The extraordinary violence and magnitude of the First World War had a devastating impact on Western civilization. It was a “total war,” a conflict that involved not only armies but entire nations in a mortal struggle for strategic advantage.

An estimated 70 million combatants were mobilized and some 9 million died under horrendous conditions. Slaughter of such a colossal scale set the 20th century on an unprecedentedly violent course: the Bolshevik Revolution, World War II, the Holocaust, and the end of the long era of European imperialism. Marcus Jones, history professor at the U.S. Naval Academy and consultant for the Institute for Defense Analyses, explores the origins and the legacy of the most consequential conflict of the 20th century. 

10:15 to 11:15 a.m.  The European Strategic Landscape on the Eve of War

The crisis in 1914 that led to the war’s opening campaigns. 

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.  Military Course of the Conflict

Massive changes in tactics and technologies that evolved during the war.

12:30 to 1:30 p.m.  Lunch (participants provide their own)

1:30 to 2:30 p.m.  War at Sea and in the Air

A detailed consideration of the war’s crucial peripheral naval and aerial fronts.

2:45 to 4 p.m.  The End of the War

The war’s enormous social and economic dimensions; final stages and implications for the past century; the emergence of the United States as a major force in international affairs.