As we mark the centenary of the Great War, critical questions remain in contention: how the conflict really began, what roles the generals played in the carnage, what happened to the conscientious objectors and how the medical profession rose to the challenge of so many wounded. This book, based on ABC RN's weekend-long broadcast, draws on the work of the world's leading thinkers and historians to challenge and extend our understanding of the war that profoundly changed the world. Featuring the views of historian and journalist Paul Ham, Margaret MacMillan from the University of Oxford, Peter Stanley from UNSW, journalist and author Peter Hitchens and many others, this is a fresh and immensely readable view of the war and its continuing impact through the 20th century to the present day.