The Great War : Strategies and Tactics of the First World War

Fought on an unprecedented scale-in the sky on the land and in the water - the First World War marked the end of the old military order and the beginning of truly mechanised warfare. Expected to be a short almost surgically-neat war it did not turn out so - nor was it ''the war to end all wars.'' Although the participants could not have anticipated it at the beginning World War One was to prove a cataclysmic experience for nations and individuals alike. THE GREAT WAR surveys the period that began with Bismarck''s Prussia and ended with the creation of the League of Nations. It analyses the development of modern-day military theory and practice the geopolitical factors that fuelled the conflict and the devastating weaponry used by both sides. It provides a thorough examination of the significant campaigns of a war that changed the path of history. The original maps provided in the WEST POINT ATLAS FOR THE GREAT WAR both highlight the conflict''s key military battles and provide dates and unit numbers whilst also illustrating the importance of the terrain demonstrating the vastness of space in certain campaigns and showing the ebb and flow of battle.