More than eight decades later, the Great War - particularly the great battles such as the Somme and Verdun - continues to fascinate us and cast long shadows over our world today. In this volume, Peter Simkins re-examines the early years of the war's Western Front, shedding interesting new light on the nature, course, and effects of the fighting in France and Belgium from 1914 to 1916.

In this second volume devoted to the Western Front of World War I, Peter Simkins describes the last great battles of attrition at Arras, on the Aisne, and at Passchendaele in 1917. The book moves on to relate the successive offenses launched by Germany during the spring and summer of 1918 in an effort to achieve victory or a favorable peace before American manpower proved decisive. Questioning and debunking several myths and assumptions about the conduct of war on the Western Front, the author also looks at the aftermath and legacy of the 'war to end wars'.