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For teachers

8 stations on this tour

1. The Great War — Overview

   Duration: 4 years (July 1914 – November 1918). Cause: A web of imperial rivalries, militarism, and entangling alliances, triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. Belligerents: Allied Powers (France, UK, Russia, Italy, USA) vs Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria).…

2. Sarajevo — The Spark

   On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie on the streets of Sarajevo. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia, triggering a chain of alliance obligations that pulled all of Europe into war within 6 weeks. One bullet, fired by a 19-year-old, killed 20 million people.

3. Verdun — The Meatgrinder

   The Battle of Verdun (Feb–Dec 1916) lasted 303 days — the longest single battle in history. Germany aimed to "bleed France white." ~700,000 casualties (roughly equal on both sides) across a front just 30km wide. The French rallying cry "Ils ne passeront pas!" (They shall not pass!) became a symbol of national resistance. Over 60 million…

4. Ypres — Poison Gas

   At Ypres in Belgium, Germany introduced chemical warfare on April 22, 1915, releasing 168 tons of chlorine gas. Thousands of Allied soldiers suffocated in their trenches. Three battles of Ypres killed over 850,000 combined. Passchendaele (Third Ypres, 1917) saw soldiers drowning in mud-filled shell craters. The poppy fields around Ypres…

5. Gallipoli — Churchill's Gamble

   In 1915, the Allies attempted to capture the Dardanelles Strait and knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war. The campaign was a catastrophic failure. Over 500,000 casualties across 8 months. The defeat shaped the national identities of Australia and New Zealand (ANZACs) and ended Winston Churchill's career as First Lord of the Admiralty…

6. The Somme — Industrial Death

   July 1, 1916: the deadliest single day in British military history. 19,240 British soldiers killed before noon. The Battle of the Somme lasted 141 days with over 1 million total casualties. The tank was first deployed here (September 1916). For 141 days, both sides gained and lost the same few kilometers of mud. The Somme became a byword…

7. Compiègne — The Armistice

   At 5:10 AM on November 11, 1918, the Armistice was signed in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne. Fighting ceased at 11:00 AM — "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month." In the final hours, some commanders continued attacks; an estimated 2,738 soldiers died on the last day. The railway carriage was later…

8. Versailles — Seeds Of The Next War

   The Treaty of Versailles (June 1919) imposed crushing terms on Germany: loss of 13% of territory, 10% of population, all colonies, near-total disarmament, and reparations of 132 billion gold marks (~$442 billion today). Article 231 — the "War Guilt Clause" — forced Germany to accept sole responsibility. Economists like John Maynard…

Worksheet — World War I — The Great War (1914–1918)