Rare WWI Color Photos

One hundred years ago this summer, sparked by the June 28 assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Europe plunged blindly into a global war that would leave nearly 10 million soldiers dead, twice that number wounded, countless civilians slaughtered or ruined, economies wrecked and empires toppled. Of the 15 photos included here, the vibrant blues and greens are the result of an early, experimental color-photography technique called autochrome lumiere, which involved adding natural color to a glass negative. A street in Verdun, France, after 8 months of bombing, Sept. 23, 1916. The return of a French column of Zouaves - light infantry regiments - from the border with Tripolitaine, at the garrison Medenine, in southern Tunisia, March 20, 1916. French soldiers in front of the Voevre during the Battle of Verdun on the Western Front in France, September 1916. Anti-aircraft guns mounted on vehicles in action during the battle of Verdun on the Western Front in France, September 1916. A Nieuport 10 biplane during the Battle of the Marne, east of Paris, September 1914. A group of French artillerymen with 75 mm guns during the Battle of Verdun on the Western Front, France, September 1916. Zouave infantry troops of the French army at Barcy, France during the Battle of the Marne, September 1914. A French brigadier and his horse during the Battle of the Marne, east of Paris, September 1914. Three French soldiers in the woods with a Howitzer during the Battle of Verdun on the Western Front, France, September 1916. Canadian soldiers working in a sawmill, in Quesmy, France, 1917. French soldiers and vehicles of the mobile air defense during the Battle of Verdun on the Western Front, September 1916. Belgian soldiers guarding a bridge after the beginning of the occupation of the Demilitarized Zone in the Rhineland carried out by Belgian and French troops, Germany, 1921. A family flees from German invasion during the Battle of the Marne, east of Paris, September 1914. Five French soldiers clear rubble in the ruins of Reims, France, which was destroyed by German artillery and air raids, 1917. A French military cemetery at the Battle of Verdun on the Western Front, France, September 1916.

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