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Go directly to the collection, Newspaper Pictorials: World War I Rotogravures, in American Memory, or view a Summary of Resources related to the collection.

During the World War I era (1914-18), leading U.S. newspapers took advantage of a new printing technique called rotogravure that produced richly detailed, high quality illustrations. This online collection, Newspaper Pictorials: World War I Rotogravures, includes Sunday rotogravure sections of the New York Times and the New York Tribune, as well as a portfolio of etchings published by the New York Times at the end of 1919, approximately a year after the armistice and six months after the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty. The latter portfolio, The War of the Nations: Portfolio in Rotogravure Etchings, contains 1,398 images with brief descriptive captions drawn from the “Mid-Week Pictorial” section of the Times.

Rotogravure sections in newspapers were immensely popular. The collages of photographs from the front lines captured the intensity of the fighting. Coverage of casualties and photographs of the destruction of total war helped influence how readers viewed world events and were important tools for promoting U.S. propaganda prior to entry into the conflict in 1917. Events of the war are detailed alongside portraits of noted personalities of the day, society news, and advertisements touting products, some of which are linked to the war.

Newspaper Pictorials: World War I Rotogravures enhances the study of U.S. history during the World War I era. It is an illustrated history of the Great War and offers insights into the social history of the era on the home front through pictorials of high society, fashion, the arts, celebrations, parades, and memorials. The collection includes a detailed timeline of pivotal events of the Great War and a series of essays on events and statistics of the war; innovative technology; the Lusitania disaster; propaganda; and the rotogravure process. Additionally, the collection chronicles events stemming from the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and the subsequent excursion of the American Expeditionary Force into Mexico prior to the U.S. entry into World War I.
The collection can be searched by keyword or be browsed by date and title. For browsing by date and title, it is useful to know that the New York Times collection begins in November 1913 and the New York Tribune begins in January 1916; the War of the Nations was published in December 1919.

Military Technology

model planes hanging from tree limbs
"Men of French Air Batteries Suspend Model
Airplanes to Be Shot at in Target Practice."
New York Times, October 14, 1917 [8].

During World War I, many of the previous instruments of warfare were improved upon, and new weapons were created that caused massive destruction. The War of the Nations featured numerous “weapons of deadly effectiveness.” The Germans developed “Big Bertha,” a huge cannon, capable of hurling 1-ton projectiles used in battering the Belgian fortress of Liege and French towns and fortifications. The French answered with a monster cannon. The United States also introduced heavy artillery pieces, the largest used on the Western Front in the last days of the war.

The airplane became one of the most celebrated weapons of warfare. First used for reconnaissance, the airplane became involved in aerial dogfights and bombing missions as the war progressed. Zeppelins were also used in bombing missions. In September 1916, 12 Zeppelins raided London, killing 28 and injuring 99 people. Training did not keep up with the rapidly developing aerial technology, however, as illustrated by the photograph showing model airplanes being used for target practice.

The tank was first introduced by the British on the Western Front in an attempt to break the deadly stalemate. The Germans quickly produced tanks of their own, as did the French. The use of tanks in the war logically resulted in the development of tank traps.

Chemical warfare was the most horrific weapon employed during World War I. Poison gas was used by the Germans at Ypres, Belgium, in 1915 and on the Eastern Front against the Russians near Baronvitsky. It was later used by the Allies. Numerous pictures appeared in the press showing soldiers and civilians wearing gas masks.
Examine some of the pictures of the changing technology of war listed below.

Read the essay on “The Increasing Power of Destruction: Military Technology in World War I.” Use information from the essay and the photographs you examined, as well as your own ideas, to answer the following questions:

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Last updated 08/19/2005