The Great War

Ferro, Marc. The Great War, 1914-1918. (1987). Routledge & Kegan Paul.

The war had come as a revelation, a detonator that blew up one element of the old system of authority. Before the signature of peace treaties-which themselves contained the seeds of a new war-the Great War was already pregnant with the civil conflict which, to this day, divides society. (213)

Ferro explains why the war of 1914-1918 was unique in human history. He shows how a set of separate but connected conflicts-from the mud of Flanders to the empty plains of Russia, a war fought under the ocean in submarines, as well as in the steamy heat of East Africa-formed a new style of war. He shows a conflict which engulfed the whole world, directly or indirectly. Ferro reveals how statesmen unwittingly loosed uncontrollable social forces, like nationalism and religious hatred, onto the world in an effort to win.

I consider this the best short work on World War I. It is a great introduction to a great conflict. Ferro's thesis still holds true today. Many of the conflicts in this world can be traced back to the bullet that killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand.