World War I, also known as the Great War, was one of the largest and deadliest conflicts in human history. Spanning from 1914 to 1918, it involved all of the world’s great powers at the time, assembled in two opposing alliances. Over 70 million military personnel were mobilized, including 60 million Europeans. More than 9 million combatants were killed, making it one of the bloodiest wars ever. Both sides used powerful new weapons, like heavy artillery, machine guns, airplanes, tanks, chemical weapons, and more. Trench warfare became the predominant strategy on the static Western Front battlefield. The social, political, and economic upheaval caused by the war set the stage for major events of the 20th century.
Cause of World War I
The spark that ignited World War I was the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914. However, the root causes of the war ran much deeper, based on rising nationalism, imperialism, and militarism across Europe in the late 1800s/early 1900s. Alliances between major powers turned what could have remained a regional dispute into a massive continental conflict.
Outcomes and Effects
The Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria were defeated by the Allied Powers led by Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Japan and (from 1917) the United States. Germany was forced to accept responsibility for the war in the Treaty of Versailles, which imposed harsh economic reparations and losses of territory. New countries were formed out of former empires, and the fragile peace sparked by the Paris Peace Conference eventually failed – leading to the even greater devastation of World War II just 20 years later.
Here are 45 riddles to test your knowledge about the complex causes, key events, major battles, new technologies, and widespread impacts of World War I:
Riddles About Causes & Origins of World War I
1) I sparked the war with shots from my gun on a sunny day in Sarajevo. Who am I?
Answer:
Gavrilo Princip, the Serbian nationalist assassin who killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and ignited the July Crisis leading to war.
2) We were a tangled web of treaties and alliances that turned a regional conflict into The Great War. What are we?
Answer:
The complex system of alliances between major powers in early 20th century Europe.
3) I was an Austria-Hungary ultimatum rejected by Serbia that made the July Crisis irreversible. What historic document am I?
Answer:
The July Ultimatum.
4) Events in the Balkan Peninsula lit the fuse, but issues like nationalism, imperialism, and militarism built up the stockpiles of explosives. What is the metaphor describing here?
Answer:
That deeper running issues created pre-conditions for war, not just the spark of the assassination.
5) We were German aims for imperial expansion, threatening Britain and France enough to enter what could have remained a regional war. What documents publicly outlined these aims?
Answer:
The September Program.
Riddles About Key Events in World War I
6) The lights across Europe went out as we declared war and plunged the continent into darkness for over 4 years. What month and year was this fateful moment?
Answer:
August 1914.
7) I allowed Germany to outmaneuver France by invading neutral Belgium to attack Paris from the north. Who am I?
Answer:
The Schlieffen Plan.
8) My stagnant lines of trenches, barbed wire, artillery bombardments, snipers, and wave attacks became symbols of the futile slaughter of the Western Front. Where was I located?
Answer:
In northern France and Belgium between the Allies and Central Powers.
9) I arrived too late at the Marne River, allowing Allied forces to halt the German advance just miles from capturing Paris. What was my name?
Answer:
The First Battle of the Marne.
10) We were the inspiration for soldiers spontaneously ceasing fire and emerging to exchange holiday greetings and play games in No Man’s Land during a Christmas truce. What year did this miracle truce briefly emerge?
Answer:
1914.
11) I upheld British naval dominance at the Battle of Jutland despite suffering heavier losses, leading the outnumbered German fleet to never again challenge British blockade of shipping. What was the name of this largest naval battle of WWI?
Answer:
The Battle of Jutland.
12) Lenin and I famously arrived in Petrograd in a “sealed train” courtesy of Germany, soon launching the Bolshevik Revolution and taking Russia out of the war. Who am I?
Answer:
Leon Trotsky.
13) I unleashed the deadly Spanish Flu which spread around the world and killed more people than perished in battle during WWI. What was my name?
Answer:
The 1918 flu pandemic.
14) Considered a modern-day Benedict Arnold, I transmitted the infamous Zimmerman Telegram proposing a German-Mexican alliance against the U.S. Who was I?
Answer:
German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmerman.
15) We were German submarines that sunk civilian ships bringing supplies to Britain, helping lead to America’s entry into the war. What were we nicknamed?
Answer:
U-Boats (from Unterseeboot).
Riddles About Major Battles in World War I
16) Lasting over 300 days, I was one of the longest and bloodiest battles in military history, ending in a failed British and French offensive with over 1 million casualties. Where was I fought?
Answer:
The Battle of Verdun along the Western Front.
17) I was an amphibious invasion fleet thwarted by the Turks in 1915, triggering a disastrous eight-month campaign remembered for its tactical blunders. Where did this battle take place?
Answer:
Gallipoli Peninsula/Dardanelles campaign.
18) We were young Australian and New Zealander Army Corps whose courage and resilience in seizing the Gallipoli beachheads was described as marking “the birth of our nations”. Who are we?
Answer:
The ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps).
19) I closed the brutal Battle of Gallipoli, leading to an evacuation of Allied forces after eight months of stalemate and 250,000 casualties. What was the name of this successful withdrawal operation?
Answer:
The Gallipoli evacuation.
20) We were elite Ottoman snipers like crackshots Hassan and Ismail who helped stall the Gallipoli invasion. What nickname did Allied soldiers give us?
Answer:
“The White Death”.
21) After initial success, my 1916 massive French-led offensive along 25 miles of the Western Front became mired in attritional trench warfare. Over 500,000 were lost in the campaign’s failure. What was I called?
Answer:
The Battle of Verdun.
22) Launched on July 1, 1916, I was the first day of the Battle of the Somme and remains the bloodiest day in British military history with over 57,000 casualties. What day was I?
Answer:
July 1, 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
23) We were highly disciplined German parachute infantry described as “stormtroopers” who pioneered infiltration tactics in the Spring Offensive of 1918 before being halted by Allied reinforcements. What elite troops were we?
Answer:
The German Stormtroopers.
24) Breaking years of stalemate, these surprise German offensives came dangerously close to splitting the British and French armies before the Allies rallied at the Second Battle of the Marne and turned the tide. What surprise attacks were these?
Answer:
The Spring Offensives of 1918.
25) Embarking from Egypt, I led combined British and Arab forces on an epic two-year campaign against the Ottomans, marching north through the desert to capture Damascus in 1918. Who was I?
Answer:
General Edmund Allenby.
26) Fought from August-September 1918 near Somme, my counterattack led by the British Fourth Army overwhelmed German defenders using tanks, aircraft, artillery, and infantry, a foretaste of modern combined arms warfare. What battle was I?
Answer:
The Battle of Amiens, the Allies’ all-arms “Hundred Days Offensive” beginning August 8, 1918.
27) Launched in June 1918, these German flying columns with infiltration tactics smashed through weak Italian lines along the Piave River in Austria’s final major offensive success. What Italian defeat was this?
Answer:
The Battle of Caporetto.
28) After four years of stalemate, these surprise German offensives in Spring 1918 came dangerously close to splitting the British & French before being contained at Marne and Allies rallying in the war-ending Hundred Days Offensive. What were they?
Answer:
Germany’s Spring Offensives of 1918.
Riddles About Weapons & Technology Used in World War I
29) I terrorized soldiers in the trenches with my mechanical rattling roar, capable of firing 600 rounds per minute across No Man’s Land. What deadly machine gun was I?
Answer:
The German MG08 Maxim gun.
30) We were shells filled with chlorine, mustard, and phosgene gases deployed widely before later treaties banned these cruel blinding and suffocating chemicals. What were we called?
Answer:
Chemical weapons.
31) Over 5,000 of us ominous metal beasts noisily debuted en masse under French command at the 1916 Battle of Flers-Courcelette, the first use of tanks in combat. What mechanical vehicles were we?
Answer:
The first military tanks.
32) Carrying the Allies’ largest naval gun ever made, we were the infamous railway superguns like “Gentle Annie” that mercilessly shelled German garrisons from over 20 miles away. What very long-range guns were we?
Answer:
Railway Guns, including the Paris Gun and Big Bertha howitzers.
33) We were German rigid airships, best known for the LZ 129 Hindenburg, used to bomb London in WWI before crashing spectacularly years later in New Jersey during peacetime. What type of aircraft were we?
Answer:
Zeppelins/Airships/Dirigibles.
34) Designed to hunt submarines, I was a warship named after the First Sea Lord drowned with 1,500 sailors when astonishingly sunk by a single German U-boat torpedo. What ill-fated vessel was I?
Answer:
HMS Audacious.
35) These portable devices using sonar underwater sound waves were key to combating the U-boat menace. What defensive weapons were they?
Answer:
Depth charges against submarines.
36) With synchronized machine guns firing through propellers, we ruled the skies by war’s end after primitive beginnings with pilots waving at each other in 1914. What type of support aircraft were we?
Answer:
Fighter planes/aircraft.
37) I could send messages by manipulating wireless telegraphy signals, helping ships avoid threats. Who was I?
Answer:
Radio technology.
38) Built in response to Germany’s Paris Gun, these long-range cannons had 174 km (108 mi) range but never saw action. What monster guns were they?
Answer:
American superguns the Mark I “Admiral” railway guns.
Riddles About Impacts & Effects of World War I
39) The Great War devastated a generation and ate up the youth of Europe in four years of industrialized slaughter, ending with victory for the _______ powers.
Answer:
Allied.
40) U.S. President Wilson promoted these idealistic principles like self-determination of peoples, open diplomacy, freedom of navigation, and a League of Nations to try to justify the war carnage. What were they called?
Answer:
Wilson’s Fourteen Points.
41) Signed on November 11, 1918 in Compiegne and going into effect in 1920, I officially ended the Great War after 4 years of industrialized bloodshed. What armistice treaty was I?
Answer:
The Treaty of Versailles.
42) Negotiated by the “Big Four” Allied leaders, I was the 1919 Paris Peace Conference agreement reshaping post-WWI Europe and assigning blame for the war. What treaty was I?
Answer:
The Treaty of Versailles.
43) Implemented by Treaty of Versailles on Germany, I imposed punishing debt repayments on the Weimar Republic, bitter provisions opposed by John Maynard Keynes in his prescient 1919 book. What was I called?
Answer:
War reparations on Germany.
44) Redrawing the map of Europe, new countries like Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Poland gained nationhood while old empires dissolved after the Great War. What geo-political process was this?
Answer:
Balkanization and the breakup of empires like Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Empire into smaller ethnic nation-states.
45) My outbreak sparked the Russian Revolutions of 1917, the rise of Communism under Lenin and Stalin, and birth of the totalitarian Soviet Union which emerged as a global superpower after WWII. What great conflict was I?
Answer:
World War I set in motion consequences leading to rise of Soviet communism.
Conclusion
Ranging from causes to battles and consequences, these 45 riddles covered major events, technologies, outcomes and impacts of World War I both during and after 1914-1918 period. How many were you able to correctly guess? The Great War fundamentally reshaped Europe, the Middle East, global order and the 20th century itself in ways still reverberating today. With over 20 million killed, it remains one of saddest chapters showing war’s utter futility and capacity for mass violence. Yet the courage in soldiers’ Christmas truce showed that humanity can still glimpse peace even in darkest times. As the old adage goes, “truth is the first casualty of war”—so perhaps lasting wisdom comes through promoting greater understanding between peoples to settle differences through diplomacy instead of through another tragic industrialized world war.
