A World Undone: The Story of the Great War 1914 to 1918

In this absorbing and epic account of the First World War, Meyer brilliantly tells how empires were shattered, nearly 20 million lives lost, and how the later calamities of the 20th century took root. nNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Drawing on exhaustive research, this intimate account details how World War I reduced Europe's mightiest empires to rubble, killed twenty million people, and cracked the foundations of our modern world nThundering, magnificent . . . A World Undone] is a book of true greatness that prompts moments of sheer joy and pleasure. . . . It will earn generations of admirers.--The Washington Times n nOn a summer day in 1914, a nineteen-year-old Serbian nationalist gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. While the world slumbered, monumental forces were shaken. In less than a month, a combination of ambition, deceit, fear, jealousy, missed opportunities, and miscalculation sent Austro-Hungarian troops marching into Serbia, German troops streaming toward Paris, and a vast Russian army into war, with England as its ally. As crowds cheered their armies on, no one could guess what lay ahead in the First World War: four long years of slaughter, physical and moral exhaustion, and the near collapse of a civilization that until 1914 had dominated the globe. n nPraise for A World Undone n n Meyer's sketches of the British Cabinet, the Russian Empire, the aging Austro-Hungarian Empire . . . are lifelike and plausible. His account of the tragic folly of Gallipoli is masterful. . . . A World Undone] has an instructive value that can scarcely be measured--Los Angeles Times n n An original and very readable account of one of the most significant and often misunderstood events of the last century.--Steve Gillon, resident historian, The History Channeln