The campaigns and conflicts that shaped the course of the
Great War. On 25 December 1914, the trenches along the
Western Front fell silent. For one miraculous day, foes
turned into friends, with sworn enemies swapping cigarettes,
playing football and telling jokes. By 26 December,
thousands of these men lay slaughtered where they’d mingled
the day before, any hopes of a war over by Christmas
abandoned. In almost four and a half years of conflict, no
such truce happened again. Over the course of the following
pages, uncover the pivotal skirmishes of the Great War, from
Marne to Megiddo. Discover how the Gallipoli campaign shaped
the war, find out how the Somme became the bloodiest battle
in history, and learn why the Hundred Days Offensive came to
end the bloodshed.