A documentary work can be more exciting than the most exciting detective story, because the reality of the story is more interesting than any fiction. Barbara Tuckman's acclaimed book is brilliant proof of this. It is read and reread, republished and sold out, and has been awarded one of the world's highest literary awards - the Pulitzer Prize. How and why did the First World War begin? What an inexorable logic of events gradually pulled the powers, which, in essence, did not want to fight, into a bloody whirlpool. What secret mechanisms of history, almost accidentally set into motion, gave impetus to the gigantic war machine? Why did the Schlieffen plan, verified down to the second, down to the millimeter by the best specialists of the German General Staff, ultimately collapse?..