World War 1: The War to End All Wars
Explore the Great War that shattered empires and shaped the 20th century
10 Episodes
Audio Lessons
268 Minutes
Total Learning
Beginner
Friendly
The Great War
They called it "the war to end all wars." They were tragically wrong. World War 1 (1914-1918) killed 17 million people, destroyed four empires, and planted the seeds for an even deadlier conflict 20 years later.
WW1 was the first modern industrial war — machine guns, poison gas, tanks, and aircraft turning battlefields into slaughterhouses. It shattered the optimism of the Edwardian age and created the traumatized, cynical world of the 1920s.
What You'll Learn
The Powder Keg
Europe in 1914 was a web of alliances, nationalism, and imperial rivalry. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand lit the fuse, but the explosion had been building for decades.
Trench Warfare
The Western Front stretched from Switzerland to the English Channel — 400 miles of trenches where millions lived and died in mud, rats, and constant shelling. Offensives gained yards at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives.
The Major Battles
Other Fronts
The Eastern Front, the Italian Front, the Middle East, Africa — WW1 was truly a world war.
The End and Its Aftermath
American entry, German collapse, the Armistice. The Treaty of Versailles and why it led to WW2.
All Episodes
10 audio lessons • 268 minutes total
Origins of World War 1: The Powder Keg
Coming SoonEuropean alliances and rivalries. Nationalism and imperialism. The Balkans as flashpoint. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand. The July Crisis and mobilization.
~30 min
1914: From Movement to Stalemate
Coming SoonThe Schlieffen Plan. Belgium's resistance. The race to the sea. First Battle of the Marne. Digging the trenches. How the Western Front solidified.
~25 min
Life in the Trenches
Coming SoonWhat trench life was really like. Mud, rats, and disease. Trench structure and routine. Shell shock. Letters home. The psychological toll of static warfare.
~25 min
Verdun: The Meat Grinder
Coming SoonGermany's plan to 'bleed France white.' 10 months of hell. Fort Douaumont. 'They shall not pass.' The human cost: 700,000 casualties. Verdun's meaning to France.
~25 min
The Battle of the Somme
Coming SoonPlanning and expectations. July 1, 1916: 60,000 British casualties. Tanks debut. Five months for seven miles. The Pals Battalions. Legacy and controversy.
~30 min
The Eastern Front
Coming SoonA different kind of war: movement over stalemate. Tannenberg. The Brusilov Offensive. Russia's collapse. The Russian Revolution and exit from war.
~25 min
Gallipoli and the Wider War
Coming SoonChurchill's plan to knock out Turkey. The landings and failure. ANZAC legend. The Middle East campaign. Lawrence of Arabia. Italy's war. Africa.
~25 min
Naval Warfare and Jutland
Coming SoonDreadnoughts and the naval arms race. Blockades. U-boat warfare and unrestricted submarine campaigns. The Battle of Jutland. Why Britannia still ruled the waves.
~25 min
America Tips the War
Why America joined in 1917. The Zimmermann telegram. Fresh troops and resources. The Spring Offensive. The Hundred Days. Germany's collapse.
The Armistice and Versailles
Coming SoonNovember 11, 1918. The cost: 17 million dead. The Paris Peace Conference. The Treaty of Versailles. How WW1 made WW2 inevitable.
~30 min
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