<strong>The First World War</strong> created the modern world. A conflict of unprecedentedferocity it abruptly ended the relative peace and prosperity of the Vi... » 

The First World War created the modern world. A conflict of unprecedentedferocity it abruptly ended the relative peace and prosperity of the Victorianera unleashing such demons of the twentieth century as mechanized warfare andmass death. It also helped to usher in the ideas that have shaped our timesmodernism in the arts new approaches to psychology and medicine radicalthoughts about economics and societyand in so doing shattered the faith inrationalism and liberalism that had prevailed in Europe since theEnlightenment. With The First World War John Keegan one of our most eminentmilitary historians fulfills a lifelong ambition to write the definitiveaccount of the Great War for our generation.Probing the mystery of how a civilization at the height of its achievementcould have propelled itself into such a ruinous conflict Keegan takes usbehind the scenes of the negotiations among Europes crowned heads all of themrelated to one another by blood and ministers and their doomed efforts todefuse the crisis. He reveals how by an astonishing failure of diplomacy andcommunication a bilateral dispute grew to engulf an entire continent.But the heart of Keegans superb narrative is of course his analysis of themilitary conflict. With unequalled authority and insight he recreates thenightmarish engagements whose names have become legendVerdun the Somme andGallipoli among themand sheds new light on the strategies and tacticsemployed particularly the contributions of geography and technology. No lesscentral to Keegans account is the human aspect. He acquaints us with thethoughts of the intriguing personalities who oversaw the tragicallyunnecessarycatastrophefrom heads of state like Russias hapless tsar Nicholas II torenowned warmakers such as Haig Hindenburg and Joffre. But Keegan reserves hismost affecting personal sympathy for those whose individual efforts history hasnot recordedthe anonymous mil «