introduction to ww1 essay

World War I Introduction and Overview

Belligerent nations.

• Origins of World War I

World War I on Land

World war i at sea, technical innovation, modern view.

• M.A., Medieval Studies, Sheffield University
• B.A., Medieval Studies, Sheffield University

World War I was a major conflict fought in Europe and around the world between July 28, 1914, and November 11, 1918. Nations from across all non-polar continents were involved , although Russia, Britain, France, Germany, and Austria-Hungary dominated. Much of the war was characterized by stagnant trench warfare and massive loss of life in failed attacks; over eight million people were killed in battle.

The war was fought by two main power blocks: the Entente Powers , or 'Allies,' comprised of Russia, France, Britain (and later the U.S.), and their allies on one side and the Central Powers of Germany, Austro-Hungary, Turkey, and their allies on the other. Italy later joined the Entente. Many other countries played smaller parts on both sides.

Origins of World War I

To understand the origins , it is important to understand how politics at the time. European politics in the early twentieth century were a dichotomy: many politicians thought war had been banished by progress while others, influenced partly by a fierce arms race, felt war was inevitable. In Germany, this belief went further: the war should happen sooner rather than later, while they still (as they believed) had an advantage over their perceived major enemy, Russia. As Russia and France were allied, Germany feared an attack from both sides. To mitigate this threat, the Germans developed the Schlieffen Plan , a swift looping attack on France designed to knock it out early, allowing for concentration on Russia.

Rising tensions culminated on June 28th, 1914 with the assassination of  Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand  by a Serbian activist, an ally of Russia. Austro-Hungary asked for German support and was promised a 'blank cheque'; they declared war on Serbia on July 28th. What followed was a sort of domino effect as more and more nations joined the fight . Russia mobilized to support Serbia, so Germany declared war on Russia; France then declared war on Germany. As German troops swung through Belgium into France days later, Britain declared war on Germany too. Declarations continued until much of Europe was at war with each other. There was widespread public support.

After the swift German invasion of France was stopped at the Marne, 'the race to the sea' followed as each side tried to outflank each other ever closer to the English Channel. This left the entire Western Front divided by over 400 miles of trenches, around which the war stagnated. Despite massive battles like Ypres , little progress was made and a battle of attrition emerged, caused partly by German intentions to 'bleed the French dry' at Verdun and Britain's attempts on the Somme . There was more movement on the Eastern Front with some major victories, but there was nothing decisive and the war carried on with high casualties.

Attempts to find another route into their enemy’s territory led to the failed Allied invasion of Gallipoli, where Allied forces held a beachhead but were halted by fierce Turkish resistance. There was also conflict on the Italian front, the Balkans, the Middle East, and smaller struggles in colonial holdings where the warring powers bordered each other.

Although the build-up to war had included a naval arms race between Britain and Germany, the only large naval engagement of the conflict was the Battle of Jutland, where both sides claimed victory. Instead, the defining struggle involved submarines and the German decision to pursue Unrestricted Submarine Warfare (USW). This policy allowed submarines to attack any target they found, including those belonging to the 'neutral' United States, which caused the latter to enter the war in 1917 on behalf of the Allies, supplying much-needed manpower.

Despite Austria-Hungary becoming little more than a German satellite, the Eastern Front was the first to be resolved, the war causing massive political and military instability in Russia, leading to the Revolutions of 1917 , the emergence of socialist government and surrender on December 15. Efforts by the Germans to redirect manpower and take the offensive in the west failed and, on November 11, 1918 (at 11:00 am), faced with allied successes, massive disruption at home and the impending arrival of vast US manpower, Germany signed an Armistice, the last Central power to do so.

Each of the defeated nations signed a treaty with the Allies, most significantly the Treaty of Versailles which was signed with Germany, and which has been blamed for causing further disruption ever since. There was devastation across Europe: 59 million troops had been mobilized, over 8 million died and over 29 million were injured. Huge quantities of capital had been passed to the now emergent United States and the culture of every European nation was deeply affected and the struggle became known as The Great War or The War to End All Wars.

World War I was the first to make major use of machine guns, which soon showed their defensive qualities. It was also the first to see poison gas used on the battlefields, a weapon which both sides made use of, and the first to see tanks, which were initially developed by the allies and later used to great success. The use of aircraft evolved from simply reconnaissance to a whole new form of aerial warfare.

Thanks partly to a generation of war poets who recorded the horrors of the war and a generation of historians who castigated the Allied high command for their decisions and ‘waste of life’ (Allied soldiers being the 'Lions led by Donkeys'), the war was generally viewed as a pointless tragedy. However, later generations of historians have found mileage in revising this view. While the Donkeys have always been ripe for recalibration, and careers built on provocation have always found material (such as Niall Ferguson's The Pity of War ), the centenary commemorations found historiography split between a phalanx wishing to create a new martial pride and sideline the worst of the war to create an image of a conflict well worth fighting and then truly won by the allies, and those who wished to stress the alarming and pointless imperial game millions of people died for. The war remains highly controversial and as subject to attack and defense as the newspapers of the day.

• World War I Timeline: 1914, The War Begins
• The Causes and War Aims of World War One
• The Fourteen Points of Woodrow Wilson's Plan for Peace
• Causes of World War I and the Rise of Germany
• The Major Alliances of World War I
• World War 1: A Short Timeline Pre-1914
• The Countries Involved in World War I
• World War I: Opening Campaigns
• The First Battle of the Marne
• World War I: A Global Struggle
• World War 1: A Short Timeline 1915
• America Joins the Fight in World War I
• The Treaty of Versailles: An Overview
• World War I's Mitteleuropa
• Biography of Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States
• The US and Great Britain's Special Relationship

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World War I

By: History.com Editors

Updated: August 11, 2023 | Original: October 29, 2009

World War I, also known as the Great War, started in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. His murder catapulted into a war across Europe that lasted until 1918. During the four-year conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Canada, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers). Thanks to new military technologies and the horrors of trench warfare, World War I saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction. By the time the war was over and the Allied Powers had won, more than 16 million people—soldiers and civilians alike—were dead.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Tensions had been brewing throughout Europe—especially in the troubled Balkan region of southeast Europe—for years before World War I actually broke out.

A number of alliances involving European powers, the Ottoman Empire , Russia and other parties had existed for years, but political instability in the Balkans (particularly Bosnia, Serbia and Herzegovina) threatened to destroy these agreements.

The spark that ignited World War I was struck in Sarajevo, Bosnia, where Archduke Franz Ferdinand —heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire—was shot to death along with his wife, Sophie, by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914. Princip and other nationalists were struggling to end Austro-Hungarian rule over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand set off a rapidly escalating chain of events: Austria-Hungary , like many countries around the world, blamed the Serbian government for the attack and hoped to use the incident as justification for settling the question of Serbian nationalism once and for all.

Kaiser Wilhelm II

Because mighty Russia supported Serbia, Austria-Hungary waited to declare war until its leaders received assurance from German leader Kaiser Wilhelm II that Germany would support their cause. Austro-Hungarian leaders feared that a Russian intervention would involve Russia’s ally, France, and possibly Great Britain as well.

On July 5, Kaiser Wilhelm secretly pledged his support, giving Austria-Hungary a so-called carte blanche, or “blank check” assurance of Germany’s backing in the case of war. The Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary then sent an ultimatum to Serbia, with such harsh terms as to make it almost impossible to accept.

World War I Begins

Convinced that Austria-Hungary was readying for war, the Serbian government ordered the Serbian army to mobilize and appealed to Russia for assistance. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and the tenuous peace between Europe’s great powers quickly collapsed.

Within a week, Russia, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Serbia had lined up against Austria-Hungary and Germany, and World War I had begun.

The Western Front

According to an aggressive military strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan (named for its mastermind, German Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen ), Germany began fighting World War I on two fronts, invading France through neutral Belgium in the west and confronting Russia in the east.

On August 4, 1914, German troops crossed the border into Belgium. In the first battle of World War I, the Germans assaulted the heavily fortified city of Liege , using the most powerful weapons in their arsenal—enormous siege cannons—to capture the city by August 15. The Germans left death and destruction in their wake as they advanced through Belgium toward France, shooting civilians and executing a Belgian priest they had accused of inciting civilian resistance. 

First Battle of the Marne

In the First Battle of the Marne , fought from September 6-9, 1914, French and British forces confronted the invading German army, which had by then penetrated deep into northeastern France, within 30 miles of Paris. The Allied troops checked the German advance and mounted a successful counterattack, driving the Germans back to the north of the Aisne River.

The defeat meant the end of German plans for a quick victory in France. Both sides dug into trenches , and the Western Front was the setting for a hellish war of attrition that would last more than three years.

Particularly long and costly battles in this campaign were fought at Verdun (February-December 1916) and the Battle of the Somme (July-November 1916). German and French troops suffered close to a million casualties in the Battle of Verdun alone.

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World War I Books and Art

The bloodshed on the battlefields of the Western Front, and the difficulties its soldiers had for years after the fighting had ended, inspired such works of art as “ All Quiet on the Western Front ” by Erich Maria Remarque and “ In Flanders Fields ” by Canadian doctor Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae . In the latter poem, McCrae writes from the perspective of the fallen soldiers:

Published in 1915, the poem inspired the use of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance.

Visual artists like Otto Dix of Germany and British painters Wyndham Lewis, Paul Nash and David Bomberg used their firsthand experience as soldiers in World War I to create their art, capturing the anguish of trench warfare and exploring the themes of technology, violence and landscapes decimated by war.

The Eastern Front

On the Eastern Front of World War I, Russian forces invaded the German-held regions of East Prussia and Poland but were stopped short by German and Austrian forces at the Battle of Tannenberg in late August 1914.

Despite that victory, Russia’s assault forced Germany to move two corps from the Western Front to the Eastern, contributing to the German loss in the Battle of the Marne.

Combined with the fierce Allied resistance in France, the ability of Russia’s huge war machine to mobilize relatively quickly in the east ensured a longer, more grueling conflict instead of the quick victory Germany had hoped to win under the Schlieffen Plan .

Russian Revolution

From 1914 to 1916, Russia’s army mounted several offensives on World War I’s Eastern Front but was unable to break through German lines.

Defeat on the battlefield, combined with economic instability and the scarcity of food and other essentials, led to mounting discontent among the bulk of Russia’s population, especially the poverty-stricken workers and peasants. This increased hostility was directed toward the imperial regime of Czar Nicholas II and his unpopular German-born wife, Alexandra.

Russia’s simmering instability exploded in the Russian Revolution of 1917, spearheaded by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks , which ended czarist rule and brought a halt to Russian participation in World War I.

Russia reached an armistice with the Central Powers in early December 1917, freeing German troops to face the remaining Allies on the Western Front.

America Enters World War I

At the outbreak of fighting in 1914, the United States remained on the sidelines of World War I, adopting the policy of neutrality favored by President Woodrow Wilson while continuing to engage in commerce and shipping with European countries on both sides of the conflict.

Neutrality, however, it was increasingly difficult to maintain in the face of Germany’s unchecked submarine aggression against neutral ships, including those carrying passengers. In 1915, Germany declared the waters surrounding the British Isles to be a war zone, and German U-boats sunk several commercial and passenger vessels, including some U.S. ships.

Widespread protest over the sinking by U-boat of the British ocean liner Lusitania —traveling from New York to Liverpool, England with hundreds of American passengers onboard—in May 1915 helped turn the tide of American public opinion against Germany. In February 1917, Congress passed a $250 million arms appropriations bill intended to make the United States ready for war.

Germany sunk four more U.S. merchant ships the following month, and on April 2 Woodrow Wilson appeared before Congress and called for a declaration of war against Germany.

Gallipoli Campaign

With World War I having effectively settled into a stalemate in Europe, the Allies attempted to score a victory against the Ottoman Empire, which entered the conflict on the side of the Central Powers in late 1914.

After a failed attack on the Dardanelles (the strait linking the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean Sea), Allied forces led by Britain launched a large-scale land invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula in April 1915. The invasion also proved a dismal failure, and in January 1916 Allied forces staged a full retreat from the shores of the peninsula after suffering 250,000 casualties.

Did you know? The young Winston Churchill, then first lord of the British Admiralty, resigned his command after the failed Gallipoli campaign in 1916, accepting a commission with an infantry battalion in France.

British-led forces also combated the Ottoman Turks in Egypt and Mesopotamia , while in northern Italy, Austrian and Italian troops faced off in a series of 12 battles along the Isonzo River, located at the border between the two nations.

Battle of the Isonzo

The First Battle of the Isonzo took place in the late spring of 1915, soon after Italy’s entrance into the war on the Allied side. In the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, also known as the Battle of Caporetto (October 1917), German reinforcements helped Austria-Hungary win a decisive victory.

After Caporetto, Italy’s allies jumped in to offer increased assistance. British and French—and later, American—troops arrived in the region, and the Allies began to take back the Italian Front.

World War I at Sea

In the years before World War I, the superiority of Britain’s Royal Navy was unchallenged by any other nation’s fleet, but the Imperial German Navy had made substantial strides in closing the gap between the two naval powers. Germany’s strength on the high seas was also aided by its lethal fleet of U-boat submarines.

After the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915, in which the British mounted a surprise attack on German ships in the North Sea, the German navy chose not to confront Britain’s mighty Royal Navy in a major battle for more than a year, preferring to rest the bulk of its naval strategy on its U-boats.

The biggest naval engagement of World War I, the Battle of Jutland (May 1916) left British naval superiority on the North Sea intact, and Germany would make no further attempts to break an Allied naval blockade for the remainder of the war.

World War I Planes

World War I was the first major conflict to harness the power of planes. Though not as impactful as the British Royal Navy or Germany’s U-boats, the use of planes in World War I presaged their later, pivotal role in military conflicts around the globe.

At the dawn of World War I, aviation was a relatively new field; the Wright brothers took their first sustained flight just eleven years before, in 1903. Aircraft were initially used primarily for reconnaissance missions. During the First Battle of the Marne, information passed from pilots allowed the allies to exploit weak spots in the German lines, helping the Allies to push Germany out of France.

The first machine guns were successfully mounted on planes in June of 1912 in the United States, but were imperfect; if timed incorrectly, a bullet could easily destroy the propeller of the plane it came from. The Morane-Saulnier L, a French plane, provided a solution: The propeller was armored with deflector wedges that prevented bullets from hitting it. The Morane-Saulnier Type L was used by the French, the British Royal Flying Corps (part of the Army), the British Royal Navy Air Service and the Imperial Russian Air Service. The British Bristol Type 22 was another popular model used for both reconnaissance work and as a fighter plane.

Dutch inventor Anthony Fokker improved upon the French deflector system in 1915. His “interrupter” synchronized the firing of the guns with the plane’s propeller to avoid collisions. Though his most popular plane during WWI was the single-seat Fokker Eindecker, Fokker created over 40 kinds of airplanes for the Germans.

The Allies debuted the Handley-Page HP O/400, the first two-engine bomber, in 1915. As aerial technology progressed, long-range heavy bombers like Germany’s Gotha G.V. (first introduced in 1917) were used to strike cities like London. Their speed and maneuverability proved to be far deadlier than Germany’s earlier Zeppelin raids.

By the war’s end, the Allies were producing five times more aircraft than the Germans. On April 1, 1918, the British created the Royal Air Force, or RAF, the first air force to be a separate military branch independent from the navy or army. 

Second Battle of the Marne

With Germany able to build up its strength on the Western Front after the armistice with Russia, Allied troops struggled to hold off another German offensive until promised reinforcements from the United States were able to arrive.

On July 15, 1918, German troops launched what would become the last German offensive of the war, attacking French forces (joined by 85,000 American troops as well as some of the British Expeditionary Force) in the Second Battle of the Marne . The Allies successfully pushed back the German offensive and launched their own counteroffensive just three days later.

After suffering massive casualties, Germany was forced to call off a planned offensive further north, in the Flanders region stretching between France and Belgium, which was envisioned as Germany’s best hope of victory.

The Second Battle of the Marne turned the tide of war decisively towards the Allies, who were able to regain much of France and Belgium in the months that followed.

The Harlem Hellfighters and Other All-Black Regiments

By the time World War I began, there were four all-Black regiments in the U.S. military: the 24th and 25th Infantry and the 9th and 10th Cavalry. All four regiments comprised of celebrated soldiers who fought in the Spanish-American War and American-Indian Wars , and served in the American territories. But they were not deployed for overseas combat in World War I. 

Blacks serving alongside white soldiers on the front lines in Europe was inconceivable to the U.S. military. Instead, the first African American troops sent overseas served in segregated labor battalions, restricted to menial roles in the Army and Navy, and shutout of the Marines, entirely. Their duties mostly included unloading ships, transporting materials from train depots, bases and ports, digging trenches, cooking and maintenance, removing barbed wire and inoperable equipment, and burying soldiers.

Facing criticism from the Black community and civil rights organizations for its quotas and treatment of African American soldiers in the war effort, the military formed two Black combat units in 1917, the 92nd and 93rd Divisions . Trained separately and inadequately in the United States, the divisions fared differently in the war. The 92nd faced criticism for their performance in the Meuse-Argonne campaign in September 1918. The 93rd Division, however, had more success. 

With dwindling armies, France asked America for reinforcements, and General John Pershing , commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, sent regiments in the 93 Division to over, since France had experience fighting alongside Black soldiers from their Senegalese French Colonial army. The 93 Division’s 369 regiment, nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters , fought so gallantly, with a total of 191 days on the front lines, longer than any AEF regiment, that France awarded them the Croix de Guerre for their heroism. More than 350,000 African American soldiers would serve in World War I in various capacities.

Toward Armistice

By the fall of 1918, the Central Powers were unraveling on all fronts.

Despite the Turkish victory at Gallipoli, later defeats by invading forces and an Arab revolt that destroyed the Ottoman economy and devastated its land, and the Turks signed a treaty with the Allies in late October 1918.

Austria-Hungary, dissolving from within due to growing nationalist movements among its diverse population, reached an armistice on November 4. Facing dwindling resources on the battlefield, discontent on the homefront and the surrender of its allies, Germany was finally forced to seek an armistice on November 11, 1918, ending World War I.

Treaty of Versailles

At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, Allied leaders stated their desire to build a post-war world that would safeguard itself against future conflicts of such a devastating scale.

Some hopeful participants had even begun calling World War I “the War to End All Wars.” But the Treaty of Versailles , signed on June 28, 1919, would not achieve that lofty goal.

Saddled with war guilt, heavy reparations and denied entrance into the League of Nations , Germany felt tricked into signing the treaty, having believed any peace would be a “peace without victory,” as put forward by President Wilson in his famous Fourteen Points speech of January 1918.

As the years passed, hatred of the Versailles treaty and its authors settled into a smoldering resentment in Germany that would, two decades later, be counted among the causes of World War II .

World War I Casualties

World War I took the lives of more than 9 million soldiers; 21 million more were wounded. Civilian casualties numbered close to 10 million. The two nations most affected were Germany and France, each of which sent some 80 percent of their male populations between the ages of 15 and 49 into battle.

The political disruption surrounding World War I also contributed to the fall of four venerable imperial dynasties: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Turkey.

Legacy of World War I

World War I brought about massive social upheaval, as millions of women entered the workforce to replace men who went to war and those who never came back. The first global war also helped to spread one of the world’s deadliest global pandemics, the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, which killed an estimated 20 to 50 million people.

World War I has also been referred to as “the first modern war.” Many of the technologies now associated with military conflict—machine guns, tanks , aerial combat and radio communications—were introduced on a massive scale during World War I.

The severe effects that chemical weapons such as mustard gas and phosgene had on soldiers and civilians during World War I galvanized public and military attitudes against their continued use. The Geneva Convention agreements, signed in 1925, restricted the use of chemical and biological agents in warfare and remain in effect today.

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The First World War: A Very Short Introduction

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The First World War: A Very Short Introduction is a concise history of the ‘Great War’, focusing on why it happened, how it was fought, and why it had the consequences it did. It examines the state of Europe in 1914 and the outbreak of war; the onset of attrition and crisis; the role of the USA; the collapse of Russia; and the weakening and eventual surrender of the Central Powers. It also investigates the historical controversies surrounding the causes and conduct of war, and describes how peace was ultimately made and the potent legacy of resentment left to Germany.

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Version 1.0

Last updated 08 october 2014, 1914-1918-online. international encyclopedia of the first world war. introduction, table of contents.

• 1 A Global War
• 2 A Total War?
• 3 The Long War
• 4 The Encyclopedia: Multiple Perspectives
• 5.1 Survey Articles (Regional)
• 5.2 Survey Articles (Thematic)
• 5.3 Regional Thematic Articles
• 5.4 Encyclopedic Entries
• 6 A Global Project
• 7 A Global Publication
• Selected Bibliography

A Global War ↑

The general public’s understanding of the First World War continues to be shaped by the Western Front , images of endless trenches, positional warfare, and the industrial battles of attrition at Somme and Verdun . In academic history, too, the predominant perspective on the war is still that of Central and Western Europe. The war chiefly appears as a kind of European civil war between Germany , France , and Great Britain . It has largely been forgotten, at least among the wider public, that Eastern and Southern Europe were more profoundly affected by the war than Central and Western Europe. While many countries in the West, like Spain , Switzerland , the Netherlands , Denmark , Sweden and Norway , were able to maintain their neutrality , all of Eastern and Southern Europe was caught up in the hostilities. It is even less commonly known that the losses on the eastern and southern fronts and in the Middle East were higher than in the West, where there was brutal attrition warfare . Accordingly, approximately one-third of the Serbian and Romanian soldiers in the war lost their lives, which was more than twice as many as in the German or in the French armies. The contrast is even clearer when the civilian casualties in Eastern Europe and Asia Minor are taken into account. The Middle East alone bore one-third of the civilian losses in the First World War.

The fact that the East European and Middle Eastern dimension of the world war has hardly registered in the collective consciousness and, at least until recently, even in the research, may be ascribed not least to the Soviet Union's fixation on the founding myth of the Russian Revolution . This effectively obscured the memory of the Great War, even though the Soviet Union actually emerged out of the conflict. In countries like Poland and Czechoslovakia , citizens recalled the nation-state formation that occurred at the conclusion of the war and the conflicts that followed, rather than the war itself. Turkey was no exception in this regard. Here, the First World War did not become the central point of reference in the collective memory, but rather the resultant war of independence that was primarily waged against Greece and culminated in the founding of the republic.

The First World War, however, not only affected all of Europe, but was also a global conflict. The term "world war" was already occasionally in use before 1914, though it specifically connoted a war between the major European powers. The First World War was soon designated a "world war" in this Eurocentric sense shortly after it began. This did not refer first and foremost to a "global war," but rather to a "war of world-historical significance." One therefore frequently simply spoke of the "Great War," a designation that persists to this day in many countries. Historians adopted the term "First World War" from contemporaries in its thoroughly ambiguous and Eurocentric meaning. At the same time, aside from the United States ' entry into the conflict, its global dimension was largely ignored. Only in recent years has historical research turned to the worldwide aspects of the war.

In an age marked by the experience of increasingly rapid globalization, the global character of the First World War deserves special attention. The war was not only a profound turning point for Europe, but also for many countries outside the continent. The war suddenly brought them into contact with the globalized world, and the blessings and curses of modernity . It transformed their self-awareness and their relationship to the empires, while providing them with critical momentum towards decolonization that remained effective long after 1918. No event in previous world history had changed the lives of so many people on every continent. The war was not only conducted between the European powers outside Europe, such as in Africa or on the world’s oceans , like many conflicts before it. The fighting now also directly involved sovereign non-European states on a large scale, above all Japan , the Ottoman Empire and the United States, and numerous other nations.

The intense efforts of both sides to recruit allies contributed to the spread of the war. In order to motivate other nations to enter the war it was necessary to make concessions with regard to their territorial interests. As a result, more and more regional conflicts that had little to do with the central event added fuel to the fire. This dynamic can be observed in the cases of Romania , Bulgaria , Italy , Portugal , as well as Japan, the Ottoman Empire and China . They all attempted to exploit the primary European conflict in order to protect themselves against neighbors they perceived as superior and to reclaim lost sovereignty, as with the Ottoman Empire and China, or to claim additional territory, as with Japan, which became the dominant power in the East Asia during the First World War. Australia and South Africa also tried to utilize the war for their own purposes and inflamed the hostilities through their sub- imperialism . When the US finally entered the war, hardly any state could afford to remain on the sidelines, especially as it was certain that the map of the world would be redrawn at the victors' conference table. This dynamic is demonstrated, for instance, by Latin American and other states that now followed the example of the United States in entering the war.

The war also became a global conflict due to the fact that France and Great Britain mobilized the resources of their colonial empires , not only economically, but also militarily. The British Empire alone comprised one-fourth of the world population. France recruited 550,000 men from its colonies, 440,000 of whom were deployed in Europe. The territories of the British Empire provided a total of 1.2 million soldiers, with 900,000 of these serving in Europe. Beyond this, the British and the French also made massive use of laborers from their colonies and China in Europe.

The First World War was also a global economic war. The Central Powers were largely cut off from world markets by the Allied naval blockade . As a result, they had to readjust their economies in an especially radical manner. The U-boat war also forced the Entente powers to concentrate their domestic resources in critical sectors and to regulate imports. The key to their success, however, did not lie in their increased rationing of limited natural resources, but in their massive intervention in international markets under state leadership and purchase of raw materials , provisions, and goods of every kind on an immense scale. As a consequence, the British Ministry of Munitions developed into the world’s largest trading concern. The Allies’ control of global markets was then strengthened by the United States’ entry into the war. Its effectiveness was assured because there were hardly any other markets outside of the Entente where producers of raw materials could sell their goods.

For this reason alone, the First World War also had a profound impact on neutral countries and regions of the world like East Asia and Latin America where there was little or no fighting. The war, moreover, was a global media event that was also closely observed and followed outside Europe, as recent studies on Japan and Latin America demonstrate. Both sides also engaged in a global propaganda battle, as they tried to influence and sway the sympathies of the world public. Here, too, the Entente powers enjoyed greater success for a variety of reasons.

A Total War? ↑

Borders were also blurred in the First World War because civilians were victimized to an extent that was previously unimaginable. Both the Allies’ sea blockade and the German U-boat war aimed to place a stranglehold on the enemy’s entire economy, armaments production, and food supply. It is therefore possible to speak of a trend towards " total war ." Indeed, in the First World War, civilians were made the direct target of violence from the beginning, as for example during the German invasion in Belgium and France in the summer of 1914, when 6,500 people were put to death, or in the first aerial bombing raids. Throughout the occupied territories and in Russia , civilians and prisoners of war were subjected to forced labor . The regime of the Young Turks used the war as an opportunity to commit an unprecedented genocide against the Christian Armenian population .

The war was a constant learning process for everyone involved. It represented a new kind of mass industrial war in which the old axioms were no longer valid. The war could no longer be steered by the individual actors, for it essentially took on a dynamic whose momentum and protean transformations defied comprehension. By the same token, it is not possible to speak of a natural process, for the decisions were made, after all, by human beings. Ultimately, the Allied high command, and Marshall Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929) in particular, succeeded in conducting coalition warfare, integrating all aspects of military operations and logistics. It is further possible to speak of "totalization" because the conflict touched upon more or less every area of existence. By the end of the war, nothing was as it had been before. The victorious nations in Europe emerged weakened from the conflict; Europe had lost its dominant position in the world, while the United States and Japan were the war’s great beneficiaries in economic terms and in their geo-strategic position. Although from a historical perspective starving populations are usually not in a position to bring about a revolution , the failure of the authoritarian regimes to ensure the rational distribution of supplies was largely responsible for the old order’s loss of legitimacy by the end of the war and the revolutions that developed in Russia, Germany , and Austria-Hungary . Of course, Britain and France were able to expand their empires after the war through the partitioning of the German colonies and the Ottoman Empire, but the idea of a people’s right to self-determination was now in the air. Liberation movements stirred in the colonies, from Egypt to India , and numerous states were formed as a direct result of the world war. In 1922, most of Ireland gained independence. The white settler colonies of the British Empire demanded complete autonomy and ultimately received it. Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians recognized themselves for the first time in the world war as nations. To this day, Australians and New Zealanders celebrate Anzac day on 25 April in order to commemorate the fallen at Gallipoli . Poland, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania obtained their independence, and a Serb-dominated state that soon became known as Yugoslavia emerged.

The world war not only accelerated the process of nation-building, but also encouraged the radicalization of ideologies. The fall of the tsarist regime in Russia and the assumption of power by the most radical opponents of the war, the Bolsheviks, are therefore hardly imaginable without the war. The Bolsheviks became the model for the communist movements that soon sprouted up everywhere. Extreme nationalism , however, also spread and became more radicalized in many countries due to the war. The champions of fascism , for instance, soon took power after the war in Italy . While these trends certainly existed before the war, the conflict nonetheless accelerated and consolidated these processes decisively.

One of the effects of the war was the devastation of entire landscapes . Though Germany suffered very little in this regard, throughout western and eastern Europe millions of homes, businesses, churches and works of art were destroyed. Vast agricultural areas were contaminated or too dangerous to use for decades. Starvation continued to be an issue even years after the war, especially in Eastern Europe and in the Middle East. East Africa had been so devastated by the war that a famine led to the death of 1 million people. The destruction that was wrought by the war, however, was not only of a physical or material nature. In 1915, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) had already observed that the war had "destroyed so much that is precious in the common possessions of humanity, confused so many of the clearest intelligences." [1] Indeed, the war had also resulted in the mobilization of intellectuals on both sides. At the end of the culture war, there were not only incinerated libraries, but also a lasting irreconcilability between the enemy nations.

The Long War ↑

Extending the point of view beyond Central and Western Europe puts the war’s conventional periodization into perspective. The First World War was not only a global war, but also an especially long one. In many respects, the war already began before 1914, primarily in the Balkans and in peripheral colonies like Libya. It also lasted much longer than until 1918, though not only for the familiar reason that the Treaty of Versailles essentially created the conditions for the Second World War because of its failure to create a stable international order and was partially responsible for the rise of fascism and National Socialism. Even without a more expansive definition, the year 1918 did not signify the end of hostilities, for numerous additional wars and armed conflicts followed that were directly related to the war and which to some extent continued through the early 1920s. The list of these violent conflicts is long. It extends from the Russian Civil War , which cost more lives in the region than the First World War, to the many conflicts after 1918 in East-Central Europe and to the Greco-Turkish War , which did not come to an end until the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.

The commemoration of the war was also often fiercely debated. For instance, the history of the Weimar Republic was marked by acrimonious controversies about how to remember the world war. Even though the overwhelming majority of the population and the veterans of the war were against the idea of ever going to war again, there was clear disagreement about the war’s memorialization. There was no national collective memory, only a struggle over interpretational sovereignty. The military and the foreign office were especially adept at masking defeats and highlighting victories. The well-financed campaign of the foreign office and numerous scholars against the so-called war-guilt clause and reparations exemplified the refusal of large portions of German society to acknowledge defeat. The election of the war’s victorious commander in the East, Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934) , as Reich president in 1925 signaled an important turning point in this respect.

As the basic structure of the German army was still intact, it was able freely to disseminate dangerous historical myths and engage in the psychological preparation of a new war. The experience of the world war, as well as the brutal violence conducted against internal enemies by the Freikorps and army units in the Weimar Republic, facilitated the manifestation of several elements of future Nazi warfare: mass killings and the elimination of the enemy and his culture; ruthless exploitation of the human and natural resources of occupied lands without moral or humanitarian constraints; and the absolute supremacy of the military over all civilian authorities. In other words, it laid the groundwork for the expectation and the demand for a future "total war."

This is not to make a general argument in favor of the well-known brutalization thesis of George Mosse (1918-1999) , however. To be sure, without the war, Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) and his German admirer would never have come to power. The conflict made it possible for both Mussolini and Adolf Hitler (1889-1945 ) to reinvent themselves as frontline soldiers and charismatic leaders who introduced the values of war to society and the political culture. Nonetheless, even in 1939, most Italians and Germans were still against the idea of a new war and, as the security service of the SS complained, wanted to maintain the peace.

With National Socialism’s rise to power, the orientation toward a "total state" in Italy, and the radicalization of Joseph Stalin’s (1878-1953) rule, three "mobilizing dictatorships" emerged from the world war. From that point forward, they engaged in permanent rearmament and viewed war as a means of consolidating power. The contrast could hardly have been greater to the democracies that were based on social consensus at home and which endeavored – with the exception of the colonial sphere – to resolve conflicts as peacefully as possible.

The Encyclopedia: Multiple Perspectives ↑

These are just a few of the central historiographical perspectives that inform the encyclopedia’s orientation. The encyclopedia aims to portray the First World War in its entire spectrum from a transnational point of view as a pan-European and global conflict that extended beyond the year 1918. This transnational approach includes making a comparison between the participating nations and regions, as well as considering their diverse entanglements and interdependencies. From a global perspective that is not limited to the military events, there is hardly such a thing as actual neutrality, just various types of participation in the war. The encyclopedia thus also deliberately includes the neutral countries and regions that were greatly affected by the war – whether in terms of their political or economic development, the media, or mentalities.

While these perspectives are not new to scholars, they have not yet become part of the wider public’s common knowledge. The encyclopedia intends to summarize the latest knowledge of international experts and make it accessible to a general audience to a degree that is more comprehensive than has been the case so far. In this way, it aims to make a contribution to a post-national and global understanding of the First World War that includes the culture of remembrance. Through its comparative global design, the encyclopedia will also strive to identify knowledge gaps and to thereby stimulate further research.

These perspectives and objectives are reflected in the encyclopedia’s article structure in various ways.

The encyclopedia not only presents the current state of research, but also solicits and publishes new research findings. The site’s users are able to find state-of-the-art information on the central themes and the most important developments both during and after the First World War. In addition, they are also able to discover entirely new research in the encyclopedia, particularly as 1914-1918-online also takes account of recent lines of research, like the history of emotions, and contains articles on topics like "subjectivity" and "emotions in war" .

The encyclopedia therefore offers global, transnational, comparative, but also national and – above all on the level of encyclopedic entries – local and individual perspectives. It depicts a multilayered history of the First World War which has brought individual, local, regional, national and transnational histories together in an unprecedented way. Users are able to choose among depictions of various depth and different complexity and levels of abstraction – from transnational summary articles to encyclopedic entries.

The encyclopedia does not conclude with the year 1918. It does justice to the previously mentioned extended periodization and methodically examines the conflicts that followed immediately from the war, but also its other consequences and commemoration. There are, accordingly, articles on the Russian Civil War , the Independence Wars in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia , as well as the Polish-Soviet War 1920-1921 , along with a comprehensive thematic survey article on the subject of " Postwar Welfare Policies ," which examines from a comparative perspective the significance of the war for the development of the welfare state. Moreover, the encyclopedia features contributions on topics as diverse as Colonial Empires after the War/Decolonization , The Spanish Flu , Veterans’ Associations , The Paris Peace Conference and its Consequences , Historiography 1918-today and, last but not least, Centenary 1914-2014.

Structure of Content ↑

The encyclopedia provides four different article types:

• Survey Articles (Regional) offer an overview of the region or country
• Survey Articles (Thematic) offer a transnational and comparative overview of a topic
• Regional Thematic Articles treat a specific subject for a region or a country
• Encyclopedic Entries provide concise encyclopedic entries, e.g. on events, people, and organizations

1914-1918-online is therefore not only an encyclopedia in the narrow sense, but also a comprehensive guide.

Survey Articles (Regional) ↑

The encyclopedia is divided up into the following eleven world regions: Africa, Australasia, Central Europe, East Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, North America, Middle East, South and South-East Asia, South-East Europe and Western Europe . This division clearly indicates the project's global character or parameters and shows that the regions that have so far been underrepresented in the research have equal standing.

These regions are, in turn, subdivided into individual nations, each of which has its own Regional Survey Article, or respectively its own Encyclopedic Entry. These articles provide an overview of the development of individual countries during the time of the First World War, whereby the prehistory and the consequences of the conflict are also thoroughly examined. Not only are political and military developments treated here, but so are social, economic and cultural trends. Consideration is also given to neutral countries like Sweden or Spain, and states that were first established during or after the First World War, like Poland or Czechoslovakia.

Survey Articles (Thematic) ↑

In addition, the encyclopedia is divided into six thematic sections: Pre-war , Power , Violence , Media , Home Front , and Post-war . This division is oriented in terms of the main focal points of the research on the First World War. In these sections, there are Thematic Survey Articles such as Schools and Universities in the section Home Front, or Russian Civil War in the section Post-war . Further examples of these transnational and comparative Thematic Survey Articles include Prisoners of War , Revolutions , Labor , Transportation and Logistics or Colonial Empires after the War/Decolonization . Along with comparative, transnational survey articles, many of these themes also include regional articles that are directly linked to the survey articles, for instance to Labor during the war in Germany , France , Russia , India , or China . Readers of the encyclopedia are thus able to directly click from developments in labor policy in Germany to those in France, or to consult the summary article that is based on the regional articles and discusses the developments in labor policy during the First World War from a comparative perspective.

Regional Thematic Articles ↑

The Regional Thematic Articles , however, not only include comparative articles like the ones mentioned above, but also articles on subjects that are specific to certain countries and regions. For example, in the section Great Britain and Ireland there is an article on the Easter Rising which deals with the 1916 Irish rebellion against Great Britain in pursuit of independence. Simililarly, the Indochina section includes an article on Religious Missionaries and the Colonial State 1914-1918. In the section Africa , an article on Post-war Colonial Administration treats changes in the colonial administration of territories that "switched owners" as a result of the war.

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The longer articles are supplemented by the Encyclopedic Entries , the actual encyclopedic articles. They are divided into six categories: Persons; Organizations; Events; Objects; Spaces; Concepts, Practices and Policies. Examples of these entries include: U.S. race riots , Battle of Kostiuchnowka , Russian-Japanese War , March First Movement (Korea), Sič riflemen , Commission for Relief in Belgium , Hindostan and Edith Cavell . The latter is an entry in the category Person . Here, the regional thematic article Literature (France) is linked to the encyclopedic entry Henri Barbusse , which deals with the French writer who wrote the famous anti-war novel Le Feu . As a result of the taxonomy that links the encyclopedia’s content, writers from other countries are linked with the lemma "Henri Barbusse", e.g. Robert Musil or Erich Maria Remarque .

A Global Project ↑

The encyclopedia is supervised by a project team in Berlin. The content of the project is coordinated at the Institute of History at the Freie Universität Berlin. The technical side of the project is overseen by the Center for Digital Systems at the Freie Universität Berlin. Additional support is also provided by the Bavarian State Library in Munich. The library is responsible for permanent archiving and also catalogs the encyclopedia’s individual articles, which can be located and searched in the worldwide library network catalog.

An editorial board is responsible for the encyclopedia’s content. The board consists of a thirteen-member Editorial Advisory Board, which supports the editors in an advisory capacity, seven General Editors and seventy Section Editors. The seven General Editors, who are located in Europe, the United States, and South Africa, are the encyclopedia’s primary editors. They established the encyclopedia’s guidelines and take all strategic decisions. They also act as referees in a two-stage review process which every article of the encyclopedia must go through.

The Section Editors, all of whom are well-known and highly qualified experts, maintain the regional and thematic sections of the encyclopedia. They devise concepts for the articles of their section and recommend authors. Moreover, the Section Editors are responsible for conducting the first peer reviews of the articles of their section.

In total, the Editorial Board consists of ninety experts, who come from twenty different countries. While the USA (17), Germany (15) and Great Britain (13) predominate, experts are also strongly represented from Russia (6), France (5), Ireland (5), Austria (5), and Italy (4). The remaining editors come from Australia (1), China (1), Japan (2), Canada (2), Lebanon (1), Luxembourg (1), the Netherlands (1), Poland (2), Portugal (2), Switzerland (2), Serbia (1), South Africa (1), Belgium (1), Lebanon (1) and Turkey (1).

In addition, the review process is supported by over seventy external referees. In a second assessment stage, they evaluate the articles jointly with the General Editors within the framework of an anonymous peer review. This two-stage evaluation process, which is required for all contributions to the encyclopedia, ensures the high academic quality of the site’s content.

There are over 900 authors from around the world who write for the encyclopedia. Authors from Trinidad and Tobago, Indonesia and Nigeria contribute to the encyclopedia as well as authors from Germany, Great Britain, and France. Occasionally, articles are also written by author collectives from different countries. One article on the subject of Commemoration and the Cult of the Fallen , for example, provides a comparative analysis of Poland, the Baltic States and Finland. The article was jointly written by a German, a Polish, and a Finnish author.

Furthermore, the project is supported by over twenty partner organizations from ten countries. These include institutions like the Imperial War Museum in London, the Koloniales Bildarchiv in Frankfurt am Main and the Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte in Stuttgart. They provide documentary material, mainly image sources, for the encyclopedia from their own collections. Among these partners is also the project European Film Gateway 1914 , financed by the European Union. It digitizes material on the First World War, which are directly linked to the encyclopedia’s content.

The German Historical Institutes in Moscow , Warsaw , London , Paris and Rome assist the encyclopedia’s editors and finance translations into English. Moreover, several of these institutes organize conferences for the regional sections. The sections East Central Europe and Russian Empire are supervised at the German Historical Institutes in Warsaw and Moscow. Here, the directors of the institutes function as Section Editors. These institutes also provide grants for authors. They have, further, assigned their own employees with the task of writing contributions for the encyclopedia or to oversee the sections as reviewers. New research exclusive to the encyclopedia is expected above all from Poland, where the research on the First World War lagged behind for many years.

1914-1918-online has also been approached about a number of ongoing research projects on the First World War that have offered to supervise sections of the encyclopedia, including several that were originally not involved in the project. One example is the project Die Schweiz im Ersten Weltkrieg carried out at the universities in Zurich, Geneva, Berne and Lucerne, which will develop the section Switzerland . Further examples include the historians at Lisbon University, who supervise the section Portugal , or the colleagues at the University of Kyoto, who oversee the section Japan . These collaborations make the encyclopedia especially innovative because they put a spotlight on countries that have so far been neglected in First World War Studies.

Another project partner is CENDARI (Collaborative European Digital Archive Infrastructure), a project sponsored by the European Union. It brings together the archive on the First World War and its electronic resources across national borders and, in this way, is constructing a digital research infrastructure on the First World War. The articles in 1914-1918-online are connected to this infrastructure, allowing for archival material on relevant topics to be linked to in a targeted manner.

1914-1918-online is, accordingly, the largest and most global project and network in the field of First World War Studies. It now comprises over 1,000 experts from around the world who are affiliated with the project as editors, authors, reviewers, and institutional partners.

A Global Publication ↑

To conclude, a few words are called for about the advantages of publishing such an encyclopedia on the Internet. First and foremost, it is worth mentioning that 1914-1918-online will be accessible to all users free of charge. Furthermore, all content is published in the English language. This will allow the encyclopedia to maximize the level of awareness and its impact beyond the circle of experts and to be accessible to students, instructors, and an interested public all over the world.

An additional advantage to digital publication is that the articles may be published as they become available and updated at any time. The various versions of an article can also always be accessed. What is more, the online publication allows for the medial enrichment of the individual articles with image, audio, and video material and other digitized sources, as well as links to library catalogs and external web content. In this way, they are integrated into the “knowledge space” of the Internet.

Beyond this, online publication permits an innovative way of navigating through voluminous collections of texts. The articles are searchable and linked together in a variety of ways. As a result, users are able both to browse the extensive text collection associatively and specifically to access desired information. They can also compile a sample of articles related to a specific interest, for instance according to subject, keywords, countries or regions. This makes it considerably easier for users to recognize interconnections and relationships, but also to draw comparisons. The encyclopedia’s transnational and global focus is therefore also fundamentally supported and validated by its technical structure and the form and medium of its publication.

Ute Daniel, Technische Universität Braunschweig

Peter Gatrell, University of Manchester

Oliver Janz, Freie Universität Berlin

Heather Jones, London School of Economics and Political Science

Jennifer Keene, Chapman University

Alan Kramer, Trinity College Dublin

Bill Nasson, Stellenbosch University

Translator: Christopher Reid

• ↑ Freud, Sigmund: Thoughts for the Times on War and Death (1915), in Mitscherlich, Alexander/Richards, Angela/Strachey, James: Sigmund Freud, Studienausgabe, Frankfurt 1969-1975, volume 14, pp. 275-300.

Daniel, Ute, Gatrell, Peter, Janz, Oliver, Jones, Heather, Keene, Jennifer D., Kramer, Alan, Nasson, Bill: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War. Introduction , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2014-10-08. DOI : 10.15463/ie1418.666 . Translated by: Reid, Christopher

This text is licensed under: CC by-NC-ND 3.0 Germany - Attribution, Non-commercial, No Derivative Works.

How to write an introduction for a history essay

Every essay needs to begin with an introductory paragraph. It needs to be the first paragraph the marker reads.

While your introduction paragraph might be the first of the paragraphs you write, this is not the only way to do it.

You can choose to write your introduction after you have written the rest of your essay.

This way, you will know what you have argued, and this might make writing the introduction easier.

Either approach is fine. If you do write your introduction first, ensure that you go back and refine it once you have completed your essay. 

What is an ‘introduction paragraph’?

An introductory paragraph is a single paragraph at the start of your essay that prepares your reader for the argument you are going to make in your body paragraphs .

It should provide all of the necessary historical information about your topic and clearly state your argument so that by the end of the paragraph, the marker knows how you are going to structure the rest of your essay.

In general, you should never use quotes from sources in your introduction.

Introduction paragraph structure

While your introduction paragraph does not have to be as long as your body paragraphs , it does have a specific purpose, which you must fulfil.

A well-written introduction paragraph has the following four-part structure (summarised by the acronym BHES).

B – Background sentences

H – Hypothesis

E – Elaboration sentences

S - Signpost sentence

Each of these elements are explained in further detail, with examples, below:

1. Background sentences

The first two or three sentences of your introduction should provide a general introduction to the historical topic which your essay is about. This is done so that when you state your hypothesis , your reader understands the specific point you are arguing about.

Background sentences explain the important historical period, dates, people, places, events and concepts that will be mentioned later in your essay. This information should be drawn from your background research . 

Example background sentences:

Middle Ages (Year 8 Level)

Castles were an important component of Medieval Britain from the time of the Norman conquest in 1066 until they were phased out in the 15 th and 16 th centuries. Initially introduced as wooden motte and bailey structures on geographical strongpoints, they were rapidly replaced by stone fortresses which incorporated sophisticated defensive designs to improve the defenders’ chances of surviving prolonged sieges.

WWI (Year 9 Level)

The First World War began in 1914 following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The subsequent declarations of war from most of Europe drew other countries into the conflict, including Australia. The Australian Imperial Force joined the war as part of Britain’s armed forces and were dispatched to locations in the Middle East and Western Europe.

Civil Rights (Year 10 Level)

The 1967 Referendum sought to amend the Australian Constitution in order to change the legal standing of the indigenous people in Australia. The fact that 90% of Australians voted in favour of the proposed amendments has been attributed to a series of significant events and people who were dedicated to the referendum’s success.

Ancient Rome (Year 11/12 Level)  

In the late second century BC, the Roman novus homo Gaius Marius became one of the most influential men in the Roman Republic. Marius gained this authority through his victory in the Jugurthine War, with his defeat of Jugurtha in 106 BC, and his triumph over the invading Germanic tribes in 101 BC, when he crushed the Teutones at the Battle of Aquae Sextiae (102 BC) and the Cimbri at the Battle of Vercellae (101 BC). Marius also gained great fame through his election to the consulship seven times.

2. Hypothesis

Once you have provided historical context for your essay in your background sentences, you need to state your hypothesis .

A hypothesis is a single sentence that clearly states the argument that your essay will be proving in your body paragraphs .

A good hypothesis contains both the argument and the reasons in support of your argument. 

Example hypotheses:

Medieval castles were designed with features that nullified the superior numbers of besieging armies but were ultimately made obsolete by the development of gunpowder artillery.

Australian soldiers’ opinion of the First World War changed from naïve enthusiasm to pessimistic realism as a result of the harsh realities of modern industrial warfare.

The success of the 1967 Referendum was a direct result of the efforts of First Nations leaders such as Charles Perkins, Faith Bandler and the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.

Gaius Marius was the most one of the most significant personalities in the 1 st century BC due to his effect on the political, military and social structures of the Roman state.

3. Elaboration sentences

Once you have stated your argument in your hypothesis , you need to provide particular information about how you’re going to prove your argument.

Your elaboration sentences should be one or two sentences that provide specific details about how you’re going to cover the argument in your three body paragraphs.

You might also briefly summarise two or three of your main points.

Finally, explain any important key words, phrases or concepts that you’ve used in your hypothesis, you’ll need to do this in your elaboration sentences.

Example elaboration sentences:

By the height of the Middle Ages, feudal lords were investing significant sums of money by incorporating concentric walls and guard towers to maximise their defensive potential. These developments were so successful that many medieval armies avoided sieges in the late period.

Following Britain's official declaration of war on Germany, young Australian men voluntarily enlisted into the army, which was further encouraged by government propaganda about the moral justifications for the conflict. However, following the initial engagements on the Gallipoli peninsula, enthusiasm declined.

The political activity of key indigenous figures and the formation of activism organisations focused on indigenous resulted in a wider spread of messages to the general Australian public. The generation of powerful images and speeches has been frequently cited by modern historians as crucial to the referendum results.

While Marius is best known for his military reforms, it is the subsequent impacts of this reform on the way other Romans approached the attainment of magistracies and how public expectations of military leaders changed that had the longest impacts on the late republican period.

4. Signpost sentence

The final sentence of your introduction should prepare the reader for the topic of your first body paragraph. The main purpose of this sentence is to provide cohesion between your introductory paragraph and you first body paragraph .

Therefore, a signpost sentence indicates where you will begin proving the argument that you set out in your hypothesis and usually states the importance of the first point that you’re about to make. 

Example signpost sentences:

The early development of castles is best understood when examining their military purpose.

The naïve attitudes of those who volunteered in 1914 can be clearly seen in the personal letters and diaries that they themselves wrote.

The significance of these people is evident when examining the lack of political representation the indigenous people experience in the early half of the 20 th century.

The origin of Marius’ later achievements was his military reform in 107 BC, which occurred when he was first elected as consul.

Putting it all together

Once you have written all four parts of the BHES structure, you should have a completed introduction paragraph. In the examples above, we have shown each part separately. Below you will see the completed paragraphs so that you can appreciate what an introduction should look like.

Example introduction paragraphs: 

Castles were an important component of Medieval Britain from the time of the Norman conquest in 1066 until they were phased out in the 15th and 16th centuries. Initially introduced as wooden motte and bailey structures on geographical strongpoints, they were rapidly replaced by stone fortresses which incorporated sophisticated defensive designs to improve the defenders’ chances of surviving prolonged sieges. Medieval castles were designed with features that nullified the superior numbers of besieging armies, but were ultimately made obsolete by the development of gunpowder artillery. By the height of the Middle Ages, feudal lords were investing significant sums of money by incorporating concentric walls and guard towers to maximise their defensive potential. These developments were so successful that many medieval armies avoided sieges in the late period. The early development of castles is best understood when examining their military purpose.

The First World War began in 1914 following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The subsequent declarations of war from most of Europe drew other countries into the conflict, including Australia. The Australian Imperial Force joined the war as part of Britain’s armed forces and were dispatched to locations in the Middle East and Western Europe. Australian soldiers’ opinion of the First World War changed from naïve enthusiasm to pessimistic realism as a result of the harsh realities of modern industrial warfare. Following Britain's official declaration of war on Germany, young Australian men voluntarily enlisted into the army, which was further encouraged by government propaganda about the moral justifications for the conflict. However, following the initial engagements on the Gallipoli peninsula, enthusiasm declined. The naïve attitudes of those who volunteered in 1914 can be clearly seen in the personal letters and diaries that they themselves wrote.

The 1967 Referendum sought to amend the Australian Constitution in order to change the legal standing of the indigenous people in Australia. The fact that 90% of Australians voted in favour of the proposed amendments has been attributed to a series of significant events and people who were dedicated to the referendum’s success. The success of the 1967 Referendum was a direct result of the efforts of First Nations leaders such as Charles Perkins, Faith Bandler and the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. The political activity of key indigenous figures and the formation of activism organisations focused on indigenous resulted in a wider spread of messages to the general Australian public. The generation of powerful images and speeches has been frequently cited by modern historians as crucial to the referendum results. The significance of these people is evident when examining the lack of political representation the indigenous people experience in the early half of the 20th century.

In the late second century BC, the Roman novus homo Gaius Marius became one of the most influential men in the Roman Republic. Marius gained this authority through his victory in the Jugurthine War, with his defeat of Jugurtha in 106 BC, and his triumph over the invading Germanic tribes in 101 BC, when he crushed the Teutones at the Battle of Aquae Sextiae (102 BC) and the Cimbri at the Battle of Vercellae (101 BC). Marius also gained great fame through his election to the consulship seven times. Gaius Marius was the most one of the most significant personalities in the 1st century BC due to his effect on the political, military and social structures of the Roman state. While Marius is best known for his military reforms, it is the subsequent impacts of this reform on the way other Romans approached the attainment of magistracies and how public expectations of military leaders changed that had the longest impacts on the late republican period. The origin of Marius’ later achievements was his military reform in 107 BC, which occurred when he was first elected as consul.

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World War One Essay

Germany was responsible for World War One. To what extent do you agree with this statement? 

Essay by Laura Iafur, 3rd Form

Taking place on 28th July 1914 until 11th November 1918, World War One was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, ending the lives of millions of people. Although no one country deserves more blame than the other countries, many would argue that the country of Serbia, after all, it was a group of Serbian terrorists who killed the hero of the Austrian-Hungarian empire, Franz Ferdinand. This is considered by many, what triggered this war. Others suggest Austria-Hungarian is to blame the most, they wanted war with Serbia even before Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, it seems like the assassination was the opportunity they were waiting for. Some could even say that it was Russia, who was the first to mobilize its troops, creating even more tension in an already unstable Europe. These countries are all guilty for such a violent war, but Germany, being the one that has the blank cheque to Austria-Hungary, is the most responsible of all; without backing up Austria-Hungary, it is improbable that Austria-Hungary would have acted so recklessly.

On 5th July 1914, Germany gave the “blank cheque” of unconditional support to the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, fully aware of the consequences it was probably going to bring. At that moment, Germany had the strongest army, with 2,200,000 soldiers and warships, this guaranteed Austria-Hungary that no matter how drastically they acted, they would receive massive support from Germany. If Germany had not given this back up to Austria-Hungary, they most likely would have done something other than declaring war. Germany knew that Russia would most likely help Serbia, which meant that a local war would escalate into a Global war, but they did it anyway.

Germany also dragged Britain into the war when using the Schlieffen plan. On 2nd August, Germany asked for permission for their army to pass through Belgium, to get to France, but they were refused. Sir Edward Grey proposed to Germany that Britain would stay if Germany did not attack France, but the German generals denied this. On 3rd August, Germany violated international treaties by invading Belgium, a neutral country; knowing that Britain was obligated to help Belgium if an invasion occurred. Therefore, Britain declared war on Germany on 4th August 1914.

The enormous increase in tension between these countries was one of the main reasons for this war to start, there are various factors that led to more tension, many in which Germany was involved. One of these factors was the German and British naval race which did not make Britain happy. (“Britannia rules the waves”), and at the end of 1914, Britain was this race.

The Moroccan crisis, 1906, was another factor. The French wanted to conquer Morocco and Britain agreed to help, but in 1905 Kaiser Wilhelm visited Morocco and promised to protect it against anyone who threatened it. The French and British were furious. Germany had to promise to stay out of Morocco, which didn’t make them happy at all. In 1911, there was a revolution in Morocco, the French sent in an army to control it. Kaiser Wilhelm sent a gunboat to the Moroccan part of Agadir; this angered the French and British. Germany was forced to back down, which made them very angry, it increased their resentment. Kaiser Wilhelm was determined to win the next crisis.  All this evidence shows that Germany, at that point was ashamed. They had lost various crisis issues and since they could not allow themselves another defeat. Germany had decided they needed to prove their power, this being the reason they acted in such a careless manner.

Austria-Hungary also deserves part of the blame; they were the ones who declared war first on Serbia on 28th July, 1914. Before 1914, assassinations of royal figures did not usually result in war. However, Austria-Hungary saw the Sarajevo assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife as an opportunity to conquer and destroy Serbia. The Austrian Chief of Staff General Hotzendoz wanted to attack Serbia long before the assassination.

Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum to Serbia (23rd  July) with ten very exigent requests that needed to be accepted to avoid military conflict. Serbia accepted all requests apart from one, which was to allow Austria-Hungary to enter Serbia and oversee investigation and prosecution on the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. Nonetheless, this was not enough for Austria-Hungary, so they declared war, and with Germany’s support, it would’ve provided an easy win.

On the other hand, if Austria-Hungary did not make a move against Serbia, the different nationalities living in the Austria-Hungarian territory could act against their leaders giving the impression to other countries that there won’t have been any consequences. Austria-Hungary could have acted in a different manner on the Serbia war, but it was due to Germany who empowered them to act this way.

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand was conducted by a Serbian terrorist named Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia, 28th June 1914. This was the spark that caused the war. Gavrilo was a nationalist who wanted Bosnia to be its own country, and when Ferdinand announced his trip to SaraJevo, it was the perfect opportunity to strike against Austria-Hungary. Gavrilo was a member of a terrorist group named, Black Hand. Austria-Hungary suspected the involvement of Serbia in the Bosnian attack, thus representing the final act in a long-standing rivalry between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Russia did not want a war, the Russian Grand Council decided if Serbia was to be invaded, it would have to request a conference to asses the issue. However, Russia had previous issues with Serbia regarding the Bosnian crisis in 1908.

To conclude, World War One was a chain reaction triggered by the assassination Franz Ferdinand; however, Serbia wasn’t mostly responsible but Germany, who pushed Austria-Hungary in making those decisions leading to the global conflict. The alliance system was created to prevent war, but it did the total opposite, where all the countries were forced to join the war.

House Magazine Archive

World War 1 Origins (How and Why the War Started) Essay

Introduction, causes of world war 1.

Bibliography

Since time immemorial the world has witnessed wars between different groups, states, countries, and allies. Initially, the motive behind wars was survival. Ancient people fought in order to usurp land for cultivation. Gradually, as the world population grew, the motives behind wars became multifarious.

Different groups and countries started fighting with each other in order to gain control of areas where there were natural resources such as gold. Another reason for war was to gain access to routes generally used for movement of commodities from the starting place to the consumption areas.

It is understood that after a war, one group prospered at the cost of another. Religion also has been an instigating factor for many wars. However, in all the wars, the motive was to gain advantage of some sort.

During the past years, when countries came together as allies, there have been instances when allies of a particular group had to go to war just because they wanted to safeguard themselves from the disadvantages of not participating in the war. In this paper, we shall discuss the reasons that led to World War 1. “World War 1 began in eastern Europe. The war started when Serbia, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Germany decided that war or the risk of war was an acceptable policy option [1] ”.

General Causes

1879 onwards, the world witnessed formation of alliances between nations having similar interests. Following are some of the major alliances that took place:

• The Dual Alliance: Germany and Austria-Hungary entered into an alliance in 1879 in order to defend against Russia.
• Austro-Serbian Alliance: Austria-Hungary and Serbia entered into an alliance in 1881 in order to prevent Russia from asserting power in Serbia.
• The Triple Alliance: Germany and Austria-Hungary entered into an alliance with Italy in 1882 so that the latter could not favor Russia’s moves.
• Franco-Russian Alliance: Russia and France entered into an alliance in 1894 in order to protect their countries from the Dual Alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
• Entente Cordiale: France and Britain entered into a formal agreement in 1904 in order to protect each other’s interests.
• Anglo-Russian Entente: Britain and Russia entered into a formal agreement in 1907 in order to protect each other’s interests.
• Triple Entente: Russia, France and Britain entered into an alliance to counteract Germany’s growing threats. Later, in 1914 and under the same alliance, all the three countries concurred that they will not sign any peace treaty without mutual consent.

All these alliances (from 1879 to 1914) forced some countries to go to war just because they were in some alliance.

Imperialism

Imperialism is a term used for instances where any country usurps any other country’s land and asserts its supremacy and power. Due to the incessant progress of industrialization, countries felt the need of venturing into fresh marketplaces.

By the year 1900, Britain had extended its empire in five continents and France controlled major parts of Africa. The increase of both these countries’ power did not go well with Germany; Germany had only small areas under its rule. Following is a map that depicts the colonies of these three major European players in 1914.

Source: Web.

William Anthony Hay claims that according to McMeekin, a tutor of international relations, “The war’s real catalyst lay in Russia’s ambition to supplant the waning Ottoman Empire in the Near East and to control the Turkish straits – the Bosphorus and Dardanelles – linking the Black Sea and the Mediterranean [2] ”.

But Richard Evans contradicts this opinion by stating that “In the end it was the Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia that set off the process that ended in the outbreak of World War 1, not Russian ambitions in the Straits [3] . But if we think logically, no country will enter into a war without personal interests.

Alliances were also made to serve individual interests. So it is wrong to say that Russia did not have any interest or ambitions in the Straits. Russia was an industrialized nation and needed to sell its products to people in other nations. For this purpose, it needed a safe passage and new markets.

When any country gives preference to its army, it is said to be following militarism. The growing alliances among various nations prompted nations to empower their army with more arms and ammunitions. France and Germany doubled the strengths of their respective armies.

Britain and Germany seemed to be in a competition of better sea control. In 1906, Britain launched the ‘Dreadnought’, considered to be a very efficient battleship. Following the footsteps, Germany also launched its own version of impressive battleships. The following illustration shows how Germany planned to attack France in case Russia attacked Germany; France and Russia were allies. So due to the alliance, Russia was bound to retaliate when one of its allies was attacked.

“A military revolution occurred in the seventeenth century. The most important of the many changes was a considerable growth in the size of the armies. Those large forces could no longer live off the land: steal supplies from the populace [4] ”.

Nationalism

We all have love for our respective countries. So did the people of that period. Austria-Hungary and Serbia had different radical groups trying to free their states from foreign involvement. Both Italy and Germany were divided. People of these countries wanted unification. “Along with the history of imperial machinations, however, World War 1 should be understood in the context of the popular imagination and the growth of nationalist sentiment in Europe [5] ”.

Moroccan Crisis

As part of an understanding, Britain gave control of Morocco to France in 1904. The Moroccan people wanted freedom. Germany, in order to take an advantage of the situation, proclaimed its support for the freedom of Morocco. A conference was held that allowed France to continue its control over Morocco and a war was averted. Again, in 1911, Germany started pronouncing its support for the Moroccan independence but again it was persuaded to compromise its stand on the issue.

Bosnian Crisis

Bosnia (a Turkish province) was taken over by Austria-Hungary in 1908. This action of Austria-Hungary did not go well with the Serbians. The Serbians thought Bosnia was under them. As such, a conflict aroused. Serbia proclaimed war over Austria-Hungary. Russia supported Serbia and Germany supported Austria-Hungary. A war was about to start but at the nick of the time Russia backed off and the war was averted.

But tensions were still mounting up between Serbia and Austria-Hungary. “It is true that during July the German decision makers sometimes expressed the hope that the conflict would be localized: in other words that Austria would be able to vanquish Serbia without Russian Intervention [6] ”. Dale Copeland argues that “Germany actively sought war in July 1914 and that German leaders by the end of July preferred world war to a negotiated peace, even to one that gave Austria most of what it wanted [7] ”.

The Immediate Trigger

World War 1 started in the year 1914. The assassination of Austria’s Archduke, Franz Ferdinand, acted as a trigger to World War 1. Franz Ferdinand and his wife were murdered in 1914 by Gavrilo Princip, member of a Bosnian radical group. “The crumbling Austro-Hungarian Empire decided, after the assassination on 28 June, to take action against Serbia, which was suspected of being behind the murder [8] ”.

This was considered to be an immediate reason for the war but the real reasons seem to be more complex and are still topics of debate among various historians. According to William Anthony Hay, “Germany bears responsibility for the war, in this view, because its leaders deliberately turned a regional clash between Austria-Hungary and Serbia into an existential Struggle of rival alliances [9] ”.

Hay is right in his opinion because history reveals that there were other options with Germany that could have averted the war. But since Germany wanted to gain on its own interests, it forced other countries to plunge into a war that they did not intend. “The size and wealth of the conquered Eastern territories easily outweighed what would have been lost had the Germans withdrawn from Belgium and France. Had they done so, France might have made peace and the anti-German coalition collapsed [10] ”.

All these instances make us to believe that Germany was behind waging the World War 1. In its ambitions to usurp power, Germany was thought to have instigated the war. But it is to be understood that down the years, historians put an end to the controversy as to which country was responsible for the World War 1.

Historians from the two main countries (Germany and France) came to an understanding that none of their countries should be blamed for instigating World War 1. It was the policies of militarization of each of the participating countries that led to the war.

But certain facts still point the finger towards Germany. After the war started, some confidential documents were discovered that suggested that the German government had vast plans of extending its territory due to the economic requirements.

Copeland, Dale. The Origins of Major War. New York: Cornell University Press, 2001.

Evans, Richard. “ The Road to Slaughter. ” New Republic . 2011. Web.

Fergusan, Niall. “Germany and the origins of the First World War: New Perspectives.” The Historical Journal 35, no. 3 (1992): 725-752.

Hamilton, Richard and Holger Herwig. The Origins of World War 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Hay, William. “ Ambition in the East .” The Wall Street Journal . 2011. Web.

Merriman, John. “The Origins of World War 1.” Yale University . 2013. Web.

Sheffield, Gary. “ The Origins of World War One. ” BBC. 2011. Web.

Williamson, Samuel. “The Origins of World War 1.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 18, no. 4 (1988): 795-818.

• Samuel Williamson, “The Origins of World War 1,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 18, no. 4 (1988): 795.
• William Anthony Hay, “Ambition in the East,” The Wall Street Journal , 2011.
• Richard Evans, “The Road to Slaughter,” 2011.
• Richard Hamilton and Holger Herwig, The Origins of World War 1 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 5.
• John Merriman, “The Origins of World War 1,” Yale University , 2013.
• Niall Fergusan, “Germany and the origins of the First World War: New Perspectives”, Historical Journal 35, no. 3 (1992): 731.
• Dale Copeland, The Origins of Major War (New York: Cornell University Press , 2001), 79.
• Gary Sheffield, “The Origins of World War One,” BBC , 2011.
• William Anthony Hay, “Ambition in the East” in The Wall Street Journal
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, February 14). World War 1 Origins (How and Why the War Started). https://ivypanda.com/essays/world-war-1-origins-how-and-why-the-war-started/

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Essay on World War 1

Students are often asked to write an essay on World War 1 in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on World War 1

Introduction.

World War 1, also known as the Great War, was a global conflict that started in 1914 and ended in 1918. It involved many world powers and caused significant changes globally.

Causes of the War

The war began due to various reasons including nationalism, imperialism, militarism, and a complex system of alliances. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary triggered the war.

Major Battles

Key battles included the Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Verdun. These battles caused heavy casualties and marked turning points in the war.

End of the War

The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. This treaty held Germany responsible for the war and imposed heavy penalties.

Impact of the War

World War 1 had significant impacts. It led to the fall of empires, redrew the world map, and set the stage for World War 2.

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250 Words Essay on World War 1

Origins of world war 1.

World War 1, also known as the Great War, began in 1914, triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. An intricate web of alliances across Europe, coupled with nationalistic fervor, propelled the continent into war.

The Central and Allied Powers

The war was fought between the Central Powers, led by Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire, and the Allied Powers, comprising France, Russia, and the United Kingdom. The United States initially maintained neutrality but joined the Allies in 1917.

The Nature of Warfare

World War 1 marked a shift from conventional to trench warfare, characterized by its static nature and high casualty rates. The war also saw the introduction of new technology, including tanks, aircraft, and chemical weapons, which further escalated its devastating impact.

Impact and Aftermath

The war resulted in significant geopolitical changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919, ended the war but sowed the seeds for future conflicts, including World War 2. The war also marked the beginning of significant shifts in global power.

Legacy of World War 1

World War 1 had profound effects on the course of the 20th century. It led to the fall of empires, redrew the world map, and set the stage for the rise of the United States and the Soviet Union as global superpowers. Its legacy continues to shape contemporary global politics.

500 Words Essay on World War 1

World War I, often referred to as the Great War, was a global conflict that commenced on July 28, 1914, and lasted until November 11, 1918. This war, unprecedented in the annals of history, brought significant changes to the political, social, and economic spheres of the world.

The inception of World War I can be attributed to a complex interplay of factors. Nationalism, militarism, and imperialism were the undercurrents that fueled the war. However, the immediate catalyst was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, by a Serbian nationalist in June 1914. This event led to a diplomatic crisis, and the entangled web of alliances among European powers escalated the situation into a full-scale war.

The War Fronts and Strategies

World War I was characterized by trench warfare, where soldiers fought from deep trenches, making the conflict a war of attrition. The Western and Eastern Fronts were the primary battlefields. The Western Front, a series of trenches stretching from the English Channel to the Swiss border, witnessed brutal warfare. The Eastern Front, though larger and less fortified, was equally deadly.

Major Events

Key events of World War I include the Battle of the Marne, where the German advance was halted, marking the end of mobile warfare on the Western Front. The Gallipoli Campaign was another significant event, where the Allies’ failed attempt to control the sea route from Europe to Russia resulted in heavy casualties. The sinking of the passenger ship Lusitania by a German submarine, which resulted in American deaths, was instrumental in bringing the United States into the war in 1917.

Technological Advancements

World War I was a crucible for technological innovation. The war saw the first use of chemical weapons, tanks, and aircraft in combat. Submarines became a significant naval weapon, and machine guns became a ubiquitous feature on the battlefield. These advancements changed the face of warfare, making it more lethal and mechanized.

Conclusion: The Aftermath

The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which held Germany responsible for the war and imposed hefty reparations. The aftermath of World War I saw the dissolution of empires, redrawing of boundaries, and the emergence of new nations. The League of Nations was established to maintain world peace, but it failed to prevent another devastating conflict – World War II. The social and economic upheavals caused by the war also set the stage for significant political changes, including the Russian Revolution and the rise of Fascism.

World War I was a watershed event in human history, leaving an indelible mark on the world’s political, social, and economic landscape. Its repercussions are still felt today, making it a pivotal study in understanding the dynamics of global conflicts.

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World War 1 Essay Sample

The First World War was a war that took place from 1914 to 1918. It is often referred to as the “Great War” or the “War to End All Wars.” The United States entered the war in 1917 but never became heavily involved, fighting only on an economic level. This essay will discuss some of the reasons why America entered WW1 and summarize what happened during this time.

Essay Sample On World War 1

• Thesis Statement – World War 1 Essay
• Introduction – World War 1 Essay
• Causes of World War 1
• Effects of World War 1
• Conclusion – World War 1 Essay

Thesis Statement – World War 1  Essay Waking up on the morning of November 11th, 1918, German soldiers were greeted with an announcement that they had finally reached their goal. After four years of fighting and terrible losses, Germany’s military had finally succeeded in defeating France and capturing Paris. Introduction – World War 1 Essay World War I or also known as the Great War, was a massive battle that initiated in 1914 and lasting all the way until 1918. The war was between the world’s most significant powers as two combatant sides, i.e., the central powers and the allies. It was a series of events that had outset this which consist of critical features such as foreign policy, alliances, the growth of militarism, crisis, and nationalism. It brought a considerable development of war techniques and weapons. This war is also known as “war to end all wars” originating in Europe that go on from 28th July 1914 to 11th November 1918. The allied powers include France, Britain, Russia, Italy, and the United States, and the Central powers which include Germany, Hungary, Austria, and the Ottoman Empire. Get Non-Plagiarized Custom Essay on World War 1 in USA Order Now Main Body – World War 1 Essay Causes of World War 1 Vienna Congress –  In 1815, the nationalism resolution of the Congress was remained unnoticed completely. As a result, Europe had robust nationalistic systems or movements. The other causes that led to war are sharp colonial and commercial competition between the European powers. This was due to the competition for colonies that created a battle between the European countries. Competition with England –  The unification of Germany had made it a compelling competitor for England. The two nations competed in manufacturing highly-developed industrial goods. Germany required colonies to sell its finished product and get raw materials from. France and England have established colonies in Africa and Asia, and they viewed Germany as a competitor. Increased military powers – European countries were also determined to increase militarization. The industrial revolution made it possible for nations to improve their military power. After sometimes the countries became enemies and they started using their military forces against each other. Ferdinand murder – The murder of Francis Ferdinand as well as his wife at Sarajevo became the immediate cause of World War I. Austrian government accused Serbia of the murder, and it demanded a reply within 48 hours. The answer given did not satisfy Austria, and it declared war with Serbia. Effects of World War 1 Loss of humans – The worst effect of World War I that lasted for four years included the loss of millions of lives on the battlefield. Other people were injured or mutilated in a war whose level had not been represented in the past. The emergence of new states – There was also a change in Europe where the Turkish, Austria, Russian and German empires fell. Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia come out as new states. There were even changes in the older states. Democratic and labor groups become part – Democratic administrations and labor groups became part of the newly established states. There was also the passing of labor welfare in some countries. Conclusion – World War 1 Essay World War 1 was a devastating war that led to the deaths of millions of people. The United States entered World War 1 in 1917, which ended four years later after Germany surrendered. This essay has examined the events leading up to America’s involvement and how they impacted its citizens’ lives during this time period. Buy Customized Essay on World War 1 At Cheapest Price Order Now

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Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — Connection — Unveiling the Causes and Consequences of World War I

Unveiling The Causes and Consequences of World War I

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• How to write an essay introduction | 4 steps & examples

How to Write an Essay Introduction | 4 Steps & Examples

Published on February 4, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on July 23, 2023.

A good introduction paragraph is an essential part of any academic essay . It sets up your argument and tells the reader what to expect.

The main goals of an introduction are to:

• Catch your reader’s attention.
• Give background on your topic.
• Present your thesis statement —the central point of your essay.

This introduction example is taken from our interactive essay example on the history of Braille.

The invention of Braille was a major turning point in the history of disability. The writing system of raised dots used by visually impaired people was developed by Louis Braille in nineteenth-century France. In a society that did not value disabled people in general, blindness was particularly stigmatized, and lack of access to reading and writing was a significant barrier to social participation. The idea of tactile reading was not entirely new, but existing methods based on sighted systems were difficult to learn and use. As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness. This essay begins by discussing the situation of blind people in nineteenth-century Europe. It then describes the invention of Braille and the gradual process of its acceptance within blind education. Subsequently, it explores the wide-ranging effects of this invention on blind people’s social and cultural lives.

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Table of contents

Step 1: hook your reader, step 2: give background information, step 3: present your thesis statement, step 4: map your essay’s structure, step 5: check and revise, more examples of essay introductions, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about the essay introduction.

Your first sentence sets the tone for the whole essay, so spend some time on writing an effective hook.

Avoid long, dense sentences—start with something clear, concise and catchy that will spark your reader’s curiosity.

The hook should lead the reader into your essay, giving a sense of the topic you’re writing about and why it’s interesting. Avoid overly broad claims or plain statements of fact.

Examples: Writing a good hook

Take a look at these examples of weak hooks and learn how to improve them.

• Braille was an extremely important invention.
• The invention of Braille was a major turning point in the history of disability.

The first sentence is a dry fact; the second sentence is more interesting, making a bold claim about exactly  why the topic is important.

• The internet is defined as “a global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities.”
• The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education.

Avoid using a dictionary definition as your hook, especially if it’s an obvious term that everyone knows. The improved example here is still broad, but it gives us a much clearer sense of what the essay will be about.

• Mary Shelley’s  Frankenstein is a famous book from the nineteenth century.
• Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is often read as a crude cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific advancement.

Instead of just stating a fact that the reader already knows, the improved hook here tells us about the mainstream interpretation of the book, implying that this essay will offer a different interpretation.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Next, give your reader the context they need to understand your topic and argument. Depending on the subject of your essay, this might include:

• Historical, geographical, or social context
• An outline of the debate you’re addressing
• A summary of relevant theories or research about the topic
• Definitions of key terms

The information here should be broad but clearly focused and relevant to your argument. Don’t give too much detail—you can mention points that you will return to later, but save your evidence and interpretation for the main body of the essay.

How much space you need for background depends on your topic and the scope of your essay. In our Braille example, we take a few sentences to introduce the topic and sketch the social context that the essay will address:

Now it’s time to narrow your focus and show exactly what you want to say about the topic. This is your thesis statement —a sentence or two that sums up your overall argument.

This is the most important part of your introduction. A  good thesis isn’t just a statement of fact, but a claim that requires evidence and explanation.

The goal is to clearly convey your own position in a debate or your central point about a topic.

Particularly in longer essays, it’s helpful to end the introduction by signposting what will be covered in each part. Keep it concise and give your reader a clear sense of the direction your argument will take.

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As you research and write, your argument might change focus or direction as you learn more.

For this reason, it’s often a good idea to wait until later in the writing process before you write the introduction paragraph—it can even be the very last thing you write.

When you’ve finished writing the essay body and conclusion , you should return to the introduction and check that it matches the content of the essay.

It’s especially important to make sure your thesis statement accurately represents what you do in the essay. If your argument has gone in a different direction than planned, tweak your thesis statement to match what you actually say.

To polish your writing, you can use something like a paraphrasing tool .

You can use the checklist below to make sure your introduction does everything it’s supposed to.

Checklist: Essay introduction

My first sentence is engaging and relevant.

I have introduced the topic with necessary background information.

I have defined any important terms.

My thesis statement clearly presents my main point or argument.

Everything in the introduction is relevant to the main body of the essay.

You have a strong introduction - now make sure the rest of your essay is just as good.

• Argumentative
• Literary analysis

This introduction to an argumentative essay sets up the debate about the internet and education, and then clearly states the position the essay will argue for.

The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts is on the rise, and its role in learning is hotly debated. For many teachers who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its critical benefits for students and educators—as a uniquely comprehensive and accessible information source; a means of exposure to and engagement with different perspectives; and a highly flexible learning environment.

This introduction to a short expository essay leads into the topic (the invention of the printing press) and states the main point the essay will explain (the effect of this invention on European society).

In many ways, the invention of the printing press marked the end of the Middle Ages. The medieval period in Europe is often remembered as a time of intellectual and political stagnation. Prior to the Renaissance, the average person had very limited access to books and was unlikely to be literate. The invention of the printing press in the 15th century allowed for much less restricted circulation of information in Europe, paving the way for the Reformation.

This introduction to a literary analysis essay , about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein , starts by describing a simplistic popular view of the story, and then states how the author will give a more complex analysis of the text’s literary devices.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is often read as a crude cautionary tale. Arguably the first science fiction novel, its plot can be read as a warning about the dangers of scientific advancement unrestrained by ethical considerations. In this reading, and in popular culture representations of the character as a “mad scientist”, Victor Frankenstein represents the callous, arrogant ambition of modern science. However, far from providing a stable image of the character, Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to gradually transform our impression of Frankenstein, portraying him in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble—even in his own telling—the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

• Ad hominem fallacy
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Your essay introduction should include three main things, in this order:

• An opening hook to catch the reader’s attention.
• Relevant background information that the reader needs to know.
• A thesis statement that presents your main point or argument.

The length of each part depends on the length and complexity of your essay .

The “hook” is the first sentence of your essay introduction . It should lead the reader into your essay, giving a sense of why it’s interesting.

To write a good hook, avoid overly broad statements or long, dense sentences. Try to start with something clear, concise and catchy that will spark your reader’s curiosity.

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

• It gives your writing direction and focus.
• It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

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