World War I soldiers

Click a letter for the index

Or search the encyclopaedia:

 

 

Go

 

Click images to enlarge
Over 65 million soldiers from over 30 countries fought during World War I, the greatest mobilization the world had ever seen. Initially millions volunteered to fight a war that most believed would be over quickly and victoriously for their nation. By the end of the war Germany had mobilized an estimated 11 million men, Austria-Hungary 7.8 million, Russia 12 million, France 8.4 million, and the USA over 4.3 million. Britain and the British Empire recruited some 9 million men, either as volunteers or later as conscripts, forced to fight for the national cause. Many were traumatized by life in the squalid conditions at the fronts, having experienced death and destruction on a previously unimaginable scale. By the end of the war in 1918, of the more than 65 million men who joined the armies of World War I, over 37.5 million had been killed or wounded in action.

Soldiers on both sides endured appalling conditions in the trenches of the Western Front or the vast open spaces of the Eastern Front. Thousands of Italian soldiers lived in vast cave complexes in the Alps surrounded by ice and snow. Soldiers of the Western Front endured months of boredom and inactivity, punctuated by huge offensives such as the Battle of the Somme (July–November 1916) and Battle of Passchendaele (October–November 1917) when tens of thousands of soldiers were killed. Although the hope and patriotism of 1914 had not totally died by 1918, battles such as the Somme and Gallipoli fed resentment and reduced the respect held for the army commanders. The scars of war lived on after 1918 in both the bodies and minds of the participants, and the return of millions of war-broken men had a profound effect on their countries.

The cog-wheel and rice plant stand for industry and agriculture. The stars represent the 14 states. Blue symbolizes peace. Red denotes courage. Effective date: 4 January 1974. >>