World War I in Photos

Just a short intro to this thread. I came across, what to me has been, the largest archive of high quality WWI photos in one place. This is the story of WWI through photos, and each one worth a 1000 words. The archive is broken down into 10 sections, each with 45 photos. I am including eight from the first section -- Introduction.

Hope you enjoy as much as I did, I spent a lot of time looking at some of these photos.

Nine European Sovereigns at Windsor for the funeral of King Edward VII in May of 1910, four years before the war began. Standing, from left to right: King Haakon VII of Norway, Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria, King Manuel II of Portugal, Kaiser Wilhelm II of the German Empire, King George I of Greece and King Albert I of Belgium. Seated, from left to right: King Alfonso XIII of Spain, King-Emperor George V of the United Kingdom and King Frederick VIII of Denmark. Within the next decade, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Tsar Ferdinand's empires would engage in bloody warfare with the nations led by King Albert I and King George V. The war was also a family affair, as Kaiser Wilhelm II was a first cousin to King George V, and an uncle to King Albert I. Of the remaining monarchs pictured, over the next decade one would be assassinated (Greece), three would keep their nations neutral (Norway, Spain, and Denmark), and two would be forced out of power by revolutions.

The conflict, called the Great War by those involved, was the first large-scale example of modern warfare - technologies still use in battle today were introduced in large scale forms then, some (like chemical attacks) were outlawed and later viewed as war crimes. The newly-invented aeroplane took its place as an observation platform, a bomber, and an anti-personnel weapon, even as an anti-aircraft defense, shooting down enemy aircraft. Here, French soldiers gather around a priest as he blesses an aircraft on the Western Front, in 1915.

1915, British soldiers on motorcycles in the Dardanelles, part of the Ottoman Empire, prior to the Battle of Gallipoli.

A dog belonging to a Mr. Dumas Realier, dressed as a German soldier, in 1915.

Ottoman Turk Machine Gun Corps at Tel esh Sheria Gaza Line, in 1917, part of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. British troops were battling the the Ottoman Empire (supported by Germany), for control of the Suez Canal, Sinai Peninsula, and Palestine.

An aerial view of the Hellish moonscape of the Western Front during World War I. Hill of Combres, St. Mihiel Sector, north of Hattonchatel and Vigneulles. Note the criss-cross patterns of multiple generations of trenches, and the thousands of craters left by mortars, artillery, and the detonation of underground mines.

A color photograph of Allied soldiers on a battlefield on the Western Front. This image was taken using the Paget process, an early experiment in color photography.

German soldiers flee a gas attack in Flanders, Belgium, in September of 1917. Chemical weapons were a part of the arsenal of World War I armies from the beginning, ranging from irritating tear gases to painful mustard gas, to lethal agents like phosgene and chlorine.

The Atlantic - World War I in Photos

a reply to: Kharron

Some pretty breathtaking photos in that collection.
From the site you linked, image #33...insane
WW1

a reply to: Macenroe82

Yeah, there's some incredible photos in there. I wanted to add more from other sections but I thought I'd just get it started.

Some of these make me want to get into photoshop and do some coloring magic on them.

a reply to: Kharron

I haven’t stopped going through them.
staring into the photos honestly lost in the absolute horror these men fought through.

Just insane.
And the terror they must had faced all day and night, every single day, years for some....others...not so long.
Truly humbled looking at these.
It makes you realize and puts into perspective, how lucky we all really are.

a reply to: Kharron

Like imagine being ordered to get into your wooden plane and fly towards the enemy lines.
Or being the poor bastard that gets sent up in the observation balloons?
Knowing you are the single most important target as soon as you begin to ascend.

It’s a wonder how any of those tanks made it through the mud.knowing if you get stuck someone is going to point a flame thrower into your hull.

Yeah, I pinned this page three days ago; been going back to it since then. Going through these and looking into the eyes of the people in the photos is better than watching a movie on it. There is just so much in there; humanity, terror, love, despair, humility, honor.

Some photos illustrate the moments of levity that humans can bring into the worst situations, some show ally soldiers helping a German injured soldier -- human to human. Another shows graves that Germans built and marked saying 'here lie brave French soldiers'. And it made me think, despite what we all joke about the French, how well did they fight for the Germans to stop, bury them and write that on their graves? Or the one of a soldier peacefully writing a letter in a trench; and the caption saying trenches were 'long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of extreme terror'. Imagine that.

a reply to: Kharron

Ya I read that trench quote. Pretty intense images for sure.

Still looks like Canada's current military tanks LMAO

Amazing photos, thank you OP.

a reply to: Kharron

Such an amazing collection of photos. But when these photos were taken the photographer must have taken life risk.

And now here we're able to watch the WW1 photos. Hats off to those photographers. Good job.