There is no weapon more visceral than the bayonet. It encourages an intimate form of killing, and during WW1, Australia troops plunged, parried and stabbed with great vigour.
Veterans for Peace gather for a Veterans Day ceremony at the Minnesota State Capitol mall, Nov. 11, 2014, in St. Paul.
AP/Jim Mone
While clear-eyed about the country’s injustices, Melville never succumbed to cynicism. On the author’s bicentennial, American readers could use a dose of his ability to fuse realism with idealism.
The 40-foot Peace Cross in Maryland dedicated to World War I soldiers.
Maryland GovPics/Flickr
In 1918, in Wünsdorf prisoner-of-war camp, a German sculptor created a bust of Indigenous soldier Douglas Grant. For decades, the whereabouts of this nationally significant sculpture were unknown - until now.
Shot at Dawn Memorial at Alrewas, Staffordshire, which commemorates British soldiers shot as cowards during World War I.
Martin Christopher Parker via Shutterstock
Russia isn’t the only nation suspected of training marine mammals for military use – the US, UK, and Ukraine have all done so in the past.
Descendants of soldiers who fought in the Australian Light Horse Brigade took part in a reenactment to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the battle of Beersheba in Israel in October 2017.
Dan Peled/AAP
In Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, Anzac stories are often coloured by racism and ongoing injustices that negate the myth of Anzac ‘mateship’.
Christmas hard tack biscuit: Boer War. Australian War Memorial. Accession Number: REL/10747.
Courtesy of the Australian War Memorial
Army ration biscuits known as ‘Anzac tiles’ were durable but bland - as Australian war archives show, they served as stationery, Christmas cards and as the basis of art.
The war spurred surgeons to develop new techniques, such as traction splints and blood transfusions.
from shutterstock.com
The first world war spurred a host of developments in the fields of science, medicine and architecture. Alongside these came new qualifications and professions, such as physiotherapy.
Parisians watch as their beloved Notre Dame burns.
EPA-EFE/Julien de Rosa
Words are as important as pictures for helping us come to terms with such a huge cultural loss.
This large ‘Do Not Forget Australia’ sign in a yard at the Victoria school in Villers-Bretonneux, is the heir of smaller signs once placed in classrooms by Australian authorities.
Author provided
Since the end of the first world war, the Australian media has often reported that ‘the French’ care about, remember and even venerate the Anzacs. But is this true? And which French people?
Graffiti probably Banksy, denouncing the conditions in which prisoners have been detained in Guantanamo.
Photo Eadmundo
Michael Haneke’s allegorical 2009 film showed how a peaceful society can be shattered within a single generation. It’s a lesson for us now in a world drifting toward populism and violence.
A photograph of Ellen N. La Motte soon after completing ‘The Backwash of War’ in 1916.
Courtesy of the National Archives, College Park, Maryland
Ellen N. La Motte’s ‘The Backwash of War’ was praised for its clear-eyed portrayal of war, but was swiftly banned. Yet the similarities between her spare prose and Hemingway’s are unmistakable.
People gather in the streets in Vilnius, Lithuania to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the country’s statehood.
(Facebook)
While many countries across Eastern Europe celebrate 100 years since they were born or restored as nation-states after the First World War, not everyone in these states are celebrating.
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler before attending a conference in Munich, Germany.
AP Photo/File
It was 100 years ago this month that Benito Mussolini created the fascist party in Italy. Today, his life offers cautionary lessons for contemporary politics.
Kaiser Wilhelm II and one of his generals in 1914.
PA Archive