The Great War not only destroyed the lives of over 20 million soldiers and civilians and wounded 21 million more, it also ushered in a century of huge political and social upheaval, led directly to the Second World War and altered for ever the mechanisms of government from the most distant post of Empire (of whatever nationality) to the core of the old world. And yet its causes, both long term and immediate, have continued to be shrouded in mystery, and to be the subject of falsification at the time - papers, diaries and memoranda shredded by the principals so that the record has been fantastically hard to set straight - and later of impassioned debate by scholars from its aftermath until today. But David Fromkin has taken a new approach to the problem, which leads in unexpected directions and reveals a new pattern in the happenings of that fateful July and August.