American Studies- 20th Century Resources: World War I

WRITTEN SPECIFICALLY FOR STUDENTS in fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, the ROAD TO WAR: CAUSES OF CONFLICT series focuses on the events leading up to five major wars in American and world history. Each book presents an in-depth look at the underlying reasons for these conflicts, clearly explaining important events and concepts. The attractive layout includes an easy-to-read typeface and more than 25 color photographs, illustrations, and maps. Even reluctant readers will be captivated by these concise explanations of how and why world-changing wars occurred.

An Economist Best Book of the Year A Financial Times Best Book of the Year Winner of the the Pushkin House Russian Book Prize Finalist for the Lionel Gelber Prize An Amazon Best Book of the Month (History) One of the world's leading scholars offers a fresh interpretation of the linked origins of World War I and the Russian Revolution "Lieven has a double gift: first, for harvesting details to convey the essence of an era and, second, for finding new, startling, and clarifying elements in familiar stories. This is history with a heartbeat, and it could not be more engrossing."--Foreign Affairs World War I and the Russian Revolution together shaped the twentieth century in profound ways. In The End of Tsarist Russia, acclaimed scholar Dominic Lieven connects for the first time the two events, providing both a history of the First World War's origins from a Russian perspective and an international history of why the revolution happened.   Based on exhaustive work in seven Russian archives as well as many non-Russian sources, Dominic Lieven's work is about far more than just Russia. By placing the crisis of empire at its core, Lieven links World War I to the sweep of twentieth-century global history. He shows how contemporary hot issues such as the struggle for Ukraine were already crucial elements in the run-up to 1914.   By incorporating into his book new approaches and comparisons, Lieven tells the story of war and revolution in a way that is truly original and thought-provoking.

Packed with striking photography, Eyewitness World War I explores one of the most brutal conflicts of the 20th century. Become an eyewitness to the first conflict fought on a global scale in this picture-led reference guide that will take you on a visual tour of World War One. Made in collaboration with The Imperial War Museum, children will be mesmerized by learning about the world-changing events that led to the start of the conflict. This beautifully illustrated guide for kids aged 9+ gives an insight into life in the muddy trenches and what it was like to be a soldier, along with a broader picture of the events that took place causing the war to start. Using striking full-color photographs and illustrations of warfare, weaponry, vehicles, maps, and secret documents, this is an eyewitness view of the conflict dubbed the "the war to end all wars". Throughout the pages of this newly-revised book on the First World War, you can expect to find:  - A fresh new look; new photographs, updated information, and a new "eyewitness" feature. - Amazing facts, updated diagrams, statistics, and timelines. - Brand new eyewitness accounts from experts in the field. Eyewitness World War I introduces the ultimate guide to the first global conflict, with more than 250 photographs illustrating the people, places and stories of the war. Children can learn all about military vehicles and tank warfare, the first ever gas attacks used during a war and Armistice and peace after four years of fighting. This all-encompassing guide to World War One is a must-have for curious children aged 9+ with a thirst for learning, as well as teachers, parents and librarians. So, what's new?  Part of DK's best-selling Eyewitness series, this popular title has been reinvigorated for the next generation of information-seekers and stay-at-home explorers, with a fresh new look, up to 20 percent new images, including photography and updated diagrams, updated information, and a new "eyewitness" feature with fascinating first-hand accounts from experts in the field. Explore the series! Globally, the Eyewitness series has sold more than 50 million copies over 30 years. Travel through the solar system with Eyewitness Space, learn the incredible systems that keep your body functioning with Eyewitness Human Body, or take a trip aboard the most famous ship in history with Eyewitness Titanic.

Between April 22 and May 30, 1915, Western civilization was shocked. World War I was already appalling in its brutality, but it had until then been fought on the battlefield and by rules long agreed by convention. Suddenly those rules were abandoned when Germany forever altered the way war would be fought. On April 22, at Ypres, German canisters spewed poison gas at French and Canadian soldiers in their trenches; on May 7, the German submarine, U-20, without warning, torpedoed the passenger liner Lusitania, killing 1,198 civilians; and on May 31, a German zeppelin began the first aerial bombardment of London and its inhabitants. Each of these actions violated rules of war carefully agreed to at the Hague Conventions of 1898 and 1907 and were deliberately breached by Germany in an attempt to spread terror and force the Allies to surrender. While that failed, the psychological damage caused by these attacks far outweighed the casualties. The era of weapons of mass destruction had dawned.While each of these momentous events has been chronicled in histories of the war, celebrated historian Diana Preston links them for the first time, revealing the dramatic stories and the personalities behind them through the eyes of those who were there--whether making the decisions to use the weapons or experiencing their horrifying effect in the trenches, on board the Lusitania or on the streets of London. Placing the attacks in the context of the centuries-old debate over what constitutes "just war," Preston shows how, in their aftermath, the other combatants felt the necessity to develop extreme weapons of their own. In our current time of terror, when weapons of mass destruction are once again implemented and threatened and wartime atrocities abound in a very different kind of conflict, the vivid story of their birth is of great relevance.

When a Serbian-backed assassin gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in late June 1914, the world seemed unmoved. Even Ferdinand's own uncle, Franz Josef I, was notably ambivalent about the death of the Hapsburg heir, saying simply, "It is God's will." Certainly, there was nothing to suggest that the episode would lead to conflict--much less a world war of such massive and horrific proportions that it would fundamentally reshape the course of human events. As acclaimed historian Sean McMeekin reveals inJuly 1914, World War I might have been avoided entirely had it not been for a small group of statesmen who, in the month after the assassination, plotted to use Ferdinand's murder as the trigger for a long-awaited showdown in Europe. The primary culprits, moreover, have long escaped blame. While most accounts of the war's outbreak place the bulk of responsibility on German and Austro-Hungarian militarism, McMeekin draws on surprising new evidence from archives across Europe to show thatthe worst offenders were actually to be found in Russia and France, whose belligerence and duplicity ensured that war was inevitable. Whether they plotted for war or rode the whirlwind nearly blind, each of the men involved--from Austrian Foreign Minister Leopold von Berchtold and German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov and French president Raymond Poincaré--sought to capitalize on the fallout from Ferdinand's murder, unwittingly leading Europe toward the greatest cataclysm it had ever seen. A revolutionary account of the genesis of World War I,July 1914 tells the gripping story of Europe's countdown to war from the bloody opening act on June 28th to Britain's final plunge on August 4th, showing how a single month--and a handful of men--changed the course of the twentieth century.

The hidden history of one of the world's greatest inventors, a man who disrupted the status quo and then disappeared into thin air on the eve of World War I--this book answers the hundred-year-old mystery of what really became of Rudolf Diesel. September 29, 1913: the steamship Dresden is halfway between Belgium and England. On board is one of the most famous men in the world, Rudolf Diesel, whose new internal combustion engine is on the verge of revolutionizing global industry forever. But Diesel never arrives at his destination. He vanishes during the night and headlines around the world wonder if it was an accident, suicide, or murder. After rising from an impoverished European childhood, Diesel had become a multi-millionaire with his powerful engine that does not require expensive petroleum-based fuel. In doing so, he became not only an international celebrity but also the enemy of two extremely powerful men: Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil and the richest man in the world. The Kaiser wanted the engine to power a fleet of submarines that would finally allow him to challenge Great Britain's Royal Navy. But Diesel had intended for his engine to be used for the betterment of mankind and refused to keep the technology out of the hands of the British or any other nation. For John D. Rockefeller, the engine was nothing less than an existential threat to his vast and lucrative oil empire. As electric lighting began to replace kerosene lamps, Rockefeller's bottom line depended on the world's growing thirst for gasoline to power its automobiles and industries. At the outset of this new age of electricity and oil, Europe stood on the precipice of war. Rudolf Diesel grew increasingly concerned about Germany's rising nationalism and military spending. The inventor was on his way to London to establish a new company that would help Britain improve its failing submarine program when he disappeared. Now, New York Times bestselling author Douglas Brunt reopens the case and provides an astonishing new conclusion about Diesel's fate. "Equal parts Walter Isaacson and Sherlock Holmes, The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel yanks back the curtain on the greatest caper of the 20th century in this riveting history" (Jay Winik, New York Times bestselling author).

An indispensable, sharply drawn account of America's pivotal-and still controversial-intervention in World War I, enlivened by fresh insights into the key issues, events, and personalities of the period, from the New York Times bestselling author of A World Undone

Now revised and updated, World War I: The Definitive Visual Guide takes you from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand to the Treaty of Versailles. Experience some of the most prominent battles, such as the Somme and Verdun, through compelling direct accounts from soldiers who fought and civilians who lived through World War I. Get a close-up view in photographic galleries of the impressive weaponry and equipment used throughout the war. Learn more about the key people, including David Lloyd George and Joseph Joffre. In this book, you will find: -Maps and a visual timeline to set the scene for the events to follow, highlighting when, where, and why things happened and changed history as they did -A list of commemorations that took place 100 years after the war and memorials worldwide built to honor those who died in the conflict.  -Chapters outlining timelines, battles, wars, raids, and the aftermath A world war guide for anyone interested in learning more about World War I, offering a true understanding of a war that changed the course of history. Explore galleries showing the key weapons, vehicles, and equipment. Eyewitness accounts contain gripping first-person testimony, as well as maps, photography, and key artifacts that illustrate the war and its changing technologies.

War erupted across Europe. The conflict grew to include the United States, and became known as The War to End Wars. Give readers an up-close examination of this event.

A century of material progress and growing prosperity led the nations of Western Europe to believe that they were in the vanguard of a new and peaceful world order. But their economic rivalries, backed by growing military establishments, finally degenerated to an extreme level of barbarity. World War I rocked the political balance of Europe, interrupted its economic growth, and decimated a generation of its youth. It began the disintegration of the colonial system that had seemed so permanent in 1914 and launched communism as a world force. World War I, Revised Edition provides a concise, highly readable portrait of this great conflict, with an emphasis on the critical role played by the United States. A new chapter added to this edition includes the military innovations in tactics and weaponry, giving readers a complete picture of the ""War to End All Wars.