Abstract
The book is in the first place a history of Czech society in wartime, not a history of the Czech struggle for independence. In the first chapter the author shows the watershed that the conflict represented int the evolution of European civilisation.
Although the second chapter is largely based on secondary literary sources, it is one of the first endeavours to provide a more detailed description and assessment of the Czech military participation in the war. Futher chapters analysed the spheres of the "grand" and "small-scale" politics.
The abolition of the monarchy is treated in the last concluding part of the work.Today it is clear that the monarchy was not overthrown by domestic or foreign efforts of the "oppressed" nations. Far close to the truth is a model showing the downfall of the monarchy as a total collapse of the system.
World War I left in out history a much deeper mark than we were able to admit until now.