The Story of World War I Book

The book opens on June 28th 1914 with World War One newspaper articles on the murder of Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg heir to the Austrian throne, fatally shot in the station of Sarajevo after a bomb failed to explode in their railway carriage. Exactly one month later, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia throwing the whole of Europe into turmoil.

Each page is filled with pictures and First World War newspapers that record major events, such as the Battles of Somme and Ypres, the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the comings and goings of influential figures such as Lord Kitchener and Sir Douglas Haig, whilst documenting the action in Anzac, Czernowitz and Zeebrugge. This book includes action on land, sky and sea such as the sinking of cruisers Mainz, Blucher, Queen Mary and Black Prince, war amid the sand dunes of South-West Africa and Zeppelin airship attacks over London.

Archivist insight: We reproduce these newspaper articles from scan archives. In some cases, there’ll be blemishes and the reproduction quality might not be as clear or precise as it was in the original paper.