One bullet. Four years. 30+ countries.
The biggest war the world had ever seen.
In 1914, a man was shot in a small city in . That one moment started a war that lasted four years.
By the end, 20 million people were dead. New weapons changed war forever.
One shot. One war.
It is 1914. A man named Franz Ferdinand rides in a car. He will be king one day.
A young man waits on the street. He has a gun.
He shoots. Franz Ferdinand is dead. His wife Sophie is dead too.
How did one shooting start a world war?
Think of a room. Everyone holds a rope. Each rope ties to a friend.
If one person falls, the rope pulls a friend. That friend pulls the next. Soon, everyone falls.
Try it below. Tap the first person.
They lived in a ditch for four years.
Both sides dug long, deep holes in the ground. These holes were called .
Men lived in them for months. The trenches went for 400 miles.
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400 miles
That is as long as New York all the way down to North Carolina.
Tap the parts of a trench
One day in a trench
You wake up. Your boots are wet. The mud is cold.
At sunrise, you must look out. A man with a gun watches from the other side.
You eat cold food. You kill rats. You wait.
Weapons no one had seen before.
Men in 1914 thought the war would end fast. They were wrong.
New weapons made the war worse.
Tap to see old war vs. new war
A soldier has an old gun. He walks in a field. He fights close enough to see the other man's eyes.
Old guns
One shot. Then reload. Takes 30 seconds.
Horses
Men rode horses into battle.
A soldier sits in a trench. A bomb flies from far away. He can't see it. He can't run.
Tanks
Big metal cars. They drive right over the trenches.
Planes
First they watched the enemy. Then they dropped bombs.
Machine gun
Shoots 500 bullets a minute. One gun stops a whole attack.
Poison gas
A cloud you can't see well. It moves with the wind. It can kill a whole trench.
One strange day in the middle of the war.
It was Christmas. A German soldier climbed out of his trench. He had no gun.
He walked toward the British side. The British men watched.
Then they climbed out too. They met in the middle.
In 1914, thousands of men climbed out. No one told them to. They just stopped.
Both sides sang songs. They shook hands. They gave each other food. They even played soccer.
A few days later, the killing started again.
America joins the war
For three years, America stayed out. Then two things changed.
One: Germany sank our ships.
Two: Germany sent a secret letter. The letter asked to fight America.
In 1917, America joined the fight.
The guns go quiet
At 11 in the morning on November 11, 1918, the guns stopped.
This is called the . The war was over.
Here is what you learned.
You now know more about World War I than most grown-ups.
Tap each card to star it. Tap a purple word to hear it.
✏️ Tell the story back
Pick a card. Say it out loud. Then write one sentence. Start with: "In WWI, ___."
A Dog Goes to War.
This is a true story. It happened in World War I.
His name was Stubby. He was not a big dog. He had short legs and a short tail. That is why they called him Stubby.
In 1917, Stubby did not have a home. He walked the streets. He was hungry. He looked for food in the trash.
One day, Stubby found a big field. Men were marching. They wore green clothes. They had big guns.
These men were . They were getting ready to go to the war in Europe.
Stubby sat down and watched. He did not run away.
A young soldier came over. His name was Robert. Robert looked at the little dog. The dog looked back.
"Hi, friend," said Robert.
Stubby wagged his tail.
From that day, Stubby stayed with Robert. He slept by his bed. He ate what Robert ate. The two were best friends.
Soon, the soldiers got on a big ship. They were going to France. France was in the war.
But Robert had a problem. Dogs were not allowed on the ship.
So Robert did a secret thing. He hid Stubby in his big coat. He kept him quiet.
When they got to France, Robert showed his boss. The boss was angry. Then Stubby put his paw up. He looked up at the boss. The boss smiled.
"Okay," he said. "The dog can stay."
And that is how Stubby went to war.
In the Trenches
France was cold. The ground was wet. The were full of mud.
Stubby's feet got muddy too. He slept next to Robert. He kept him warm at night.
One day, big bombs fell from the sky. They made a loud boom. The men shouted. They were scared.
Stubby ran. He hid. But then he came back. He stayed with his friend.
After that, the men knew. They could count on Stubby.
The Gas
One dark morning, Stubby smelled something strange. It was the green gas. The gas that kills.
The men were sleeping. Robert was sleeping.
Stubby barked. He pulled on Robert's coat. He bit his hand — just a little.
Robert woke up. He smelled the gas too.
"Gas! Gas!" Robert shouted.
The men put on their masks. They lived.
Stubby saved them.
After that, the army made a gas mask just for him.
A Brave Friend
Stubby did many brave things.
He found hurt men in No Man's Land. He stayed with them. He barked so that help would come.
He could hear bombs from far away. He warned the men before the bombs came.
One night, a man jumped into the trench. He did not speak English. He was a spy.
Stubby knew this was not a friend. He bit the man's leg. He held on. He would not let go.
The men came running. They caught the spy.
For this, the army gave Stubby a medal.
Home Again
The war went on for a long time. Stubby was in 17 fights. He got hurt one time. But he got better.
Then, one cold morning, the news came.
The war was over. It was November 11, 1918. At eleven in the morning, all the guns went quiet. This was the .
The men cried. They hugged. They laughed.
Stubby jumped up on Robert. He licked his face.
Soon, the men got on a big ship. They were going home.
This time, Stubby did not have to hide. Everyone knew him now. Everyone loved him.
Meeting Three Presidents
When they got home, a funny thing happened.
The whole country knew about Stubby.
He was in the newspapers. He was in the movies.
The president wanted to meet him.
And then the next president wanted to meet him.
And then the next one, too!
In his life, Stubby met three presidents. He shook paws with all of them.
Stubby Rests
Stubby lived many more years.
He went to school with Robert. Robert became a law student. Stubby went to all his classes.
He lived until 1926. He was an old dog by then.
When he died, Robert was sad. The country was sad too.
Today, you can still see Stubby. He is in a big museum in Washington, D.C.
He stands in a glass box. His little coat is on him. His medals are on the coat.
He was just a street dog with no home.
He became one of the most brave dogs in the war.
What Stubby Tells Us
Most stories about World War I are about men.
Stubby's story is different. His story is about friends. It is about a small dog who saved many men.
It is about the good that can happen, even in a bad place.
Think about it. The men were far from home. They were scared. They were tired.
And then a little dog with short legs came along.
Stubby did not win the war.
But he gave those men something to love.
In a war so big, one small thing mattered.
Test Yourself.
Six questions. Cross out the wrong answers, then pick what's left.
What does this BEST show about the soldiers?
✏️ Now write three sentences about World War I.
The Full Story of World War I.
Read it once. Then prove you remember.
In 1914, a named Franz Ferdinand was shot and killed in a city called . That one moment pulled the whole world into war. Countries had made promises to help each other — . When one country got pulled in, it dragged the next one, like a line of people holding ropes. Within weeks, most of was fighting.
For four years, lived in long, muddy holes called . Between the two sides was No Man's Land — the most dangerous place on Earth. New weapons made this war worse than any war before it. could stop a whole attack. Poison gas moved with the wind and could kill a trench full of men. Tanks rolled right over the dirt. Planes dropped bombs from above. On Christmas Day 1914, something strange happened — soldiers from both sides climbed out, shook hands, and sang songs together. Then the killing started again.
America stayed out of the war for three years. Then Germany sank American ships and sent a secret letter asking to attack the United States. In 1917, America joined the fight. On November 11, 1918 — at exactly 11 in the morning — the guns finally stopped. This was the . The war was over. Twenty million people had died in just four years.
