The Global Impact of World War I

There is no getting away from the fact that there are going to be a lot of World War I related maps created in the next few years. Yesterday I was very impressed with an Esri Story Map which mapped the journey of one Australian soldier's life from rural Victoria to his death at Gallipoli.

John Henry Cartwright's Gallipoli Campaign is a very powerful and emotional map because it helps to convey the horror of World War I through the impact of the war on one man and his family.

The UK's National Archives has released an interactive WWI map which looks at the impact of the World War I by showing the effect the war had on countries around the world. The map concentrates not so much on the fighting in the trenches but on the global impact of the war. The First World War: A Global View allows you to select countries on the map to learn more about the country at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the country's role in the war and the effect the war had on the country.

As well as providing information about each of the countries, the map allows you to access and examine key documents held by the National Archives related to each country's participation in World War I.

Currently the map concentrates on the countries and territories that made up the British Empire in 1914. The National Archives plan to expand the map in the next four years to include content from Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, Africa and Asia.