431 pages : 24 cm

"The First World War was a unique experience for the United Kingdom: the only time Britain fielded a mass army that opposed the main enemy in the primary theatre of war. One consequence of this 'continental commitment' was that Britain suffered many more casualties in 1914-18 than in the Second World War, a factor that has coloured post-1945 attitudes to 'the Great War'. Yet, as Gordon Corrigan reveals, the First World War was neither unnecessary nor badly conducted - two claims made with such frequency in the 1960s that they became the new orthodoxy. The British Army did make mistakes during the First World War, but most were honest errors made by men as well trained and as well prepared as they could be, given the unprecedented expansion of the pre-1914 army into a force of over three million men and women."--Jacket

Includes bibliographical references (pages 412-419) and indexes

1 An Unnecessary War -- 2 The Lost Generation -- 3 The Horrors of the Trenches -- 4 The Tools of the Trade -- 5 Government-Sponsored Polo Clubs -- 6 Frightfulness -- 7 The Donkeys -- 8 Kangaroo Courts and Firing Squads -- 9 A Needless Slaughter -- 10 More Needless Slaughter -- 11 The Frocks and the Brass Hats -- 12 Even More Needless Slaughter -- 13 Too Little, Too Late

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