The Great War

In the summer of 1914 a murder in Sarajevo set off a chain of alliances: Austria attacked Serbia, Russia backed Serbia, Germany backed Austria and invaded France through Belgium, and Britain declared war.

Machine guns and artillery made attack suicidal. On the Western Front, millions died in trench battles for a few kilometres of mud; the war spread to the Middle East, Africa and the seas.

Russia collapsed into revolution in 1917, the same year the United States joined in. Germany gave up in November 1918. Four empires — German, Austrian, Russian and Ottoman — were gone.