'One of the first books that anyone should read in beginning to try to understand this war and this century' New York Times Book Review

It was to be the war to end all wars, and it began at 11.15 on the morning of June 28, 1914, in an outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire called Sarajevo. It would end officially almost five years later. Unofficially, it has never ended: The horrors we live with today were born in the First World War.

It left millions - civilians and soldiers - maimed or dead. And it left us with new technologies of death: tanks, planes, and submarines; reliable rapid-fire machine guns, poison gas and chemical warfare. It introduced us to unrestricted war on civilians and mistreatment of prisoners. Most of all, it changed our world. In its wake, empires toppled, monarchies fell, whole populations lost their national identities as political systems and geographic boundaries realigned. Instabilities were institutionalised, enmities enshrined. Manners, mores, codes of behaviour, literature, education and class distinctions - all underwent a vast sea change. In all these ways, the twentieth century can be said to have been born on the morning of June 28, 1914.

'One of the first books that anyone should read in beginning to try to understand this war and this century' New York Times Book Review

About the Author
Born in London in 1936 and now resident in north London, Sir Martin Gilbert was educated at Highgate School and Magdalene College, Oxford. An outstanding historian of the 20th century, he became the official biographer of Sir Winston Churchill in 1968 and has written to great acclaim on the Holocaust and the events of the Second World War.

Reviews
Written by one of our generation's most respected historians, it charts the Great War from its inception with a rigorous attention to dates, facts and statistics but coloured in with human perspective and poetry * BIG ISSUE IN THE NORTH *
One of the first books that anyone should read in beginning to try to understand this war and this century * New York Times Book Review *
Written by one of our generation's most respected historians, it charts the Great War from its inception with a rigorous attention to dates, facts and statistics but coloured in with human perspective and poetry * BIG ISSUE IN THE NORTH *



Book Information
ISBN 9781409102793
Author Sir Martin Gilbert
Format Paperback
Page Count 640
Imprint Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Publisher Orion Publishing Co
Weight(grams) 988g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 157mm * 45mm