cher Ami, the carrier pigeon, was the only bird to be awarded the prestigious medal during World War One."
"We marked the end of the war each November 11th on Veterans Day."
"It's a brilliant move. Brooks is two 0.303 caliber Vickers make quick work of the Fokker."
"The armies of the world looked very different by 1918 when compared to 1914."
"Verdun is often viewed as the iconic battle of the First World War."
"It’s one of the many reasons why in German, the war is often called the Urkatastrophe of the 20th century."
"The victory of the Canadian Corps at Vimy Ridge is universally regarded as the finest feat of arms performed by British troops in the whole war."
"By the end of 1916 the front had been stabilized for the Allies and the Germans had lost well over a million men."
"Everybody seems to forget World War I, everybody knows the sequel, but World War II was the sequel after the arms race of World War I."
"It's 1914 through 1918... and you're given one of these... what do you think your chances are of making out alive?"
"A wrong turn put Franz Ferdinand in the right place to start World War One."
"Number three: Mametz Wood, part of the wider Battle of the Somme and the scene of intense fighting in July 1916."
"Actions undertaken at Marqua on the 28th of September 1918... Tandy's platoon had been attempting to take a crossing over the Canal de San Cuenta when it came under heavy machine gun fire and was unable to progress." - Narrator
"Verdun held immense strategic importance for both France and Germany... its seizure would provide a tactical Advantage offering a stronghold on the Western Front."
"The first world war was one of the most destructive conflicts in human history upending the social order and leaving millions of people dead wounded and displaced from their homes."
"Fighter pilots were celebrated heroes, the last knights of Europe who jousted at each other with machine guns in the name of honor."
"The Red Baron has become a cultural touchstone, easily the most famous German soldier of the First World War and one of the most celebrated fighter pilots of all time."
"Richtofen insisted on entertaining captured Allied pilots with dinner and drinks before they were sent to prisoner of war camps."
"The Red Baron's triplane was torn apart by souvenir hunters, as none of his planes are believed to exist intact today."
"The victims of a first world war that we are only now beginning to understand."
"The Lusitania sinking: a turning point pushing America closer to involvement in the war."
"The Canadian third division had the advantage... emerging from the tunnels they fell on the Germans before they could get out of their dugouts."
"The combination of unprecedented densities of artillery and machine guns, the flexible infantry sections, was the Canadian trademark."
"The sinking of the liner Lusitania... was of crucial importance in changing American public opinion."
"I cannot be convinced anymore that it's just a coincidence that it's Frodo and his three buddies that sign up for this great adventure and that it was Tolkien and his three best friends who signed up for World War one."
"I think the Lord of the Rings is [Tolkien's] attempt to give his dead friends only one of those three kids made it back and I think the one that did and Tolkien were both deeply affected by what they did and what they saw there."
"This might be the best World War one film I've seen."
"Richtofen was promoted again when Jasta 11 was officially merged with Jastas 4, 6, and 10."
"World War I claimed the lives of nine and a half million soldiers, one in eight of those who fought."
"1911 in World War one is among my first choices."
"So this is a heavy. I'm giving you guys some images to work with, but basically this would include things like the Hotchkiss 1914, the French 1907, the U.S. Browning 1917."
"Tanks were scary in World War one, they were OP basically."
"The ability of the british to create these war factories quickly to to remake their entire economy to rebuild their munition production from the ground up was perhaps the central reason why the british won the first world war."
"Britain is fighting on the side of the angels and the events at Mons prove it."
"1917 is a beautiful piece of historical fiction, set in an often overlooked period of World War I history."
"It's a brilliant film that deserves a watch, if not for the human story, then for the historical portrayal of World War I battlefields and trenches."
"Maybe she was simply a scapegoat like many others who tragically lost their lives during the First World War."
"The Canadians are now known as some of the toughest troops on the Western Front."
"Smith Dorian's calculated gamble to turn and fight at Locato marks one of the most crucial British decisions made in the first four months of the First World War."
"When World War I broke out in 1914, the Netherlands remained neutral."
"The First World War created the conditions for Nicholas to give up his throne in March 1917."
"On September 18, 1916, the British unleashed something the Germans had never seen before: the tank."
"Despite the meager gains, the cost to the Germans and the prevention of the fall of Verdun meant that the Somme was considered an Allied victory."
"Sometimes the first world war made allies of old enemies."
"Yeah, World War I, man, there you go, a war nearly starting from a tree. Honestly, you just don't know what stories are out there until you actually find them."
"To truly understand the First World War, one must go beyond the Western Front."
"The Great War was waged on a global scale, brought to every corner of the earth by the mighty and terrible empires which waged it."
"The Fokker D7 had quite the impact on the front lines."
"The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 sparked World War I, leading to a global conflict."
"Phil and his wife had been planning renovations for a new bathroom and hired a contractor to fix the wiring, when the contractor finally began the construction, he stumbled upon several old and yellowed World War I love letters."
"World War I resulted in the deaths of 60 million people in Europe and throughout the world."
"His death was kind of the Catalyst which started World War one."
"Known as WWI, that quagmire would kill twenty million people and change the course of history."
"Past cleanups have unearthed items as varied as gold coins and World War I shells."
"The revolutions which followed the end of the First World War would have a more enduring impact."
"They were too young to have fought in World War I."
"This would be the day of the final German casualties of World War I, as several German sailors were shot by the British after scuffles arrived from the Germans refusing to stop and refusing to help save the ships."
"Planning for the next British offensive proceeded apace and was to be reliant on massed tanks as part of the assault."
"World War One and the great changes that it brought, including the fall of the monarchies, was not random. It wasn't about a sandwich."
"On this day 104 years ago at 11 AM on November 11, 1918, the German Empire surrendered to the Allies ending the first World War."
"The assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in 1914 led to which of the following Wars?... the First World War."
"By war’s end in 1918, however, it had been replaced by a complete 26-letter alphabet."
"You could never have had a Mussolini coming to power in Italy without World War I."
"That's the only victory that the Muslims had really in World War I."
"The Great War changed everything, it was not a cliche in 1918."
"For a while, man, himself, had been embittered by Germany's defeat in the first World War."
"Her story reminds us that the first world war was not just about the mud of Flanders Fields."
"SCP 2574 contains the raw energy of World War I."
"The idea that the First World War was a complete no-go area for cavalry on the Western Front is no longer tenable."
"The high demand for copper during World War I prompted substantial bids."
"If Ludendorf attack had any aim it was surely to shatter the anglo French Alliance and in this it not only failed but it strengthened the anglo French Alliance."
"I'm reading an excellent history book by Barbara Tuchman on 1914, how we all went to war. The unintended consequences of really miscalculation."
"J.R.R. Tolkien, Otto Frank, and Adolf Hitler were all present as foot soldiers at the Battle of the Somme in 1916."
"That dent was from a piece of shell that hit him when he was at Gallipoli, so it saved his life."
"It was to be the bittersweet swan song of the Great War generation."
"The helmet in use during World War I was the Model 1917, which was actually just a direct copy of the British Brody pattern helmet."
"I go all over the place I do like Byzantine Empire right now I'm leav I'm reading something about the Lucitania okay World War I like that's like the only type of books I read these days."
"The first real breakthrough doesn't come until March 1918 in the Ludendorf offensive 1918."
"Maria Feodorovna was in England when World War I broke out."
"French fries really took off after soldiers stationed in Belgium first got a taste of them during World War I."
"The story of those who resisted the First World War... is really an under told story."
"The international group formed to maintain World Peace after World War I was the League of Nations."
"The first world war had loads of nicknames: the war to end all wars, the Great War, and of course, World War One."
"Eventually the war ended at 11 o'clock on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in the year 1918. Hence the term 'stopping for elevenses'."
"When the Germans launched that first deadly gas attack on April 22nd, 1915, what they were using was chlorine gas."
"During the battle of the Somme, he went out into no man's land under heavy fire and saved several lives."
"But what if we go even further back in time to an era just before World War II? What if we look at a watch that's from World War I? Now that's a bit different."
"The really impressive thing the British army had managed to work out by 1918 was how they could turn conscripts with no experience into the effective warriors they turned out to be in the autumn of 1918."
"The Shreveport Municipal Auditorium, originally served to commemorate the soldiers who served and lost their lives to World War I..."
"The Somme is huge in Britain; you ask people on the street about the First World War, Battle of the Somme, that's the thing they'll come up with nine times out of ten."
"Was the Somme futile? No, clearly it wasn't because it did not result in a classic victory like Waterloo, but I regard it as being a strategic success for the Allies."
"In strategic terms, I think the Somme is absolutely critical because Germany recognizes for the first time that they're up against not two major land powers, France and Russia, but three."
"Which war was ended by the Treaty of Versailles? The First World War."
"Those who experience the Great War firsthand are gone now."
"The fighting for Belleau Wood became an instant PR hit in the American media."
"The ferociousness of the attack was a real contributor that summer to the breakdown of the morale of the Germans."
"He receives the Pour le Mérite for gallantry in action as a member of the German army during the First World War."
"The US Navy was a significant portion of the force behind the final implementation of the North Sea mine barrage."
"Sixth Battle Squadron, also known as Ninth Battleship Division, became part of the Grand Fleet battle line for the last little while of the First World War."
"This kind of reflects the transitional nature of the First World War."
"It's really important that we don't forget the people who fought in the First World War."
"The First World War set the precedent for all that we take for granted about violent conflicts that have followed it."
"The Treaty of Versailles was supposed to give meaning to the lives of the tens of millions of dead and wounded in the Great War. It didn't do that."
"World War One was defining for one reason: it set the stage for who the winners and losers would be in the 20th century."
"Destroy this mad brute—Enlist in the U.S. Army."
"My great grandfather's British army issue pocket watch along with the German bullet that had stopped in France, 1914."
"We forget that he, Thomas Atkins, and his splendid officers were instrumental in the victory and a staggering victory it was in 1918."
"This division, considered second rate after its failure on the Somme in 1916, was chosen and proved its worth for all time."
"That makes a really very difficult task for the Australians who are among the best soldiers on the Western Front."
"Attacks were not taken on piecemeal; they had prepared for it."
"If we succeed, and succeed we must, armies will be able to advance along the whole British front."
"The only attack in the First World War when everything went right."
"Materials, mutinies, and mud - the Great War 1917."
"1917 is a pivotal year in a way, sort of bills give me an introduction by saying we had now reached the point where the tide was beginning to turn."
"The USA has entered the war and while this will not materially affect 1917, psychologically it is an enormous fillip."
"...these men, the army led by these supposedly inadequate men, beat the supposedly more professional German army in 1918..."
"...in every respect the expeditionary force of nineteen was incomparably the best trained, best organized and best equipped British Army which ever went forth to war."
"During the first World War, the men are at the front while the wives left behind have to get work in order to survive."
"The instability created in Europe by the first world war set the stage for another international conflict."
"We are on a Soča frontline and today we will visit the third Italian line of defense, trenches, bunkers and other historical places."
"The iconic 1903 Springfield was the standard US Army rifle in the Great War."
"One single shot, that's all it took to set the world alight."
"The Great War would also provide an awe-inspiring, albeit horrific, demonstration of early modern warfare."
"It is industrialized killing on a scale never before encountered in the realm of human conflict."
"Men would ride into the war in 1914 on horseback only to ride out of it on the backs of tanks in 1918."
"The first Christmas is marked in some sectors by British and Germans playing games of football in no-man's land."
"It is Franz Ferdinand, a simple story that led to the First World War."
"This is the Somme, and the fighting that occurred here between July and November 1916 was some of the bloodiest of the First World War."
"It's one of a number of craters that were blown by the tunnelling companies and the Royal Engineers that marked the start of the Battle of the Somme."
"This battered stump is called the Danger Tree, and it marks the furthest point reached by any of the Newfoundlanders in the attack on the 1st of July 1916."
"The Germans called it the black day of the German army or the catastrophe of the German army."
"Ten thousand prisoners have passed through our cages and casualty stations; 25 towns and villages have been rescued from the clutch of the invaders."
"World War I was a dark turning point for humanity."
"They're a little smaller scale than the Turkish figures but, that being aside, they are a lovely representative of that period of the first world war."
"With the British, French, and German empires all having extensive colonies in Africa during the First World War, it should come as no surprise that there was extensive fighting there."
"When the Great War broke out in the summer of 1914, the governing leaders of colonial Africa received the news with considerably less enthusiasm than their countrymen back home."
"The mountainous terrain of central Cameroon proved highly defensible, letting the Germans hold back the allied forces for more than a year, repelling assault after assault on the provisional capital of Yaoundé."
"It does so much justice to explaining in a very real way what World War I was."
"The outbreak of the First World War brought a great diversity of reactions among the people, governments, and nations involved."
"This story is... almost crazy that they did this, that they actually called a truce over Christmas by singing carols to one another."
"World War I history is one of my favorite topics to cover."
"The Imperial War Museum has also enriched this exhibition with five exquisite watercolors that Sargent painted while on the Western Front in the summer of 1918."
"Vimy has since become kind of the focus of Canadian national memory of the first world war."
"Anything almost would have been better than what happened to Europe between 1914 and 1918."
"...new criticism is the literary product of this fragile human being who has been shorn of all certainties of the world that he knew of by the destructive torrents and explosions of the First World War."
"The ultimate vote was the German crew when in 1918 they were ordered to just go out and sail and fight the grand fleet to try and make a difference to the Germans' terms of surrender, they realized it was a suicide mission and just walked out."
"The division won hard-fought victories at Swasson and Long for which it was awarded the French Fourragère in the colors of the Croix de Guerre."
"Finally, the Indianhead Division participated in the Meuse-Argonne offensive which spelled the end of any German hope for victory."
"The division emerged from World War One as the most decorated American division in the American Expeditionary Forces."
"I find ambiguity in history fascinating, you know? Like, I lost it when I learned that in WWI, Bulgaria switched sides halfway through the war."
"Formation flying comes from the military, in World War I the use of aircraft intimately involved in military operations really took off."
"This is a story of heroism, of overcoming, of one of the best units in the United States military during the first world war."
"The story of the Lost Battalion... embodied just about everything that America stood for at the time."
"Charles Whittlesey, the leader of the Lost Battalion, was the first man in the First World War to be awarded the Medal of Honor."
"The 77th division would gain more kilometers of advance against the enemy than any other division in France."
"It's a really powerful movie about World War I."
"It is the defining event of the 20th century; it is the Great War."
"What prompted the U.S. to become involved in World War I? German submarines began attacking U.S. ships."
"I mean, just the fact that this was there during the First World War, incredible piece of history."
"World War I showed just how much America's influence had grown."
"In the Heat of World War I, a young American pilot fought for the French and found love amidst the chaos of the war."
"This is a gas mask from the First World War. That is extremely cool."
"The Germans, in very intelligent moves, surrender pretty quickly once this position was quite clear as the Kaiser abdicates and a civilian government decided to surrender to the Allied powers, hoping for a more lenient peace deal as a result."
"World War I is so under-discussed despite having just as much, if not more, influence on modern day as World War II."
"One can make a case at the end of the First World War, the French army is the best army at that time."
"World War I is such a typical human war writ large: fear, greed, ignorance."
"The Christmas Truce... it definitely happened."
"World War one started in Europe as a result of militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism."
"She is back with another lyrical historical fantasy story, this time set during World War I."
"The sinking of Lusitania impacted the First World War."
"The Australian Air Force was born from the Australian Flying Corps during the First World War."