The First World War was one of the seminal events of the twentieth century. The savagery of the fighting, the appalling conditions endured by the soldiers, and the sheer scale of the carnage have seared images of the War into the public memory: trenches, barbed wire, machine guns, artillery, and enormous cemeteries. Millions of men fought in the trenches, many died, and many more were maimed in mind or body.

This book shows the wide sweep of the conflict, describing the development of the fighting from 1914-1918, spotlighting some of the obscure but important actions as well as the major battles and the soldiers who fought them.