WWI 100 years later: Britannica commemorates Great War with video, expanded content

November 8, 2018

WWI 100 years later: Britannica commemorates Great War with video, expanded content

The following content is created with social studies or history classrooms of all levels in mind, with access to Britannica digital resources like LaunchPacks or Britannica School. Contact your library staff to see if your institution already has access or claim your own free product trials.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, Britannica invites you to explore our expanded coverage of the Great War.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, Encyclopaedia Britannica has created a new site experience to highlight our updated coverage of the war, including all-new features on women, African Americans, military technology, and life in the trenches. The intro to the portal reads:

“To its contemporaries, it was known simply as ‘the World War’ or ‘the Great War,’ because it was nearly impossible to imagine a conflict that would surpass the one that shattered Europe between July 28, 1914, and November 11, 1918. Combat and disease claimed the lives of more than 8 million fighting men, and 21 million more were wounded. As many as 13 million civilians died as a result of starvation, exposure, disease, military action, and massacres.

“Four great empires—the Hohenzollern, the Habsburg, the Romanov, and the Ottoman—fell, and the intercontinental movement of troops helped fuel the deadliest influenza pandemic in history. The ripple effects of the war, from the Great Depression, to World War II, to the Cold War, continue to be felt today.”

⇒ Explore the WWI portal!

To debut the new World War I features, share some of the incredible work created by the Britannica editorial team, and discuss why WWI continues to be relevant today, consumer social media manager John Cunningham and Britannica geography editor Michael Ray—who specializes in European history and military affairs—hosted the first Facebook Live chat on Britannica’s Facebook page on November 8. Watch below!

World War I had a profound impact on the role of women in society. Marie Curie, Mabel St. Clair Stobart, and Aileen Cole Stewart are among the women who played a direct role in the war. Watch a brand new Britannica video about these extraordinary women:

To make sure these updates are available to our institutional users, the Britannica School editorial team has worked hard this fall to differentiate the content and adapt it to educational standards. The high school homepage now includes a new “WWI Flash Facts” feature, and all 60+ WWI-era images discovered in the Encyclopaedia Britannica archives have been inserted into the following updates. Dive in with your students today!