"Provides a comprehensive account of the alliances and tensions that triggered the Great War; details the horrors of trench warfare and the new weapons used in the conflict; provides an overview of the war's key offensives; and explains the legacy of the war. Includes biographies, primary sources, and more"--Provided by publisher.

How to use this book -- Research topics for defining moments: World War I and the birth of modern warfare -- Narrative overview -- Origins of "The Great War" -- New military technologies unleashed -- Life and death in the trenches -- A new kind of war for civilians -- The United States joins the Allies and Russia backs out -- The war grinds to a gruesome end -- Legacy of World War I -- Biographies -- Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929) -- French general and Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies -- Douglas Haig (1861-1928) -- British Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) -- David Lloyd George (1863-1945) -- British Prime Minister from 1916 to 1922 -- Erich Ludendorff (1865-1937) -- German general and chief architect of the spring 1918 German offensive -- Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918) -- Emperor of Russia during World War I -- John J. Pershing (1860-1948) -- Commander of American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in World War I -- Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) -- German Emperor during World War I -- Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) -- President of the United States during World War I -- Primary sources -- Starting down the path to war -- On the eve of war -- France celebrates victory in the Battle of the Marne -- The United States protests the sinking of the Lusitania -- A German witness to genocide in Turkey -- The "lust of butchery" at Verdun -- A British officer at the Western Front -- A soldier gives thanks for a battle wound -- The terror of gas warfare -- A German soldier's crisis of conscience -- The Zimmerman Telegram -- Wilson urges Congress to declare war against Germany -- Wilson's Fourteen Points -- Ludendorff praises Germany's 1918 Spring Offensive -- Haig issues his "Backs to the Wall" order -- British forces occupy the German Rhineland -- Adolf Hitler fumes about the treaty of Versailles -- Britain's last veteran of the Great War passes away -- Important people, places, and terms -- Chronology -- Sources for further study.