World War I: 1914-1918

Some historians have called World War I the single-most significant event to occur in the 20th century. Beginning in 1914, when the arch-duke of Austria-Hungary was assassinated in Bosnia, the conflict eventually involved Great Britain, France, and Russia versus Germany and Austria-Hungary. Before the conflict's awful destruction and aftermath had passed, 28 of the world's powers, including the United States, had become embroiled in military campaigns that reached from Western Europe to the Near East and from East Africa to Siberia. A new era of warfare was introduced with the advent of modern-day weapons and techniques of destruction. When the war was over in November 1918, the bloody struggle had extracted nearly 38 million casualties. World War I was responsible for the Russian Revolution, an event leading to the formation of the U.S.S.R. and the rise of Communism. The drastic reparations demands placed upon a bankrupt Germany were responsible for the rise of Adolf Hitler, Nazism, and the Third Reich. This primary source portfolio vividly illustrates the tremendous costs in lives and money of World War I through hands-on facsimiles of government documents, maps, photographs, a newspaper page, posters, and essays. A detailed timeline of events between 1914 and 1918 puts crucial details in focus. This portfolio includes a Study Guide with reproducible student activities. 4 Illustrated Broadsheet Essays: * War Clouds over Europe * The Beginning of Modern Warfare * America Enters the War * The Legacy of World War I 11 Primary Source Documents: * Maps: Pre-war Europe in 1914 and post-war Europe in 1918 * British "Scrap of Paper" enlistment poster * Political cartoon: "A Chain of Friendship," Brooklyn Eagle, July 1914 * German advertisement in New York newspaper warning ocean-going ships to be aware of possible destruction, May 1, 1915 * Poster: World War I weapons & warfare photos * Coded "Zimmerman Telegram" with decoded transcript, January 19, 1917 * U.S. Selective Service Act, April 2, 1917 * U.S. Declaration of War on Germany, April 6, 1917 * Poster: Insignia & uniforms of U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine personnel * Poster: Trench warfare photo collection * Front page "Extra" from The Cleveland News on Armistice Day, November 11, 1918