How World War I Became a Religious Crusade

Over the past couple of years, I have been working on a book about the religious aspects of the First World War, to be published in this centennial year of 2014. It will appear this coming May, as The Great and Holy War: How World War I Became a Religious Crusade (HarperOne). It’s an ambitious work, which seeks to be global in its coverage – I draw heavily on original sources from all the major countries involved, especially Germany and France. I range widely in the types of evidence I use, with lots of visual materials, and delving deeply into the films of the period. I’d like here to explain where the idea came from, and how it developed.