This short film gives viewers a brief recap of World War I in the pretext of an elderly man recounting the history of the Great War to a teenage boy. The film shows a clipping from the front page of The Chicago Daily Tribune (00:31) announcing the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, along with other front-page clippings from the paper announcing the beginning of the war. Footage shows German troops marching into Belgium (01:00) and British officers walking past troops standing at attention. A British destroyer sits in a port (01:42). Mounted German troops ride down a rural road. Allied soldiers march through the trenches on the Western Front (02:20). Russian soldiers are shown marching. Several German soldiers fire a machine gun (03:20); this is followed by footage of heavy artillery guns firing. A solider cleans his rifle while sitting in a trench. The film shows several scenes of the destruction of the war (04:30), including the charred remains of a church, a destroyed town, and ruined train tracks. Pilots maneuver their planes during an aerial fight (05:00). Soldiers and munitions are moved along a road (05:48). Women work in an Allied factory producing munitions for the war (06:00), and German planes are built in a German production plant. On the seas, viewers see a torpedo being launched from a ship (06:50), a German U-boat diving below the surface, and the sinking of several ships. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson looks out of a window (08:14). Americans rally around a liberty bond drive. Footage shows America’s industrial strength as tanks and ships are mass produced; a newly built ship is launched into the water (08:58). American soldiers march across a field during training (09:10). Soldiers board a ship for Europe. There is brief footage of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia (09:35), and then the film shows American soldiers arriving in Europe. German officers discuss orders before the major battles of the summer of 1918. French machine gunners fire at German targets (10:43). Footage shows artillery guns firing and Allied soldiers running across no man’s land (11:05) and breaking German lines. The film concludes with a photograph of the railway car, “Wagon of Compiegne,” used to sign the armistice ending WWI.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com