Hoover Library: *History: World War I

Background Information

Select Online Resources

The A to Z of World War I by Frederick Phelps Close
ISBN: 9780810870253
Publication Date: 2010-01-01
One of the most devastating armed conflicts in history, World War I completely transformed the social and political landscape of the world in four short years. It also marked the appearance of the new modern lifestyle, one that always contained the grim prospect of the possible recurrence of war. Ian V. Hogg's The A to Z of World War I provides a dual approach to the study of this historically significant event. The dictionary has a broad reach, containing brief biographies of commanders and diplomatic leaders, as well as casualty statistics and descriptions of geographical locations. Each entry gives a basic overview of crucial information. It also includes maps and chronologies that provide a visual perspective on the breadth of World War I, and how it truly encompassed and transformed the entire world. Hogg's approach balances contemporary needs for contextualization with precise historical details that gives readers information to supplement their knowledge of the war. Also included is a bibliography, which allows the reader to access other sources of information for further details about World War I.
Biographical Dictionary of World War I by Holger H. Herwig; Neil M. Heyman
ISBN: 0313213569
Publication Date: 1982-08-26
Product information not available.
Historical Dictionaries of Intelligence and Counterintelligence by Nigel West
ISBN: 9780810880023
Publication Date: 2013-01-01
Known as "the Great War," the world's first truly global conflict is remarkable in what might now be termed modern espionage. World War I was witness to plenty of "firsts." Apart from the contribution made by aerial reconnaissance and the interception of wireless telegraphy, telephone and cable traffic, there was the scientific aspect, with new machines of war, such as the submarine, sea-mine, torpedo, airship, barbed wire, armored tank and mechanized cavalry in a military environment that included mustard gas, static trench warfare, the indiscriminate bombardment of civilian population centers and air-raids. Large-scale sabotage and propaganda, the manipulation of news and of radio broadcasts, and censorship, were all features of a new method of engaging in combat, and some ingenious techniques were developed to exploit the movement of motor and rail transport, and the transmission of wireless signals. The hitherto unknown disciplines of train-watching, bridge-watching, airborne reconnaissance and radio interception would become established as routine collection methods, and their impact on the conflict would prove to be profound. The Historical Dictionary of World War I Intelligence relates this history through a chronology, an introductory essay, an appendix, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 400 hundred cross-referenced entries on intelligence organizations, the spies, and the major cases and events of World War I. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the world of intelligence in World War I.

Primary Sources

14-18 immagini della Grande Guerra
Brigham Young University's WWI Archive
Collection of primary source documents from the era of the first world war from the American perspective
British First World War Trench Maps, 1915-1918 (National Library of Scotland)
Maps of the Western Front in the Great War depicting British and German trenches.
Canadian Great War Project
Canadian Letters & Images Projects (Vancouver Island University)
"The Canadian Letters and Images Project is an online archive of the Canadian war experience, from any war, as told through the letters and images of Canadians themselves."
Canadian War Poster Collection (McGill University)
Europeana 1914-1918
"The First World War thematic collection gathers the untold stories and official histories of World War I, in a unique blend of cultural heritage collections and personal items contributed by European citizens."
Fairbank Papers (University of Cambridge)
"The diaries and photographs digitised here give a vivid impression of the life of an army surgeon during the First World War, first on the Western Front, including the Second Battle of Ypres and the Battle of Loos, and later in Salonika."
Federal Archives on the First World War
First World War (National Archives UK)
First World War - Official Photographs (National Library of Scotland)
First World War Poetry Digital Archives (University of Oxford)
"The First World War Poetry Digital Archive is an online repository of over 7,000 items of text, images, audio, and video for teaching, learning, and research."
The Great War Archive (WWI) (University of Oxford)
"The Great War Archive contains over 6,500 digital items contributed by the general public between March and June 2008. Every item originates from, or relates to, someone's experience of the First World War, either abroad or at home. Contributions were received via a special website and also through a series of open days at libraries and museums throughout the country."
John J. Pershing Papers (Library of Congress)
"The diaries, notebooks, and address books of John Joseph Pershing (1860-1948), U.S. army officer and commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, are part of a larger collection of Pershing papers available for research use onsite in the Manuscript Reading Room of the Library of Congress. The entire collection spans the years 1882-1971, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1904-1948. It consists of correspondence, diaries, notebooks, speeches, statements, writings, orders, maps, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, picture albums, posters, photographs, printed matter, and memorabilia."
Middlesex Military Service Appeal Tribunal 1916-1918 (National Archives UK)
"These records are the case files of over 8,000 men who were appealing against their conscription into the army during the First World War."
North Carolinians and the Great War (Documenting the American South)
""North Carolinians and the Great War" examines how World War I shaped the lives of different North Carolinians on the battlefield and on the home front as well how the state and federal government responded to war-time demands. The collection focuses on the years of American involvement in the war between 1917 and 1919, but it also examines the legacies of the war in the 1920s."
Polar Bear Expedition Digital Collections (University of Michigan)
"The Polar Bear Roster is a searchable database compiled using materials located in the collections of the Bentley Historical Library. The roster includes the names, units, and other personal and military service details of the men who served in the Polar Bear Expedition."
Propaganda Posters (Washington State University)
"The 525 items in this collection comprise a Propaganda Poster collection primarily consisting of images from 1914-1945, the start of World War I to the end of World War II."
Ruhleben British Civilian Internment Camp Documents, 1914-1919 (Harvard University)
Sassoon Journals (University of Cambridge)
War Diaries of the First World War (Library & Archives Canada)
"This database contains the digitised War Diaries of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) units. From the start of the First World War, CEF units were required to maintain a daily account of their “Actions in the Field.” This log was called a War Diary. The War Diaries are not personal diaries, rather they are a historical record of a unit’s administration, operations and activities during the First World War."
War Poster Collection (University of Washington)
"A selection of World War I and II posters from the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections Division collections. Included are propaganda on purchasing war bonds, the importance of national security and posters from allied and axis powers."
Western European Theater Political Pamphlet Collection (Princeton University)
"These pamphlets were collected by the Princeton University Library starting from the outbreak of World War I. The collection contains pamphlets published in Europe during and immediately after World War I. They cover a broad range of topics including the economy, the press, the military, arms, territorial disputes, and others. The collection also includes speeches, sermons, bulletins, calendars, and songbooks."
World War I Collection (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
"UW-Madison’s World War I collection focuses primarily, though not exclusively, on European aspects of the war. It is particularly strong in documenting rescue and relief efforts, and in propaganda materials, but all aspects of the war are included."
The World War I Document Archive
"This archive of primary documents from World War One has been assembled by volunteers of the World War I Military History List (WWI-L). International in focus, the archive intends to present in one location primary documents concerning the Great War."
World War I Pamphlet Collection (University of Pennsylvania)
World War I Portal (Library of Congress)
"The Library of Congress is uniquely prepared to tell the story of the United States' participation in the Great War. The Library’s unparalleled collections include posters, recordings, newspapers, sheet music, photographs, and veterans’ stories as well as publications, exhibitions, educational tools, and research guides related to World War I."
World War I Postcards (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
World War I Posters (Ball State University)
"The World War I Posters from the Elisabeth Ball Collection is a representative sampling of more than 2,000 WWI lithographs from Italy, France, Belgium, England, Australia, Germany, the United States, and other countries collected by Elisabeth Ball (1897-1982), daughter of Frances and George Ball. Ball State University Libraries Archives and Special Collections houses the original lithographs plus slide copies of each image available for public use."
World War I Posters (Library of Congress)
"During World War I, the impact of the poster as a means of communication was greater than at any other time during history. The ability of posters to inspire, inform, and persuade combined with vibrant design trends in many of the participating countries to produce thousands of interesting visual works. The Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division makes available online approximately 1,900 posters created between 1914 and 1920. Most relate directly to the war, but some German posters date from the post-war period and illustrate events such as the rise of Bolshevism and Communism, the 1919 General Assembly election and various plebiscites. The majority of the posters were printed in the United States. Posters from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, and Russia are included as well. The posters range in style from anonymous broadsides (predominantly text) to graphically vibrant works by well-known designers."
World War I Sheet Music (Brown University)
"The World War I digital sheet music collection is drawn from the Sheet Music Collection at the John Hay Library. It is composed of over 1,800 titles that relate in some way to the events of World War I, and the impact of that war on American society. There are patriotic songs, songs relating to specific military units, romantic songs of love and loss, comic songs, and songs that look to the war’s end."

*History: World War I

Background Information

Primary Sources

©Hoover Library

Library Hours: