The First World War industrializes destruction

Machine guns, artillery, gas, tanks and railways killed some 20 million people in four years of industrial stalemate and collapsed four empires.

Why it matters

The war marked that technology had outpaced the institutions governing it — a warning that has never stopped being current. Its aftermath redrew the Middle East's borders and seeded the second war.

Related events

• 1905 – 1911

  Iran's Constitutional Revolution

  Merchants, clergy and intellectuals forced Qajar rulers to accept a parliament and constitution — the Middle East's first sustained constitutionalist movement, fought partly over foreign concessions.

  Civilizations · persia

• 1858 – 1866

  The transatlantic cable holds

  After the 1858 cable failed within weeks, the Great Eastern laid a durable one in 1866: Europe and North America wired together on the ocean floor.

  Communication

• 1789 – 1799

  The French Revolution declares rights

  France abolished its monarchy in the name of liberty, equality and fraternity, issued the Declaration of the Rights of Man — and descended into terror and war.

  Civilizations · europe

Sources

• Encyclopædia Britannica — World War I