I vividly remember the stories my grandfather told me about the carnage of the First World War, which people tend to forget was one of the worst massacres in human history.

The idea of progress - the notion that human history is the history of human betterment - dominated the world view of the West between the Enlightenment and the First World War.

My father was in the First World War.

The First World War was a horror of gas, industrialised slaughter, fear, and appalling human suffering.

My dad was a big admirer of Sergeant York stories from the First World War.

Culturally, the First World War is the war that stands in for other wars.