Although there have been, and continue to be, many books written on a wide variety of aspects of the First World War, this work not only approaches the history of the war from a unique perspective, but also comprehensively covers many of these aspects. Utilising cards from the extensive, remarkably detailed and mostly contemporaneous issues of cigarette and trade card sets related to the First World War, the author provides a richly illustrated and descriptive tapestry of this great conflict. Not only are the usual political and armed services aspects of the war covered in detail, but also the many other less covered parts receive attention. These latter include regal aspects, and other components of the military such as armamentarium, awards, uniforms and militaria. Then the important role that propaganda played is also covered. The social and literary aspects of the war form an important part of the book. All these written details, a significant amount of which is drawn from the descriptions on the cards, complement the hundreds of card illustrations found throughout the work.

"Over 270 different cards of 132 individual aviators are included in this ground-breaking edition. Boelcke, Immelmann, the Richthofen brothers, Udet, and G?ring are just a few of the famed aces and Pour le Mé́rite flyers photographed by Postkarten-Vertrieb Willi Sanke. Each postcard is given full page coverage, accompanied by a brief history of each man, together with his victories and highest attained award"--Page 2 of cover.

The National Archives' celebrated First World War holdings include personal files of officers and other ranks, campaign medals, gallantry and meritorious service awards, courts martial and casualty lists. Its remarkable collection has records of Dominion forces and the Indian Army, the WAAC, the Royal Flying Corps and RAF, as well as auxiliary and nursing services. Over 10,000 individual unit war diaries cover all operational theatres of the British Army, while original trench maps illustrates areas from the Western Front to Salonica, Gallipoli to Mesopotamia, Palestine to Italy.

George C. Marshall was an American military leader, Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense. Once noted as the "organizer of victory" by Winston Churchill for his leadership of the Allied victory in World War II, Marshall served as the United States Army Chief of Staff during the war and as the chief military adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As Secretary of State, his name was given to the Marshall Plan, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953. He drafted this manuscript while he was in Washington, D.C., between 1919 and 1924 as aide-de-camp to General of the Armies John J. Pershing. However, given the growing bitterness of the "memoirs wars" of the period he decided against publication, and the draft sat unused until the 1970s when Marshall's step-daughter and her husband decided to publish it.