In Catastrophe: 1914 Max Hastings, tries to find the answer to how World War I began. He traces how tensions across the continent kindled into a blaze of battles; analyses the power-brokering, vanity and bluff in the diplomatic maelstrom and reveals who was responsible for the birth of this catastrophic world in arms. Mingling the experiences of humbler folk with the statesmen on whom their lives depended, Hastings asks: whose actions were justified?