Image: IWM (Q 50347)

Object associations

Our collections information

We have over 1.7 million object records online, and we are adding to this all the time. Our records are never finished. Sometimes we discover new information that changes what we know about an object, such as who made it or used it. Sometimes we change how an object is interpreted. We sometimes make mistakes in our spelling, transcription or categorisation, or miss information out of our records.

Read more about our collections and the information we hold. Developing our collections information

If you have concerns about the language in this record, or you have information to improve it, please share your feedback.

We receive a lot of comments and can't respond to each one, but we do read them all and will respond where we can.

Related content

Archduke Franz Ferdinand superimposed on a newspaper announcing 'War with Germany'
First World War

The causes of the First World War

By the summer of 1914, Europe was in a crisis. Just a few weeks before, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, had been assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serbian nationalist. Now, the continent’s largest armies were mobilising against each other with new nations joining the fight seemly every week. The world watched with bated breath as Europe marched to war. So what happened? How did a seemingly insignificant scuffle in South-Eastern Europe become a World War? And why did Britain decide to get involved?

A woman brewer securing the lid of a barrel of beer.
IWM Q 31065
First World War

10 Surprising Laws Passed During The First World War

The outbreak of war in 1914 brought many new rules and regulations to Britain. The most important of these was the Defence of the Realm Act (DORA), passed on 8 August 1914 ‘for securing public safety’. 

Albert Ball was one of the United Kingdom’s highest-scoring air aces.
First World War

8 Celebrity Air Aces Of The First World War

Aviation was one of the most romanticised elements of the First World War. 'Air aces' in particular achieved celebrity status both during and after the war and their photographs regularly appeared in newspapers. Of the eight aces listed here, seven were killed in action between 1916 and 1918 or died in flying accidents during or after the war.