The history of how the First World War was unleashed, of the role played by Emperor Franz Joseph, of the way in which the different nationalities in the Habsburg Monarchy reacted, and of the disintegration of an empire that had lasted over 600 years has lost none of its drama even today. However, much of the story behind these events is only now becoming clear. Here, politics and war are discussed, as is the alliance with Germany and the war as a state of emergency and as part of everyday life. This book, by one of Austria's leading historians, is a Central European encyclopaedia of the First World War.