Raging for over four years across the tortured landscapes of Europe, the First World War changed the face of warfare forever. Characterized by slow, costly advances and fierce attrition, the battles of World War I frayed men's nerves and wracked their bodies, stripping individual life of its value and death of its dignity as the nations of the western world experienced loss on a scale never previously imagined. This book combines Essential Histories volumes 13, 14, 22 and 23 to provide a complete account of the Great War, covering the fighting in each of the major theaters, and examining the impact of war on the soldiers and civilians caught up in it. The political background to the war and its aftermath are also covered.