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Submarine
German U-boats, played a significant role, primarily targeting Allied shipping and merchant vessels, while British and other Allied navies also employed submarines for coastal defense and anti-submarine warfare. -
Emperor Franz Josef
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death in 1916. -
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, a Welsh Liberal politician, is known for leading the United Kingdom through World War I as Prime Minister, his role in the Paris Peace Conference, and his championing of social reforms that laid the foundation for the British welfare state. -
Tsar Nicholas II
Nicholas II or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. -
Rasputin
Grigori Rasputin is most famous for being a Russian mystic and faith healer who gained significant influence over the imperial family of Tsar Nicholas II, particularly the Tsarina Alexandra, and for his mysterious death. -
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until his death in 1924, and of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death. -
Machine Guns
The first practical, self-powered machine gun, the Maxim gun, was invented in 1884 by Hiram Stevens Maxim, and it played a significant role in World War I, influencing the nature of warfare, including the rise of trench warfare. -
Flame Throwers
Flamethrowers developed and used primarily by the German army, were primarily used to attack enemy fortifications, bunkers, and trenches, aiming to flush out troops and cause psychological shock. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
On May 7, 1915 the British ocean liner Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat, resulting in the deaths of over 1,198 people, including 128 Americans, and contributing to growing anti German sentiment in the United States. -
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
The perpetrator was 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, a member of Young Bosnia and one of a group of assassins organized and armed by the Black Hand. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, ignited a chain reaction that led to World War I because it exposed pre-existing tensions -
Battle of Tepe
The Battle of Tepe on 25 August 1914 was the first skirmish between German and British forces during the Kamerun campaign in of the First World War. The conflict took place on the border between British Nigeria and German Kamerun, ending in British victory and German withdrawal from the station. -
Poison Gas
The first large-scale use of lethal poison gas on the battlefield occurred during the Second Battle of Ypres on April 22, 1915, when the German army released chlorine gas against French and Canadian forces. -
Tanks
British forces first used tanks during the Battle of the Somme in September 1916. They had a dramatic effect on German morale and proved effective in crossing trenches and wire entanglements, but they failed to break through the German lines. -
Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme, a major World War I engagement, took place from July 1 to November 18, 1916, in northern France, resulting in over a million casualties and becoming a symbol of the war's brutality. -
Battles of Ardennes
German forces launched a surprise attack on Allied forces in the forested Ardennes region in Belgium, Luxembourg, and France.