I was at an antique shop yesterday and picked up an interesting book, a salesman's sample of "The Nations of Europe: The Causes and Issues of the Great War".

What's interesting about it is that it was published in 1914, shortly after the war started. It's neat to see what was thought about the war early on, and of the forces involved. There's one picture of the Austrian army training with a caption that says "They are rated as among the world's finest soldiers." :)

There lots of great pictures, with captions that seem somewhat amusing in hindsight. There's a picture of a German airship above British ships, with a caption saying that the zepplin is capable of destroying the entire fleet with its bombs and that aircraft such as that will play an important part in the struggle. There's also a picture of a French submarine from pre-war training maneuvers, with the claim that the submarine could have destroyed the entire fleet of battleships. The author seems to be very excited about new technologies...

The book goes on to give the reasons behind the outbreak of war, what new technologies and other factors make this war unique, etc. It also goes into the history of 19th century conflicts, and what to expect during the Great War.

I'm tempted to track down the full, 400 page version of the book, though the salesman's copy is interesting enough by itself...