This collection of essays suggests some of the ways in which an interdisciplinary perspective may contribute to our understanding of the First World War. Its contributors examine the relationship between the character of the war and the nature of belligerent societies, and present original research on the comparative history of the Great War.

Pierre Purseigle is Lecturer in History at the University of Birmingham, England. A graduate from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Lyon, he is the co-editor, with Dr. Jenny Macleod, University of Edinburgh, of Uncovered Fields. Perspectives in First World War Studies (Brill, 2004).