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Battle of Passchendaele
Fought between July and November 1917, both sides suffered heavy casualties and endured appalling conditions. The name Passchendaele has become synonymous with mud, blood and futility. -
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Battle of Tannenberg
A decisive German victory over the Russian Second Army, resulting in the near annihilation of the Russian force and the suicide of its commanding general, Alexander Samsonov. -
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First Battle of the Marne
A decisive Allied victory in World War I where the French and British armies successfully halted the German advance towards Paris, effectively ending their hopes for a quick victory on the Western Front, and marking the beginning of trench warfare by forcing the Germans to retreat and dig defensive lines along the Aisne River. -
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Second Battle of Ypres
The battle marked the Germans' first use of poison gas as a weapon. Although the gas attack opened a wide hole in the Allied line, the Germans failed to exploit that advantage. -
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Battle of Gallipoli
Gallipoli was the first major amphibious operation in modern warfare. British Empire and French troops landed on the Ottoman-held peninsula in the Dardanelles Straits with disastrous consequences for the Allies. -
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Brusilov Offensive
The offensive involved a major Russian attack against the armies of the Central Powers on the Eastern Front. Launched on 4 June 1916, it lasted until late September. It took place in eastern Galicia (present-day northwestern Ukraine), in the Lviv and Volyn Oblasts. -
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Battle of Verdun
World War I engagement in which the French repulsed a major German offensive. It was one of the longest, bloodiest, and most-ferocious battles of the war; French casualties amounted to about 400,000, German ones to about 350,000. Some 300,000 were killed. -
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Battle of Jutland
was the largest naval battle of the First World War, involving 250 ships and around 100,000 men. Over the course of the battle there were periods of intense action and inaction. In the end, 6,000 British and 2,500 German sailors were dead. -
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Battle of the Somme
Was a joint operation between British and French forces intended to achieve a decisive victory over the Germans on the Western Front. For many in Britain, the resulting battle remains the most painful and infamous episode of the First World War. -
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Battle of Caporetto
a military disaster for Italy during World War I. In late 1917 a combined Austrian and German force routed the Italians along the Isonzo River in northeastern Italy. In the wake of the battle, more than 600,000 war-weary Italian soldiers either deserted or surrendered. -
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Battle of Cambrai
The British forces took their positions under the cover of night on 20 November 1917. The tanks successfully pushed through German defences and took over 7,000 prisoners. However, the offence was halted due to bad weather and a lack of reinforcements. -
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Spring Offensive
Germany's last attempt to defeat the British and French armies on the Western Front, and thereby win total victory. Their failure by the mid-summer left the German army fatally weakened, demoralized and facing its own imminent and inevitable defeat through an Allied counteroffensive. -
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Second Battle of the Marne
The second battle of the Marne resulted from the third major thrust of the great German offensive of 1918. Beginning in late May 1918, the German advance reached the Marne River in early June leaving Paris dangerously exposed. On 15 July the Germans launched their final drive towards the French capital. -
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Battle of Belleau Wood
Overall, the woods were attacked by the Marines a total of six times before they could successfully expel the Germans. They fought off parts of five divisions of Germans, often reduced to using only their bayonets or fists in hand-to-hand combat. -
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Hundred Days Offensive
The Hundred Days Offensive was a series of attacks by the Allied troops at the end of World War I. Starting on August 8, 1918, and ending with the Armistice on November 11, the Offensive led to the defeat of the German Army. By the Summer of 1918, German attacks in the war had halted.