In 1914, Europe plunged into the twentieth century's first terrible act of selft-immolation - what was then called 'The Great War'. On the eve of its centenary, Max Hastings seeks to explain both how the conflict came about and what befell millions of men and women during the first months of strife. He finds the evidance overwhelming that Austria and Germany must accept principal blame for the outbreak. His narrative of the early battles will astonish those whose images of the war are simply of mud, wire, trenches and steel helmets. Hastings describles how the French army marched into action amid virgin rural landscapes, in uniforms of red and blue, led by mounted officers, with flags flying and bands playing. The bloodiest day of the entire Western war fell on 22 august 1914, when the French lost 27,000 dead.