The horrors of the First World War--trench warfare, human tragedy, and military blunders--are well known, yet the role of politicians and diplomats has strangely been neglected. Redressing this imbalance, David Stevenson focusses on the politics of the war: why the governments of the day resorted to violence in pursuit of their political objectives, why conflict expanded to a global level, the significance of the Russian Revolution, why it was impossible to achieve compromise, and why the eventual peace settlement took the troubled form that it did. Based on detailed research in recently opened archives, this book offers valuable insight into an important chapter of 20th- century