The Long Legacy of World War I

By

Return to Article

A 1918 poster imploring American women to contribute to the war effort.

Joan of Arc Saved France

A 1918 poster imploring American women to contribute to the war effort by buying War Saving Stamps.

Dead German soldiers on a battlefield in Peronne, France.

The Fallen

Dead German soldiers on a battlefield in Peronne, France.

A gas attack in Villanova Judrio, Italy.

Gas Attack

A gas attack in Villanova Judrio, Italy in 1917.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Duchess Sophie.

Archduke and Countess

Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Duchess Sophie, before their 1914 assassination in Sarajevo, Bosnia.

A French soldier peers out of his observation post.

French Lookout

A French soldier peers out of his observation post in Eglingen, Haut-Rhin in 1917.

Russian trenches in the Ottoman Empire.

Russian Trenches

Russian trenches in the Ottoman Empire.

An advertisement for a musical and dance in 1917.

Souvenir Bonds

An advertisement for a musical and dance in 1917 to raise funds for the American war effort.

War Saving Stamps being sold in New York City.

Kaiser’s Coffin

War Saving Stamps being sold in New York City in 1918.

A run on a bank in Berlin, Germany.

German Bank Run

A run on a bank in Berlin, Germany at the outbreak of war in 1914.

A 1918 poster calling upon Canadians to buy Victory Bonds.

Buy Victory Bonds

A 1918 poster calling upon Canadians to buy Victory Bonds to support the war effort.

A 1918 poster imploring Americans to buy Liberty Bonds.

Buy a Liberty Bond

A 1918 poster imploring Americans to buy Liberty Bonds for the war effort.

A 1917 poster printed by the U.S. government in the Philippines urging the purchase of Liberty Bonds.

Your Liberty Bond

A 1917 poster printed by the U.S. government in the Philippines with English and Spanish text urging the purchase of Liberty Bonds.

A 1917 Canadian poster with the caricatured heads of German leaders and military officials.

4 Reasons

A 1917 Canadian poster with the caricatured heads of German leaders and military officials.

'And you?' reads the top text of a 1917 Austro-Hungarian poster asking citizens to draw war loans.

And You?

“And you?” reads the top text of a 1917 Austro-Hungarian poster asking citizens to draw war loans.

A 1917 appeal for Austro-Hungarians to take out war loans.

War Bond Drive

A 1917 appeal for Austro-Hungarians to take out war loans.

A 1916 Austro-Hungarian poster calling upon citizens to draw war loans.

Draw War Loans!

A 1916 Austro-Hungarian poster calling upon citizens to draw war loans.

An appeal for citizens of the Austro-Hungary homeland to support the war financially.

War Bond

An appeal for citizens of the Austro-Hungary homeland to support the war financially.

An Austro-Hungarian poster appealing for citizens to buy war loans in 1914.

1914-1917

An Austro-Hungarian poster appealing for citizens to buy war loans in 1914.

Two Austrian soldiers pushing open a door with the word 'Peace' behind it.

Kriegsanleihe

Two Austrian soldiers pushing open a door with the word “Peace” behind it on a 1918 poster appealing for war loans.

A medieval knight with the imperial eagle of Austria on his tunic on a 1916 poster.

Živnostenská Bank War Loans

A medieval knight with the imperial eagle of Austria on his tunic on a 1916 poster appealing for people to subscribe to war loans from the Živnostenská bank.

Tsarist poster from 1916 urging Russians to support the war by buying war bonds.

Tsarist War Bond Poster

Tsarist poster from 1916 urging Russians to support the war by buying war bonds.

Tsarist poster from 1916 urging Russians to support the war by buying war bonds.

Tsarist War Bond Poster

Tsarist poster from 1916 urging Russians to support the war by buying war bonds.

Tsarist poster from 1916 urging Russians to support the war by buying war bonds.

Tsarist War Bond Poster

Tsarist poster from 1916 urging Russians to support the war by buying war bonds.

Tsarist poster from 1916 urging Russians to support the war by buying war bonds.

Tsarist War Bond Poster

Tsarist poster from 1916 urging Russians to support the war by buying war bonds.

Tsarist poster from 1916 urging Russians to support the war by buying war bonds.

Tsarist War Bond Poster

Tsarist poster from 1916 urging Russians to support the war by buying war bonds.

Tsarist poster from 1916 urging Russians to support the war by buying war bonds.

Tsarist War Bond Poster

Tsarist poster from 1916 urging Russians to support the war by buying war bonds.

Tsarist poster from 1916 urging Russians to support the war by buying war bonds.

Tsarist War Bond Poster

Tsarist poster from 1916 urging Russians to support the war by buying war bonds.

A 1918 poster urging Austrians to contribute funds to the war effort.

Kriegsanleihe

A 1918 poster urging Austrians to contribute funds to the war effort.

A 1918 poster from the Baruch Strauss Bank urging Germans to buy the 8th German war bonds.

Baruch Strauss Bank

A 1918 poster from the Baruch Strauss Bank urging Germans to buy the 8^th German war bonds.

A 1918 poster from the Baruch Strauss Bank urging Germans to buy the 9th German war bonds.

Baruch Strauss Bank

A 1918 poster from the Baruch Strauss Bank urging Germans to buy the 9^th German war bonds.

A 1917 poster asking for 'Peace through victory' with the purchase of war loans.

Peace Through Victory

A 1917 poster asking for “Peace through victory” with the purchase of war loans from Bankhouse Schelhammer & Schattern.

A 1917 Austrian poster urging contributions to the war loan.

War Loan

A 1917 Austrian poster urging contributions to the war loan.

An appeal for the purchase of war bonds from the Oesterr Bank.

Draw the Oesterr War Bonds

An appeal for the purchase of war bonds from the Oesterr Bank in 1918.

A 16th century soldier waving the Austro-Hungarian flag on a poster appealing for war loans.

Austrian War Loan

A 16^th century soldier waving the Austro-Hungarian flag on a poster appealing for war loans in 1916.

A German pilot on a 1918 poster for war loans with the upper text asking 'and you?'

And You?

A German pilot on a 1918 poster for war loans with the upper text asking “and you?”

A 1917 poster urging Germans that the best savings bank is the war loan.

The Best Savings Bank

A 1917 poster urging Germans that the best savings bank is the war loan.

German paper currency had become so devalued that large stacks were required even for small purchases.

Cash-Delivery Office

By 1923, German paper currency had become so devalued that large stacks were required even for small purchases.

A chart showing the hyperinflation occurring in Germany after the war.

German Hyperinflation

A chart showing the hyperinflation occurring in Germany after the war.

American gold arrived by the barrel load in Germany in 1924.

American Gold

Under a plan to ease hyperinflation in Germany, the U.S., Britain, and a few other nations loaned Germany funds to stabilize its currency so it could pay reparations. American gold arrived by the barrel load in 1924.

The 2016 dedication of a monument to Russian and Soviet soldiers.

World War I and II Memorial

The 2016 dedication of a monument to Russian and Soviet soldiers who died in Slovenia in World War I and II.

The banners read: 'Feed the children of the defenders of the motherland” and “Increase payments to the soldiers’ families—defenders of freedom and world peace.'

Bread Riots

A demonstration in St. Petersburg, Russia during the February Revolution. The banners read: “Feed the children of the defenders of the motherland” and “Increase payments to the soldiers’ families—defenders of freedom and world peace.”

The signing of the Russian-German armistice in late 1917.

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

The signing of the Russian-German armistice in late 1917.

A 1918 cartoon depicting Germany dismembering Russia and passing on several territories to Turkey after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsky.

Three Bones

A 1918 cartoon depicting Germany dismembering Russia and passing on several territories to Turkey after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsky.

A Soviet propaganda poster of the Polish-Soviet War in 1920.

Polish-Soviet War

A Soviet propaganda poster of the Polish-Soviet War in 1920.

A 1919 Russian White Forces poster depicting the Bolsheviks as a red dragon being defeated by a crusading knight representing the Whites.

For a United Russia

A 1919 Russian White Forces poster depicting the Bolsheviks as a red dragon being defeated by a crusading knight representing the Whites.

A 1916 tsarist poster entitled 'Freedom Loan.'

Tsarist War Bond Poster

A 1916 tsarist poster entitled "Freedom Loan" entreating Russians to take out loans to fund World War I.

A pie chart of the military deaths of Entente Powers forces in World War I.

World War I Military Deaths (Entente Powers)

A pie chart of the military deaths of Entente Powers forces in World War I.

A pie chart of the military deaths of Central Powers forces in World War I.

World War I Military Deaths (Central Powers)

A pie chart of the military deaths of Central Powers forces in World War I.

Vladimir Putin at the 2014 opening of a new memorial to 'the heroes of the First World War.'

The Heroes of the First World War

Vladimir Putin at the 2014 opening of a new memorial to “the heroes of the First World War.”

Italian soldiers killed in a trench in Slovenia during World War I.

Italian Soldiers

Italian soldiers killed in a trench in Slovenia during World War I.

Members of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps tending the graves of British soldiers.

Abbeville Cemetery

Members of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps tending the graves of British soldiers in a cemetery in Abbeville, France in 1918.

Workers carved the names of Canada’s Great War dead into the Vimy Memorial in France.

Vimy Memorial

Between 1925 and 1939, workers carved the names of Canada’s Great War dead into the Vimy Memorial in France.

A worker for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission would spend a week carving a regimental badge onto a headstone.

Headstone Carving

A worker for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission would spend a week carving a regimental badge onto a headstone.

Nagelfiguren of Paul von Hindenburg.

Nagelfiguren of Paul von Hindenburg

Nagelfiguren, war memorials made from iron nails embedded in wood, became popular in Germany and Austria. The largest nagelfiguren was a statue of General Paul von Hindenburg in Berlin in 1915.

The unveiling of the Whitehall Cenotaph.

Whitehall Cenotaph

The unveiling of the Whitehall Cenotaph, a war memorial in London, England, in 1920.

American Secretary of War John Weeks, President Calvin Coolidge, and Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

American Secretary of War John Weeks, President Calvin Coolidge, and Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, VA in 1923.

The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres, Belgium.

Menin Gate

The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres, Belgium was for British and Commonwealth soldiers killed in World War I with unknown resting places.

Brigadier General Francis Dodd of the Canadian Expeditionary Force unveiling the Menin Gate Memorial.

Menin Gate Unveiling

Brigadier General Francis Dodd of the Canadian Expeditionary Force unveiling the Menin Gate Memorial in 1924.

One of the many panels inside the Menin Gate Memorial that lists the names of missing British and Commonwealth soldiers.

Menin Gate Panel

One of the many panels inside the Menin Gate Memorial that lists the names of missing British and Commonwealth soldiers.

General Charles de Gaulle laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.

Arc de Triomphe Tomb of the Unknown Warrior

In 1944, General Charles de Gaulle laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.

A guard of honor at New Zealand’s Tomb of the Unknown Warrior during Armistice Day in 2012.

Tomb of the Unknown Warrior

A guard of honor at New Zealand’s Tomb of the Unknown Warrior during Armistice Day in 2012.

The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme in France.

The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme

The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme in France is dedicated to the over 70,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers killed at the Battles of the Somme (1915-1918) whose bodies were never found or identified. Their names cover the tall white bands at the bottom of the memorial.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial with the Washington Monument in D.C. in the background.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial with the Washington Monument in D.C. in the background.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

AIDS Memorial Quilt

The AIDS Memorial Quilt on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in 1987.

A pie chart showing military and civilian deaths in World War I.

World War I Military and Civilian Deaths

A pie chart showing military and civilian deaths in World War I.

Charles, Prince of Wales, laying a wreath at a Remembrance Day service.

Prince Charles Wreath Laying

Charles, Prince of Wales, laying a wreath at a Remembrance Day service at the Cenotaph in 2017.

A 1916 map of the Sykes-Picot Agreement between the United Kingdom and France.

Sykes-Picot Agreement Map

A 1916 map of the Sykes-Picot Agreement between the United Kingdom and France and assented to by the Russian Empire as a means to define spheres of influence and control in the Middle East.

Soldiers from allied countries in Vladivostok, Russia during the Civil War in 1918.

Allies in the Russian Civil War

Soldiers from allied countries in Vladivostok, Russia during the Civil War in 1918.

Anti-Bolshevik Volunteer Army in South Russia in January 1918.

Anti-Bolshevik Volunteer Army

Anti-Bolshevik Volunteer Army in South Russia in January 1918.

Czech legionaries killed in fighting with Bolsheviks at Nikolsk-Ussurlysky in 1918.

Czechoslovak Legionaries

Czech legionaries killed in fighting with Bolsheviks at Nikolsk-Ussurlysky in 1918.

Russians who perished during the famine in 1921.

Russian Famine

Russians who perished during the famine in 1921.

Share: