MEPX
Chapter 4 of 10All chapters
  1. 1The age of revolutions
  2. 2Industrial society
  3. 3Empire and nationalism
  4. 4The First World War
  5. 5Between the wars
  6. 6The Second World War
  7. 7Building a new order
  8. 8The Cold War
  9. 9Decolonisation and civil rights
  10. 10Since 1991

Chapter 4 of 10

The First World War

1914 to 1918.

Why it happened

Alliances, mobilisation timetables, arms racing and imperial rivalry turned a Balkan assassination into a continental war within six weeks.

  • Machine guns and artillery made attack far costlier than defence.
  • Around ten million soldiers and comparable civilian numbers died.

Aftermath

Four empires fell, new states were created, and the Versailles settlement left both resentment and unresolved questions across Europe and the Middle East.