Perhaps the most important war in history was the Great War of 1914-8. It saw an end to European dominance of world politics and culture. It ruined the British Empire, helped to speed the Bolshivek Revolution in Russia, led to facist governments in Italy, Germany, and Spain, and demonstrated the new industrial power of the United States of America. The war was fought, it seems, over nothing, but its repercussions are profound. In it, the nations of Europe seemed to commit collective suicide by common destruction of their militaries, their economies, and their governments.
The war, which began in a series of lightning-fast maneuvers, soon stagnated on the Western Front into the largest siege in history. As the war in the trenches dragged on, the colorful uniforms of the combatants were discarded in favor of the drab, easily manufactured, and utilitarian uniforms used by the armed forces of the world today.
With the development of the machine gun, the era of the bayonet charge had ended. Horse cavalry found they had no place on the modern battlefield. Combat became truly three-dimensional with the introduction of arial scouts, bombers, and fighters. A new weapon was invented to break through the vicious small-arms fire which had made infantry charges suicidal: the tank was first introduced as a weapon of warfare on the Western Front in 1916.
The fighting in this war was not very glamorous, and not much attention has been paid to it by wargamers. There are very few sets available right now. Airfix released British and German infantry and British horse artillery suitable for the early battles, French infantry for the later fights, and American infantry suitable for training in the states. HaT Industries has rereleased all of these sets. Revell made some great late-war Germans and French. Emhar, a new company, released late-war British and German infantry and artillery in the summer of 2000. HaT produces Austrian and Russian infantry for battles on the Eastern front.
The Central Powers
| Germany |
| Austria-Hungary |
| Turkey |
The Triple Alliance
| France |
| Great Britain |
| Russia |
| The United States of America |
| Australia |
This page last modified
on 11 January 2002
This page created on
03 March 2001 using Netscape Composer
