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The Pity of War (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)

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World War I was the defining event of the twentieth century. The period 1914-1918 stands as one of the watersheds of history; it reshaped the world made by the French Revolution and brought to an end one hundred years of unparalleled peace, prosperity, and political progress in Europe. The Great War’s immediate impact was profound— ten million lives lost and an economic cost almost incalculable. Its effects were far-reaching. Four empires—the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Turkish—were defeated and destroyed. The victorious British and French empires survived,...

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