Published 22/11/2019
Your visual guide to WW1
Over 100 years ago, on the 11th of November 1918 has seen the end of the First World War. The Great War left over 16 million soldiers and civilians dead and caused irreparable damage across the globe.
In Remembrance of those fallen, see our curated content below. From battlefield photography to uniforms, our archive can guide you through World War One.
The Woman’s role during World War One is often side-lined, but women played an integral part in the war effort. As well as fulfilling the traditional nurturing roles of nurses and red-cross workers, teachers, and mothers, they were also recruited into workplaces traditionally seen as male domains. In the absence of men who were away fighting in WW1, women stepped in to keep the infrastructure at home going. They became neighbourhood postmen, butchers, railway workers, and factory workers.
When thinking about the Great War, images of World War 1 soldiers in trenches immediately comes to mind. Trenches were an effective way to protect against gunshots and assaults and – despite many attempts – proved impossible for enemy soldiers to breakthrough.
An estimated eight million men were taken prisoners of war (POWs) during World War I. These prisoners, often scarred by their time in the camps, rarely talked about their experiences later in life. Explore historic World War I images and footage from the Bridgeman archive to get an impression of what reality was like for prisoners.
And finally, at the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918, the Armistice was signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France.
WWI images - All content (images and videos)