The First World War was so terrible and so titanic a struggle that its memory haunts us still, even in the 21st century. No previous conflict had ever been as brutal or as vast in scale and its scars were so deep that it came to be known simply as 'The Great War'.The battles fought so ferociously on land, sea and in the air, form the narrative core of this study, with some challenging new interpretations of the military events. However, distinguished historian H.P. Willmott has also focused his penetrating investigation beyond the military chronicle to produce a discerning analysis of the war's labyrinthine causes and its wider consequences for politics, economics, culture and society.