Excerpt from A Brief History of the Great War The following pages constitute a connected story of the late war from its origins to the conclusion of the Peace of Versailles, not for the edification of "experts," military or other, but rather for the enlightenment of the general reader and student. A "definitive" history of the war will never be written; it is much too early, of course, even to attempt it. All that the author has here essayed to do is to sketch tentatively what seem to him its broad outlines - domestic politics of the several belligerents no less than army campaigns and naval battles, - and in presenting his synthesis to be guided so far as in him lay by an honest desire to put heat and passion aside and to write candidly and objectively for the instruction of the succeeding generation. The author is under special obligation to Messrs. Dodd, Mead and Company for the kind permission which they have accorded him of drawing freely upon the articles on "The War of the Nations" which he wrote in 1914,1915, and 1916 for their invaluable New International Year Book. In the opening chapter of the present work the author has also incorporated a few paragraphs from the last chapter of his Political and Social History of Modern Europe, to which, in a way, the Brief History of the Great War is supplementary. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.