At Battle in World War I: An Interactive Battlefield Adventure

By Allison Lassieur

Some call it the War to End All Wars, the first global war in history. World War I is a bloody, miserable fight between the Axis countries of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire and the Allied forces of the United States, Great Britain, France, and Russia. Will you: Fly as a pilot in the Allied Army? Become an infantry soldier in the trenches at the frontlines?  Experience war at sea as an Allied Navy sailor? You Choose offers multiple perspectives on history, supporting Common Core reading standards and providing readers a front-row seat to the past.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
• Release date: Jan 7, 2015
• ISBN: 9781491472415

Allison Lassieur

Allison Lassieur once lived in Tennessee and traveled the path Hattie and her family might have followed from Nashville to the banks of the Mississippi River near Memphis. Today she lives in upstate New York and shares a 110-year-old house with her husband, her daughter, three dogs, two cats, and more history books than she can count.

Book preview

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ABOUT YOUR ADVENTURE

World War I (1914–1918) changed the way wars were fought. The modern tools of war invented then have stood the passage of time. Many are still in use today.

In this book you’ll explore the choices people made. You’ll also learn about the new technology used to win the war. The events, situations, and battles you’ll experience happened to real people.

Chapter One sets the scene. Then you choose which path to read. Follow the links at the bottom of each page. After you finish one path, go back and read the others. Use your device’s back buttons or page navigation to jump back to your last choice. Then try a different link for a new adventure.

YOU CHOOSE the path you take through history.

BLOOD ON THE BATTLEFIELD

It was called the War to End All Wars—the first global war in the history of the world. World War I spanned across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and over the oceans.

A single event led to the war. In 1914 the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated. The killer was a Serb named Gavrilo Princip. His actions led Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia. Most of the world thought the war would only be between those two countries.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, were shot at point-blank range. They died an hour later.

But then Serbia asked Russia to help it fight. France had promised to help Russia. Great Britain joined the war to help France. They formed the Allied Powers, known as the Allies.

Austria-Hungary asked Germany for help. Along with the Ottoman Empire, they formed the Central Powers. In just a few months, a small war had become a global conflict.

New weapons made this war terrifying. Flamethrowers, tanks, airplanes, machine guns, submarines, and chemical warfare were used for the first time. As the battles grew, so did each country’s weapons technology. Sometimes countries stole ideas from each other.

You are a young man ready to do your part. There are many ways to serve and protect your country. Which will you choose?

To use the new invention of airplanes as a British pilot, press here.

To fight in the Allied trenches with the latest artillery and tanks, press here.

To be a sailor on powerful British ships and submarines, press here.

WAR IN THE AIR

World War I started a year ago, in 1914. It began far away in Austria-Hungary. You’re not too sure how it started. All you know is that your country, Great Britain, is fighting alongside Russia and France. Germany and other countries are the enemy.

One day a shadow passes over your London home. It is Germany’s most terrifying weapon: the zeppelin. Each huge airship carries up to two tons of explosives. Bombs have been dropped on Great Britain since early 1915. Buildings, streets, and houses are destroyed in these air raids. The sight of a zeppelin sends everyone into a panic.

Zeppelins could fly higher and farther than airplanes. They could stay in the air for 24 hours and reach speeds of 78 miles per hour.

Great Britain has no way