The First World War was the world's first 'total war'. Although large-scale wars like the Napoleonic wars had ranged across many territories, the scale of the First World War was unprecedented. It was also the first war between modern, industrialised nations and mechanised warfare saw new and terrifying weapons deployed for the first time, including airplanes, tanks, zeppelins, giant warships and poison gas. Now, on the verge of the centenary of the start of the First World War, this fact-packed information book relates the unfolding events and the human stories in a way that brings history vividly to life.