Belgium, a neutral state, was forced into the First World War by a German ultima…
704 Results
Survey Articles (Regional)
Regional
Belgium
By Sophie De Schaepdrijver
Regional
Denmark
By Nils Arne Sørensen
With its economy highly reliant on Great Britain, Germany and other European nat…
Regional
France
By Nicolas Beaupré
To study France during the “Great War” – as it was called as early as 1914 – inv…
Regional
Great Britain
By Stephen Badsey
_Wants_You_Alfred_Leete_1914_IMG-128x128.jpg)
Great Britain was with its Empire the most powerful of the major belligerents, t…
Regional
Ireland
By Richard S. Grayson
Ireland’s war experience cannot be separated from Irish politics. Indeed, the st…
Regional
Luxembourg
By Benoît Majerus, Charel Roemer
Despite its neutrality, Luxembourg was occupied in August 1914, mainly for its s…
Regional
Norway
By Karl Erik Haug
Norway managed to stay neutral during the First World War, but the war still cre…
Regional
Portugal
By Maria Fernanda Rollo, Ana Paula Pires, Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses
Portugal’s participation in the First World War was depicted by its supporters a…
Regional
Spain
By Javier Ponce
This article examines Spain’s neutrality during the Great War, highlighting fact…
Regional
Sweden
By Sofi Qvarnström
For Sweden, the impact of the war was twofold. On the one hand, it was a test to…
Regional
Switzerland
By Jakob Tanner
As a neutral country, Switzerland was not involved in the devastating military c…
Regional
The Netherlands
By Samuël Kruizinga, Paul Moeyes, Wim Klinkert
The Netherlands remained neutral during the First World War, but was nevertheles…
Regional Thematic Articles
Regional Thematic
Air Warfare (Italy)
By Fabio Caffarena
Italy entered the war in 1915 with just a few dozen airplanes and more or less t…
Regional Thematic
Art (Italy)
By Monica Cioli
The article demonstrates the significance of the Great War for Italian Futurism:…
Regional Thematic
Art (Portugal)
By Pedro Lapa
The Great War coincided with a period of great changes and conceptions as regard…
Regional Thematic
Bereavement and Mourning (Belgium)
By Laurence van Ypersele
World War I claimed the lives of approximately 60,000 Belgian civilians and sold…
Regional Thematic
Bereavement and Mourning, Commemoration and Cult of the Fallen (France)
By Rémi Dalisson, Elise Julien
War victims left a huge vacuum both for their kin and society, which showed sign…
Regional Thematic
Bereavement and Mourning (Great Britain)
By Patricia Jalland
This article provides a synthesis of research on bereavement and mourning in Bri…
Regional Thematic
Between Acceptance and Refusal - Soldiers' Attitudes Towards War (Belgium)
By Rose Spijkerman
This article discusses the war experiences of Belgian soldiers: how did they end…
Regional Thematic
Between Acceptance and Refusal - Soldiers' Attitudes Towards War (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Jessica Meyer
This article examines British soldiers’ attitudes towards the First World War. I…
Regional Thematic
Between Acceptance and Refusal - Soldiers' Attitudes Towards War (Italy)
By Vanda Wilcox
During the First World War, Italian soldiers’ attitudes varied widely, from enth…
Regional Thematic
Between Acceptance and Refusal - Soldiers' Attitudes Towards War (Portugal)
By Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses
Establishing the attitude of Portuguese soldiers towards the First World War and…
Regional Thematic
Centenary (Canada)
By Geoffrey Bird
This paper explores Canada’s response to the Great War centenary of 2014-2018, s…
Regional Thematic
Centenary (France)
By Benjamin Gilles
The centenary of the Great War was, in France, a unique commemorative phenomenon…
Regional Thematic
Centenary (Ireland)
By Edward Madigan
Irish engagement with the First World War was active and intense and yet, for mu…
Regional Thematic
Centenary (Italy)
By Barbara Bracco
This article illustrates the main characteristics of the long commemorative cycl…
Regional Thematic
Centenary (United Kingdom)
By Lucy Noakes
How did the British nation-state, visibly divided in the early 21st century alon…
Regional Thematic
Children and Childhood (France)
By Manon Pignot
The Great War was unique in that it provoked an immediate, massive effort to mob…
Regional Thematic
Children and War (Italy)
By Antonio Gibelli
In Italy, as in all the belligerent countries, the First World War fully involve…
Regional Thematic
Civilian and Military Power (Belgium)
By Jan Naert
At the outbreak of the First World War, the relationship between the civil and m…
Regional Thematic
Civilian and Military Power (France)
By Michaël Bourlet
The responsibilities of politicians and military leaders are defined in times of…
Regional Thematic
Civilian and Military Power (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Matthew Johnson
By the early 20th century the United Kingdom had a well-established tradition of…
Regional Thematic
Civilian and Military Power (Italy)
By Marco Mondini
In Italy, as in the other European states involved in the First World War, the o…
Regional Thematic
Civil-Military Relations during World War I (Portugal)
By Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses
Portugal went to war in March 1916 with a government and an army that did not si…
Regional Thematic
Colonies (Italy)
By Simona Berhe
The Italian colonies, with the partial exception of Libya, played only a seconda…
Regional Thematic
Commemoration, Cult of the Fallen (Belgium)
By Laurence van Ypersele
The scope of the commemorations that developed in Belgium and in the remainder o…
Regional Thematic
Commemoration, Cult of the Fallen (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Ann-Marie Foster
The commemoration of the First World War in Britain and Ireland has a complex hi…
Regional Thematic
Commemoration (Switzerland)
By Béatrice Ziegler, Konrad Kuhn
This article examines how Switzerland has remembered and commemorated the First …
Regional Thematic
Diplomacy (Portugal)
By Pedro Aires Oliveira
The diplomacy of Portugal’s participation in the Great War was largely determine…
Regional Thematic
Discipline and Military Justice (Italy)
By Irene Guerrini, Marco Pluviano
The article illustrates the soldiers’ attitudes to the war, highlighting both th…
Regional Thematic
Disease and Public Health (Portugal)
By Rita Garnel
In recent years, the number of studies on the Portuguese First Republican experi…
Regional Thematic
Domestic Politics and Neutrality (Denmark)
By Niels Finn Christiansen
_and_Ove_Rode_(1867-1933)_IMG-128x128.jpg)
During World War One, Denmark managed to remain neutral. But, as the country was…
Regional Thematic
Domestic Politics and Neutrality (Norway)
By Eirik Brazier
The article focuses on how Norway’s neutrality during the First World War impact…
Regional Thematic
Domestic Politics and Neutrality (Spain)
By Maximiliano Fuentes Codera
_IMG-128x128.jpg)
Despite the official neutrality maintained by Spain throughout the First World W…
Regional Thematic
Domestic Politics and Neutrality (Sweden)
By Anne Hedén
This article focuses on how the Swedish neutrality policy during the First World…
Regional Thematic
Domestic Politics and Neutrality (Switzerland)
By Carlo Moos
Neutrality is a fundamental problem in modern Swiss history and played a pivotal…
Regional Thematic
Domestic Politics and Neutrality (The Netherlands)
By Pauline Onderwater
When the First World War broke out, the Netherlands’ most important political pa…
Regional Thematic
Dominions’ Military Relationship to Great Britain 1902-1914 (British Dominions)
By Steve Marti
The dominions of Australia, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, and South Africa …
Regional Thematic
Easter Rising (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Fearghal McGarry
Although a military failure, the 1916 rebellion transformed Ireland by destroyin…
Regional Thematic
Exile and Migration (Spain)
By Inmaculada Cordero Olivero
This paper analyzes population movements to and from Spain during World War One,…
Regional Thematic
Exile and Migration (Sweden)
By Karin Kvist Geverts
Migration to and from Sweden has always occurred, but since emigration was large…
Regional Thematic
Exile and Migration (Switzerland)
By Anja Huber
This article analyses Swiss migration policy and Switzerland’s role as a country…
Regional Thematic
Exile and Migration (The Netherlands)
By Marlou Schrover
About a million Belgian civilians fled to the Netherlands at the beginning of th…
Regional Thematic
Film/Cinema (Belgium)
By Leen Engelen
This article examines cinema in relation to the First World War in Belgium from …
Regional Thematic
Film/Cinema (Denmark)
By Bjarne Søndergaard Bendtsen
In the years leading up to the First World War, Danish film gained a prominent p…
Regional Thematic
Film/Cinema (France)
By Michael Paris
This article offers a survey of how French filmmakers covered the Great War. Beg…
Regional Thematic
Film/Cinema (Great Britain)
By Michael Paris
This article explores how British cinematographers filmed the war and how the fi…
Regional Thematic
Film/Cinema (Italy)
By Alessandro Faccioli
Italian cinema has tried with difficulty to exploit the narrative idealization o…
Regional Thematic
Film/Cinema (Portugal)
By Tiago Baptista
This article discusses the production and reception of Portuguese and foreign “w…
Regional Thematic
Film/Cinema (Spain)
By Daniel Sánchez-Salas
Spain’s official neutrality during the First World War influenced the developmen…
Regional Thematic
Film/Cinema (Sweden)
By Ulf Zander
Sweden succeeded in remaining a non-combatant through the First World War. Howev…
Regional Thematic
Film/Cinema (The Netherlands)
By Klaas de Zwaan
Film did not undermine Dutch neutrality during the First World War, but Dutch ci…
Regional Thematic
Food and Nutrition (Belgium)
By Antoon Vrints
The First World War had a severe impact on the food supply in occupied Belgium. …
Regional Thematic
Food and Nutrition (France)
By Stéphane Le Bras, Emmanuelle Cronier
In times of war, food becomes a major concern in military and civilian matters. …
Regional Thematic
Food and Nutrition (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Ian Miller
During the First World War, food was a major concern across Britain and Ireland.…
Regional Thematic
Food and Nutrition (Italy)
By Maria Concetta Dentoni
During the First World War, the Italian government was unable to establish a rea…
Regional Thematic
Food and Nutrition (Portugal)
By Maria Fernanda Rollo, Ana Paula Pires
During the Great War consumers emerged as a new demanding group within European …
Regional Thematic
Foreign Policy and Business Diplomacy (Denmark)
By Steen Andersen
The Danish government succeeded in maintaining neutrality and thus sparing the c…
Regional Thematic
Foreign Policy (Norway)
By Roald Berg
Norway was a "neutral ally" of Great Britain during the war because of the immen…
Regional Thematic
Foreign Policy (Spain)
By José Antonio Montero Jiménez
Throughout the Great War, successive Spanish governments tried to advance tradit…
Regional Thematic
Foreign Policy (Sweden)
By Gunnar Åselius
Until 1917, Swedish neutrality was characterized by a certain “benevolence” towa…
Regional Thematic
Foreign Policy (The Netherlands)
By Maartje Abbenhuis
The Kingdom of the Netherlands upheld a foreign policy of strict neutrality duri…
Regional Thematic
Governments, Parliaments and Parties (Belgium)
By Emmanuel Gerard
The First World War changed the balance of power in Belgium. From a strongly pol…
Regional Thematic
Governments, Parliaments and Parties (France)
By Fabienne Bock
Despite its weaknesses, the French parliamentary republic survived the First Wor…
Regional Thematic
Governments, Parliaments and Parties (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Matthew Johnson
The Great War marked a period of profound upheaval in British politics. The old …
Regional Thematic
Governments, Parliaments and Parties (Italy)
By Elena Papadia
During the period of neutrality, Italian public opinion was divided into two cam…
Regional Thematic
Governments, Parliaments and Parties (Portugal)
By Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses
Founded in October 1910, the Portuguese Republic was soon mired in turmoil. The …
Regional Thematic
Historiography 1918-Today (Belgium)
By Nico Wouters
After a promising start, academic historiography of the First World War in Belgi…
Regional Thematic
Historiography 1918-Today (France)
By Stéphane Tison
The history of the Great War has always been written by an array of actors, incl…
Regional Thematic
Historiography 1918-Today (Great Britain)
By Alex Mayhew
This historiographical piece surveys trends and key interventions in scholarship…
Regional Thematic
Historiography 1918-Today (Ireland)
By Fionnuala Walsh
This historiographical article surveys key interventions in scholarship of Irela…
Regional Thematic
Historiography 1918-Today (Italy)
By Nicola Labanca
Italian historiography of the Great War has been deeply affected by the close li…
Regional Thematic
Historiography 1918-Today (Portugal)
By Ana Paula Pires, Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses
This article attempts to chart the historiography of the First World War in Port…
Regional Thematic
Historiography 1918-Today (Switzerland)
By Daniel Marc Segesser
In a rapidly expanding universe of publications it is important to reflect from …
Regional Thematic
Humanitarianism (Denmark)
By Nils Arne Sørensen
During the war and immediate post-war years, Danish individuals and institutions…
Regional Thematic
Humanitarianism (Norway)
By Eldrid Mageli
Compared to Sweden and Denmark, the humanitarian contribution by the Norwegian R…
Regional Thematic
Humanitarianism (Spain)
By Maximiliano Fuentes Codera
Despite Spain’s official position of neutrality during the First World War, Span…
Regional Thematic
Humanitarianism (Sweden)
By Lina Sturfelt
This article offers an overview of Swedish transnational humanitarianism from 19…
Regional Thematic
Humanitarianism (The Netherlands)
By Leo van Bergen
During the First World War, the neutral Dutch were involved in humanitarian ende…
Regional Thematic
Intelligence and Espionage (Denmark)
By Kristian Bruhn
Denmark’s geographical position offered easy ingress to and egress from Germany,…
Regional Thematic
Intelligence and Espionage (Norway)
By Ola Teige, Nik. Brandal
Before 1914, foreign intelligence activity in Norway was limited, reflecting its…
Regional Thematic
Intelligence and Espionage (Spain)
By Carolina García Sanz
This article deals with operations carried out by belligerent secret services in…
Regional Thematic
Intelligence and Espionage (Sweden)
By Wilhelm Agrell
Intelligence activities in Sweden during the war were largely influenced by the …
Regional Thematic
Intelligence and Espionage (The Netherlands)
By Wim Klinkert
From the first days of the war, the neutral Netherlands, because of its geograph…
Regional Thematic
International Committee of the Red Cross
By Daniel Palmieri, Irène Herrmann
This article seeks to analyze how the International Committee of the Red Cross (…
Regional Thematic
Internees (Switzerland)
By Thomas Bürgisser
Swiss governmental and non-governmental organizations were intensely involved in…
Regional Thematic
Labour (Belgium)
By Dirk Luyten
The standard of living of Belgian workers declined in the First World War as a c…
Regional Thematic
Labour (France)
By Pierre Chancerel
French mobilization during the First World War created new industrial needs and …
Regional Thematic
Labour, Labour Movements, Trade Unions and Strikes (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Chris Wrigley
The wartime demand for labour enhanced its economic and political strength. Indu…
Regional Thematic
Labour, Labour Movements, Trade Unions and Strikes (Italy)
By Matteo Ermacora
This article analyzes changes provoked by the war within the world of industrial…
Regional Thematic
Labour, Labour Movements, Trade Unions and Strikes (Switzerland)
By Christian Koller
This article analyses the development of the Swiss labour movement and working-c…
Regional Thematic
Labour Movements and Strikes, Social Conflict and Control, Protest and Repression (France)
By Galit Haddad
This article examines the institutional shake-up of the French labour movement d…
Regional Thematic
Labour Movements, Trade Unions and Strikes (Belgium)
By Antoon Vrints
The First World War had a decisive, but paradoxical impact on the development of…
Regional Thematic
Labour Movements, Trade Unions and Strikes (Portugal)
By Joana Dias Pereira
This article focuses on the interaction between the development of industrial so…
Regional Thematic
Labour (Portugal)
By Ana Carina Gerardo da Silva Azevedo
This article describes the main characteristics of Portuguese production structu…
Regional Thematic
Literature (Belgium)
By Sophie De Schaepdrijver
Belgium’s war literature, in both Dutch (Flemish) and in French, covers differen…
Regional Thematic
Literature (France)
By Nicolas Beaupré
Behind the lines, writers largely supported the war effort in their countries. A…
Regional Thematic
Literature (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Jane Potter
The literature produced in Great Britain and Ireland during and after the First …
Regional Thematic
Literature (Italy)
By Fabio Todero
Literary activity in Italy during the Great War was based on a very wide range o…
Regional Thematic
Literature (Portugal)
By Francisco Miguel Araújo
World War I, the only global conflict in which Portugal participated during the …
Regional Thematic
Literature (Switzerland)
By Nicole Billeter
During the First World War, many authors from neighbouring countries who spoke o…
Regional Thematic
Making Sense of the War (Belgium)
By Sophie De Schaepdrijver
Belgium’s war experience was sui generis. The vast majority of Belgians experien…
Regional Thematic
Making Sense of the War (Denmark)
By Bjarne Søndergaard Bendtsen
Denmark was declared neutral at the outbreak of the war in 1914, and in a messag…
Regional Thematic
Making Sense of the War (France)
By Juliette Courmont
To support the war, people needed to be able to make sense of it, and the French…
Regional Thematic
Making Sense of the War (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Catriona Pennell
At the outbreak of war, the populations of Britain and Ireland understood that v…
Regional Thematic
Making Sense of the War (Norway)
By Eirik Brazier
This article explores how Norwegian intellectuals and cultural elites interprete…
Regional Thematic
Making Sense of the War (Portugal)
By Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses
A latecomer to the war, Portugal underwent a long and divisive debate about whet…
Regional Thematic
Making Sense of the War (Spain)
By Carolina García Sanz
This article deals with Spanish representations of neutrality and war within dom…
Regional Thematic
Making Sense of the War (Sweden)
By Anne Hedén
This text gives a brief overview of the Swedish intellectual, literary and media…
Regional Thematic
Making Sense of the War (The Netherlands)
By Marjet Brolsma
This article deals with the collective narratives Dutch intellectuals drew upon …
Regional Thematic
Migration (Norway)
By Eirik Brazier
The outbreak of war in 1914 resulted in an unprecedented influx of foreign citiz…
Regional Thematic
Military and Strategy (Denmark)
By Michael H. Clemmesen
The Danish government let two elements guide its hesitant use of the armed force…
Regional Thematic
Military and Strategy (Spain)
By Ángel Alcalde
This article examines the history of the Spanish army during the First World War…
Regional Thematic
Military and Strategy (Sweden)
By Gunnar Åselius
The Russian navy was suspicious of Swedish neutrality in 1914, as Sweden had bee…
Regional Thematic
Military and Strategy (The Netherlands)
By Wim Klinkert
Since the middle of the 19th century, armed neutrality had been the pillar of Du…
Regional Thematic
Minorities in Germany (Denmark)
By Hans Schultz Hansen
The Danish minority in North Schleswig in northern Germany (Sønderjylland in Dan…
Regional Thematic
Mourning and Cult of the Fallen (Italy)
By Oliver Janz
For Italy, the mass death of soldiers in the First World War was a completely un…
Regional Thematic
Mourning and Cult of the Fallen (Portugal)
By Silvia Correia
Portugal’s participation in the First World War, first in Africa and then on the…
Regional Thematic
Music (Portugal)
By Pedro Félix
This article concerns music production in Portugal during the war years. In orde…
Regional Thematic
Mutilation and Disfiguration (France)
By Sophie Delaporte
This article explores the issue of suffering through two distinct categories of …
Regional Thematic
Occupation after the War (Belgium and France)
By Anne Godfroid
The Armistice agreement foresaw the occupation of the left bank of the Rhine, th…
Regional Thematic
Occupation during and after the War (Austria-Hungary)
By Wolfram Dornik
While on the Western Front there were only limited territorial movements, the Ea…
Regional Thematic
Occupation during and after the War (Italy)
By Matteo Ermacora
During and after the First World War, Italy experienced different kinds of occup…
Regional Thematic
Occupation during the War (Belgium and France)
By Larissa Wegner
This article examines the German occupation of Belgium and Northern France in 19…
Regional Thematic
Organization of War Economies (Belgium)
By Dirk Luyten
As it became clear that the war would last a long time, the German occupying adm…
Regional Thematic
Organization of War Economies (France)
By Jean-Luc Mastin
In France, a mixed economy was gradually set up during the war due to multiple f…
Regional Thematic
Organization of War Economies (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Christopher Phillips
The First World War had a profound and longstanding effect upon the British econ…
Regional Thematic
Organization of War Economies: Industrial Mobilization (Italy)
By Piero Di Girolamo
Industrial mobilisation in Italy during the first World War took on particular c…
Regional Thematic
Organization of War Economies (Portugal)
By Ana Paula Pires, Maria Fernanda Rollo
This article seeks to analyze the organization of Portugal’s wartime economy. It…
Regional Thematic
Post-war Conflict (Great Britain and Ireland)
By D. M. Leeson
The outbreak of war in 1914 interrupted a political crisis within the United Kin…
Regional Thematic
Post-war Economies (Belgium)
By Dirk Luyten
Belgium had suffered considerable economic losses during the war, which was foug…
Regional Thematic
Post-war Economies (France)
By Stéphane Le Bras
At the end of the war, all the belligerent countries had to face the dramatic co…
Regional Thematic
Post-war Economies (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Christopher Godden
_IMG-128x128.jpg)
The political and economic history of Britain during the 1920s and 1930s was mou…
Regional Thematic
Post-war Economies (Italy)
By Fabio Degli Esposti
Starting from the essential parameters of the Italian economy and finance in the…
Regional Thematic
Post-war Political Consequences (Portugal)
By Maria Alice Samara
This article will address the key political features in the post-war years of th…
Regional Thematic
Post-war Settlement (Portugal)
By Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses
Two factors made it especially important for Portugal’s interventionists not onl…
Regional Thematic
Post-war Societies (Belgium)
By Chantal Kesteloot
The end of the First World War marked, to a certain extent, Belgium’s entry into…
Regional Thematic
Post-war Societies (France)
By Victor Demiaux
French post-war society had to face the consequences of a mass death experienced…
Regional Thematic
Post-war Societies (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Caitríona Beaumont
The post-war years in Great Britain and Ireland witnessed a period of transforma…
Regional Thematic
Post-war Societies (Italy)
By Andrea Baravelli
Post-war Italy was the only country that proved unable to use victory as a rheto…
Regional Thematic
Post-war Societies (Portugal)
By Paulo Eduardo Guimarães
High inflation, strikes, labour organization, war profiteering and “moral corrup…
Regional Thematic
Press Censorship (Portugal)
By Noémia Malva Novais
When we think of the press and journalism in Portugal under the First Republic (…
Regional Thematic
Press/Journalism (Belgium)
By Pierre Van Den Dungen
The Belgian press world was turned upside down by the German occupation. Most of…
Regional Thematic
Press/Journalism (France)
By Joëlle Beurier
This article addresses the notions of propaganda and censorship between 1914 and…
Regional Thematic
Press/Journalism (Great Britain and Ireland)
By David Monger
Discussions of press and propaganda in the British Isles sometimes focus excessi…
Regional Thematic
Press/Journalism (Italy)
By Mauro Forno
Propaganda, combined with censorship, was indubitably one of the genuinely novel…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (Belgium)
By Christophe Bechet
Following the Treaty of London in 1839, pre-war planning theories in Belgium osc…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (France)
By Olivier Cosson
This article focuses on the military anticipation and preparation for war in Fra…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (Great Britain)
By Hew Strachan
When Europe went to war in 1914, the continental belligerents had plans for the …
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning (Italy)
By Filippo Cappellano
From 1870 to 1914, given the inferiority of the Italian army with respect to tha…
Regional Thematic
Pre-war Paramilitary Mobilisation (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Justin Dolan Stover
Several distinct cultural, political, and class-based groups organized paramilit…
Regional Thematic
Prisoners of War and Internees (Great Britain)
By Panikos Panayi
During the First World War, hundreds of thousands of men found themselves intern…
Regional Thematic
Prisoners of War (Belgium and France)
By Heather Jones
During the First World War, France was faced with creating a system of mass capt…
Regional Thematic
Prisoners of War (Italy)
By Luca Gorgolini
In the first part of the article, the salient features of the experiences of the…
Regional Thematic
Private Life (France)
By Clémentine Vidal-Naquet
The war radically disrupted the private lives of French families who were practi…
Regional Thematic
Propaganda at Home (Belgium)
By Bénédicte Rochet
August 1914: “Poor Little Belgium”, martyred by the German invader, became an ef…
Regional Thematic
Propaganda at Home (France)
By Charles Ridel
A conflict that was industrial and technological, the Great War was also a war o…
Regional Thematic
Propaganda at Home (Great Britain and Ireland)
By David Monger
British and Irish domestic propaganda evolved patchily throughout the war. It un…
Regional Thematic
Propaganda at Home (Italy)
By Beatrice Pisa
The Italian government, in line with its liberal political views, left the mater…
Regional Thematic
Propaganda at Home (Portugal)
By Noémia Malva Novais
Propaganda, like censorship, is legitimized by states at war due to the alleged …
Regional Thematic
Refugees (Italy)
By Francesco Frizzera
During World War I, about 630,000 people found refuge in the interior of the Kin…
Regional Thematic
Religion (Portugal)
By Maria Lúcia de Brito Moura
World War One represented a turning point in the relationship between churches a…
Regional Thematic
Religious Mobilization and Popular Belief (Italy)
By Maria Paiano
This article summarizes the state of knowledge about the role of religions durin…
Regional Thematic
Revolutions (Portugal)
By Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses
Portugal’s participation in the First World War, never consensual, was marked by…
Regional Thematic
Science and Technology (Belgium)
By Kenneth Bertrams
The invasion and subsequent occupation of most of Belgian territory paralyzed th…
Regional Thematic
Science and Technology (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Matthew Ford
This article considers the challenges faced by Britain’s armies, engineers, scie…
Regional Thematic
Science and Technology (Italy)
By Andrea Scartabellati, Felicita Ratti
This article analyzes the events which occurred in the Italian scientific world …
Regional Thematic
Science and Technology (Portugal)
By José Luís Assis
This article focuses on the Portuguese war-related science and technology develo…
Regional Thematic
Social Conflict and Control, Protest and Repression (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Lois Bibbings
This article considers social conflict and protest within the United Kingdom dur…
Regional Thematic
Social Conflict and Control, Protest and Repression (Italy)
By Roberto Bianchi
In the years 1914-1918, Italy was the scene of periodic waves of protest against…
Regional Thematic
Social Conflict and Control, Protest and Repression (Portugal)
By Joana Dias Pereira
This article analyses the evolution of the repertoire of collective action durin…
Regional Thematic
Subjectivity and Emotions (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Jessica Meyer
This article assesses the place of shell shock in the subjective experience of B…
Regional Thematic
Swiss Companies in World War One (Switzerland)
By Roman Rossfeld
This article describes the business development and the opportunities and risks …
Regional Thematic
The Church (Spain)
By José-Leonardo Ruiz Sánchez
The Spanish church identified with Pope Benedict XV’s efforts in favour of neutr…
Regional Thematic
Veterans' Associations (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Emma Hanna
No British government had ever formed or provided for an army of the size requir…
Regional Thematic
War Aims and War Aims Discussions (Belgium)
By Hubert van Tuyll
Belgium’s war aims were a direct consequence of the way in which the country was…
Regional Thematic
War Aims and War Aims Discussions (France)
By Stéphane Tison
On 4 August 1914, in his first speech after the declaration of war, Raymond Poin…
Regional Thematic
War Aims and War Aims Discussions (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Brock Millman
When Britain entered the First World War its war aims were simple: to restore Be…
Regional Thematic
War Aims and War Aims Discussions (Portugal)
By Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses
Portugal’s wartime governments never formulated a concrete set of war aims. The …
Regional Thematic
Warfare 1914-1918 (Belgium)
By Tom Simoens
Between August 1914 and November 1918 the Belgian army took part in the First Wo…
Regional Thematic
Warfare 1914-1918 (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Alaric Searle
The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) participated from the outset in the fighti…
Regional Thematic
Warfare 1914-1918 (Italy)
By Filippo Cappellano
The Italian Army faced the conflict in an inferior position compared to the oppo…
Regional Thematic
Warfare 1914-1918 (Portugal)
By Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses
Though safely removed from the main European conflict zones, Portugal was nevert…
Regional Thematic
War Finance (Belgium)
By Dirk Luyten
The Belgian monetary system evolved dramatically during World War I. The Société…
Regional Thematic
War Finance (France)
By Patrice Baubeau
Though it entered war with an already important public debt, France managed its …
Regional Thematic
War Finance (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Martin Horn
While Britain financed the war successfully doing so exacted a toll. To meet war…
Regional Thematic
War Finance (Italy)
By Fabio Degli Esposti
Setting out from the fundamental variables of the Italian economy and finances o…
Regional Thematic
War Finance (Portugal)
By Luciano Amaral, Álvaro da Silva
Portugal financed the extraordinary expenditures of the First World War in the s…
Regional Thematic
War Letters (Italy)
By Carlo Stiaccini
Despite the high rates of illiteracy in Italy on the eve of the war, the conflic…
Regional Thematic
War Losses (Belgium)
By Benoît Majerus
The Belgian situation was unique in the sense that military losses were relative…
Regional Thematic
War Losses (France)
By Alexandre Lafon
When the fighting came to an end in late 1918, military losses for France were i…
Regional Thematic
War Losses (Italy)
By Pierluigi Scolè
The article examines the Italian losses in the Great War 1914-1918. Regarding th…
Regional Thematic
War Losses (Portugal)
By João Moreira Tavares
Many figures have been presented over the years to quantify the human losses tha…
Regional Thematic
Wartime and Post-war Economies (Denmark)
By Jan Pedersen
From 1914 to 1918, moving from peak to trough, Danish GDP per capita dropped by …
Regional Thematic
Wartime and Post-war Economies (Spain)
By Andrés Sánchez Picón, José Joaquín García Gómez
This article focuses on the impact of the First World War on the economy of neut…
Regional Thematic
Wartime and Post-war Economies (Sweden)
By Henric Häggqvist
World War I had devastating effects on many European economies. Even a neutral c…
Regional Thematic
Wartime and Post-war Economies (Switzerland)
By Tobias Straumann
Though Switzerland was not conquered, its economy was strongly affected by the F…
Regional Thematic
Wartime and Post-war Economies (The Netherlands)
By Hein A. M. Klemann
Mutual dependence between the Dutch economy and Western German industrial centre…
Regional Thematic
Wartime and Post-war Societies (Denmark)
By Annette Østergaard Schultz
The pivotal policy aspect for the Danish government during the First World War w…
Regional Thematic
Wartime and Post-war Societies (Norway)
By Eirik Brazier
This article focuses on the short- and long-term impact of the First World War o…
Regional Thematic
Wartime and Post-war Societies (Spain)
By Miguel Angel Martorell Linares
A certain consensus exists in Spanish historiography regarding the First World W…
Regional Thematic
Wartime and Post-war Societies (Sweden)
By Lina Sturfelt
The First World War and its aftermath had a profound and enduring impact on Swed…
Regional Thematic
Wartime and Post-war Societies (The Netherlands)
By Conny Kristel
The Dutch were not just passive bystanders of the war. They reflected on the nat…
Regional Thematic
Women, Gender, Social Movements (Switzerland)
By Elisabeth Joris
This article explores the war’s impact on women’s economic and legal status in S…
Regional Thematic
Women's Mobilization for War (Belgium)
By Eliane Gubin, Els Flour, Marie Kympers
Belgium experienced the war in an exceptional position: it never issued a declar…
Regional Thematic
Women's Mobilization for War (France)
By Peggy Bette
In France, the mobilisation of women followed two parallel movements. One of the…
Regional Thematic
Women's Mobilization for War (Great Britain and Ireland)
By Lucy Noakes
This article briefly surveys the impact of the First World War on the lives of B…
Regional Thematic
Women's Mobilization for War (Italy)
By Stefania Bartoloni
The departure of millions of men for the front created unprecedented areas of ac…
Regional Thematic
Women's Mobilization for War (Portugal)
By Maria Alice Samara
The participation of Portugal in the First World War opened up a very important …
Encyclopedic Entries
Entry
Activisme
By Antoon Vrints
A minority of the adherents of the Flemish movement were willing to collaborate …
Entry
Ador, Gustave
By Irène Herrmann
Ador was the third president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (IC…
Entry
Aircraft, Fighter and Pursuit
By Mark Wells
The general trend in aircraft development during World War I was towards better-…
Entry
Aircraft, Reconnaissance and Bomber
By Craig Morris
Much like fighter aircraft, World War I reconnaissance and bomber technology adv…
Entry
Alain-Fournier, Henri
By Laurence Campa
Reported missing in action in September 1914, Alain-Fournier is not officially c…
Entry
Albert I, King of the Belgians
By Jan Velaers
Albert I, the third king of the Belgians, played a leading role as supreme comma…
Entry
Albertini, Luigi
By Rosaria Leonardi
Luigi Albertini was a journalist and editor-in-chief of one of the most importan…
Entry
Alfonso XIII, King of Spain
By Carolina García Sanz
Alfonso XIII was a controversial Spanish king during the first decades of the 20…
Entry
Allenby, Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, Viscount
By James E. Kitchen
Field Marshal Edmund Allenby was a British army officer who commanded a variety …
Entry
Alsace-Lorraine
By Elizabeth Vlossak
Alsace-Lorraine was a border region located between the Rhine River and the Vosg…
Entry
Amiens, Battle of
By Stephen Badsey
The Battle of Amiens, 8-12 August 1918, was a decisive British-led victory that …
Entry
Amphibious Raids on Ostend and Zeebrugge
By Mark D. Karau
On the night of 22-23 April 1918, the Royal Navy attacked the German occupied to…
Entry
Angell, Ralph Norman
By Martin Ceadel
Norman Angell (birth name Ralph Norman Lane), built a long career as an internat…
Entry
Apollinaire, Guillaume
By Annette Becker
Although he actually died of Spanish influenza, the trepanned avant-garde poet w…
Entry
Arditi
By Martina Salvante
Arditi were elite assault troops in the Italian army. They also emerged on Ital…
Entry
Army of the Orient
By Yohann Chanoir
The French Army of the Orient is a military unit, which was created after the di…
Entry
Arnold J. Toynbee
By Laura Di Fiore
During World War I, Arnold J. Toynbee, as a member of the Political Intelligence…
Entry
Artillery
By Dieter Storz
Artillery consisted of the military’s heavy firearms. As a branch of the armed f…
Entry
Asquith, Herbert Henry
By Garry Tregidga
Asquith was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at the outbreak of war. He form…
Entry
Atlantic U-boat Campaign
By John Abbatiello
Between February 1915 and the Armistice, Germany conducted three submarine campa…
Entry
Attrition Warfare
By Nicholas Murray
Attrition warfare is the term used to describe the sustained process of wearing …
Entry
Balfour, Arthur James Balfour, Earl of
By Samir Seikaly
Arthur James Balfour was a British Conservative politician and statesman who ser…
Entry
Balfour Declaration
By Maryanne A. Rhett
The Balfour Declaration, the document that set the stage for establishing the st…
Entry
Baracca, Francesco
By Irene Guerrini, Marco Pluviano
Francesco Baracca was the most famous Italian aviator, and shot down thirty-four…
Entry
Barbed Wire
By Alan Krell
Invented in France in 1860, barbed wire was further developed in the United Stat…
Entry
Barbusse, Henri
By Laurence Campa
Fulfilling the archetype of the war writer, Henri Barbusse is the embodiment of …
Entry
Barthas, Louis
By Rémy Cazals
A barrelmaker in a French village and corporal at war in an infantry regiment, L…
Entry
Battisti, Cesare
By Mirko Saltori
Cesare Battisti was the leader of the socialist party of the Italian Tirol (Tren…
Entry
Beatty, David Beatty, Earl
By Chuck Steele
David Beatty was a British admiral. He is best known for leading Britain’s Battl…
Entry
Beerenbrouck, Charles Ruijs de
By Paul Moeyes
Ruijs de Beerenbrouck was a Dutch Prime Minster who successfully dealt with the …
Entry
Belgian Soldiers
By Tom Simoens
This article briefly describes the 320,000 Belgian soldiers of the Great War. Wh…
Entry
Bell, Gertrude
By Laith Shakir
Gertrude Bell’s earlier travels and intellectual interests, alongside her wartim…
Entry
Bergson, Henri
By Stanley E. Gontarski
Widely known as a philosopher in France from the publication of his first book i…
Entry
Bernhardt, Sarah
By Emmanuelle Loubat
Sarah Bernhardt was a French actress. During the war, she showed great commitmen…
Entry
Besant, Annie
By Maria Framke
Annie Besant (1847-1933) was a British supporter of Indian nationalism. During W…
Entry
Bettignies, Louise Marie Jeanne Henriette de
By Chantal Antier
Louise de Bettignies created an intelligence network for the British in occupied…
Entry
Bishops and Chaplains (Italy)
By Sante Lesti
Italian bishops and chaplains played a central role in making sense of the war b…
Entry
Bissing, Moritz Ferdinand Freiherr von
By Christoph Roolf, Thomas L. Gertzen
Moritz von Bissing was born on 30 January 1844, in Bellmannsdorf, Silesia, then …
Entry
Black and Tans and Auxiliaries
By D. M. Leeson
The "Black and Tans" were British ex-soldiers recruited to reinforce the United …
Entry
Bonar Law, Andrew
By Stuart Ball
Bonar Law was leader of the Conservative Party in Britain during the war. He ent…
Entry
Border Occupation (Switzerland)
By Michael M. Olsansky
Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, the Swiss army moved into a s…
Entry
Borders (The Netherlands)
By Maartje Abbenhuis
The borders of the Netherlands were an important site of war experience for the …
Entry
Borms, August
By Christine Van Everbroeck
As a Flemish nationalist, August Borms actively collaborated with the Germans du…
Entry
Boselli, Paolo
By Vanda Wilcox
After a long parliamentary career, Paolo Boselli became Italy’s 22nd prime minis…
Entry
Brändström, Elsa
By Lena Radauer
Elsa Brändström was the only neutral representative to work amongst prisoners of…
Entry
British Expeditionary Force
By Peter Simkins
Between 1914 and 1918 the British Expeditionary Force grew from a small professi…
Entry
British Mandate for Palestine
By Avital Ginat
The British Mandate for Palestine (1918-1948) was the outcome of several factors…
Entry
Brittain, Vera
By Carol Acton
Vera Brittain’s memoir Testament of Youth, and her wartime diary published in 19…
Entry
Broqueville, Charles Marie Pierre Albert, Baron de
By Laurence van Ypersele
Charles de Broqueville, chief of the Belgian government during the First World W…
Entry
Brussels
By Chantal Kesteloot
The Belgian capital was spared the anguish of combat, but the city suffered four…
Entry
Cadorna, Luigi
By Anna Grillini
Luigi Cadorna was a career military man, the son of a major general in the army …
Entry
Camouflage
By Cécile Coutin
A technique of concealment and protection, a means to deceive but not kill, camo…
Entry
Capello, Luigi
By Andrea Argenio
Luigi Capello was an Italian general who took part in the war on the Gorizia fro…
Entry
Caporetto, Battle of
By Anna Grillini
The Battle of Caporetto, also known as the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, remains…
Entry
Carnegie, Lancelot
By Bruno J. Navarro
Minister plenipotentiary for England in Lisbon, there was consensus about Lancel…
Entry
Carrier Pigeons (Portugal)
By João Moreira Tavares
Since ancient times, carrier pigeons have been used successfully in various arme…
Entry
Casement, Roger, Sir
By Séamas Ó'Síocháin
Following a career as British consul and humanitarian investigator, Roger Caseme…
Entry
Cavalry
By Douglas Kennedy
By the beginning of the 20th century, field armies had integrated the combat arm…
Entry
Cavell, Edith Louisa
By Katie Pickles
Edith Cavell was an English nursing matron executed by the Germans in Brussels o…
Entry
Cendrars, Blaise
By Laurence Campa
The life and works of the poet Blaise Cendrars testify to a disturbing paradox: …
Entry
Cenotaph
By Glyn Prysor
The Cenotaph is a major British war memorial. Standing in Whitehall, London, it …
Entry
Champagne Offensives
By Sebastian Lukasik
In 1915, France’s Champagne region was the setting for two large-scale French of…
Entry
Charleroi, Battle of
By Erwan Le Gall
The Battle of Charleroi (21-23 August 1914), in which General Charles Lanrezac’s…
Entry
Charost, Alexis-Armand
By James E. Connolly
_IMG-128x128.jpg)
Alexis-Armand Charost was bishop of Lille and a key notable during the occupatio…
Entry
Children's Literature
By Berenice Zunino
Extracurricular mobilization of children through literature took place between 1…
Entry
Christmas Truce
By Alexandre Lafon
In December 1914, there were several truces between enemy soldiers along one par…
Entry
Churchill, Winston Leonard Spencer
By Richard Toye
Churchill was Navy Minister during the early stages of the war but was widely cr…
Entry
Church of England
By Stuart Bell
In a conflict characterized as a Holy War between “right” and “might”, the suppo…
Entry
Citizenship (Great Britain)
By Nicoletta F. Gullace
World War I had a profound impact on concepts of citizenship. Not only did hosts…
Entry
Clemenceau, Georges
By Vincent Laniol
During the war, Georges Clemenceau fought for a more efficient war effort and fo…
Entry
Close Combat Weapons
By Markus Pöhlmann
The basic tactical question for all military powers prior to 1914 was how to app…
Entry
Coffee
By Dorothee Wierling
Before World War I, coffee had become a popular drink in countries in the northe…
Entry
Collaboration (Belgium and France)
By James E. Connolly
Collaboration is often associated with the military occupations of the Second Wo…
Entry
Collins, Michael
By Frank Callanan
Michael Collins was a revolutionary leader who rose to become chairman of the Ir…
Entry
Comité National de Secours et d'Alimentation
By Michaël Amara
The Comité national de Secours et d’Alimentation (National Committee for Relief …
Entry
Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB)
By Branden Little
From 1914 to 1919, the Commission for Relief in Belgium directed an innovative a…
Entry
Communication Technology
By Elizabeth Bruton
A selection of communication technologies, ancient and modern, was available at …
Entry
Comradeship (France)
By Alexandre Lafon
“United as we were on the battle front,” the rallying cry popularized by one of …
Entry
Cort van der Linden, Pieter Wilhelm Adriaan
By Paul Moeyes
P.W.A. Cort van der Linden was the Dutch prime minister from 1913 to 1918. His c…
Entry
Costa, Afonso
By Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses
Afonso Costa’s name is indelibly attached to Portuguese interventionism. He led …
Entry
Croce, Benedetto
By Adviye Damla Ünlü
Benedetto Croce is an important figure for both Italian intellectual life (throu…
Entry
Croix de Feu
By Victor Demiaux
An extreme-right movement, the Croix de Feu was a prominent political phenomenon…
Entry
Cru, Jean Norton
By Rémy Cazals
Jean Norton Cru did not consider himself a historian. Yet his life’s work, Témoi…
Entry
Dada
By Josepha Laroche
Dada, a transnational movement of artists, was founded in Zurich in 1916. It dis…
Entry
D'Annunzio, Gabriele
By Vanda Wilcox
One of Italy’s leading literary figures, Gabriele D’Annunzio agitated for Italia…
Entry
Defence of the Realm Act (DORA)
By Gregory Hynes
The Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) afforded the British government extraordinar…
Entry
Delesalle, Charles
By James E. Connolly
A local notable and mayor of Lille during the occupation, Charles Delesalle was …
Entry
Delvert, Charles
By Michaël Bourlet
Charles Delvert was one of the witnesses of the Great War. A graduate of the Éco…
Entry
De Valera, Éamon
By Michael Laffan
De Valera was a prominent figure in the Easter 1916 rebellion against British ru…
Entry
Diaz, Armando, Duke of Victory
By Alessandro Salvador
_IMG-128x128.jpg)
Armando Diaz was an Italian officer and a general during World War I. In 1917, a…
Entry
Dorgelès, Roland
By Laurence Campa
Roland Dorgelès is the author of the pacifist novel Wooden Crosses (1919), a gre…
Entry
Dreadnought, HMS
By John Abbatiello
Adopted in 1906, HMS Dreadnought represented an innovative battleship design tha…
Entry
Dunsterforce
By Timothy C. Winegard
Dunsterforce, officially called the British Military Mission to the Caucasus, wa…
Entry
Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of the Belgians
By Laurence van Ypersele
Queen Elisabeth was the third queen of the Belgians. Her attitude during the Fir…
Entry
Emigration (Portugal)
By Yvette Santos
This article analyzes the characteristics of Portuguese emigration to France and…
Entry
Empire
By Erez Manela
World War I was not simply a conflict among European states but a global war of …
Entry
Eupen-Malmedy
By Christoph Brüll
Eupen-Malmedy is the name given to the two districts that Germany ceded to Belgi…
Entry
Expanding Bullets
By Paul Cornish
During the First World War both sides accused each other of employing illegal sm…
Entry
Eyschen, Paul
By Denis Scuto
Paul Eyschen, prime minister of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg from 1888 to 1915,…
Entry
Falklands, Battle of the
By Paul G. Halpern
During the Battle of the Falklands, the British naval force commanded by Admiral…
Entry
Fayolle, Émile
By William Philpott
Marie-Émile Fayolle commanded French forces on the Western Front throughout the …
Entry
Fear
By Jan Plamper
Of the two world wars, the First World War was special in that fear figured prom…
Entry
Feminist Pacifism
By Annika Wilmers
A minority section of the women’s movements opposed World War I and organized th…
Entry
Ferry, Abel
By André Loez
Abel Ferry was a French politician and minister as well as an infantry combatant…
Entry
Feuillade, Louis
By Manon Billaut
Louis Feuillade was a popular filmmaker in France in the years leading up to and…
Entry
Fisher, John Arbuthnot, Baron Fisher
By Matthew S. Seligmann
John Fisher led the Royal Navy in the run-up to and in the early years of the Fi…
Entry
Flamenpolitik
By Antoon Vrints
The German Flamenpolitik during the First World War aimed to instrumentalise the…
Entry
Flamethrower
By Paul Cornish
The use of portable flamethrowers in combat was a First World War innovation. Th…
Entry
Flemish Movement
By Christine Van Everbroeck
The First World War engendered a rift within the Flemish movement, with some wis…
Entry
Foch, Ferdinand
By Elizabeth Greenhalgh
Ferdinand Foch was a French general who commanded a corps and an army (1914), an…
Entry
Forain, Jean-Louis
By Brett M. Van Hoesen
Jean-Louis Forain was a French artist, who specialized in painting, print making…
Entry
Formation of the Royal Air Force
By Mark Wells
Created in April 1918 to overcome the complex challenges occasioned by wartime p…
Entry
Forts
By Miguel A. Lopez
European militaries considered fortifications before the First World War as vita…
Entry
Franchet d'Espèrey, Louis Félix Marie François
By Gwendal Piégais
_IMG-128x128.jpg)
Louis Franchet d'Espèrey was a French general who took command of the Fifth Army…
Entry
French, John Denton Pinkstone, Earl of Ypres
By Nicholas Lloyd
Sir John French was the commander of the British Expeditionary Force between Jul…
Entry
Gallieni, Joseph-Simon
By Julie d'Andurain
General Joseph-Simon Gallieni was a colonial officer who became the Governor of …
Entry
Garcez, Arnaldo
By Carlos Silveira
Arnaldo Garcez was the only official photographer of the Portuguese army on the …
Entry
Garde Civique
By Piet Veldeman
In 1830, Belgium constituted a Garde Civique or Civic Guard, a national institut…
Entry
Garros, Roland
By Eric Mahieu
Roland Garros was a well-known French aviation pioneer before the war and succes…
Entry
Gas Warfare
By Thomas I. Faith
Gas warfare is a method of war that employs weapons that are designed to cause c…
Entry
Gaulle, Charles de
By Jason Musteen
Charles de Gaulle’s service during World War I and his experiences as a prisoner…
Entry
Geddes, Eric Campbell, Sir
By Christopher Phillips
Eric Geddes was the most prominent example of Britain’s deployment of businessme…
Entry
Generalgouvernement Belgien
By Christoph Roolf
After the German Army had occupied wide areas of Belgium, the “Imperial Governme…
Entry
General Headquarters (Great Britain)
By Nikolas Gardner
General Headquarters (GHQ) was the organization that commanded all British and I…
Entry
Genevoix, Maurice
By Laurence Campa
The war turned Maurice Genevoix into a writer. He embodied soldier loyalty and w…
Entry
George V, King of Great Britain
By David Freeman
_IMG-128x128.jpg)
King George V served as a figurehead for the nations of the British Empire throu…
Entry
German Communities and their Expulsion (Belgium)
By Christophe Declercq
At the start of the First World War, tens of thousands of Germans lived in Belgi…
Entry
Germanophobia (Great Britain)
By Panikos Panayi
During the First World War Britain became gripped with a Germanophobic hatred in…
Entry
German Spring Offensives 1918
By Alexander Watson
The Spring Offensives of 1918 were Germany’s last attempt to defeat the British …
Entry
Giardino, Gaetano Ettore
By Andrea Argenio
Gaetano Giardino was an Italian general best remembered for his role as commande…
Entry
Gibbs, Philip
By Stephen Badsey
Philip Gibbs was the most celebrated, and arguably the most important, of the Br…
Entry
Giolitti, Giovanni
By Spencer Di Scala
Giovanni Giolitti favored the increased liberalization of Italy, which encourage…
Entry
Gorizia, Battle of
By Francesco Frizzera
The Battle of Gorizia, known as the Sixth Isonzo’s Battle, was fought by the Ita…
Entry
Gouraud, Henri
By Julie d'Andurain
Henri Gouraud was one of the most important French generals during the First Wor…
Entry
Graffiti
By Julian Walker
Graffiti expressed both subversion and enthusiasm for the war. It was used by of…
Entry
Grand Fleet
By Chuck Steele
The Grand Fleet was Britain’s most important manifestation of sea power in World…
Entry
Graves, Robert
By Fran Brearton
Robert Graves was a British writer who enlisted in August 1914. He fought at the…
Entry
Grey, Sir Edward
By Detlev Mares
Grey was the longest-serving British foreign secretary of the 20th century. His …
Entry
Grimm, Robert
By Adrian Zimmermann
Robert Grimm was the most powerful socialist politician in Switzerland throughou…
Entry
Guynemer, Georges
By Eric Mahieu
Georges Guynemer was a French fighter pilot. During World War I, he was known fo…
Entry
Haig, Douglas
By Gary Sheffield
Douglas Haig was Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force from late…
Entry
Halbwachs, Maurice
By Annette Becker
Declared unfit for military service, sociologist Maurice Halbwachs worked under …
Entry
Haldane, Richard Burdon
By Bill Mitchinson
Liberal Secretary of State for War 1905-1912. Haldane’s reforms of the British R…
Entry
Hand Grenade
By Nathan Watanabe
The hand grenade is a small hand-thrown bomb dating back to antiquity. Advances …
Entry
Hankey, Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, Baron
By William Philpott
Maurice Hankey was responsible for adapting the British government’s administrat…
Entry
Hervé, Gustave
By Elisa Marcobelli
Gustave Hervé’s dates of birth and death (1871-1944) correspond broadly to those…
Entry
High Voltage Fence (The Netherlands and Belgium)
By Alex Vanneste
In 1915 the Germans built an electric fence along the Belgian-Dutch border, cons…
Entry
Ideologies of Sport
By Ansgar Molzberger, Stephan Wassong
At the beginning of the 20th century, two different systems of exercise and trai…
Entry
Infantry
By Jeffrey LaMonica
The First World War precipitated a revolution in infantry tactics that changed t…
Entry
Influenza Pandemic (Switzerland)
By Patrick Kury
The Spanish flu, the heaviest influenza pandemic in history, coincided with the …
Entry
Inter-Allied Games
By Sabine Chavinier-Réla
The Inter-Allied Games were held at the Pershing Stadium in Paris, France from 2…
Entry
Interventionism (Italy)
By Stéfanie Prezioso
Italy entered the First World War in May 1915, roughly ten months after it began…
Entry
Intimate Relations between Occupiers and Occupied (Belgium and France)
By Emmanuel Debruyne
During the invasion and occupation of 1914-1918, German soldiers had sexual rela…
Entry
Invincible, HMS
By Paul G. Halpern
HMS Invincible was a British warship belonging to a type commonly known as battl…
Entry
Irish Home Rule
By Conor Mulvagh
The campaign for Irish Home Rule lasted from 1870 until 1914. When Home Rule bec…
Entry
Island of Peace (Switzerland)
By Béatrice Ziegler
During World War I, the idea of Switzerland as a peaceful island was created and…
Entry
Isonzo, Battles of
By Alessandro Salvador
The battles of Isonzo represented Italy’s main offensive efforts against the Aus…
Entry
Italian Irredentism
By Matthew Stibbe
This article examines the history of Italian irredentism before 1915; and its pl…
Entry
Italo-Turkish War 1911-1912
By Rachel Simon
The Italo-Turkish War (1911-1912) took place mainly in Ottoman Libya following I…
Entry
Jaurès, Jean
By Rémy Cazals
A philosopher, historian, and journalist (creator of L’Humanité), Jean Jaurès de…
Entry
Jellicoe, John Rushworth Jellicoe, Earl
By Andrew Lambert
John Rushworth Jellicoe was a British admiral, technologist and fleet commander.…
Entry
Joffre, Joseph Jacques Césaire
By Mathieu Panoryia
Joseph Joffre was commander-in-chief of the French army at the beginning of the …
Entry
Jutland, Battle of
By Michael Epkenhans
On 31 May/1 June 1916 the British Grand Fleet and the German High Sea Fleet clas…
Entry
Keyes, Roger John Brownlow, Baron
By Joseph Moretz
_IMG-128x128.jpg)
Roger John Brownlow Keyes was a British naval officer of the First World War. As…
Entry
Khaki Election 1918
By Luke Blaxill
The "khaki" general election of 1918 was held in Great Britain almost immediatel…
Entry
Kitchener, Horatio Herbert Kitchener, Earl
By Peter Simkins
In foreseeing a long war and creating Britain's first mass army, Kitchener made …
Entry
La Courtine, Mutiny of
By Jamie H. Cockfield
This article details the mutiny of two Russian brigades sent to France in World …
Entry
La Dame Blanche
By Pierre Decock
La Dame Blanche was an intelligence network created in Belgium in 1916. It was e…
Entry
Lafayette Escadrille
By Edward A. Gutiérrez
The Lafayette Escadrille was a French Air Service fighter squadron formed of Ame…
Entry
La Fontaine, Henri
By Jacques Gillen
Although he was a Nobel Prize winner, the name of Henri La Fontaine has somewhat…
Entry
La Madelon (song)
By Charles Rearick
The music hall song “La Madelon” was first performed in Paris café concerts befo…
Entry
Landesstreik (Switzerland)
By Bernard Degen
From 12 to 14 November 1918, a national general strike took place in Switzerland…
Entry
Lanrezac, Charles Louis Marie
By Michaël Bourlet
_IMG-128x128.jpeg)
Considered one of the best generals in the French armed forces, Charles Lanzerac…
Entry
Lawrence, Thomas Edward
By Tariq Tell
T.E. Lawrence’s exploits during the Arab Revolt have acquired mythical status, m…
Entry
Le Feu (novel)
By Olaf Müller
Henri Barbusse published the emblematic French war novel Le Feu in 1916. Given t…
Entry
Léger, Fernand
By Annette Becker
Léger was fascinated by the front, but barely ever depicted what he saw in his w…
Entry
Légion étrangère
By Christian Koller
The French Foreign Legion of the colonial era was mainly deployed in extra-Europ…
Entry
Le Poilu
By Chris Kempshall
Le Poilu translates literally as “the hairy one” and was a collective identity …
Entry
Liddell Hart, Basil Henry, Sir
By Alaric Searle
_IMG-128x128.jpg)
B.H. Liddell Hart served as a British infantry officer on the Western Front in 1…
Entry
Lloyd George, David
By Ian Packer
Lloyd George was a leading Liberal politician before World War I, who went on to…
Entry
London, Bombing of
By Ian Castle
Germany’s aerial bombing campaign against Great Britain in the First World War, …
Entry
London, Treaty of (1915)
By Stefano Marcuzzi
The Treaty of London was a secret agreement signed by Italy, Great Britain, Fran…
Entry
Loppem Coup
By Vincent Delcorps
A few weeks before his entry in Brussels, on 22 November 1918, Albert I, King of…
Entry
Loucheur, Louis
By Daniel Mollenhauer
Louis Loucheur was a French industrialist and politician. From December 1916 unt…
Entry
Lyautey, Louis Hubert Gonzalve
By Julie d'Andurain
During World War One, Hubert Lyautey was the French Resident-General in Morocco …
Entry
Lys, Battle of the
By Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses
What the Portuguese call the Battle of the Lys represented merely the start of O…
Entry
MacDonald, James Ramsay
By David Howell
Ramsay MacDonald opposed British entry into the European conflict in 1914. Altho…
Entry
Machado, Bernardino
By Sérgio Neto
Bernardino Machado was the prime minister of Portugal during the July Crisis of …
Entry
Machine Gun
By Paul Cornish
Between 1914 and 1918, the machine gun played an ever-increasing role on the bat…
Entry
Malvy, Louis-Jean
By Jean-Yves Le Naour
French Interior Minister when the war was declared, Louis Malvy embodied the Uni…
Entry
Mangin, Charles
By Julie d'Andurain
Charles Mangin was a very important French general during the First World War. W…
Entry
Mare, André
By Laurence Graffin
André Mare was an artist close to the avant-garde movement and was called to ser…
Entry
Marie Adelheid, Grand-Duchess of Luxembourg
By Josiane Weber
Marie Adelheid reigned from 1912 to 1919 as the Grand-Duchess of Luxembourg. Bec…
Entry
Marinegebiet
By Sophie De Schaepdrijver
The Marinegebiet on the Belgian coast was the Imperial German Navy’s base for at…
Entry
Marne, Battles of the
By Erwan Le Gall
The battles of the Marne were two battles during the First World War. The first …
Entry
Marraines de Guerre
By Clémentine Vidal-Naquet
The institution of wartime pen pals to assist isolated soldiers who were unable …
Entry
Masculinities
By Sonja Levsen
The First World War represents the apex of the ideal of the male warrior hero. B…
Entry
Mata Hari
By Marianne Walle
Mata Hari was a famous Dutch female dancer, who spied in France for the German i…
Entry
Matos, Norton de
By Sérgio Neto
Norton de Matos was minister of war during the first two years of Portuguese par…
Entry
Max, Adolphe
By Laurence van Ypersele
Adolphe Max, the mayor of Brussels, was known for his peaceful resistance agains…
Entry
Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook
By Geoffrey Hayes
This article offers a brief survey of the Canadian-born newspaper baron, Max Ait…
Entry
Medals and Decorations
By Sofya Anisimova
The Great War unfolded on multiple fronts and saw millions of men and women call…
Entry
Mediterranean Theater, Naval Operations
By Paul G. Halpern
The real naval war in the Mediterranean turned out to be a struggle against Germ…
Entry
Mémorial de Verdun
By Gerd Krumeich
The Mémorial de Verdun is a museum built in the centre of the 1916 battlefield, …
Entry
Mémorial Interallié
By Karla Vanraepenbusch
The inter-allied memorial commemorates the First World War and the fallen, as we…
Entry
Mercier, Désiré Joseph
By Luc Courtois
After his pastoral letter Patriotisme et endurance, which had a worldwide impact…
Entry
Mesopotamia, British Mandate for
By Burcu Kurt
British mandate Mesopotamia marks the beginning of the formation of modern Iraq.…
Entry
Militarized Workers (Italy)
By Martina Salvante
In 1915 the Italian government created an agency called Mobilitazione Industrial…
Entry
Military Board of Allied Supply
By Ian M. Brown
The Military Board of Allied Supply, formed in mid-1918, attempted to centralize…
Entry
Military Justice (Switzerland)
By Sebastian Steiner
In neutral Switzerland, the executive powers were strengthened more than in some…
Entry
Military Volunteers (Italy)
By Sante Lesti
The history of the Italian military volunteers concerns not only the roughly 10,…
Entry
Millerand, Alexandre
By Daniel Mollenhauer
Between 1890 and 1925, Alexandre Millerand was one of France’s leading politicia…
Entry
Mine Warfare
By Nicholas Murray
Mine warfare or mining are the terms used to describe the digging of tunnels und…
Entry
Mons
By Guillaume Blondeau
The city of Mons took on great symbolic importance during the Great War. In both…
Entry
Monte Grappa, Battle of
By Francesco Cutolo
After the battle of Caporetto, the Austro-German army launched several attacks a…
Entry
Morel, Edmund Dene
By Christy Jo Snider
E. D. Morel was one of the earliest critics of the secret diplomacy and alliance…
Entry
Moroccan Crises 1905-1911
By Jean-Marc Delaunay
The two Moroccan crises represent the product of “rapacious joint imperialism.” …
Entry
Murray, Archibald James, Sir
By Justin Fantauzzo
Sir Archibald James Murray was Chief of the Imperial General Staff from Septembe…
Entry
Music
By Akeo Okada
The First World War fundamentally changed the course of 20th century music. The …
Entry
Mussolini, Benito
By Brian R. Sullivan
Italian Socialist Benito Mussolini envisioned war as the prerequisite for revolu…
Entry
Nash, Paul
By Paul Gough
Paul Nash was a British painter who served as an infantry officer and an officia…
Entry
Naval Race between Germany and Great Britain, 1898-1912
By Dirk Bönker
The Anglo-German naval race was the most spectacular strand of the general marit…
Entry
Naval Warfare (Italy)
By Fabio De Ninno
Italy’s war at sea reflected the more general trends of the naval warfare in the…
Entry
Netherlands Overseas Trust (NOT)
By Samuël Kruizinga
During the First World War, the Netherlands Oversea Trust Company acted as a cle…
Entry
Neutrality
By Samuël Kruizinga
During the 19th century, neutrality evolved into a set of legal and political to…
Entry
Nevinson, C. R. W. (Christopher Richard Wynne)
By Kevin Hogg
_IMG-128x128.jpg)
C. R. W. Nevinson was a British painter who served as an official war artist in …
Entry
Nitti, Francesco Saverio
By Pierluigi Pironti
Francesco Nitti was minister of the Treasury in the Orlando Cabinet after the de…
Entry
Nivelle, Robert Georges
By Denis Rolland
Born in a Protestant family with an English mother, Robert Nivelle studied at th…
Entry
Northcliffe, Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, Viscount
By Adrian Bingham
Lord Northcliffe was the owner of the influential London newspapers the Daily Ma…
Entry
Oberstenaffäre
By Sebastian Steiner
The so-called “Oberstenaffäre” (colonel’s affair) was a political scandal in Swi…
Entry
Occupation of Luxembourg
By Richard Seiwerath
The violation of Luxembourg’s neutrality started with the invasion on 1 August 1…
Entry
Ojetti, Ugo
By Selena Daly
Ugo Ojetti was a journalist who, during the war, was tasked with the protection …
Entry
Oltener Aktionskomitee
By Bernard Degen
The Oltener Aktionskomitee was elected in February 1918 by the committee of the …
Entry
Olympic Games 1920
By Karla Vanraepenbusch
The 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium were the first instalment of the Game…
Entry
Orlando, Vittorio Emanuele
By Spencer Di Scala
_IMG-128x128.jpg)
A renowned jurist with lasting influence, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando served as ju…
Entry
Orpen, William
By Donal Maguire
William Orpen, portraitist and subject painter, born in Dublin, was one of the m…
Entry
Orphans (Italy)
By Giuseppe Ferraro
This article focuses on the efforts of the Italian government and certain instit…
Entry
Owen, Wilfred
By Jane Potter
Wilfred Owen was a poet and soldier who wrote some of the most memorable poems o…
Entry
Painlevé, Paul
By Anne-Laure Anizan
Paul Painlevé was a prominent French political leader from 1914-1917. He was the…
Entry
Pais, Sidónio
By Sérgio Neto
The army major and university teacher Sidónio Pais served as the Portuguese mini…
Entry
Pals Battalions
By Peter Simkins
The raising of the Pals battalions added considerable impetus to voluntary recru…
Entry
Paris Guns
By Christophe Dutrône
Paris Guns refer to the German long-range guns that fired intermittently on Pari…
Entry
Patriotic Distance
By Sophie De Schaepdrijver
Civilians under military occupation in World War One found their existences seve…
Entry
Pearse, Patrick
By Joost Augusteijn
Patrick Pearse was one of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising in which the Iri…
Entry
Pétain, Philippe
By Olivier Cosson
_IMG-128x128.jpg)
A theorist of infantry tactics in 1914, the First World War offered Colonel Péta…
Entry
Petit, Gabrielle
By Sophie De Schaepdrijver
Gabrielle Petit was a secret intelligence agent working for the British General …
Entry
Petroleum
By Oliver Gliech
In World War I, the mobility of troops was of major strategic importance. New tr…
Entry
Piave, Battles of
By Stefano Marcuzzi
The two battles of the River Piave were fought between 10 November and 25 Decemb…
Entry
Picasso, Pablo
By Annette Becker
A citizen of neutral Spain, Pablo Picasso did not fight in the war, but his avan…
Entry
Pirenne, Henri
By Geneviève Warland
Accused of refusing to collaborate with the German authorities, the Belgian hist…
Entry
Poincaré, Raymond
By Anne-Laure Anizan
Raymond Poincaré, the president of the French Republic, asserted his authority a…
Entry
Pope Benedict XV
By John Pollard
Much of the reign of Pope Benedict XV was dominated by the First World War. Pope…
Entry
Poppy
By Matthew Leonard
To many, the remembrance poppy is the defining symbol of the First World War, em…
Entry
Portuguese Expeditionary Corps
By Filipe Ribeiro de Meneses
The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps was the most important Portuguese military co…
Entry
Portuguese India
By Célia Reis
Although not directly involved in military operations, Portuguese India was link…
Entry
Portuguese Macau
By Célia Reis
During World War One, Macau's main problem was its relationship with China. This…
Entry
Portuguese Timor
By Célia Reis
The Portuguese territory of Timor was affected by the war mainly because of its …
Entry
Post-war Repression
By Xavier Rousseaux
After fifty months of German occupation, a minority of French, and the majority …
Entry
Practice of Sports
By Ansgar Molzberger
During World War I, sport competitions became very popular amongst the soldiers …
Entry
Pre-war Socialist Pacifism
By Elisa Marcobelli
The Socialists’ opposition to war in France, Germany and Italy during the period…
Entry
Prostitution
By Journey Steward
Prostitution was considered among the most important societal problems facing ci…
Entry
Raemaekers, Louis
By Ariane de Ranitz
During the First World War, Dutch editorial cartoonist Louis Raemaekers was a fi…
Entry
Rape
By Antoine Rivière
Although rape was not usually systematic, it occurred frequently on all fronts d…
Entry
Rear Area on the Western Front
By Larissa Wegner
The rear area was the space behind the front, linking the operational zone with …
Entry
Reconnaissance and Observation
By Charles Dusch
Reconnaissance was aviation’s most important mission in the Great War. When war …
Entry
Refugees (Belgium)
By Michaël Amara
In Belgium, the outbreak of the First World War and subsequent German invasion c…
Entry
Refugees (France)
By Philippe Nivet
During World War I, about 2 million French citizens had to leave their homes, du…
Entry
Remembrance day: 11 November 1922-Today (France)
By Rémi Dalisson
As early as 1915, France considered celebrating those who died for the nation. A…
Entry
Renascença Portuguesa
By Eliana Brites Rosa
_IMG-128x128.jpg)
The Renascença Portuguesa (1912-1932) was an important cultural movement during …
Entry
Resistance (Belgium and France)
By Emmanuel Debruyne
In occupied Belgium and France, citizens opposed the German army with organized …
Entry
Ribot, Alexandre Félix Joseph
By Daniel Mollenhauer
Alexandre Ribot belonged to the French political elite for more than forty years…
Entry
Rifles
By Dieter Storz
The rifle was by far the most common weapon used in the world war. When the majo…
Entry
Robertson, William Robert
By David R. Woodward
William Robert Robertson was the first British soldier to advance from private t…
Entry
Roçadas, José Augusto Alves
By José Luís Assis
José Augusto Alves Roçadas led African pacification campaigns and was a colonial…
Entry
Rolland, Romain
By Josepha Laroche
A pacifist writer, Romain Rolland was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1…
Entry
Room 40
By Steven Czak
Room 40 was a highly secretive British intelligence organization within the dire…
Entry
Rosado, Tomás Garcia
By José Luís Assis
Tomás António Garcia Rosado was a Portuguese expeditionary commander and colonia…
Entry
Rothermere, Harold Sidney Harmsworth, Viscount
By Adrian Bingham
Lord Rothermere owned the London newspapers the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Pict…
Entry
Rubber
By Oliver Gliech
During World War I, motor vehicles took on a key role as transport facilities fo…
Entry
Ruhleben Internment Camp
By Mahon Murphy
The Ruhleben internment camp, situated on the outskirts of Berlin, held British …
Entry
Ruhr Occupation
By Conan Fischer
The 1923-1925 Ruhr occupation by France and Belgium was triggered when Germany d…
Entry
Russell, Bertrand
By Alisa Miller
This article examines how the outbreak of war in 1914 established Bertrand Russe…
Entry
Russian Expeditionary Force
By Sofya Anisimova, Gwendal Piégais
The Russian Expeditionary Force in France and in Macedonia (“Brigades russes en …
Entry
Salandra, Antonio
By Stefano Marcuzzi
Antonio Salandra was an important Italian politician in the early 20th century. …
Entry
Sassoon, Siegfried Loraine
By Scott Ortolano
Siegfried Lorraine Sassoon was a British soldier, poet and novelist. His work bi…
Entry
Schweizerischer Vaterländischer Verband
By Dorothe Zimmermann
The Swiss Patriotic Federation (Schweizerischer Vaterländischer Verband, or SVV)…
Entry
Sea Power
By Andrew Lambert
Much attention has been accorded to the massive scale of military operations in …
Entry
Sembat, Marcel
By Daniel Mollenhauer
Marcel Sembat was one of the leading French socialists of the pre-war years. As …
Entry
Shaw, George Bernard
By Adam R. McKee
An Irish-born writer and critic, best known as a playwright, George Bernard Shaw…
Entry
Shell
By Harold Allen Skinner Jr.
A shell is a streamlined steel metal projectile, filled with a variety of explos…
Entry
Shells Crisis of 1915
By Hew Strachan
In 1914, quick-firing field artillery could fire more shells than domestic indus…
Entry
Smoking and Cigarette Consumption
By Michael Reeve
During the First World War, governments, civilians and soldiers alike prized smo…
Entry
Social Darwinism
By Kathi Badertscher
Social Darwinism was an intellectual movement of the late 19th and early 20th ce…
Entry
Société Suisse de Surveillance Economique (SSS)
By Florian Weber
The privately organized SSS existed from October 1915 to July 1919 to prevent Sw…
Entry
Soldiers' Equipment
By Dieter Storz
The soldier’s personal equipment had a dual purpose: it was intended to enable h…
Entry
Soldiers' Humour
By Alexander Watson
Soldier’s humour, as expressed in jokes, songs and slang, reflected a dark, iron…
Entry
Soldiers on Leave
By Emmanuelle Cronier
Starting in 1915, periods of leave known as "permissionnaires" played a vital ro…
Entry
Solvay, Ernest
By Kenneth Bertrams
Industrial tycoon and philanthropist Ernest Solvay transformed the chemical indu…
Entry
Somme, Battles of
By William Philpott
There was fighting in the Picardy region of France throughout the war. The 1916 …
Entry
Sonnino, Sidney
By Paola Carlucci
Sidney Sonnino was the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs during World War I. H…
Entry
Sousa Lopes, Adriano de
By Carlos Silveira
The painter Adriano de Sousa Lopes was the only official Portuguese war artist i…
Entry
Spanish Intelligence
By Carolina García Sanz
Spain became a centre of international espionage in 1914. Its strategic location…
Entry
Spanish Neutrality
By Carolina García Sanz
The Spanish government maintained a benevolent neutrality policy towards the Ent…
Entry
Spy Fever 1914
By Sebastian Bischoff
Spy Fever describes an anxiety or paranoia that enemy spies might be active with…
Entry
Steel Helmet
By Nathan Watanabe
The steel helmet was invented and fielded in response to increased lethality on …
Entry
Stereotypes
By Vanessa Ther
This article summarises the main wartime stereotypes that defined war propaganda…
Entry
Stockholm Conference
By Elisa Marcobelli
The Stockholm Conference, or Third Zimmerwald Conference, was held from 5 to 12 …
Entry
Stormtrooper
By Ralf Raths
Storm troopers were soldiers in specialized assault units, which emerged in the …
Entry
Submarines and Submarine Warfare
By Mark D. Karau
During the First World War the German government made extensive use of submarine…
Entry
Suffragettes
By William Murphy
This article briefly introduces the suffragettes and their campaign, reflecting …
Entry
Supreme War Council
By Elizabeth Greenhalgh
The Supreme War Council was an Allied administrative organisation, created by th…
Entry
Tamagnini de Abreu e Silva, Fernando
By José Luís Assis
Fernando Tamagnini de Abreu e Silva was a Portuguese general during World War I.…
Entry
Tanks and Tank Warfare
By Michael David Kennedy
World War I introduced new technologies and doctrine in a quest to overcome the …
Entry
Theater at the Front
By Emmanuelle Loubat
Whether on the Western or Eastern Front, by German, French, British, Canadian, A…
Entry
The Battle of the Somme (film)
By Nicholas Hiley
Battle of the Somme was a feature-length British documentary film, released in …
Entry
The Song of Craonne
By Guy Marival
The song now known as the "Chanson de Craonne" ("Song of Craonne") remains one o…
Entry
Thiepval Memorial
By Glyn Prysor
The Thiepval Memorial commemorates “the Missing of the Somme”: more than 72,000 …
Entry
Thomas, Albert
By Daniel Mollenhauer
Albert Thomas was a French socialist who served as minister of armaments in the …
Entry
Tirailleurs Sénégalais
By Richard Fogarty
The tirailleurs sénégalais (Senegalese riflemen) figured prominently among the m…
Entry
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Rome
By Martina Salvante
At the end of the Great War, many countries determined that they would bury an a…
Entry
Townshend, Charles Vere Ferrers, Sir
By Justin Fantauzzo
Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend commanded the 6th (Poona) Division in Mesopot…
Entry
Trench Art
By Paul Cornish
"Trench Art" is a genre of folk art comprised of items created in wartime, or fr…
Entry
Trentino
By Nicola Fontana, Mirko Saltori
Trentino is an Italian-speaking region which was the southernmost part of the Ty…
Entry
Trépont, Félix
By James E. Connolly
As prefect of the département of the Nord at the outbreak of war, Félix Trépont …
Entry
Troelstra, Pieter Jelles
By Paul Moeyes
Troelstra was a charismatic socialist leader who overestimated his influence and…
Entry
Union fédérale (UF)
By Chris Millington
Founded in Lyon in February 1918, the Union fédérale was the largest veterans’ a…
Entry
Union nationale des Combattants (UNC)
By Chris Millington
Founded on 11 November 1918 with the support of French Prime Minister Georges Cl…
Entry
Union of Democratic Control
By David Monger
The Union of Democratic Control was a prominent opposition group in Britain that…
Entry
University of Ghent
By Christine Van Everbroeck
During the war, the Germans created a Flemish university in Ghent. By doing so, …
Entry
Verdun, site of memory
By Elise Julien
The Franco-German battle of 1916 quickly became emblematic of the entire war to …
Entry
Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy
By Stefano Marcuzzi
Victor Emmanuel III played an important, if often overlooked part in Italy’s dec…
Entry
Villalobar, Rodrigo de Saavedra y Vinent, Marqués de
By Emmanuel Debruyne
Rodrigo de Saavedra y Vinent, Marqués de Villalobar was the diplomatic represent…
Entry
Vittoria Mutilata
By Brian R. Sullivan
Gabriele D’Annunzio’s phrase “mutilated victory” infers that Italy’s wartime sac…
Entry
Vittorio Veneto, Battle of
By Francesco Frizzera
The Battle of Vittorio Veneto was fought between 24 October and 4 November 1918 …
Entry
Viviani, René
By Daniel Mollenhauer
René Viviani was a leading French politician in the early 20th century. When the…
Entry
Voices in the Storm (journal)
By Nicole Billeter
“Stimmen im Sturm” was a Swiss cooperative which published nine issues with deci…
Entry
Vollmachtenregime
By Oliver Schneider
During the First World War, the Swiss federal government imposed a state of emer…
Entry
Vorarlberg Referendum
By Wolfgang Weber
The latter Austrian Land Vorarlberg saw the rise of a grass root movement for a …
Entry
War and Comics (Italy)
By Roberto Bianchi
Comics played a very important role in the total mobilization in Italy. Firstly …
Entry
War Bonds
By Steffen Bruendel
The governments of all belligerent countries issued special loans to finance the…
Entry
War Poetry
By Jane Potter
This article examines the concept of war poetry and considers the range of poeti…
Entry
War Profiteers
By François Bouloc
As a long-lasting industrial war, the Great War led to the realization of consid…
Entry
War Propaganda Bureau
By Florian Altenhöner
The British government set up a War Propaganda Bureau in 1914. It came to be kno…
Entry
War Toys
By Sonja Levsen
In the First World War, war toys were regarded as a means to strengthen children…
Entry
War Widows
By Peggy Bette
One third of the 9.7 million soldiers killed or declared missing during the Grea…
Entry
Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands
By Paul Moeyes
Queen Wilhelmina was by nature a forceful leader. The First World War showed tha…
Entry
Wireless Telegraphy
By Heidi J.S. Tworek
Wireless telegraphy became an integral part of warfare on the ground, in the air…
Entry
Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA)
By Emma Hanna
The YMCA was a Christian charitable organization that provided a range of rest a…
Entry
Ypres, Battles of
By Spencer Jones
The Belgian city of Ypres is synonymous with the First World War. Ypres gave its…
Entry
Ypres Menin Gate
By Dominiek Dendooven
The Menin Gate in Ypres is the best known of the memorials to the missing in the…
Entry
Zeppelin (Airship)
By Charles Dusch
Zeppelins heralded the potential of strategic bombing. Although airships were or…
Entry
Zimmerwald Conference
By Bernard Degen
Anti-war socialists from ten countries met in Zimmerwald in September 1915. They…
Entry
Züblin-Spiller, Else
By Elisabeth Joris
In the context of the Swiss organisation Schweizer Verband Soldatenwohl Else Spi…
See Also
Thematic
Air Warfare
By Ross Mahoney, James Pugh
This article considers the use and evolution of air power during the First World…
Thematic
Alliance System 1914
By Günther Kronenbitter
Alliances were an important feature of the international system on the eve of Wo…
Thematic
Animals
By Lucy Betteridge-Dyson
During the First World War millions of animals were utilised for war work, and c…
Thematic
Antisemitism
By Werner Bergmann, Ulrich Wyrwa
The First World War and its direct repercussions in the postwar period (revoluti…
Thematic
Arms Race prior to 1914, Armament Policy
By Eric Brose
New weapons produced during the Industrial Revolution in the late 1800s heighten…
Thematic
Art
By Sue Malvern
The nature of the First World War put an end to traditions for battle painting. …
Thematic
Atrocities
By Alan Kramer
The term "atrocity" describes an act of violence condemned by contemporaries as …
Thematic
Bereavement and Mourning
By Manfred Hettling, Tino Schölz
In the modern era, new forms of mourning and meaning-making for fallen soldiers …
Thematic
Between Acceptance and Refusal - Soldiers' Attitudes Towards War
By André Loez
Soldiers’ attitudes towards the Great War are a controversial issue, as they pro…
Thematic
Burgfrieden/Union sacrée
By Gerd Krumeich
France and Germany remained principal protagonists of the First World War. This …
Thematic
Caricatures
By Eberhard Demm
This article presents cartoonists as patriotic propagandists mobilizing their pe…
Thematic
Censorship
By Eberhard Demm
Censorship was an indispensable war weapon: its task was to keep the people in a…
Thematic
Centenary (Battlefield Tourism)
By Romain Fathi
The centenary of the First World War has been a catalyst for battlefield tourism…
Thematic
Centenary (Computer Games)
By Chris Kempshall
The First World War centenary saw an emergence of new portrayals of the conflict…
Thematic
Centenary (Education, Pedagogy, Youth Programs)
By Catriona Pennell
The centenary of the First World War revealed palpable anxieties around a loss o…
Thematic
Centenary (Historiography)
By Jost Dülffer
Innovative historical scholarship played an important role in the shaping of mem…
Thematic
Centenary (Internet)
By Lorna M. Hughes, Ian G. Anderson
The centenary events surrounding the First World War have produced a significant…
Thematic
Centenary (Libraries)
By Matthew Shaw
Libraries (local, specialist, and national) contributed in numerous and importan…
Thematic
Centenary (Museums)
By Andrea Brait
This article discusses how European museums – in particular, national war museum…
Thematic
Centenary (Visual Arts)
By Paul Gough
The commemorative period between 2014 and 2018 was marked globally by numerous e…
Thematic
Children and Youth
By Andrew Donson
Mass conscription recast relationships in families, raised minors’ potential as …
Thematic
Civilian and Military Power
By Lawrence Sondhaus
By 1914 the leading states had succumbed to varying degrees of militarism, subor…
Thematic
Civilian Morale
By Matteo Ermacora
This article deals with civilian morale during the First World War. Between 1915…
Thematic
Colonial Empires after the War/Decolonization
By James E. Kitchen
The First World War saw the colonial empires of France and Britain mobilised to …
Thematic
Commemoration, Cult of the Fallen
By Stéphane Tison
The First World War ushered in an unprecedented wave of commemorations. Mass dea…
Thematic
Controversy: The Media's Responsibility for Crises and Conflicts in the Age of Imperialism
By Peter Geiss
The article discusses the role of the media in the complex international process…
Thematic
Controversy: Total War
By Daniel Marc Segesser
Total war is a controversial term used in the past by politicians, publicists an…
Thematic
Controversy: War Culture
By Pierre Purseigle
Cultural approaches to the Great War have played a key part in the renewal of Fi…
Thematic
Controversy: War-related Changes in Gender Relations: The Issue of Women’s Citizenship
By Birgitta Bader-Zaar
The idea that World War I was a watershed in gender relations has pervaded both …
Thematic
Demobilization
By Gearóid Barry
The end of fighting in 1918 raised hopes for swift and equitable military demobi…
Thematic
Destruction of the Ecosystem
By Tait Keller
This article examines the First World War’s ecological impact and shows that pro…
Thematic
Drugs
By Łukasz Kamieński
Throughout history, intoxicants were an important part of the war experience. Th…
Thematic
Economic Planning before 1914
By Martin Horn
This article surveys the financial and economic planning for war before 1914 in …
Thematic
Enemy Aliens and Internment
By Matthew Stibbe
The internment of enemy aliens in the First World War was a global phenomenon. C…
Thematic
Espionage
By Emmanuel Debruyne
During the entire war, warring powers used the “secret war” to try to break the …
Thematic
Extra-European Theatres of War
By Michelle Moyd
The extra-European theatres of World War I have received far less scholarly atte…
Thematic
Fascism and the Radical Right
By Gustavo Corni
The First World War was not only the precondition of the rise of fascist movemen…
Thematic
Film/Cinema
By Roger Smither
The First World War played a significant role in the evolution of film both as a…
Thematic
Food and Nutrition
By Emmanuelle Cronier
During the First World War, food became a major issue for military and civilian …
Thematic
Forced Labour
By Jens Thiel, Christian Westerhoff
This article examines the conditions, forms and consequences of forced labor and…
Thematic
Governments, Parliaments and Parties
By Torsten Oppelland
One sees a wide range of political regimes from a democratic republic with unive…
Thematic
Graphic Arts and Advertising as War Propaganda
By James Aulich
This article discusses the close relationships between national governments, adv…
Thematic
Health, Disease, Mortality; Demographic Effects
By Doina Anca Cretu
The rapid spread of epidemics ravaged military personnel and civilians in and ou…
Thematic
Historiography 1918-Today
By Jay Winter
There have been four generations of historical writing about the 1914-1918 war. …
Thematic
Hospitals
By Alina Enzensberger
Hospitals framed and configured the convalescence of wounded and sick soldiers d…
Thematic
Imagined War
By David Morgan-Owen
How war was imagined before the outbreak of conflict in 1914 has been an ongoing…
Thematic
Imperialism
By Boris Barth
This article focuses on the extent to which imperialism contributed to the outbr…
Thematic
Influenza Pandemic
By Howard Phillips
By examining the origins, pathways, demographic impact and consequences for the …
Thematic
International Labour Organization
By Anita Ziegerhofer
The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919, establishing both the Leagu…
Thematic
International Law and the Laws of War
By Jean H. Quataert
The article examines international efforts to curb states’ war-making prerogativ…
Thematic
Italian Front
By Vanda Wilcox
In May 1915, Italy attacked Austria-Hungary along the Isonzo River and in the Tr…
Thematic
July Crisis 1914
By Annika Mombauer
The international crisis that began with the assassination of Archduke Franz Fer…
Thematic
Labor
By Steven E. Rowe
Across the major belligerent powers, industrial production and the mobilization …
Thematic
Labour Movements, Trade Unions and Strikes
By James Thompson
This article compares the history of labour movements during the war across a ra…
Thematic
League of Nations
By Anita Ziegerhofer
The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919, the same day on which the L…
Thematic
Life and Death of Soldiers
By Jessica Meyer, Chris Kempshall, Markus Pöhlmann
While public memory of the First World War in Europe often focusses on the death…
Thematic
Literature
By David Budgen
This article seeks to present an overview of First World War literature across m…
Thematic
Making Sense of the War
By Jo Fox
Claims to “just war” formed the basis for the propaganda campaigns of the First …
Thematic
Maps, Geography and the Representation of Space
By Ute Schneider
After the First World War, the general staffs and military geographers of all th…
Thematic
Media Discourse after the War
By André Keil
The discourse about the Great War during the interwar period was shaped by numer…
Thematic
Medicine and Medical Service
By Leo van Bergen
It is impossible to talk about “the” medical care or “the” medical service of Wo…
Thematic
Memory of the War: Popular Memory 1918-1945, 1945 to the Present
By Susanne Brandt
What role do representations of the First World War play in media that reach a w…
Thematic
Migration and Mobility
By Marlou Schrover
There is an ongoing debate among historians whether the First World War did in f…
Thematic
Militarism
By Christian K. Melby
Militarism is a vague term that has meant different things to different people a…
Thematic
Military Developments of World War I
By David T. Zabecki
Despite World War I’s reputation as a senseless bloodbath whose military operati…
Thematic
Military Justice
By Steven R. Welch
This essay offers a comparative survey of the practice of military justice among…
Thematic
Military Lessons of the First World War
By Nikolas Gardner
This article examines the lessons derived by the military organizations that par…
Thematic
Moral Norms and Values
By Gearóid Barry
Change and continuity marked belligerent societies’ norms and values during the …
Thematic
Museums
By Jennifer Wellington, Aaron Cohen, Anne Hertzog, Susanne Brandt
This article describes the lives and afterlives of the First World War museums i…
Thematic
Mutilation and Disfiguration
By Julie Anderson
The First World War created disfigured and mutilated bodies on a grand scale. Ne…
Thematic
Nationalism
By John Paul Newman
This article offers an overview of the progress of nationalism and the national …
Thematic
Naval Warfare
By Eric W. Osborne
All of the great belligerent states of World War I were naval powers and engaged…
Thematic
Negotiating and Mediating Conduct of War
By Matthew Stibbe
Many issues surrounding the conduct of war in the years 1914-1918 were imperviou…
Thematic
Non-European Soldiers
By Richard Fogarty, Andrew Tait Jarboe
This article examines the use by Great Britain and France of colonial subjects f…
Thematic
On the Road to Modern War
By Dennis Showalter
The Great War was never considered the “war to end all wars” by the states and a…
Thematic
Organization of War Economies
By Matthias Blum, Jari Eloranta, Pavel Osinsky
The First World War was a global conflict that caught most of the participants i…
Thematic
Othering/Atrocity Propaganda
By Steffen Bruendel
In August 1914, a targeted and systematic manipulation of opinion by the media, …
Thematic
Pacifism
By David S. Patterson
The idea of peace in total war may seem irrelevant, but pacifism, or peace activ…
Thematic
Peace Initiatives
By Ross Kennedy
This paper examines major peace initiatives during World War I. It describes eff…
Thematic
Photography
By Hilary Roberts
The First World War represents a watershed in the history of war photography. It…
Thematic
Post-war Economies
By Dietmar Rothermund
Post-war economies were beset with problems, ultimately leading to the Great Dep…
Thematic
Post-war Societies
By Richard Bessel
The First World War caused unprecedented disruption to societies across the glob…
Thematic
Post-war Welfare Policies
By Pierluigi Pironti
The Great War gave new impulses to the further development of public welfare sys…
Thematic
Press/Journalism
By Florian Keisinger
Word War I had a significant impact on the evolution of the European media scene…
Thematic
Pre-war Military Planning
By Matthew S. Seligmann
German and British war planning has attracted a great deal of attention, but als…
Thematic
Prisoners of War
By Heather Jones
The First World War marked the shift from a 19th century, relatively ad hoc mana…
Thematic
Propaganda at home and abroad
By Eberhard Demm
This article summarizes and compares the principal arguments and strategies of p…
Thematic
Propaganda: Media in War Politics
By Stephen Badsey
Propaganda played an important part in the politics of the war, but was only suc…
Thematic
Property Rights and Economic Nationalism
By Daniela L. Caglioti
This article explores the policies adopted and implemented against enemy propert…
Thematic
Raw Materials
By Pierre Chancerel
Raw materials were vital during the First World War. Due to the armaments produc…
Thematic
Red Cross
By Cédric Cotter
National Red Cross societies played a very important role in the First World War…
Thematic
Refugees
By Peter Gatrell
This article addresses the scale of wartime population displacement in continent…
Thematic
Religious Mobilization and Popular Belief
By Patrick J. Houlihan
From the cradle to the grave, popular religion formed a necessary and vital, if …
Thematic
Resettlement
By Peter Gatrell
The conduct of warfare in 1914-1918 included extensive population resettlement i…
Thematic
Revolutions
By Chad R. Fulwider
This article surveys the various movements toward social, national, and politica…
Thematic
Rural Society
By Matteo Ermacora
The paper describes the impact of war on peasantry and its mobilisation in the w…
Thematic
Schools and Universities
By Andrew Donson
The military service of teachers and the mobilization of schoolchildren for volu…
Thematic
Science and Technology
By Jeffrey Johnson
Wartime science and technology developed in the context of the Second Industrial…
Thematic
Sea Transport and Supply
By Michael B. Miller
Allied capacity at sea to sustain global transport and supply determined their a…
Thematic
Sexuality, Sexual Relations, Homosexuality
By Jason Crouthamel
This article provides an international overview of the history of sexuality in t…
Thematic
Social Conflict
By Claire Morelon
This article deals with the nature of social conflict during the war. The length…
Thematic
Social Costs of War
By Kimberly A. Redding
This article explores how the anticipation, reality, and memory of sacrifice inf…
Thematic
Soldier Newspapers
By Robert L. Nelson
Soldier newspapers are a massive, yet little used primary source of the First Wo…
Thematic
Staging War. Theatre 1914-1918
By Eva Krivanec
From 1914 to 1918, theatres in all major European cities staged plays – comedies…
Thematic
State, Civil Society and Relief Organizations for War
By Branden Little
A vast array of initiatives designed to counteract the destructiveness of the Fi…
Thematic
The Churches
By Patrick J. Houlihan
Reflecting current historiography, this article focuses primarily on Christian c…
Thematic
The Everyday as Involved in War
By Tammy M. Proctor
This essay examines how the "everyday" functions in war, not only for those on t…
Thematic
The Historiography of the Origins of the First World War
By William Mulligan
The debate about the origins of the war remains a vibrant area of historical res…
Thematic
The Military at Home
By Odile Roynette
Regardless of whether it was based on volunteer enlistment or conscription, mass…
Thematic
The Military Collapse of the Central Powers
By Graydon A. Tunstall
October 1918 witnessed the collapse of the German and Austro-Hungarian armies, b…
Thematic
The Paris Peace Conference and its Consequences
By Alan Sharp
This article offers an overview of peacemaking after the First World War from th…
Thematic
The Way to War
By Samuel R. Williamson, Jr.
Imperialism shaped almost every facet of international politics from 1898 to 191…
Thematic
Transportation and Logistics
By Ian M. Brown
The Great War witnessed mass armies battling with modern, quick-firing weapons s…
Thematic
Urban Societies and Cities
By Andrew Lees
Cities — with their comparatively large and dense but also vulnerable population…
Thematic
Venereal Diseases
By Journey Steward, Nancy M. Wingfield
This essay traces belligerent policies toward venereal disease (VD) on the fight…
Thematic
Veterans' Associations
By Julia Eichenberg
Veterans’ associations formed an influential social movement during the interwar…
Thematic
Visualization of Violence
By Mark Connelly
This piece explores the visualisation of violence for home front audiences and s…
Thematic
War Aims and War Aims Discussions
By Georges-Henri Soutou
Despite what some believe, there is still a lot to say and learn about the First…
Thematic
War Correspondents
By Tim Luckhurst
At its outbreak, newspapers in the Allied and neutral democracies hoped to prese…
Thematic
Warfare 1914-1918
By William Philpott
Static “trench warfare” belied a dynamic transformation in warfare between 1914 …
Thematic
War Finance
By Nicholas Mulder
The Great War required war-making states to mobilize and sustain the financial r…
Thematic
War Letters: Communication between Front and Home Front
By Martha Hanna
In nations where literacy was well-established by 1914, letter-writing was criti…
Thematic
War Losses
By Antoine Prost
Military sources provide the primary statistics of war losses and casualties dur…
Thematic
War Psychiatry and Shell Shock
By Fiona Reid
During the First World War soldiers from all combatant nations suffered from a w…
Thematic
Wartime Emotions: Honour, Shame, and the Ecstasy of Sacrifice
By Ute Frevert
Through investigating the pivotal role of honour in private and public matters, …
Thematic
Weapons
By Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau
To understand the Great War, one has to understand weapons. Weapons are linked t…
Thematic
Western Front
By Jonathan Krause
The Western Front, a 400-plus mile stretch of land weaving through France and Be…
Thematic
Willingly to War. Public Response to the Outbreak of War
By Jean-Jacques Becker
It may surprise us to learn that some sectors of the European public were in fav…
Thematic
Women’s Mobilization for War
By Susan R. Grayzel
This article explores women’s economic, social, and political responses to the F…
Thematic
Women War Reporters
By Stephanie Seul
Female war reporters from belligerent and neutral countries were present in the …
Thematic
Xenophobia
By Thomas Brodie
This article provides an overview of xenophobia during the First World War - nam…
