The Great War
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Glossary

The vocabulary of the war: soldiers' slang, staff jargon, diplomatic terms and the names of new machines.

259 terms
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18-pounderWeapons
The standard British field gun of the First World War, the backbone of the Royal Field Artillery, first accepted into service in 1904. Its 84 mm caliber and shell weight were greater than those of the French 75 and German 77 mm guns, but its flat trajectory could not reach enemy troops sheltering out of the line of sight.In the Arsenal
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A7VWeapons
The Sturmpanzerwagen A7V, a German heavy tank of about 30 tons with a crew of at least 17 soldiers and one officer. Of 100 chassis ordered, only 20 were built as armored tanks; they first went into action on 21 March 1918 and fought until October. They were the only German-built tanks used in combat in the war.In the Arsenal
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Adrian helmetWeapons
The French steel helmet designed by the army supply officer Louis Adrian and introduced in 1915. The first standard helmet of the French Army and the first modern steel helmet, it was created because falling shrapnel from indirect fire caused so many head wounds. More than twenty million were eventually produced.In the Arsenal
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Agadir CrisisPolitics
A brief crisis of 1911, also called the Second Moroccan Crisis, sparked by French troop deployments in Morocco and by the arrival of the German gunboat Panther at the port of Agadir on 1 July. It was resolved on 4 November when France took Morocco as a protectorate in exchange for concessions to Germany.
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AirshipWeapons
A powered, steerable lighter-than-air aircraft, classed as rigid, semi-rigid or non-rigid. Early airships used flammable hydrogen. Germany, France and Italy used them for scouting and bombing early in the war and found them too vulnerable over the front, so all ended direct support of armies in 1917.In the Arsenal
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Albatros D.IIIWeapons
A German biplane fighter flown by top aces including Manfred von Richthofen and Ernst Udet. It was the preeminent fighter of Bloody April 1917, the period of German air dominance, though early examples suffered failures of the lower wing spar.In the Arsenal
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Allied PowersPolitics
The coalition fighting the Central Powers: chiefly Britain and its empire, France, Russia, Italy (from 1915), Japan and, from 1917, the United States. President Wilson insisted that the United States was an "Associated Power" rather than an Ally, to keep its freedom of action.
Alsace-LorrainePlaces
The territory of the German Empire between 1871 and 1918, comprising most of Alsace and part of Lorraine, annexed after Germany's victory in the Franco-Prussian War. French resentment over its loss was one of the contributing factors to the First World War, and it was restored to France in 1918.
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American Expeditionary ForcesWarfare
The formation of the United States Armed Forces on the Western Front, established on 26 May 1917 under Major General John J. Pershing; its general headquarters was organized on 5 July. About two million soldiers crossed the Atlantic, and the AEF fought at Saint-Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne offensive from 26 September to 11 November 1918.
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AnzacWarfare
An acronym for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, formed in Egypt in 1914–15 and landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. The word came to mean the soldiers themselves, and 25 April is still commemorated as Anzac Day.
Arab RevoltPolitics
An armed uprising by Hashemite-led Arabs of the Hejaz against the Ottoman Empire, officially begun at Mecca on 10 June 1916 on the basis of the McMahon–Hussein correspondence. Its main contribution to the war was to pin down tens of thousands of Ottoman troops who might otherwise have attacked the Suez Canal.
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ArchieWeapons
British slang for German anti-aircraft guns and the bursts of their shells. The origin is uncertain, but it is often traced to a music-hall catchphrase.In the Arsenal
Armenian genocidePolitics
The systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress. About one million Armenians died, chiefly in death marches to the Syrian desert; estimates range from 600,000 to 1.5 million.
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ArmisticePolitics
An agreement to halt fighting, falling short of a peace treaty. The armistice with Germany took effect at 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918 and was renewed several times until the Treaty of Versailles came into force.
Armored carWeapons
A wheeled armored fighting vehicle, used for reconnaissance and escort and developed to take over some duties of light cavalry. The Belgian Army made the first effective combat use of one in 1914, but trench warfare was unsuitable for wheeled vehicles, and armored cars were moved to other theaters.In the Arsenal
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Article 10Politics
The clause of the League of Nations Covenant in which members pledged to respect and preserve each other's territory and independence against external aggression. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and others objected that it could commit the United States to war without the consent of Congress, which helped to defeat the Senate's ratification of the treaty.
AskariWarfare
An African soldier serving in a colonial army, especially in East Africa. The word comes from the Arabic for soldier by way of Swahili.
AttritionWarfare
A strategy of wearing down the enemy's men and resources faster than he can replace them. Falkenhayn later described his aim at Verdun in these terms, and the Somme and Passchendaele are often called battles of attrition.
B
Balance of powerPolitics
The idea that peace is best preserved when no single state or alliance dominates the continent. It guided British policy toward Europe for centuries, and its apparent breakdown into two armed camps is a classic explanation of the origins of the war.
Balfour DeclarationPolitics
A letter of 2 November 1917 from the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, to Lord Rothschild, stating that the government viewed with favor a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine, with the rights of existing communities to be protected. It became one of the most contested documents of the century.
Balkan WarsPolitics
Two conflicts of 1912 and 1913. In the first, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria defeated the Ottoman Empire and stripped it of its European provinces except Eastern Thrace. In the second, Bulgaria fought its former allies and was attacked by Romania. The Treaty of Bucharest ended it on 10 August 1913.
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BalkansPlaces
A region of southeastern Europe, named after the Balkan Mountains, bordered by the Adriatic, Ionian, Aegean and Black Seas. The First World War was sparked there in 1914 when Young Bosnia members assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, which led to war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia.
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Barbed wireWeapons
Steel fencing wire with sharp points at intervals. All combatants used it extensively in the war as a wire obstacle placed in front of trenches to prevent movement and direct charges, which led armies to rely more on machine guns and grenades. The screw picket allowed wire to be erected quietly at night in no man's land.In the Arsenal
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BarrageWarfare
A concentrated, sustained artillery bombardment on a defined area or line, from the French word for a dam. Barrages were used to destroy defenses, to shield attackers and to cut off counterattacks.
BattalionWarfare
A military unit of up to about 1,000 soldiers, commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several companies, each typically commanded by a major or a captain.
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BattlecruiserWeapons
A capital ship with the guns of a battleship but thinner armor, on a longer hull with much more powerful engines for higher speed. Designed in Britain as a successor to the armored cruiser, it was meant to outrun anything of similar strength. Experience at Jutland led to a radical revision of the design.In the Arsenal
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BayonetWeapons
A knife, dagger or spike mounted on the muzzle of a rifle so that the gun can be used as a spear in close combat. The popular image of the First World War is of soldiers with fixed bayonets going over the top and charging across no man's land.In the Arsenal
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Big BerthaWeapons
The popular name of the Krupp 42 cm siege howitzer, one of the largest artillery pieces ever fielded. Two prototypes were sent to Liège in August 1914 and destroyed Forts Pontisse and Loncin. The nickname Dicke Bertha honored Bertha Krupp, who inherited the Krupp works from her father.In the Arsenal
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Bite-and-holdWarfare
A tactic in which infantry seize a shallow slice of the enemy position under heavy artillery cover, then dig in and use their guns to defeat the counterattacks before attempting another bite. Associated with Sir Herbert Plumer and used at Messines and in the Ypres battles of September 1917.
Black HandPolitics
The popular name of Unification or Death, a secret society formed in May 1911 by officers of the Serbian army to unite the South Slav lands not ruled by Serbia or Montenegro. Led by Dragutin Dimitrijević, known as Apis, it was involved in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914.
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Blank checkPolitics
(British spelling: blank cheque.) The nickname for Germany's assurance of 5 and 6 July 1914 that it would support Austria-Hungary unconditionally in any action against Serbia. It encouraged Vienna to take a hard line and is central to arguments about German responsibility for the war.
BlightySociety
British soldiers' slang for Britain, from a Hindi and Urdu word for "foreign" brought home by the Indian Army. A "Blighty wound" was one serious enough to send a man home but not to kill or cripple him.
BlockadeWarfare
The Royal Navy's effort to cut off Germany's seaborne trade, begun in August 1914 and tightened in 1915. It contributed to the severe food shortages in Germany and continued until July 1919.
BocheSociety
A French slang word for a German, of disputed origin, which British soldiers adopted. It was widely used in wartime propaganda and soldiers' talk.
BolshevikPolitics
From the Russian for "one of the majority", the name of the faction of Russian Marxists led by Lenin after the party split of 1903. The Bolsheviks took power in Petrograd on 7 November 1917 (25 October by the Russian calendar).
Bosnian CrisisPolitics
The crisis that erupted in October 1908 when Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, formerly Ottoman territories it had administered since 1878; Emperor Franz Joseph's decree is dated 5 October. The move, timed with Bulgaria's declaration of independence, brought protests from all the Great Powers and from Austria-Hungary's Balkan neighbors.
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Brest-Litovsk, Treaty ofPolitics
The treaty signed on 3 March 1918 by which Soviet Russia made peace with the Central Powers, giving up Poland, the Baltic provinces, Ukraine and other territory. It was annulled after the German defeat in November 1918.
BrigadeWarfare
A major tactical formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements, roughly an enlarged regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division.
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British Expeditionary ForceWarfare
The formation of the British Army on the Western Front, which sent four infantry divisions and one cavalry division to France in August 1914 and was later reinforced to six infantry divisions. Field Marshal Sir John French commanded it until December 1915, when Sir Douglas Haig replaced him. The name stayed official throughout the war.
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Brodie helmetWeapons
The British steel combat helmet, patented in 1915 by John Leopold Brodie and selected in September 1915 as the army's standard head protection. Made of Hadfield steel, which could withstand the impact of some shrapnel, the first million were distributed in the summer of 1916. A modified form became the American M1917 helmet.In the Arsenal
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Bully beefSociety
British soldiers' name for tinned corned beef, a finely minced salt-cured beef that served as the main field ration of the British Army from at least the South African War until the Second World War.
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BurgfriedenPolitics
German for a "castle truce", the medieval rule that forbade quarrels inside the walls of a besieged castle. In 1914 it came to mean the political truce in which the parties of the Reichstag, including the Social Democrats, suspended their conflicts for the duration of the war.
C
CamouflageWarfare
From the French camoufler, meaning to disguise. The French army created a dedicated camouflage section in 1915 under the artist Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola, and all the armies soon painted guns, hid roads and used netting.
CamoufletWarfare
An artificial cavern created by an explosion; if it opens to the surface it is a crater. The term originally meant a countermine dug by defenders against an enemy mining under a fortress, whose charge collapsed the attackers' tunnel without breaking the surface.
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CaporettoPlaces
The Italian name of the town now called Kobarid in Slovenia, which gave its name to the battle of 24 October to 19 November 1917, the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo. Austro-Hungarian forces reinforced by German units broke into the Italian line and routed it, demonstrating stormtroopers and infiltration tactics.
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Casualty clearing stationSociety
A field hospital a few miles behind the front, where wounded men were sorted by urgency, operated on and then sent on to base hospitals. It was the center of the system of triage that saved many lives.
CavalryWarfare
Soldiers who fight mounted on horseback, the most mobile combat arm until the 20th century. On the Western Front, barbed wire, mud, machine guns and rapid-fire rifles proved deadly to mounted troops, and by early 1915 most cavalry units no longer saw front-line action.
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Central PowersPolitics
The coalition opposed to the Allies: Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and, from October 1915, Bulgaria. The name reflects their geographical position in the middle of Europe.
ChauchatWeapons
The standard French light machine gun, officially the Fusil Mitrailleur Modèle 1915 CSRG, in service with French infantry from June 1916. American troops who used it in 1917–18 notoriously hated its unreliability and nicknamed it the Sho-Sho. More than 250,000 were made.In the Arsenal
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Chemin des DamesPlaces
A ridge road about 30 kilometers long in the Aisne department of France, between the Aisne and Ailette valleys, named for two daughters of Louis XV. Three battles of the war were fought along it, including the Second Battle of the Aisne in 1917, the main component of the Nivelle Offensive.
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ChlorineWeapons
A choking gas that attacks the lungs, used by Germany in the first large-scale gas attack, at Ypres on 22 April 1915. Soon countered by crude masks and then proper respirators, it was replaced by more deadly agents.In the Arsenal
Christmas TruceSociety
A series of widespread unofficial ceasefires along the Western Front around Christmas 1914. Soldiers crossed the trenches to exchange greetings, and in places mingled in no man's land to swap food and souvenirs. Roughly 100,000 British and German troops are estimated to have been involved, though the truce was patchy and far from complete.
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Conscientious objectorSociety
A person who refuses military service on grounds of conscience. Britain's Military Service Act of 1916 contained a conscience clause, and about 16,000 men claimed exemption under it.
ConscriptionPolitics
Compulsory enlistment in national service, mainly military service, enforced by law. By 1914 the only substantial armies still dependent on voluntary enlistment were the British and American; Britain introduced conscription to full-time military service for the first time in January 1916 and abolished it in 1920.
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ContrabandPolitics
Goods that a belligerent may lawfully seize when a neutral ship carries them to the enemy. Britain steadily lengthened its contraband list until it covered food, cotton and almost everything else, provoking quarrels with neutrals such as the United States.
ConvoyWarfare
A group of merchant ships sailing together under naval escort. The Admiralty resisted the system until the spring of 1917, when the losses to U-boats forced a change, and convoys cut shipping losses sharply.
Counter-battery fireWarfare
Artillery fire aimed at the enemy's guns rather than his infantry. Locating the guns relied on sound ranging, flash spotting and aerial photographs, and by 1917–18 it was one of the most important tasks of the artillery.
Creeping barrageWarfare
A curtain of shellfire that advances in short, timed lifts ahead of the attacking infantry, who follow as close behind it as they dare. Tried out in 1915–16, it was standard practice for infantry attacks by September 1916 and was perfected in 1917.
CruiserWeapons
A warship type used for scouting, commerce raiding and operating far from home, ranging from protected cruisers to large armored cruisers almost as big as pre-dreadnoughts. Before the war the armored cruiser evolved into the battlecruiser, while small, fast light cruisers carrying belt and deck armor took over the cruiser's role.In the Arsenal
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D
DardanellesPlaces
The narrow strait in northwestern Turkey, about 61 kilometers long and 1.2 to 6 kilometers wide, that connects the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara and, with the Bosporus, forms the Turkish Straits. Control of it was fought over in the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War.
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Dazzle camouflageWarfare
Bold, contrasting geometric patterns painted on ships from 1917, designed not to hide a ship but to confuse a submarine commander's estimate of its speed and heading. It was proposed by the British artist Norman Wilkinson.
Defence of the Realm ActPolitics
The act of the British Parliament passed on 8 August 1914, four days after Britain entered the war, and added to as the war progressed. It gave the government wide powers, such as requisitioning buildings and land and creating criminal offences by regulation, and it imposed censorship of the press and of letters from the front.
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Defense in depthWarfare
A way of defending with a series of lightly held zones in place of one strongly held line, so that attackers lost their momentum and their artillery cover before they reached the main position, where reserves could counterattack. Germany adopted it on the Western Front in the winter of 1916–17.
Depth chargeWeapons
An explosive canister dropped or thrown from a ship and set to detonate at a chosen depth. Introduced by the Royal Navy in 1916, it became the main weapon against submerged U-boats.In the Arsenal
DestroyerWeapons
A fast, maneuverable warship intended to escort larger vessels and defend them against torpedo attack. Conceived in the late 19th century as a defense against torpedo boats, it grew larger between 1892 and 1914, and in the First World War the submarine became another threat it had to counter.In the Arsenal
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DiggerSociety
Slang for an Australian soldier, usually explained as a reference to the digging of trenches or, earlier, goldfields. It came to mean Australians in general.
DivisionWarfare
A large military formation, usually 6,000 to 25,000 soldiers, built from several regiments or brigades; several divisions make up a corps. At the start of the war infantry divisions ranged from about 16,000 men in the French and Russian armies to about 18,000 in the British and Austro-Hungarian.
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DoughboySociety
A nickname for the American soldier of the First World War. The origin of the word is disputed.
DreadnoughtWeapons
An all-big-gun battleship of the type launched with HMS Dreadnought in 1906, which made earlier battleships obsolete. The race to build them between Britain and Germany poisoned relations before the war.In the Arsenal
Dual AlliancePolitics
The defensive alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary, created by treaty on 7 October 1879 as part of Bismarck's system of alliances. The two promised each other support in case of attack by Russia, and Italy joined them in 1882 to form the Triple Alliance.
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Dual PowerPolitics
The situation in Russia after the February Revolution of 1917, in which the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet both claimed authority. The Soviet commanded the loyalty of workers and soldiers, while the government held the formal machinery of state.
DuckboardWarfare
A wooden slatted walkway laid on the floor of a trench to keep men's feet out of the mud and water.
DugoutWarfare
A shelter dug into the ground. Dugouts were used extensively on the Western Front as protection from shelling, and they were an important part of trench warfare, since they gave men a place to rest and to eat.
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Eastern FrontPlaces
The theater of war between Russia and Romania on one side and Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire on the other, stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. Unlike the static Western Front, the fighting there was more dynamic; it ended for Russia with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918.
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EnfiladeWarfare
Fire that sweeps along the length of a line of troops or a trench from the flank. Trenches were built in zigzags or with sharp corners (traverses) so that a shell or burst of bullets could not travel far down them.
Entente CordialePolitics
The Anglo-French agreement of April 1904 that settled colonial disputes, chiefly over Egypt and Morocco. It was not an alliance, but it laid the foundations of the military cooperation of 1914.
Entrenching toolWeapons
A digging tool carried by soldiers; the first truly modern one was invented in 1869 by the Danish officer Johan Linnemann. With the introduction of trench warfare in the First World War, entrenching tools became extremely important for digging in under fire.In the Arsenal
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ErsatzSociety
German for "replacement" or "substitute". It was applied above all to the food and materials that replaced real coffee, meat, flour and metals under the British blockade, and it entered English as a word for an inferior imitation.
F
Fire stepWarfare
A ledge cut into the front wall of a trench on which a soldier stood to fire over the parapet. On trench raids and during attacks men climbed from it.
FlamethrowerWeapons
A weapon that projects burning liquid at close range, developed by Germany (Flammenwerfer) and first used on the Western Front in 1915. It was effective against dugouts and strongpoints but dangerous to the men who carried it.In the Arsenal
FlandersPlaces
The Dutch-speaking northern part of Belgium, historically the County of Flanders, whose trading towns Ghent, Bruges and Ypres made it one of the richest parts of late medieval Europe. In the First World War it saw some of the greatest loss of life on the Western Front, especially in the three battles of Ypres.
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Flying aceWarfare
A military aviator credited with shooting down a minimum number of enemy aircraft, usually five or more. The concept emerged in 1915, at the same time as aerial dogfighting, as a propaganda term to give the home front a cult of the hero in what was otherwise a war of attrition. Manfred von Richthofen was credited with 80.
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FN Model 1910Weapons
A Belgian blowback semi-automatic pistol designed by John Browning for Fabrique Nationale. A .380 caliber FN Model 1910 was the weapon Gavrilo Princip used to shoot Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914.In the Arsenal
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Fokker D.VIIWeapons
A German fighter designed by Reinhold Platz of Fokker, which began to reach front-line units in April 1918. It quickly proved itself formidable, and the Armistice specifically required Germany to surrender all D.VIIs to the Allies.In the Arsenal
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Fokker Dr.IWeapons
The Fokker Triplane (Dreidecker), a German fighter that saw widespread service in spring 1918. It is famous as the aircraft in which Manfred von Richthofen scored his last 17 victories and was killed on 21 April 1918. Josef Jacobs, its most successful pilot, scored about 30 victories in it.In the Arsenal
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Fokker EindeckerWeapons
A series of German monoplane fighters designed by Anthony Fokker in 1915. The first Eindecker was the first purpose-built German fighter and the first production fighter armed with a synchronized machine gun, which fired through the propeller. It gave Germany air superiority from July 1915 until early 1916, the Fokker Scourge.In the Arsenal
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Fokker ScourgeWarfare
The period from July 1915 to early 1916 when German units flying Fokker Eindecker fighters, the first service aircraft with a machine gun synchronized to fire through the propeller, gained an advantage over the Royal Flying Corps and the French air service. It ended with the arrival of the Airco DH.2 and Nieuport 11.
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Fourteen PointsPolitics
President Wilson's statement of war aims to Congress on 8 January 1918. It called for open diplomacy, freedom of the seas, free trade, arms reduction, the restoration of Belgium, the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France, an independent Poland, self-determination for the peoples of Austria-Hungary and a general association of nations.
Franco-Russian AlliancePolitics
The alliance formed by agreements between France and Russia in 1891–94, which lasted until 1917. A military convention signed in August 1892 provided for mutual aid in the event of a German attack, and the alliance answered the strengthening of the Triple Alliance.
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French 75Weapons
The French 75 mm field gun, Mle 1897, adopted in 1898 and regarded as the first modern artillery piece, with a hydro-pneumatic recoil mechanism that kept the gun in place between shots. Designed to fire shrapnel at advancing troops, it switched to high-explosive shells once trench warfare began.In the Arsenal
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FritzSociety
British soldiers' nickname for a German soldier, from the common German name Friedrich.
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GaliciaPlaces
A historical region spanning what is now southeastern Poland and western Ukraine, ruled by the Habsburgs from the First Partition of Poland in 1772 until 1918, with Lemberg (Lviv) and Kraków among its cities. Austria-Hungary and Russia fought over it in the First World War.
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GallipoliPlaces
The peninsula in European Turkey between the Aegean Sea and the Dardanelles, where the Allies fought from 19 February 1915 to 9 January 1916 in an unsuccessful attempt to take the Turkish straits and force the Ottoman Empire out of the war. The first Australian troops landed at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915.
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Gas maskWeapons
Protective equipment that seals over the face to stop the wearer from breathing toxic gases. The First World War created the first need for mass-produced gas masks, after the German gas attack at Ypres on 22 April 1915, and designs advanced quickly from crude pads and hoods to the box respirator.In the Arsenal
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General StaffWarfare
The body of officers who serve a commander through planning, intelligence, operations and logistics. The Prussian Great General Staff, formally established in 1814, became the model for many armies: a full-time body studying war continuously and drawing up mobilization and campaign plans, with officers chosen by merit rather than patronage.
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Gewehr 98Weapons
The Mauser bolt-action rifle that was the main German infantry rifle of the war, adopted on 5 April 1898. It fired the 7.92 mm Mauser cartridge loaded from a five-round stripper clip, and its design features were soon adopted by other countries, including Britain, the United States and Japan.In the Arsenal
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GothaWeapons
A German twin-engine bomber, the Gotha G.IV, used from May 1917 for daylight and then night raids on southern England. Its raids on London, beginning with that of 13 June 1917, led to major changes in British air defense.In the Arsenal
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Hindenburg LinePlaces
The heavily fortified German defensive system (the Siegfriedstellung) built in the winter of 1916–17 behind the Somme battlefield. Germany withdrew to it in March 1917, shortening its front, and the Allies finally broke through it in the autumn of 1918.
HMS DreadnoughtWeapons
The Royal Navy battleship, completed in 1906, that revolutionized naval power and gave her name to a whole generation of ships. Her ten 12-inch guns and 21 knots made all other battleships out of date. She saw little action; her one significant feat was ramming and sinking the German submarine U-29 in March 1915.In the Arsenal
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HMS FuriousWeapons
A British warship built as a very lightly armored battlecruiser with two 18-inch guns, then converted to carry aircraft with a flight deck in place of her forward turret. On 19 July 1918 seven Sopwith Camels flew from her in the Tondern raid, the first attack by aircraft from a carrier.In the Arsenal
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Hotchkiss machine gunWeapons
The gas-operated machine gun, Model 1914, that became the standard French Army machine gun in the latter half of the war replacing the unreliable Saint-Étienne gun. It was fed from metal strips that each held only 24 rounds of 8 mm Lebel ammunition.In the Arsenal
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HowitzerWeapons
An artillery weapon that falls between a field gun and a mortar, able to fire at both low and high angles. Howitzers were valued for their ability to fire explosive shells into fortifications, as the heavy siege howitzers did against the Belgian forts at Liège, Namur and Antwerp in 1914.In the Arsenal
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HunSociety
British and American slang for a German, from a speech by Kaiser Wilhelm II on 27 July 1900 in which he told troops leaving for China to behave like the Huns of old. Allied propagandists revived the word in 1914.
Hurricane bombardmentWarfare
A short, intense artillery bombardment without prior registration of the guns, designed to achieve surprise. It replaced the long preliminary bombardments of 1915–16 and was used by Germany in 1917–18 and by the British at Cambrai in November 1917.
HydrophoneWeapons
An underwater microphone used to detect the noise of a submarine's engines or propellers. Allied navies installed them on ships and in harbors from 1915, though their range and accuracy were limited.In the Arsenal
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IrredentismPolitics
A movement to "redeem" territory inhabited by people of the same nationality but ruled by another state. The Italian cause of Italia irredenta, which claimed Trento and Trieste from Austria-Hungary, helped to bring Italy into the war in 1915.
IsonzoPlaces
The river, called the Soča in Slovenian, on the eastern sector of the Italian Front, mostly in present-day Slovenia. Austro-Hungarian and Italian armies fought twelve battles along it between June 1915 and November 1917.
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Jack JohnsonWeapons
British soldiers' name for a heavy German shell whose explosion produced a cloud of black smoke, after the black American heavyweight boxing champion of the day.In the Arsenal
JastaWarfare
The Jagdstaffel, the fighter squadron of the Imperial German air service, with a nominal strength of 14 aircraft. Created from 1916 to counter Allied fighter squadrons, the model was Jasta 2 under Oswald Boelcke, and several Jastas were later grouped into larger units called Jagdgeschwader.
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Jihad of 1914Politics
The call for a holy war against the Entente powers proclaimed in the name of the Ottoman Sultan-Caliph on 14 November 1914. Germany hoped it would stir Muslims in British, French and Russian territory to revolt, but there was little response.
K
KaiserPolitics
German for emperor, the title of the rulers of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918 and of the Austrian emperors; like tsar, it derives from the Roman title Caesar. In wartime English it meant above all Wilhelm II, who reigned from 1888, and the word took on strongly negative connotations.
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KaiserschlachtWarfare
German for "Kaiser's battle", the name given to the great German offensive of spring 1918 that began on 21 March. It came close to splitting the British and French armies but failed to end the war.
KhakiSociety
A light tan, yellowish color, from a Hindustani word meaning soil-colored, which came into English via the British Indian Army. A khaki uniform was introduced in 1848, and the British Army adopted it for colonial campaign dress, including the Second Boer War.
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Kitchener's ArmyWarfare
The New Army, an initially all-volunteer part of the British Army formed from 1914 on the recommendation of Lord Kitchener, who sought 500,000 volunteers. Its first divisions saw major action at Suvla Bay in August 1915 and at Loos in September, and Britain turned to conscription when enthusiasm for volunteering waned.
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LandserSociety
German soldiers' slang for an ordinary infantryman, equivalent to the British "Tommy" or the French "poilu".
League of NationsPolitics
The international organization created by the Covenant in the Treaty of Versailles to prevent war through collective security and arbitration. Based in Geneva, it began work in 1920 without the United States, whose Senate had refused to ratify the treaty.
Lebel rifleWeapons
The French 8 mm bolt-action infantry rifle adopted in 1886 and issued from 1887, the first military firearm to use smokeless powder. Eight rounds sat in a tube under the barrel, and it remained the standard rifle of French infantry throughout the war, alongside Berthier variants.In the Arsenal
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Lee-EnfieldWeapons
The standard British and Commonwealth infantry rifle of both world wars, a bolt-action weapon adopted in 1895 that fed .303 cartridges from a ten-round box magazine. The Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE) was simplified as the Mk III* in late 1915 because the earlier model was too complicated to build in quantity.In the Arsenal
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Lewis gunWeapons
A light, air-cooled machine gun, invented by the American Isaac Newton Lewis and manufactured in Britain, that a single man could carry. It gave the infantry section its own automatic weapon and was also mounted on aircraft.In the Arsenal
Livens ProjectorWeapons
A simple mortar-like weapon, created by Captain William Livens of the Royal Engineers, that threw large drums filled with flammable or toxic chemicals. It became the standard means by which the British Army delivered gas attacks, and it stayed in its arsenal until the early years of the Second World War.In the Arsenal
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M1903 SpringfieldWeapons
The five-round bolt-action rifle officially adopted as the standard United States infantry rifle on 19 June 1903. In the First World War it shared service with the more common British-designed M1917 Enfield. Its design drew on the German Mauser Gewehr 98 and the Krag–Jørgensen, and the M1 Garand replaced it from 1936.In the Arsenal
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M1917 Browning machine gunWeapons
The water-cooled, belt-fed heavy machine gun designed by John Browning and tested at Springfield Armory in May 1917. The American army also used the French Hotchkiss; production started slowly, so only about 1,200 Brownings saw combat before the Armistice, and some guns arrived too late.In the Arsenal
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Machine gunWeapons
A fully automatic, rifled firearm designed for sustained fire, usually fired from a bipod, tripod or fixed mount. Artillery caused more casualties in the First World War, but machine guns, combined with barbed wire entanglements, earned a fearsome reputation among the infantry who had to cross open ground.In the Arsenal
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Machine Gun CorpsWarfare
A British Army corps formed in October 1915 to use machine guns more effectively on the Western Front. Its Heavy Branch was the first to use tanks in combat. About 170,500 officers and men served, 62,049 of them became casualties, and it was nicknamed the Suicide Club.
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MandatePolitics
A system established by the League of Nations under which former German colonies and Ottoman provinces were administered by a victorious power on the League's behalf. Class A mandates, in the Middle East, were deemed near independence, while Class C territories, in the Pacific and South West Africa, were treated as part of the mandatory power.
Mannlicher M1895Weapons
The Austro-Hungarian straight-pull bolt-action rifle designed by Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher, used by the Habsburg army throughout the war. Austrian troops nicknamed it the Ruck-Zuck, and Italian troops, who wrote a song about it, called it the Ta-Pum.In the Arsenal
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Mark I tankWeapons
The first tank to enter combat, a British rhomboid, tracked vehicle developed in 1915 from the experimental Little Willie. It first fought at Flers-Courcelette in September 1916. Male versions carried two 6-pounder guns; female versions carried only machine guns. Tank was originally a code name used for secrecy.In the Arsenal
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Mark IV tankWeapons
The British tank of 1917 and the most numerous British tank of the war, with 1,220 built. It improved on the Mark I with thicker armor against German armor-piercing bullets and side sponsons that could be swung inside for rail transport. It was first used in large numbers at Messines on 7 June 1917.In the Arsenal
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MarnePlaces
A river in northeastern France where, from 5 to 12 September 1914, French and British forces halted the German advance, which had come within 40 kilometers of Paris. The First Battle of the Marne is known in France as the Miracle on the Marne.
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Maxim gunWeapons
The first fully automatic machine gun, a recoil-operated weapon invented by Hiram Maxim in 1884. Its derivatives included the British Vickers, the Russian PM M1910 and the German MG 08, the water-cooled heavy machine gun adopted by the Imperial German Army in 1908.In the Arsenal
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MesopotamiaPlaces
The region of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, roughly modern Iraq, where Britain, using mostly troops from British India, fought the Ottoman Empire. The campaign began with the Fao landing in 1914 to protect oil fields, later aimed at Baghdad, and ended with the Armistice of Mudros in 1918.
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Mills bombWeapons
The standard British hand grenade, designed in 1915 by William Mills, with a segmented iron body and a fuse of a few seconds. Its serrated casing earned it the nickname "pineapple".In the Arsenal
Mine (tunneling)Warfare
An underground gallery dug beneath the enemy's trenches and packed with explosive. At Messines on 7 June 1917 the British detonated 19 mines almost simultaneously, in one of the largest planned explosions in history until then.
MinelayerWeapons
A naval ship used to deploy naval mines. In the Gallipoli campaign, mines laid by the Ottoman minelayer Nusret sank HMS Irresistible, HMS Ocean and the French battleship Bouvet in the Dardanelles on 18 March 1915.In the Arsenal
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MinenwerferWeapons
A German trench mortar, the "mine thrower", firing a heavy shell on a high arc at short range. It was available in several calibers, and the Allies called its bombs "minnies".In the Arsenal
MobilizationWarfare
The assembling and readying of troops and supplies for war. In 1914 the continental Great Powers relied on conscripts and reservists, who had to be moved by intricate plans with no room for error, and a general mobilization by one nation was invariably considered an act of war by its likely enemies.
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MonitorWeapons
A small warship that is neither fast nor strongly armored but carries disproportionately large guns. Revived in the early 20th century as a shallow-draft bombardment ship, monitors gave close support to troops ashore, and the Royal Navy developed several classes of them in the First World War.In the Arsenal
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Mosin-NagantWeapons
The standard Russian bolt-action infantry rifle, officially the 3-line rifle M1891, firing the 7.62 mm rimmed cartridge from a five-shot internal magazine. Russian factories could not keep up with demand, and in 1915 the government ordered about 3.3 million of them from American firms, Remington and New England Westinghouse.In the Arsenal
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MunitionettesSociety
British women employed in munitions factories during the First World War, after the Shell Crisis of 1915 and the newly created Ministry of Munitions forced factories to admit more women. Prolonged work with chemicals turned some workers' skin yellow and earned them the nickname canary girls.
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Mustard gasWeapons
A persistent blistering agent first used by Germany at Ypres in July 1917. It burned the skin, eyes and lungs and contaminated ground for days, and though it killed relatively few, it caused a large number of casualties.In the Arsenal
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NapooSociety
Soldiers' slang for "finished" or "dead", from the French il n'y en a plus, "there is no more".
Narodna OdbranaPolitics
A Serbian nationalist society, the name meaning People's Defense, founded on 8 October 1908 in reaction to Austria-Hungary's annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It spread propaganda and organized paramilitary forces, and Austria-Hungary's ultimatum of July 1914 demanded that Serbia dissolve it.
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Naval mineWeapons
A self-contained explosive weapon placed in the water to damage or sink ships and submarines that touch it or come near. Mines hampered shipping and sealed harbors, and in 1918 the Allies laid about 70,000 of them across the northern exits of the North Sea.In the Arsenal
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Nieuport 17Weapons
A French sesquiplane fighter introduced in March 1916, whose maneuverability and rate of climb gave it an advantage over fighters on both sides. Most carried a synchronized Vickers gun, but British units kept an over-wing Lewis. It served with every Allied power and was flown by Canadian ace Billy Bishop and American volunteers of the Escadrille Lafayette.In the Arsenal
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No man's landWarfare
The ground between opposing front lines, swept by fire from both sides. It could be as little as 30 yards wide in some sectors or over a mile in others, and was littered with wire, shell holes and bodies.
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Offensive à outranceWarfare
The French pre-war doctrine that unrelenting attack, driven by élan, would overcome any defense. It led to huge losses in the Battle of the Frontiers in August 1914 and was gradually abandoned.
Over the topWarfare
To climb out of the trench at the start of an attack and advance across no man's land. The phrase referred to the parapet, the lip of the trench.
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Pals battalionWarfare
A British army unit of volunteers recruited from a single town, workplace or club on the promise that they would serve together. Many suffered devastating local losses, notably on the first day of the Somme.
ParapetWarfare
A wall of earth, stone or wood on the outer edge of a trench or other defensive work, which shelters the defenders; when temporary it is called a breastwork. To go over the parapet meant to leave the trench and attack.
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Paris GunWeapons
A German super-gun that shelled Paris from about 75 miles (120 km) away between 23 March and 9 August 1918. Its shells reached the stratosphere, a technical feat of little military value.In the Arsenal
Paris Peace ConferencePolitics
The diplomatic meetings of 1919 and 1920 at which the victorious Allies set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers. Dominated by Britain, France, the United States and Italy, it opened on 18 January 1919 and produced five treaties; the losing nations were given no voice in the deliberations.
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PasschendaelePlaces
A village (now Passendale) on the last ridge east of Ypres, which gave its name to the Third Battle of Ypres, fought from July to November 1917 by the Allies against the German Empire for control of the ridges south and east of Ypres in West Flanders.
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PhosgeneWeapons
A colorless gas with a smell of musty hay, first used on a large scale by Germany in December 1915. Deadlier than chlorine, it caused most of the war's fatalities from gas.In the Arsenal
PickelhaubeWeapons
The spiked leather helmet worn by Prussian and German soldiers, officially adopted by Prussia in 1842 and widely imitated by other armies. Shortages in the war brought ersatz versions made of other materials, and from 1916 the steel Stahlhelm slowly replaced it as the German field helmet.In the Arsenal
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Pill-boxWarfare
A small concrete shelter for machine guns, resistant to all but a direct hit from heavy artillery. The Germans built hundreds of them in the Ypres battlefield in 1917.
PoiluSociety
The nickname of the French infantryman, meaning "hairy one", a reference to his unshaven look in the trenches.
Poison gasWeapons
The use of toxic chemicals as weapons, first on a large scale in the First World War, when chlorine, phosgene and mustard gas were all used. Estimates run to about 90,000 deaths and 1.3 million casualties, only 3 to 3.5% of the war's total; unlike most weapons, gas could be countered with measures such as gas masks.In the Arsenal
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Pre-dreadnoughtWeapons
A battleship built from the mid-1880s to the early 1900s, so named in hindsight because the commissioning of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 made all existing battleships obsolete. Pre-dreadnoughts carried a secondary battery of smaller guns, typically 6-inch, in addition to their heavy main guns.In the Arsenal
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Provisional GovernmentPolitics
The government of Russia formed on 15 March 1917 after the abdication of Nicholas II, intended to organize elections to a Constituent Assembly. Led first by Prince Georgy Lvov and then by Alexander Kerensky, it shared power with the Petrograd Soviet and lasted about eight months, until the Bolsheviks took power.
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PutteesWeapons
Long, narrow strips of cloth wound spirally around the leg from ankle to knee, giving support and protection and replacing the leather or cloth gaiter. Adopted in British India in the late 19th century, they were taken up by most armies during or shortly before the First World War.In the Arsenal
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Q
Q-shipWeapons
An armed decoy: a merchant ship with concealed guns, sent out by the Royal Navy to lure a U-boat to the surface and sink it. It sank some submarines but also lost many of its own ships, and U-boat commanders soon learned to treat lone merchant vessels with suspicion.In the Arsenal
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Race to the SeaWarfare
The reciprocal attempts of the Franco-British and German armies, from about mid-September to 19 October 1914, to outflank each other's northern wing through Picardy, Artois and Flanders. It ended on the North Sea coast of Belgium and produced a continuous trench line from Switzerland to the sea.
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RationingSociety
Government control of the sale of scarce goods, above all food. Britain, at first reluctant to control food markets, introduced compulsory rationing in stages between December 1917 and February 1918 as its wheat supplies fell, and ration books for butter, margarine, lard, meat and sugar followed in July 1918.
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RegimentWarfare
A military unit whose size and role vary markedly between countries. By the end of the 17th century infantry regiments were permanent units commanded by a colonel, and the word may mean either a front-line formation or an administrative or ceremonial unit.
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Regimental Aid PostSociety
The front-line medical post of an infantry battalion, staffed by its Medical Officer, a medical NCO and a few orderlies. Casualties received immediate treatment and triage there, and stretcher-bearers evacuated them toward the rear.
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ReichstagPolitics
The parliament of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918, elected by universal, equal and secret manhood suffrage from the age of 25. Together with the federal Bundesrat it had legislative power and shared in decisions on the budget, while the Reich chancellor headed the executive.
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Remembrance poppySociety
An artificial flower worn to commemorate military personnel who died in war. Inspired by the poem In Flanders Fields, written by John McCrae in May 1915, poppies were first used near the end of the First World War, and by 1921 they had been widely accepted as a flower of remembrance for Armistice Day.
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Renault FTWeapons
A French light tank, the first production tank with its armament in a fully rotating turret. Its layout, with the crew in front, the engine at the rear and the gun in a revolving turret, became the standard tank design. More than 3,000 were built, most of them in 1918.In the Arsenal
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ReparationsPolitics
Payments imposed on the defeated powers, above all Germany, to compensate the Allies for war damage. A commission fixed the German total in 1921 at 132 billion gold marks, a sum Germany claimed it could not pay.
RevanchismPolitics
A French political attitude, from revanche, "revenge", which demanded the recovery of Alsace and Lorraine, lost to Germany in 1871. It was a powerful emotion in French politics up to 1914.
RMS LusitaniaWeapons
The Cunard liner, launched in 1906 as the world's largest passenger ship until her sister Mauretania was completed. On 7 May 1915 the German submarine U-20 hit her with one torpedo off Ireland, and she sank in about 18 minutes, killing nearly 1,200 people, 128 of them Americans.In the Arsenal
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Room 40Warfare
The cryptanalysis section of the British Admiralty, formed soon after the war began in 1914, which decrypted around 15,000 intercepted German communications during the war. Its first breakthrough was the codebook the Russians recovered from the cruiser Magdeburg, and its most notable contribution was decrypting the Zimmermann Telegram.
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Royal Flying CorpsWarfare
The air arm of the British Army until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. It began with artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance, which led to aerial battles, and sent four squadrons to France in August 1914.
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SalientWarfare
A bulge in a front line that projects into enemy territory and can be fired on from three sides. The Ypres Salient was the most notorious.
SalonikaPlaces
The Greek port (now Thessaloniki) that gave its name to the Salonika or Macedonian front, formed in autumn 1915 when the Allies tried to help Serbia against Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. The expedition came too late to save Serbia, and the front stayed stable until the Allied offensive of September 1918 forced Bulgaria to capitulate.
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SapWarfare
A narrow trench or tunnel dug forward from a front line toward the enemy. The soldiers who dug them were called sappers, and the name came to mean Royal Engineers generally.
Scapa FlowPlaces
A sheltered body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, which was the main base of the British Grand Fleet in the First World War. After the war the German fleet was scuttled there, and its wrecks are now a renowned diving site.
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Schlieffen PlanWarfare
Germany's strategy for a two-front war, based on a memorandum by Count Alfred von Schlieffen in 1905: a rapid sweep through Belgium to defeat France in about six weeks before turning on Russia. Modified by Moltke, it failed at the Marne in September 1914, and historians debate how far it was ever a firm operational plan.
Schneider CA1Weapons
The first French tank, designed to open passages through barbed wire for the infantry and to suppress German machine-gun nests. About 400 were built, after Colonel Estienne urged the formation of armored units in 1915. Their first action, at Berry-au-Bac on 16 April 1917, was largely a failure with heavy losses.In the Arsenal
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SchutztruppeWarfare
German for "protection force", the name of Germany's colonial armies, whose officers were German and whose rank and file were African. The best known served in German East Africa under Lettow-Vorbeck.
Schwarzlose machine gunWeapons
The standard heavy machine gun of the Austro-Hungarian Army, a simple, robust delayed-blowback design selected in 1907. Other armies bought it before the war, including the Dutch, Serbian, Romanian and Ottoman, and the Austro-Hungarians used it effectively on the Italian Front during the battles of the Isonzo.In the Arsenal
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Self-determinationPolitics
The principle that peoples should be free to choose their own sovereignty and form of government. President Wilson championed it, and it inspired nationalist movements from Eastern Europe to Egypt, India and Korea, though the peacemakers applied it unevenly.
SepoyWarfare
A South Asian soldier, from the Persian word for an infantryman. In colonial India it was the term for native troops in European service, and today it is the equivalent of the rank of private in the Indian, Pakistani and Nepalese armies.
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Shell shockSociety
The term, first published in the medical journal The Lancet by the doctor and psychologist Charles Myers in 1915, for a psychological breakdown caused by bombardment and the strain of combat, with symptoms such as tremors, paralysis, mutism and blank stares. Some sufferers were treated with sympathy, as at Craiglockhart, and others were punished for cowardice; it is now understood as a form of post-traumatic stress.
Shrapnel shellWeapons
An anti-personnel shell that burst in the air above the target and sprayed forward the many bullets it carried. Named after Lieutenant Henry Shrapnel, who began developing it in 1784, it was increasingly replaced by high explosive as trench warfare set in from late 1914, although Britain kept using shrapnel heavily.In the Arsenal
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Sikorsky Ilya MurometsWeapons
A Russian four-engine aircraft designed by Igor Sikorsky in 1913, first conceived as a luxurious airliner. In the war it became the first four-engine bomber to equip a dedicated strategic bombing unit; sources differ, but between about 75 and 85 were built by 1918.In the Arsenal
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SinaiPlaces
A peninsula in Egypt between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, a land bridge between Africa and Asia. In January 1915 a German-led Ottoman force invaded it, then occupied by the British, in an unsuccessful attempt to capture the Suez Canal.
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Skoda 30.5 cm mortarWeapons
The Austro-Hungarian Škoda 30.5 cm Mörser M.11, a siege howitzer built to break the concrete fortresses of Belgium and Italy. Used alongside Krupp's 42 cm gun at Liège, Namur and Antwerp, it was also used with great success at Givet and Maubeuge.In the Arsenal
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Small Box RespiratorWeapons
The British gas mask introduced in 1916 to give reliable protection against chlorine and phosgene. A rubberized-fabric face mask was connected by a hose to a tin canister holding a chemical absorbent, and issue to British and Imperial forces was complete early in 1917.In the Arsenal
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SMS EmdenWeapons
The German light cruiser that raided Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean in 1914 under Karl von Müller. In about three months she sank or captured some twenty Allied vessels, among them two warships, then was driven aground by HMAS Sydney at the Cocos Islands on 9 November 1914.In the Arsenal
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SMS GoebenWeapons
A German battlecruiser which, with the light cruiser Breslau, evaded British forces in the Mediterranean in August 1914 and reached Constantinople. Both ships were transferred to the Ottoman Empire, and by bombarding Russian facilities in the Black Sea Goeben, renamed Yavuz Sultan Selim, brought Turkey into the war.In the Arsenal
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SniperWarfare
A military marksman who engages targets from concealment or beyond the target's ability to detect him. In the First World War snipers appeared in the trenches as deadly sharpshooters, and the Germans issued scoped rifles to pick off men who showed their heads. Francis Pegahmagabow, a Canadian, is credited with 378 kills.
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SommePlaces
A river and department in northern France, and the site of the Battle of the Somme, fought by British and French forces against Germany from 1 July to 18 November 1916. More than three million men fought in it, and over one million were wounded or killed, making it one of the deadliest battles in history.
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Sopwith CamelWeapons
A British single-seat biplane fighter introduced on the Western Front in 1917, armed with twin synchronized Vickers machine guns. It was the highest-scoring British fighter of the war, with 1,294 victories credited to its pilots. Difficult to fly, it could kill an unwary pilot, but it was highly maneuverable in expert hands.In the Arsenal
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Sound rangingWarfare
A method of locating enemy guns by recording the sound of firing with a line of microphones and calculating the position from the time differences. It was developed in Britain by a team including William Lawrence Bragg and became a key tool of counter-battery work.
SovietPolitics
Russian for "council". The workers' and soldiers' soviets that arose in the 1905 revolution and again in 1917 became the basis of the Bolshevik state.
SPAD S.XIIIWeapons
A French biplane fighter, one of the most capable of the war, with 8,472 built. It equipped nearly every French fighter squadron, 74 escadrilles, and was also bought in bulk by the United States Army Air Service. Eddie Rickenbacker and René Fonck flew it.In the Arsenal
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Spanish fluSociety
The influenza pandemic of 1918–1919, which killed somewhere between about 17 million and 50 million people worldwide; some estimates go higher. The name came from Spain, a neutral country whose press reported it freely while the belligerents' censors suppressed news of it.
Stab-in-the-back mythPolitics
The German nationalist legend (Dolchstoßlegende) that the army was never defeated in the field but was betrayed by socialists, Jews and civilians at home. Hindenburg and Ludendorff encouraged it; historians reject it, but it poisoned the Weimar Republic.
StahlhelmWeapons
The German steel helmet, recognizable by its coal-scuttle shape, which replaced the leather Pickelhaube from 1916. It was distributed to troops at Verdun in February 1916, after which serious head injuries fell dramatically. The shape became a common element of propaganda on both sides.In the Arsenal
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Stand-toWarfare
The routine of manning the fire step in readiness at dawn and dusk, the times when attacks were most likely. It ended with the order "stand down", often followed by a rum ration or breakfast.
Stick grenadeWeapons
The German Stielhandgranate, a hand grenade on a wooden throwing handle, widely called the potato masher. The Imperial German Army introduced the first models in the First World War, alongside ball and egg grenades, and it was possibly the most recognizable German grenade of the war.In the Arsenal
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Stokes mortarWeapons
A British 3-inch trench mortar designed by Sir Wilfred Stokes in January 1915, a smooth-bore, muzzle-loading weapon for high angles of fire. Its bore was actually 3.2 inches (81 mm). It was issued to the British and American armies in the latter half of the war.In the Arsenal
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StormtroopersWarfare
German Stoßtruppen, elite infantry trained to attack in small groups, infiltrate past strongpoints with grenades, light machine guns and flamethrowers, and leave strongpoints to be mopped up later. Their tactics were used at Riga and Caporetto in 1917 and in the spring offensive of 1918.
Stretcher-bearerSociety
A person who carries a stretcher, usually with a partner at the other end, to remove the wounded or dead from a battlefield. Stretcher-bearers had basic first-aid training, and the wounded man had to wait for them to find him.
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SuffragetteSociety
A member or supporter of the British Women's Social and Political Union, founded in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst, which used direct action and civil disobedience to campaign for votes for women. The WSPU suspended militancy when war began; some women over 30 won the vote in 1918, though not solely as a reward for war work.
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Sussex pledgePolitics
A promise made by Germany to the United States on 4 May 1916, after the French ferry Sussex was torpedoed without warning on 24 March, killing at least 50 people. Germany pledged to spare passenger ships and not to sink merchant ships without provision for the safety of those aboard, but rescinded it in January 1917.
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Sykes-Picot AgreementPolitics
The secret Anglo-French agreement of May 1916, negotiated by Sir Mark Sykes and François Georges-Picot with Russian consent, to divide the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire into zones of direct control and influence. Revealed by the Bolsheviks in 1917, it came to symbolize imperial double-dealing.
Synchronization gearWeapons
A mechanism that lets a machine gun fire through the arc of a spinning propeller without hitting the blades. Perfected for the German Fokker Eindecker in 1915, it gave Germany a brief air superiority known as the "Fokker Scourge".In the Arsenal
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TankWeapons
An armored, tracked, gun-armed vehicle able to cross trenches and wire. The British first used tanks on 15 September 1916, at Flers-Courcelette; the name was a cover story, to suggest they were water tanks.In the Arsenal
Territorial ForceWarfare
The part-time volunteer reserve of the British Army, created in 1908 to reinforce the regulars without conscription. Members could not be compelled to serve overseas, but in the first two months of the war many volunteered, and they filled the gap before the New Army arrived in 1915.
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The Wipers TimesSociety
A trench magazine published by British soldiers in the Ypres Salient, named after the soldiers' pronunciation of Ypres. It began in early 1916 when men of the 12th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters found an abandoned printing press; the first issue, of 100 copies, appeared on 12 February 1916.
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Thomas splintSociety
A leg splint that immobilized a fractured thigh and allowed the wounded man to be moved. Its adoption at casualty clearing stations in 1916 sharply reduced the once very high death rate for compound fractures of the femur.
Three Emperors' LeaguePolitics
An alliance between the German, Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires, first agreed in 1873, renewed in 1881 and lapsed in 1887. Chancellor Bismarck formed it to keep Europe peaceful on the basis of the balance of power, fearing that a hostile combination of Austria-Hungary, France and Russia would crush Germany.
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TirailleurWarfare
French for "skirmisher" or rifleman, the name of colonial infantry regiments such as the tirailleurs sénégalais, recruited from French West Africa, and the tirailleurs algériens.
TommySociety
The British soldier, from "Tommy Atkins", a name used on sample army forms since the early nineteenth century.
TorpedoWeapons
A self-propelled underwater weapon with an explosive warhead, made effective by Robert Whitehead in 1866. Fired by submarines and small surface vessels, torpedoes sank warships and merchant ships alike, among them the liner Lusitania, hit by a single torpedo from U-20 in May 1915.In the Arsenal
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Torpedo boatWeapons
A small, fast warship built to carry torpedoes into battle against much larger ships. The first designs were steam craft that rammed enemy ships with spar torpedoes; later boats fired self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes, and a swarm of them attacking together could overwhelm a larger ship's defenses.In the Arsenal
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Total warWarfare
A conflict in which the belligerents mobilize all their human and economic resources, and treat the enemy's economy and civilian population as legitimate targets. The First World War is often described as the first example of it.
Treaty of LausannePolitics
The peace treaty signed in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923 after eight months of negotiation. It officially resolved the conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Allied powers, replaced the unratified Treaty of Sèvres, and left Eastern Anatolia part of modern Turkey.
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Treaty of London (1915)Politics
The secret agreement of 26 April 1915 in which Britain, France and Russia promised Italy territorial gains against Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, among them Trentino and the southern Tyrol, to draw it into the war on the Entente side. Italy entered the war the following month.
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Treaty of NeuillyPolitics
The treaty signed on 27 November 1919 between the Allies and Bulgaria, one of the defeated Central Powers. It required Bulgaria to cede Western Thrace, cutting off its direct outlet to the Aegean Sea, to pay reparations of 2.25 billion gold francs and to reduce its army to 20,000 men.
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Treaty of Saint-GermainPolitics
The treaty signed on 10 September 1919 between the Allies and the Republic of German-Austria. Like the treaties of Versailles and Trianon it contained the Covenant of the League of Nations, so the United States did not ratify it. Its cessions included German-speaking areas of Bohemia and the Sudetenland.
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Treaty of SèvresPolitics
The treaty signed on 10 August 1920 between some of the Allies and the Ottoman Empire, which would have ceded large parts of Ottoman territory to France, Britain, Greece and Italy. It was never ratified; the Turkish national movement under Mustafa Kemal rejected it, and the Treaty of Lausanne replaced it.
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Treaty of TrianonPolitics
The treaty signed at the Grand Trianon at Versailles on 4 June 1920 that formally ended the war between most of the Allies and the Kingdom of Hungary. Known for the territorial changes it imposed on Hungary, among them the loss of Transylvania to Romania, it is called the Dictate of Trianon in Hungary.
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Treaty of VersaillesPolitics
The peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919, five years to the day after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, which ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies. It took six months of Allied negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference, from which Germany was excluded.
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Trench footSociety
A condition caused by prolonged standing in cold water and mud, with swelling, numbness and in severe cases gangrene. Dry socks, rubbing with whale oil and rotation out of the line helped to prevent it.
Trench knifeWeapons
A combat knife designed to kill or disable an enemy at close quarters in a trench or other confined space, developed for soldiers attacking enemy trenches in the First World War. Examples include the German Nahkampfmesser and the double-edged French Le Vengeur of 1916.In the Arsenal
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Trench periscopeWeapons
A simple device for looking over the top of a trench without exposing the head to snipers: a case with mirrors set at 45 degrees at each end, sometimes with two simple lenses added. Some were fixed to rifles, so that a soldier could aim and fire from safely below the parapet.In the Arsenal
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Trench raidWarfare
A small night assault on an enemy trench, to take prisoners, gain intelligence or kill defenders. Raids were encouraged as a way of keeping a sector "alive", but they cost many lives.
Trench warfareWarfare
A form of land warfare fought from lines of occupied trenches, in which combatants are well protected from enemy fire. It reached its most extreme and deadly form in the First World War, when machine guns, rapid-fire artillery and barbed wire froze the front lines, particularly on the Western Front.
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TrentinoPlaces
A province in the far north of Italy that was under Austrian rule until the end of the war and lay directly on the front line between Austria-Hungary and Italy, with heavy fighting. Italy occupied it in November 1918, and it was formally ceded under the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1919.
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TriageSociety
The process of deciding the order of priority for treating injured people when there are more casualties than care providers. In 1914 the Belgian surgeon Antoine Depage introduced a five-step system of triage and staged evacuation for the French and Belgian armies; at casualty clearing stations those needing immediate surgery were sent forward first.
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Triple AlliancePolitics
The defensive alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, formed in 1882. Italy declared neutrality in 1914 and entered the war on the Allied side in May 1915.
Triple EntentePolitics
The loose association between Britain, France and Russia that grew from the Franco-Russian alliance of 1894, the Entente Cordiale of 1904 and the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1907. Britain was not formally bound to fight.
TsarPolitics
A Slavic title for an emperor, derived from the Latin caesar, used in Russia and in Bulgaria, whose kings kept it until 1946. In the First World War the Tsar meant Nicholas II of Russia, who abdicated on 15 March 1917 (2 March by the Russian calendar).
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Turnip WinterSociety
The winter of 1916–17, a period of profound civilian hardship in Germany, named for the turnips eaten as famine food. A poor harvest, the Allied blockade, the seizure of horses and the conscription of farm workers caused the shortages.
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Twenty-One DemandsPolitics
The demands presented by Japan to China on 18 January 1915, which would have given Japan wide control over Chinese territory, resources and government. China gave way to a Japanese ultimatum in May, but the demands fueled Chinese nationalism.
U
U-boatWeapons
From Unterseeboot, "undersea boat": a German submarine. U-boats sank millions of tons of Allied shipping and nearly cut Britain's lifeline in 1917.In the Arsenal
Union sacréePolitics
French for "sacred union", the phrase used by President Poincaré on 4 August 1914 for the political truce in which France's parties, from Catholics to Socialists, united behind the war effort.
Unrestricted submarine warfareWarfare
A policy of sinking merchant ships without warning inside a declared zone. Germany announced it in February 1915, suspended it after the Lusitania and Sussex sinkings, and resumed it on 1 February 1917, which helped to bring the United States into the war.
V
VerdunPlaces
A fortified city on the Meuse in northeastern France and the site of the longest battle of the war, fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916. The German 5th Army attacked on the right bank of the Meuse, hoping that the French would commit their reserves to recapture the heights and suffer catastrophic losses.
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Vickers machine gunWeapons
The standard heavy machine gun of the British army, a water-cooled, belt-fed weapon that could fire for hours. At High Wood on 24 August 1916 ten Vickers guns of one company fired about a million rounds in 12 hours.In the Arsenal
Vimy RidgePlaces
An escarpment on the northern flank of the Arras front in France, captured on 9–12 April 1917 by the four divisions of the Canadian Corps, supported by a creeping barrage. The battle was part of the Battle of Arras, a preliminary attack for the Nivelle Offensive.
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Voluntary Aid DetachmentSociety
A unit of civilian volunteers providing nursing care for military personnel, founded in 1909 by the British Red Cross and the Order of St John at the War Office's request. VADs were not military nurses. Counts vary: about 80,000 members by 1918 by one estimate, and 126,000 who served over the whole war by another.
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W
War bondsPolitics
Debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations without raising taxes to an unpopular level, and also a means of removing money from circulation to control inflation. Appeals to buy them leaned on patriotism and conscience; the United States issued Liberty Bonds in 1917 and 1918.
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War guilt clausePolitics
Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles, which stated that Germany and its allies accepted responsibility for all the loss and damage caused by the war. It was the legal basis for reparations and was bitterly resented in Germany.
WeltpolitikPolitics
German for "world policy", the program adopted from about 1897 under Kaiser Wilhelm II to make Germany a global power through colonies, trade and a large navy. It alarmed Britain and contributed to the alliance system of 1914.
Western FrontPlaces
The main theater of the war, in Belgium and France. After the German invasion of August 1914 and the Race to the Sea, both sides dug in along a meandering line of fortified trenches from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier, which changed little except in early 1917 and again in 1918.
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WhippetWeapons
The British Medium Mark A, a fast tank of about 14 tons and a crew of three, built to exploit gaps made by the slower heavy tanks and the infantry. Two bus-type engines drove one track each. Its first action came on 26 March 1918, when twelve Whippets took German infantry advancing on Colincamps by surprise.In the Arsenal
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Whizz-bangWeapons
Soldiers' name for a light, fast German field-gun shell, which arrived with a whistle almost at the same instant as the sound of the gun, leaving no time to take cover.In the Arsenal
WipersPlaces
British soldiers' pronunciation of Ypres, the Belgian town at the center of the salient. The trench newspaper The Wipers Times took its name from it.
Women's Land ArmySociety
A British civilian organization created in 1917 by the Board of Agriculture to bring women into farm work, replacing men conscripted into the military. The women, commonly known as Land Girls, picked crops and did the labor that helped to feed the country.
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Y
Young TurksPolitics
A broad opposition movement against the absolutist rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, whose leading organization was the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). In the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, officers forced the sultan to restore the constitution, and the CUP took control of the government by 1913.
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YpresPlaces
A Belgian city in West Flanders, called Wipers by British troops, which was the center of the Battles of Ypres between German and Allied forces. It was bombarded throughout much of the war, and its Cloth Hall was later rebuilt. The salient around it was a big part of the Western Front.
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Z
ZeppelinWeapons
A rigid airship named after Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, which had a framework of aluminum girders covered in fabric and held gas bags inside. German army and navy Zeppelins were used for scouting at sea and for bombing raids on Britain and France.In the Arsenal
Zeppelin-Staaken R.VIWeapons
A four-engined German biplane bomber, the only Riesenflugzeug (giant aircraft) design built in any quantity, with a wingspan of 42.2 meters. About 18 were built, and each needed a 50-man ground crew. Giants bombed Britain in raids between September 1917 and May 1918.In the Arsenal
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Zero hourWarfare
The moment fixed for the start of an attack, when the barrage opened and the infantry left their trenches. The word "zero" was used so that all units could count times from it.
Zimmermann TelegramPolitics
A coded German message of 16 January 1917 proposing an alliance with Mexico against the United States. British codebreakers deciphered it, and its publication in the American press on 1 March 1917 hardened opinion against Germany.