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| Monday, November 2, 1998 Published at 14:42 GMTThe Great War: 80 years on ![]() It is 80 years since the armistice silenced the guns of World War I. The war lasted from 1914-18, claimed 10 million lives and forever changed the political map of Europe. Using personal accounts and historical analysis BBC News Online looks back at what became known as "the war to end all wars". Archive radio interviews"There was nothing but brown earth, shell holes and death" Images and newsreelFootage and photographs from the battlefields. Letters home Soldiers revealed their hopes and fears in letters sent from the front. My grandfather's war
The war to end all wars World War I was a struggle between Europe's great powers grouped into two hostile alliances. 1918: The end of stalemate In 1918 a dramatic change took place on the western front - huge swathes of territory were lost and won. Lions led by donkeys? Is it true that bungling British generals were to blame for the death of a generation? The Christmas truce Was the legendary Christmas truce on the western front fact or fantasy? War and revolution in Russia Russia's involvement in the war was inextricably linked with its turbulent domestic history. The legacies of the Great War The former battlefields of France are still dangerous places 80 years later. Huge interest in war graves Website There has been an overwhelming response to the new Internet database of commonwealth war dead. War memorials: Lest we forget A project is under way to count all the war memorials in the UK. 'In Flanders field the poppies blow...' Unique World War I poetry manuscripts and other archive material can now be accessed on the Internet. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||