The Last Soldier to Lose His Life in World War I Died One Minute Before the Armistice Went Into Effect
World War I bore witness to the deaths of some 15 million soldiers and civilians over the four and a half years it raged. Few…
Facts About the Armistice That Put an End to World War I
At 11:00 AM on November 11, 1918, the Armistice that put an end to the fighting of World War I came into effect. After over…
The Tank Museum Receives ‘Splatter’ Mask Donation
The Tank Museum has welcomed a new historical artifact to its collection. A tank crew “Splatter” mask, once worn by Cpl. Walter H. Stickler, was…
King George VI’s Service in the Great War Majorly Influenced His Actions During World War II
The future King George VI – then known as Prince Albert – served in the First World War, an experience that would later influence his…
National WWI Museum and Memorial Opens Century-Old Time Capsule
Update – 10/16/2024: The National WWI Museum and Memorial has unveiled the contents of the time capsule that had been placed in the cornerstone of…
24 Rare Photos That Give Us Another View of World War I
World War I was an international conflict that saw millions of troops come face-to-face across Europe and other regions. We’ve all seen images that were…
Mystery WWI Letter Catches the Attention of Online Sleuths – Who Is the Owner?
A mystery letter from 1918 has been discovered at Tyne Cot Cemetery, near West Flanders, Belgium. It’s subsequently become a social media sensation, with efforts…
Wreck of Royal Navy Warship Torpedoed During WWI Found in ‘Remarkable’ Condition
The long-lost wreck of a British warship lost in the North Sea during the First World War has been discovered off Scotland’s coast. HMS Hawke,…
Centerpiece of the National World War I Memorial Unveiled in Washington, DC
Almost a decade in the making, the centerpiece of the National World War I Memorial was finally delivered to Washington, DC. The 58-foot-long, 10-foot-tall bronze…
USS Sachem (SP-192): ‘The Ghost Ship’ That Served in Both World Wars and Now Sits Abandoned in the Wilderness
There are many abandoned ships across the United States, but few have as storied a history as the USS Sachem (SP-192), which also went by…
24 Photos That Show the Remnants of World War I-Era Trenches Across Europe
World War I forever changed the European landscape, in terms of the loss of human life and the scars left behind in the earth via…
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Experiences During the Battle of the Somme Influenced ‘The Lord of the Rings’
J.R.R. Tolkien is renowned for crafting the legendary high-fantasy tales of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Before earning fame as an author,…
Princess Mary Crowdfunded Personalized Gifts for Soldiers Serving On the Western Front
During World War I, then-17-year-old Princess Mary began a mission to bring a glimmer of hope and joy to those fighting on the Western Front.…
Kaiser Wilhelm and Tsar Nicholas II Tried (and Failed) to Avert World War I
The First World War, commonly referred to as the Great War, was an era characterized by profound upheaval, wherein major global powers engaged in intense…
20 Photos That Show the Remnants of World War I Scattered Across Europe
The scars of the Great War, which raged from 1914-18, remain visible in Europe more than 100 years after the fighting stopped. The conflict left…
The History Behind America’s Iconic ‘Uncle Sam, I Want You’ Recruitment Poster
The iconic phrase, “Uncle Sam, I Want You,” has become a part of American culture, symbolizing a call to duty and patriotism. This iconic image,…
British Cargo Ship Torpedoed By German U-boat Found Off the Coast of Northern Ireland
A British cargo ship that was sunk by a German U-boat during the First World War has been located off the coast of Northern Ireland.…
Artifact Recovered from American Destroyer Sunk By the Germans During World War I
Over a century after the USS Jacob Jones (DD-61) was sunk by a German U-boat off the British coast, a bell has been recovered from…
New Trailer Released for Upcoming ANZAC Movie ‘Before Dawn’
The efforts of soldiers from Australia and New Zealand during the First World War can not be understated, with them engaging in major and prolonged…
Study Reveals New Details About How the British Gave the Germans the Advantage on the Somme
A study recently published in the Journal of Conflict Archaeology is providing new insights into the failed British advance at the Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt on…
The Truth Behind the Christmas Truce of 1914 – Coming Together in No Man’s Land
The First World War was a particularly deadly conflict, due to both the number of countries involved and the weapons developed via technological advancements. While,…
Buffalo Soldiers Receive Military Burial Honors After US Army Overturns Century-Old Convictions
Update – 23/02/2024: Just a few months after their convictions were revoked and over a century since they were charged for their involvement in the…
The Magic Engineering Behind Why Early Fighters Didn’t Shoot Their Own Propellers
Let’s dive into something that’s been bugging many for decades: how did old fighter aircraft shoot at the enemy without blasting their own propellers into…
The Tank Museum Republishing Trevor Pidgeon’s ‘The Tanks at Flers’
The Tank Museum has announced it’s collaborating with historian Stephen Pope to republish Trevor Pidgeon’s The Tanks at Flers: An Account of the First Use…
World War I-Era Shipwrecks Surface During Texas Drought
The Neches River has been plagued by an enduring drought this summer, which has seen water levels drop. This has resulted in a number of…
The Tank Museum Acquires Development and Design Documents for Mark I Tank
The Tank Museum in Bovington, United Kingdom has acquired documents relating to the development and design of the World War I-era Mark I tank. Along…
Zone Rouge: The WWI-Era Battlefields That Are Still Dangerous Over 100 Years Later
Zone Rouge – or the “Red Zone” – is a chain of former battlefields across northeastern France that the government has cordoned off due to…
The Tank Museum Publishing ‘Tank Man’ Biography
The Tank Museum in Bovington, United Kingdom has announced it’ll be releasing a biography about famed World War I-era tank commander Capt. Albert “Bert” Baker.…
Canadian National Vimy Memorial Vandalized in France
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France has been vandalized. The monument, dedicated to the Canadian Expeditionary Force soldiers who lost their lives during the…
Even Children Were Thrilled Following the US’ Entry Into WWI
World War I was truly the first conflict of its kind, engulfing much of the world from 1914-18. While the majority involved became embroiled in…
Mata Hari: The Dutch Exotic Dancer Accused By the French of Being a Double Agent
Legendary exotic dancer Mata Hari was much more than meets the eye. With her captivating beauty, alluring performances and alleged involvement in espionage during the…
Remains of German U-boat SM UC-55 Identified Off the Coast of the Shetland Islands
A team of divers have confirmed the identity of the wreck of a World War I-era German U-boat sunk off the coast of the Shetland…
The Mechanized Nature of Warfare In WWI Forced the French Cavalry to Adapt Their Fighting Style
World War I witnessed the advent of mechanized warfare, with tanks, artillery and machine guns redefining the nature of combat. Amid this modernization, the role…
Search for World War I-Era French Minesweepers Leads to Discovery of 1879 Shipwreck
A number of ships have fallen victim to the wicked weather of the Great Lakes over the centuries. One, the loss of the SS Edmund…
The Little-Known Grand Stand of the ‘First Soldier of France’
As the world descended into the chaos of World War I, one man’s bravery and unwavering dedication stood out. Albert Severin Roche, known as the…
Royal Navy Submarine Buried Beneath British Park? Experts Say It’s Likely
There’s long been an urban legend surrounding Dartmouth’s Coronation Park, which states a Royal Navy submarine is buried beneath the green space. Residents of the…
Soldiers Got Creative When Testing Out Gas Masks In WWI
World War I marked a dark era of unprecedented technological advancements in warfare. One of the most notorious was the use of poisonous gas, first…
Walt Disney Served As An Ambulance Driver for the Red Cross During World War I
Growing up, Walt Disney had a passion for drawing. He pursued this as he matured, turning sketching into not just a career, but the biggest…
HMS Centurion (1911): The British Dreadnought That Saw Action At Jutland and Was Purposefully Sunk After D-Day
The HMS Centurion (1911) was the second of four King George V-class dreadnought battleships. She served with the Royal Navy between 1913-44, seeing action throughout…
USS Recruit (1917): The Wooden Dreadnought In Manhattan’s Union Square
Amid the bustling streets of Manhattan’s Union Square in World War I, an extraordinary sight met passersby. The USS Recruit (1917), a wooden landship constructed…
The Dramatic Arrival of the German U-boat SM U-118 On a British Beach
In the aftermath of the First World War, a remarkable event unfolded in Britain, causing a stir among military and civilian circles: the unexpected arrival…
‘Last Post’ Memorial In Ypres Undergoing Two-Year Restoration
After a century of battling the elements, the Menin Gate in Belgium is about to get some well-earned rest and recuperation. The monument dedicated to…
MI5 Used Girl Guides As Spies During World War I Because Boy Scouts Gossiped Too Much
World War I was a time of immense upheaval and change. One group that played a surprisingly important role during this time was the British…
The WWI Assault That Inspired A Movie About Sgt Alvin York
Many men went up against German machine guns during the First World War and didn’t live to tell the tale. Even fewer did so directly…
Netflix’s Adaptation of ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ Shows the Brutalities of Trench Warfare
One of the most talked about films of 2022 was All Quiet on the Western Front. The adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s classic anti-war novel…
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: The Deadliest American-Involved Campaign of World War I
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive toward the end of World War I is widely considered to be the campaign that truly stopped any and all fighting along…
The German Flammenwerfer Forever Changed Warfare – And Not for the Better
For centuries, militaries tried to harness the ability to command fire. There were various methods used, but the flammenwerfer models developed by the German Army…
100 Years After She Sank, The Mystery of USS San Diego’s (ACR-6) Tragic End Was Finally Solved
Shortly after 11:00 AM on July 19, 1918, the Pennsylvania-class armored cruiser USS San Diego (ACR-6) – formerly known as the USS California – was…
Ahmet Ali Çelikten: Why Have We Forgotten History’s First Black Aviator?
Exactly two years before World War I came to an end, Ahmet Ali Çelikten became one of the world’s first Black military aviators. Çelikten, who…
The Allies Crafted the Largest Non-Nuclear Explosion to Win the Battle of Messines
The origin of mine warfare dates back all the way to the mid-19th century, during the American Civil War. In December 1861, Confederate officer Maj.…
17 Powerful Images That Show the Human Side of War
Since the First World War, every conflict has been well-documented. There are millions of photos showing soldiers, aircraft, tanks and battlefields, and behind them are…
How the Soldier ‘Worth a Million Men’ Single-Handedly Saved His Comrades from a German Assault
On April 9, 1918, Aníbal Augusto Milhais and his comrades with the 2nd Infantry Division of the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps were embroiled in the intense…
Tommies: Did the Endearing Term for British Soldiers Actually Originate During WWI?
The term “Tommies” is most closely associated with British soldiers who served during the First World War. However, where and how did the nickname originate?…
Battle of Tannenberg: Annihilation of the Russian Second Army
Five hundred years before the start of World War I, the Teutonic Knights were gravely defeated by Slavic and Lithuanian forces at the Battle of…
John Simpson Kirkpatrick: The ‘Man with the Donkey’ in Gallipoli
Best known as the “Man with the Donkey,” John Simpson Kirkpatrick was one of many larger than life figures who landed with the ANZACs during…
Maurice Rose: The Highest Ranking US Officer Killed By the Enemy In Europe During WWII
Maurice Rose lived through the horrors of the First World War and bravely returned to the battlefield when the global population was plunged into conflict…
How Trenches Changed the Face of Warfare During WWI
If there’s one thing World War I is known for, it’s the use of trenches as a means of protection and strategy. They could be…
Schwarzlose MG: The Unusual Austro-Hungarian Machine Gun of World War I
A number of machine guns saw action during the First World War. While the Vickers, Maxim and Lewis guns are likely the ones that come…
37 mm M1916: The French ‘Bunker Buster’ That Became a Hindrance on the Western Front
When the First World War began in 1914, it quickly became apparent that newer, more advanced weapons were needed. This was particularly true on the…
Anna Coleman Ladd: The Sculptor Who Changed the Lives of WWI Veterans
Throughout World War I, women took on a whole host of new roles to contribute to the war effort, including nursing, firefighting and engineering. Unlike…
‘Dracula’ Star Bela Lugosi Fought the Russians Along the Eastern Front During World War I
While the majority know Bela Lugosi for his portrayal of Count Dracula in the 1931 film adaptation of Bram Stoker‘s novel, few are aware of…
What Happened to the Jewish Soldiers Who Served with the German Army in World War I?
Prior to the Second World War, Jewish soldiers actively fought in the German Army. This included World War I and a number of conflicts fought…
John Hines Was the King of Pilfering German Goods During World War I
There were countless stories of intense bravery to come out of the First World War. However, John “Barney” Hines had a much different approach to…
The Miraculous History Behind Britain’s ‘Thankful Villages’
It’s a well known fact the First World War was one of the deadliest conflicts of human history, with only World War II having a…
The Integral Role Air Gunners Played During the First and Second World Wars
Aircraft made their combat debut during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-12. Just a few years later, during the First World War, they appeared in much…
August von Mackensen: The German Field Marshal Dubbed ‘The Last Hussar’
Hussars originated in Central Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries and were made up of light cavalry soldiers. Though military in nature, they can…
Frank Luke: The WWI Flying Ace Who Was Like a Real-Life Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell
While dogfights first occurred during the Mexican Revolution, it wasn’t until the First World War that they became widespread. Upon returning home from service, pilots…
A Faux Paris Was Built to Fool German Bombers During World War I
When Paris was the target of German bombers during the First World War, officials immediately began to devise ways to stop future air raids from…
Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Paths of Glory’ Was Loosely Based on a Real-Life Tragedy
War movies have always been one of the most popular genres of film and, for many years, they unambiguously portrayed their conflicts as noble. Renowned…
6-Star General: Only Three Individuals Have Been Promoted to the Prestigious Rank
The rank of 6-star general is so high in the US military’s hierarchy that it’s only ever been given out three times. One recipient was…
USS Jacob Jones (DD-61) Found After a Century; First US Destroyer to Be Sunk By An Enemy Vessel
On December 6, 1917, the Tucker-class destroyer USS Jacob Jones (DD-61) was sailing from Brest, France to Queenstown, Ireland. However, the ship never reached its…
The British Were Harvesting Soldiers’ Organs During WWI
A book by Canadian historian Tim Cook has brought to light some disturbing evidence regarding a British program that saw the harvesting of slain Canadian…
The USS Texas (BB-35) Was Intentionally Flooded During D-Day
The USS Texas (BB-35) saw more combat action in her lifetime than most other US battleships, seeing service in both World War I and II,…
Video Game Based on the Battles of the Isonzo Hits Gaming Platforms
War enthusiasts and video game fanatics will be excited to learn that the latest release in the WW1 Game Series has officially hit the market.…
The Battle of Cantigny Forever Changed the US Military
The Battle of Cantigny was the first great American victory of the First World War. With a military that was under-trained and ill-prepared, a win…
The Incredible Military Career of Graves Erskine, the US Marine Who Escorted the Unknown Soldier
When John Wayne and Republic Pictures needed a technical adviser for the 1949 film Sands of Iwo Jima, they reached out to Graves Erskine. It…
A 500-Mile March By French Cavalrymen Helped Bring an End to the First World War
Images of the First World War often capture the difficulties of trench warfare, with soldiers on all sides of the conflict engaging in a war…
Battles of the Isonzo: Two Years, Over One Million Casualties
Many of the bloodiest battles in World War I occurred along the Western Front. There was, however, another lesser-known combat theater that was as equally…
Indra Lal Roy was India’s Sole Flying Ace During World War I
World War I was the first major conflict to feature aircraft engage in aerial battles. At the time, it was incredibly dangerous to take to…
Canadian War Crimes in WW1: How German Soldiers Were Exploited by Canadian Troops
As World War I dragged on, an unexpected group became known for being ruthless. Canadians, stereotyped as friendly, kind and agreeable, certainly displayed none of…
Aníbal Augusto Milhais: The Portuguese Soldier ‘Worth a Million Men’
The story of Aníbal Augustus Milhais, also known by the nickname Soldado Milhões (“Soldier Millions”), reads like something out of Star Wars. A simple farmer…
Historic Deception and Camouflage Techniques Used By Militaries
Deception and military subterfuge have been used throughout history. The aim is to give armies the upper hand by tricking the enemy. The practice dates…
Lt. Gen. Larry Jordan on His Military Career and the Service of African-Americans in WWI
The US military has a long and complicated history when it comes to the treatment of minorities within its ranks. While things have certainly improved,…
The Titanic’s Sister Ship Took Out a German U-boat in World War I
When the RMS Olympic was launched in October 1910, she was the largest man-made moving object in the world. At 882 feet long, Olympic set…
Konstantin Rokossovsky Was the Marshal of Two Armies During the 20th Century
Russia during the first half of the 20th century was both massive and constantly engaged in military conflict. One man who made a name for…
Adrian Carton de Wiart: The Unkillable Soldier Who Frankly Enjoyed War
Adrian Carton de Wiart. Not many people know the name, but it belonged to one of the most battle-scarred soldiers in the history of the…
British Tank Crew Survived Being Stuck in No Man’s Land for Three Days
The Third Battle of Ypres – better known as the Battle of Passchendaele – is famous for the difficult conditions the British had to contend…
Marie Marvingtf: The WWI and WWII Pilot And Nurse Who Lived An Incredible Life
Marie Marvingt was so renowned for her courage that in 1903, she was nicknamed “the fiancee of danger.’ She was many other things as well.…
From the Scythians to Russia: The Use of Scorched Earth Tactics in War
Scorched earth tactics have been used nearly as long as armies have conducted military campaigns. While the practice is less common in modern times, it…
Classic Hollywood Actors Who Served During World War I
While it was still a relatively new phenomenon, Hollywood studios were cranking out film after film during the 1920s and ’30s. As a result, many…
Frederick Banting: The Co-Discoverer of Insulin Served in Both World Wars
Shortly before 2:00 AM on October 31, 1920, Frederick Banting woke up from a dream that would change the lives of millions. He quickly scribbled…
USS New York (BB-34): The Only US Ship to Sink a German U-boat In WWI
The USS New York (BB-34) was a US Navy battleship and the lead vessel of her class. Named after the state of New York, she was…
Legendary Battles That Would Make Outstanding Films
War movies have been popular for as long as films have existed. As a result, some of the more popular subjects have been completely exhausted.…
Dan Daly: The Legendary Marine of Big Words and Bigger Deeds
“My God! Do you mean he’s real? I thought he was somebody the Marines made up, like Paul Bunyan!” These words were said by a…
The Exploits of Fritz Joubert: South African Turned German War Spy
Fritz Joubert Duquesne was a man originally born in South Africa who spied for the Germans in two World Wars. In between the battles, he…
8 Fierce Historical Military Figures Most People Haven’t Heard About
History is filled with so many fierce fighters that it’s not surprising some have been largely forgotten following their service. Here are eight of the…
Battle of St Eloi Craters: The Relatively Unknown Battle That Devastated the Canadian Corps
Military historians have often overlooked the Battle of St Eloi Craters that occurred during the First World War. Perhaps this lack of interest is due…
Humphrey Bogart Used His Real-Life Military Service to Bring Authenticity to His Movie Roles
While Humphrey Bogart is remembered for being one of the greatest Hollywood actors of all time, we should also acknowledge his efforts in the aftermath…
The Amazing Life of Eugene Bullard: Boxer, Nightclub Owner and Military Pilot
Eugene Bullard was the first Black American military pilot, flying combat missions for France during the First World War. He left the United States with…
The Type B Bus ‘Pigeon Loft’ Was A Strange Sight on the Western Front
Over time, there have been some odd vehicles seen on battlefields, but few were as eye-catching as the Type B Bus “Pigeon Loft.” The Allied…