world war 1

Perhaps you’ve heard of epic clashes like the Battle of Verdun or the Battle of the Somme, but even the history buffs among us seldom know all that much about the history of World War 1. While World War 2 retains an iconic place in our collective imagination, the massive conflict that set the stage for it a quarter century before remains lesser-known.

You may know legendary figures like Gavrilo Princip — the man whose murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand lit the powder keg — or the feared German pilot known as the Red Baron, but there are richer stories from the history of World War 1 than these.

From its complicated causes stretching back decades before the first shots were fired to its consequences that set the next half-century in motion, World War 1 was the fulcrum on which 20th-century history turned. And for those who know little about The Great War — its heroism, its horrors, its unheard-of bloodshed — these stories and photos are the place to start.