France during the First World War (1914-1916)

French troops heading to the front in 1914 march through the streets of Paris, Parisians salute the soldiers.

Patriotic march and demonstration on the Champs-Élysées (above).

Conscripts boarding train cars.

Soldiers and conscripts wave from the windows of the departing train.

Telegrams being transmitted, a telegraph operator at the machine.

Photographs of Emperors Nicholas II and Wilhelm II. Text of Wilhelm's telegram to Nicholas.

Photograph of Wilhelm II in the dress uniform of a cuirassier regiment.

Photographs and newsreel of patriotic demonstrations in Germany after the declaration of war.

Units of the Prussian Guard march through the streets of Berlin, greeted by the townspeople.

Seeing off German troops to the front.

Those seeing them off wave to the soldiers in the cars of the departing train.

German artillery fire.

Aiming the gun turret of an armored train.

An armored train fires.

Shells explode.

Refugees flee from the shelling.

Speakers address patriotic rallies in France and England.

Mobilized British soldiers head to the recruiting station.

Medical examination and paperwork are completed.

Uniforms are issued to British recruits.

British soldiers board a steamship for transport to the European theater of war.

The transport ship sets out to sea.

French soldiers over a map during military planning.

French troops march along a city street, heading to the front lines; excerpts from an anti-German propaganda film.

French infantry on the march in the summer of 1914. The movement of a French troop train.

Heavy artillery crosses a pontoon bridge built by sappers.

A French heavy artillery battery takes up a firing position.

French artillery fires.

Cavalry units on the battlefield.

German artillery officers at a command and observation post.

View of the front line.

German officers at the command post clarify the operational situation using maps and on the ground.

German artillery fire.

View of the battlefield with advancing infantry (from above).

German officers at an observation post, the advance of German infantry and cavalry towards Paris, panorama of the front line (alternating).

Infantry and cavalry attack.

Russian infantry rises in a bayonet charge from a trench.

Refugees from East Prussia board train cars during the Russian offensive.

A French gun opens fire.

Explosions on the enemy's forward line.

German infantry on the march in the summer of 1914. The movement of columns of French refugees and military convoys fleeing from German troops.

German officers at an observation post.

German cavalry overcomes the parapet.

A French artillery gun opens fire.

Attacking German infantry.

Text of a leaflet addressing the garrison and residents of Paris in August 1914.

A photograph of General Gallieni, commander of the defense of Paris, writing an order.

Gallieni's signature is below the order.

Construction of a barricade of cobblestones on a Parisian street.

Riflemen lie behind cover on a street.

Telephone operators in a dugout at French positions.

An airplane is rolled out of a hangar.

An airplane on the airfield before takeoff.

An airplane takes off.

Views of the terrain under the wing of a reconnaissance aircraft (top).

The landed airplane taxis along the airfield.

The pilot specifies the location of German positions on a map.

General Gallieni at his desk in his office.

Staff officers mark troop positions and the direction of the German advance on the map.

A French telephone operator in a dugout speaks on a field telephone.

An artillery gun and its crew are delivered to the front lines on a pleasure train.

Soldiers being transported to the front on the Marne by Parisian taxis in September 1914; soldiers stand next to one of the taxi drivers.

A column of taxis leaves Paris.

A French observation tower with a spotter is raised using a jack.

A salvo from the French artillery.

French artillery fires at German troops; crews work in combat.

A spotter on an observation tower, a view of the battlefield.

A German army unit begins moving on bicycles.

The French donate warm clothing for soldiers on the front lines.

A French aircraft before takeoff.

The pilot in the cockpit in front of the instrument panel.

Starting the engine.

The takeoff run and takeoff of one of the aircraft.

A French aircraft in flight.

The pilot and observer during the flight.

Photographs of the terrain pockmarked with shell craters and German field fortifications.

Planning a combat operation at French headquarters, enemy positions on maps.

French officers at command and observation posts.

Shells exploding during a target engagement.

French heavy artillery fires at the enemy.

Shells exploding on German positions, German soldiers in trenches during the shelling.

French soldiers in a trench during artillery preparation before the Champagne offensive in September 1915. French troops attack German positions.

The German counterattack.

Heavy guns on railway transporters fire.

French artillery crews in action.

Transporting large-caliber heavy shells for the French artillery on railway platforms.

Field testing of individual wheeled armored shields for infantry.

Shield assembly in the field.

Infantrymen protected by wheeled armored shields move across the field.

Officers and a general from a special commission evaluate the combat capabilities of wheeled armored shields.

Testing a wheeled armored shield under artillery fire.

A French soldier eats in a trench.

A postman arrives on a bicycle at French positions.

A soldier distributes letters and newspapers.

Blank columns in the newspaper, text removed by censors.

Photograph of a French soldier in a helmet.

The hand of a soldier writing a letter home.

A soldier writes a letter.

Fighting on the Western Front.

A British soldier carries a wounded comrade through a trench.

Photograph of a trench littered with corpses of soldiers.

A French army unit advances from a trench to meet the enemy.

Soldiers of a French burial party load corpses onto a cart.

French soldiers smoke while waiting for a truck.

Trucks with soldiers on leave leave for the rear.

Soldiers rest behind the front lines, an opera singer performs for the soldiers.

A girl gives soldiers a bouquet of flowers, soldiers' faces.

Loading the wounded onto a hospital train.

Soldiers leaving on leave, nurses, and the wounded at the carriages before the train departs for the rear.

Soldiers boarding the train.

Trains leaving for the rear.

Passengers in a Paris metro car.

A train arrives at a Paris metro station.

Soldiers disembark among the passengers.

Passengers head for the station exit.

Customers at the tables of a Parisian street cafe, passersby walk by.

Passengers boarding a tram.

Passengers on the rear platform of a tram.

A panorama of a section of a Parisian street, a tram passes.

Amusement rides on a Parisian square.

Carousel rides, Parisians having fun, soldiers among vacationers (alternating).

A woman boards a tram.

The tram starts moving.

Traffic on a Parisian street, soldiers on leave on the street in the autumn of 1914. Street trading in Paris.

Soldiers and women look at the window of a ladies' store.

A panorama of one of the Parisian markets.

Boating in a park.

Felled trees.

Ducks on the shallows of a pond.

A sculpture in a fountain bowl.

A panoramic view of a French army unit's position in the forest.

The life and daily life of French soldiers in winter during trench warfare in 1915. German officers gather at an observation post in a trench to observe the front line.

German soldiers in trenches during trench warfare.

A view of a front line unit.

A parade of German troops.

Emperor Wilhelm II receives an officer's report during a military review.

A column of French military trucks on the road during a rest stop.

French infantry on the march.

Combat on the Western Front in 1915-1916, a panorama of the battlefield, shells exploding.

A French unit advances to its position.

French soldiers gather in a trench before the attack.

German prisoners of war carry a stretcher with a wounded man out of the trench and head to the rear.

A photograph of soldiers killed in a trench.

French soldiers in a trench before the attack.

German prisoners of war head to the French rear.

The beginning of a gas attack.

French soldiers in gas masks during a gas attack.

French and German troops engage in combat.

French infantry emerges from cover and attempts to attack the enemy under artillery fire.

An assault unit engages in combat, throwing grenades at German fortifications.

A panoramic view of the area.

Attacking French infantry is interspersed with exploding shells.

French infantry takes cover from the enemy, using the terrain.

French soldiers under artillery fire.

A trench battered by shells.

French soldiers repair the trench and dugouts after shelling.

French infantry units advance to their positions through the mud.

A column of German prisoners of war moves toward French soldiers heading to their positions.

The daily life of French soldiers at their positions.

Photograph of a French soldier.

French military convoys move along the road.

Wilhelm II and Hindenburg descend the steps after a meeting at headquarters.

Wilhelm II bids farewell to Hindenburg at the car.

Hindenburg drives away.

The Emperor climbs the steps to the headquarters entrance.