A reference history of the war

Preface

This volume has been prepared in order to meet the ever increasing demand for a reliable authentic history of the war in all its phases in one volume. Almost all the histories of the war that have been published to date have been written on specific aspects of the tremendous struggle. Those that cover the entire subject have been set before the public in many volumes, and, as a consequence, demand a large amount of time on the part of the reader. After the armistice was signed and the Peace Conference finished, the publishers of this volume determined to offer the reading public a compact history of the war in a single volume. This has been done with the result that a comprehensive but not detailed history of the war has been produced. It is narrated in an entertaining, scholarly style. The various chapter headings, War in Brief, Underlying Causes of the War, Military Operations, Naval Operations, Aerial Operations, Destruction of Art and Architecture, Alleged Atrocities, Peace Terms and War Aims, Neutral Nations, Economic and Financial Aspects, Peace Conference and Peace Treaties, etc., will show at a glance the scope of the volume. An index and bibliography of the most accessible books on the war have also been included. The material for the history of the war was gathered from the most reliable contemporary sources, and was edited from time to time in order to include new facts that were unearthed or to delete material that had been assumed true at the time it was incorporated but later proved contrary to fact. The basic material presented for the first two years was contributed by several members of the staff of the New International Encyclopaedia, namely, Colonel Cornells De Witt Wilcox, U. S. A. ; Professor F. H. Hankins ; Professor Nelson P. Mead ; Captain Lewis Sayre Van Duzer, U. S. N. ; Mr. Herbert T. Wade; and Mr. Irwin Scofield Guernsey. The bulk of the work has been done by Mr. Irwin Scofield Guernsey.

Frank Moore Colby, Editor-in-Chief, New International Encyclopaedia.