A Short History of World War I

James L. Stokesbury

• Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9780688001292
• eBook ISBN: 9780061763618
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Early American History
• Index: History

A concise history covering the causes and the battles of the world's first global conflict, "the war to end all wars."

World War I was a bloodletting so vast and unprecedented that for a generation it was known simply as the Great War. Casualty lists reached unimagined proportions as the same ground—places like Ypres and the Somme—was fought over again and again. Other major bloody battles remain vivid in memory to this day: Gallipoli and the Battle of Jutland are but two examples. Europe was at war with itself, and the effect on Western civilization was profound, its repercussions felt even today.

World War I saw the introduction of modern technology into the military arena: The tank, airplane, machine gun, submarine, and—most lethal of all—poison gas, all received their first widespread use. Professor James L. Stokesbury analyzes these technological innovations and the war's complex military campaigns in lucid detail. At the same time he discusses the great political events that unfolded during the war, such as the Russian Revolution and the end of the Hapsburg dynasty, putting the social and political side of the war into the context of modern European history.

Includes Maps

Searchable Terms

Note: Entries in this index, carried over verbatim from the print edition of this title, are unlikely to correspond to the pagination of any given e-book reader. However, entries in this index, and other terms, may be easily located by using the search feature of your e-book reader.

Abdul Hamid II, Sultan, 103

Aboukir (British armored cruiser), 88

Adalia, Turkey, 106, 192

Adige Valley, Italy, 108

Adriatic Sea, 79, 80, 107

Aerial reconnaissance planes, 50, 98, 147, 251–252

Agincourt (British ship), 169

Aircraft: bombing aircraft developed, 252–254; early military use of, 250–252; for observation, 240; for reconnaissance, 50, 98, 147, 251–252; Zeppelins, 253; See also types of aircraft

Air warfare: Battle of the Somme front, 264

Aisne River, France, 272, 273, 274; first Battle of, 57–58; second Battle of, 232–235

Aisne-Marne offensive, 282–287

Albania, 20, 103, 137, 138, 295

Albert of the Belgians, King, 37, 38, 58

Albrecht, General, 42, 51

Alexander III, Tsar, 130, 133

Alexandra, Tsarina, 130–131, 134, 167, 199, 200

Alexis, Tsarevitch, 130–131

Algerian troops, 95

Allenby, General Sir Edmund, 148, 149, 152, 231, 296; Battle of Megiddo, 296–297; taking of Jerusalem, 254–256

Allied Powers, see France; Great Britain; Italy; Russia; United States

Allies Supreme War Council, 248, 261; meeting at Doullens, 265–266; meeting at Versailles, 276

Alsace-Lorraine, 30, 31, 32, 40, 196, 300, 315, 320

American Civil War, 15, 111, 196

Amiens, France, 148, 265, 269, 282, 285

Amiens salient, 283

Anglo-Japanese Naval Alliance (1902), 18, 181

Anglo-Persian Oil Company, 188

Antwerp, Belgium, 43, 58

Anzac Cove, 232

Anzacs, the, 121, 122, 125, 149–150

Arabic (British liner), 216

Ardennes Forest, France, 37, 40; Battle of, 41–42

Argonne Forest, France, 232, 290, 291

Armenia, 103, 104, 214

Armentières, France, 267, 268

Armored fighting vehicles, see Tanks

Arras, France, 249, 262, 263, 267; offensive at, 229, 230, 231–232

Artois, France, 93, 96; first Battle of, 58; third Battle of, 99

Asiago, Italy, 158, 159

Asquith, Herbert, 51

Asquith’s Coalition Cabinet, 197

Aubers Ridge, France, 97

Auchinleck, General, 263

Audacious (British battleship), 88

Augustow, Forest of, Prussia, 72

Aulnoye, France, 288, 289, 292

Aurore, L’, 196

Australia, 34, 80, 181

Australian Cavalry Division, 255

Australian division, 283, 284, 285

Austria-Hungary, 13, 16–17, 18, 19; Archduke Francis Ferdinand’s assassination and, 24–26; attacks Rumania, 166; the Balkan States and, 20–21; Brusilov offensive against, 160–164; Czechs and, 297, 298; declares war on Russia, 29; demands Italy as ally, 106; drafts peace proposal (1916), 201; legacy of World War I, 319; naval power of, 79; number of mobilized men and casualties, 310; orders general mobilization, 29; Poles and, 297–298; the Polish salient, 62–63; Serbia and, 25–28, 73–74, 137; surrender of, 299; Treaty of St. Germaine-en-Laye, 316; Treaty of the Trianon, 316; war planes of, 30; war weariness of, 138–139; See also Hapsburg monarchy

Austrian-Hungarian Army: Battle of Caporetto, 247–248; Battle of Galicia, 69–70; battles of the Isonzo, 108–109, 157–159, 246; Battle of Vittorio Veneto, 298–299; Gorlice-Tarnow offensive, 132–134; 2nd Army, 69; 5th Army, 73; 6th Army, 73; 11th Army, 158

Avanti, 107

Baden, Prince Max of, 303–304, 305

Baghdad, Mesopotamia, 188, 189, 255

Balfour, Arthur, 192

Balfour Declaration, 192–193

Balkan States, 19–21; Austria-Hungary and, 20–21; Russia and, 20; See also names of countries

Barbed wire, 14, 15

Barham (British ship), 173

Basra, Mesopotamia, 188

Baupaume, France, 263, 265

Beatty, Sir David, 85–86, 171–174, 178

Beaumont-Hamel, France, 154, 156

Beauvais, France, 266

Beersheba, Turkey, 254, 255

Beirut, Lebanon, 297

Belgium, 28–33, 201, 300; Battle of Liége, 37–39; British aid to, 43; fall of Antwerp, 58; Germany declares war on, 29, 38; Germany forces way through, 37–39, 43–44; first Battle of Ypres, 58–59; second Battle of Ypres, 94–96, 98; size of army, 37; third Battle of Ypres, 239–242

Belgrade, Serbia, 73, 295

Belleau Wood, Battle of, 277

Below, General Otto von: Battle of Caporetto, 246–248; Battle of Chemin des Dames, 273–275; Battle of the Somme, 151; Battle of the Somme front, 262, 267

Berlin (German auxiliary cruiser), 88

Berlin, Congress of (1878), 103, 135

Berlin-Baghdad railway, 165

Bessarabia, Russia, 214

Bethmann-Hollweg, Chancellor, 28, 202–204, 299

Bismarck, Otto von, 16–17, 33, 104

Black Hand (terrorist organization), 23

Bloch, Ivan, 16, 59, 90, 224

Blücher (German armored cruiser), 85, 86

Boehn, General von, 273, 279, 288

Bolshevik Revolution, 57

Bolzano, Italy, 108

Boris of Bulgaria, King, 135, 296

Bosnia, 73

Bosnia-Herzegovina, 20, 62, 104; assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand and wife, 23–24

Bourlon Wood, France, 249, 250

Bouvet (French battleship), 120, 123

Breslaw (German light cruiser), 79, 80, 104

Brest-Litovsk, Poland, 133; Treaty of, 213–214

Briand, Premier Aristide, 196, 197

Britain, see Great Britain

British East Africa, 184

British Expeditionary Forces, 31, 37; Aisne-Marne offensive, 283–285; the Anzacs, 121, 122, 125, 149–150; Arras offensive, 231–232; attack on Cambrai, 291–292; attack on Festubert, ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Chapter 01
• Chapter 02
• Chapter 03
• Chapter 04
• Chapter 05
• Chapter 06
• Chapter 07
• Chapter 08
• Chapter 09
• Chapter 10
• Chapter 11
• Chapter 12
• Chapter 13
• Chapter 14
• Chapter 15
• Chapter 16
• Chapter 17
• Chapter 18
• Chapter 19
• Chapter 20
• Chapter 21
• Chapter 22
• Chapter 23
• Chapter 24
• Suggestions for Further Reading
• Searchable Terms
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Other Books by James L. Stokesbury
• Copyright
• About the Publisher