Skip to content
Home » Early 20th Century (1900-1945) » 1914-18 First World War

1914-18 First World War

The First World War was a global conflict that revolutionised warfare. These studies focus on key battlefields across Europe, using trench maps, aerial photographs, war diaries, and on-the-ground research to understand how industrial firepower, command failures, and human endurance played out across battlefields across the world.

📘 Recommended Reading →

🪖 Museum Artefacts →

Ils ne passeront pas' (They shall not pass)

📝🔒Field Note: Battle for Verdun, France, Feb – Dec 1916

November 2024. Verdun, northeastern France. This is my second time exploring the battlefields of Verdun. The first impression is the massive scale of the fortification complex. Large and small forts with interlocking and mutually supporting fields of fire cover several hundred square kilometres. The ground is still broken by overlapping shell craters, stretching in all directions. Even after more than a century, the terrain remains uneven, cratered, and difficult to walk on. It is not a single battlefield, but a vast zone of destruction.

Belleau Wood

📝🔒Field Note: Belleau Wood, France, June 1918

July 2012,  Belleau Wood, near Château-Thierry, France. I am exploring the site of the legendary US Marine battle in June 1918. The first impression of ‘Bois Belleau’ is confinement. The ground is enclosed by dense woodland, with limited lines of sight and little sense of distance.

Liege Forts - Fort Barchon

📝🔒Field Note: Liege Forts, Belgium, August 1914

October 2025, Liege, Belgium. I am visiting the ring of great forts that once protected the Belgian city of Liège. In the 1880s, the Belgians constructed a series of forts to protect Liège against a potential German attack.
The twelve forts of Liege could cover the approaches and support the neighbouring forts. The forts are: Fort Liers, Pontisse, Barchon, Evegnee, Fléron, Chaudfontaine, d’Embourg, Boncelles, Flemalle, Hollogne, Loncin, and Lantin.

Boer War (1899-1902) British soldiers testing a new Maxim machine gun. map diagram

💡 Tactical Innovations: Machine Gun Theory

This article explains how machine guns are employed on the battlefield, including the key concepts of cone of fire, beaten zone, grazing fire, enfilade fire, and mutually supporting machine-gun positions. The article forms part of the Tactical Innovations in Warfare series.

Polygon Wood, with the Butte visible in the background

⚔️ Battle of Polygon Wood,
26 September – 3 October 1917

The Battle of Polygon Wood is significant to me. My grandfather served in 5th Australian Division Signal Company and fought at Polygon Wood with the Division.

The Battle of Polygon Wood was fought between 26 September and 3 October 1917, as part of the Third Battle of Ypres. The aim was to seize the German-held high ground around the Ypres salient. The battle demonstrated the brutal effectiveness of the Allied limited-objective ‘bite and hold’ tactics, and forced the Germans to reassess their ‘Eingreif’ tactic of immediate counterattacks.