The First World War developed from mobile campaigns in 1914 into trench warfare, industrialised artillery battles, amphibious operations, naval warfare and the final offensives of 1918. This page follows those campaigns through the commanders, politicians and soldiers recorded in the World History Database.
Explore 572 records covering the Marne, Tannenberg, Ypres, the Dardanelles, Gallipoli, Verdun, the Somme, Jutland, Passchendaele, Cambrai, Caporetto and Amiens, together with many smaller battles on the Western, Eastern, Italian and Middle Eastern fronts.
Battle of the Somme, 7 August 1916: men of the Wiltshire Regiment advancing through the wire near Thiepval. Official wartime photograph. Wikimedia Commons source.
Historical overview
From mobile war to attrition and the Hundred Days
The records trace the changing character of the First World War across land, sea and multiple theatres from the opening campaigns of 1914 to the Allied offensives of 1918.
1914: the opening campaigns
Germany's western offensive passed through Belgium and northern France before the Allied counter-attack on the Marne halted the advance. In the east, Tannenberg inflicted a catastrophic defeat on the Russian Second Army. By the end of the year, trench systems stretched across much of the Western Front.
1915: new fronts and new weapons
The Allies attempted to force the Dardanelles and then landed on Gallipoli, while major offensives continued in France and on the Eastern Front. The Second Battle of Ypres saw large-scale chlorine gas attacks, showing how industrial technology was reshaping battlefield conditions.
1916: Verdun, the Somme and Jutland
Verdun and the Somme became defining battles of attrition, drawing enormous quantities of artillery, manpower and supplies into prolonged campaigns. At sea, the Grand Fleet and High Seas Fleet met at Jutland in the largest naval battle of the war.
1917: crisis and adaptation
Passchendaele, Cambrai and Caporetto demonstrated both the destructive persistence of trench warfare and the search for new methods. Tanks appeared in increasingly important numbers, infiltration tactics developed and the Italian front suffered a major strategic crisis.
1918: offensives and decision
Germany launched major spring offensives in an attempt to win before American strength could fully influence the war. The Second Battle of the Marne marked the failure of the final German effort, after which Amiens and the Hundred Days forced repeated withdrawals.
Command, coalition and industrial war
The archive follows commanders from Haig, Joffre and Pétain to Hindenburg, Ludendorff, Falkenhayn, Beatty and Cadorna. Their decisions were shaped by coalition politics, railways, artillery ammunition, manpower, communications and the unprecedented scale of modern armies.
26–30 Aug 1914Tannenberg5–12 Sep 1914First Marne25 Apr 1915Gallipoli landings21 Feb 1916Verdun begins1 Jul 1916Somme begins31 May 1916Jutland8 Aug 1918Amiens11 Nov 1918Armistice
Major campaigns in the records
Major World War I battles
Sixteen major battles and campaigns are highlighted across the Western, Eastern, Italian, naval and Dardanelles theatres. Select a card to filter the full chronology.
Historical photographs
The war in photographs
Each image links to its Wikimedia Commons source page so provenance and licensing can be checked directly.
Somme, 7 August 1916. Men of the Wiltshire Regiment advance near Thiepval. Source.Verdun, 1916. French soldiers of the 87th Regiment shelter at Hill 304. Source.Gallipoli, 25 April 1915. Australian troops landing at ANZAC Cove. Source.Jutland, 31 May 1916. HMS Lion during the fleet action. Source.
Permanent subject pages
Explore World War I battles and commanders
These crawlable pages are generated from the same 572-record archive. Each page combines concise historical context with its matching chronology rendered as static HTML.
The historical overview provides context for the site's 572 structured World War I battle records. The chronology preserves the database's stored dates, people, countries, places, event labels and descriptions.
