'Taking the war year by year adds a further level of coherence which is then enhanced by the timeline that features as each new chapter (or year) opens.' -- Ferelith Hordon Books for Keeps 'The main 50 points aren't all just regarding key events - Verdun, Vimy Ridge et al. They bring many of the relevant areas of the war to life - from the women left working on the home front or the Italian situation to the use of tanks, planes, propaganda, chemical warfare... Quite often you get the empathy of the people alive through the decade, and therefore this book would hit many points on a teacher's curriculum.' -- John Lloyd thebookbag.co.uk

Born in London in 1944, Jim Eldridge left school at 16 and held a variety of jobs before eventually training as a teacher. He became a full-time scriptwriter and author in 1978 and has since written over 90 books with sales totaling over three million copies. The author of the best-selling My Story history series, published by Scholastic, he lives in London.

Contents: Introduction: European Royal families & the 'Arms Race' Introduction: Balkan Wars 1914 The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand Schlieffen Plan: German Troops Enter Belgium Mons and Horses The Battle of Tannenberg Marne, and Attempts to Take Paris The Race to the Sea and Ypres Trench Systems Anglo-Indian Forces Land in Mesopotamia German Navy Attacks British Seaside Railways The Christmas Football Truce 1915 The War in Africa Japan's Involvement Life in the Trenches Poison Gases Used Guns & Artillery Gallipoli Landings The War at Sea Carrier Pigeons; Code-breakers; Radio Communication Women at War War Wounds and Medicine Home Fronts & Civilian Impact 1916 Verdun Conscription/Joining Up The Battle of Jutland The Italian Front The Somme Tanks Propaganda and Censorship 1917 America Joins the War Vimy Ridge (Canadians) Who's Who: The Allies Who's Who: The Central Powers The War in the East The Mines of Messines China Joins the War Passchendaele Russia Withdraws from the War 1918 War in the Skies Spring Offensive The Hundred Days Kaiser Flees and Abdicates The Armistice The Surrender of the Last German forces in Africa Allies Take Palestine and Defeat Ottoman Empire The Treaty of Versailles After-effects of War Remembering the Fallen Glossary Index