Before we start, Loos is pronounced “loose”; you’re welcome! In this article, I’m going to take a look at this battle, during which one of the my ancestors died. I’ll be taking a look at the reasons for the battle, what actually happened and the consequences of the action. The…

The origins of the First World War are one of the most discussed, and most controversial, phases of modern history and I’m almost regretting getting into it, but here goes. I’m going to look at some of the reasons behind the war and the sequence of events that led to…

The First World War is often seen as the first industrialised war and across the course of the war it is possible to see how technologies that were invented before the war were militarised and new technologies came into existence. …

How the great powers of Europe plunged into a globalised conflict. — The First World War, known at the time as The Great War, escalated seemingly out of nowhere after a long period of peace. The diplomatic forum, known as the “Concert of Europe”, formed from the great European powers was designed to provide a means for defusing inter-state rivalries through diplomacy…

How the belligerents of the First World War tried to unlock the deadlock of 1914. — The end of 1914 left the belligerent powers with the realisation that this was not to be an “over by Christmas” affair. None of the plans laid down before the war had succeeded and now the belligerents needed to find new war winning strategies. The problem of the Western Front…

How the war developed into a series of attritional contests that left the belligerent powers exhausted. — 1916 dawned with the British finally accepting that their attempts to defeat the Turks at Gallipoli had failed. The attempt to force the straights by sea and land petered out and, on the 9th of January, British and ANZAC forces completed their evacuation. The campaign had failed to achieve its…

How Germany’s attempt to play her final cards set the conditions for the end of the war. — The Russian ceasefire halted the war on the Eastern Front, but it was just a ceasefire. Delegations from the two sides began to negotiate a formal peace treaty, but, in February, talks broke down and on the 17th the Germans resumed hostilities. As is often the case, the facts on…

How the events of 1917 drove the warring powers to the brink of defeat. — The beginning of 1917, saw Germany, Britain and France having spent so much, in both manpower and finance, that it was politically untenable to simply negotiate a peace. The two sides, even when asked by President Wilson what their terms were, were simply too far apart for progress to be…