The root causes of the First World War are still debated, though there is no doubt who its first victims were, or that a scruffy student — a serf in an empire propped up by the poor — pulled the trigger. But, as journalist Hamida Ghafour writes in this excerpt from a new Star ebook, The Winter Before the War, the signs of menace were muted as a severe winter gripped Europe a hundred years ago. (Read the ebook excerpt here.) Here, Ghafour answers questions about her book:

What was the First World War about?

Like generations of Canadians I was taught in school that the war was meaningless. About 36 million died or were wounded because some aristocrat and his wife were assassinated in the Balkans, where everyone had been fighting as long as anyone could remember. But this assessment is incorrect.

The First World War was about the most important question in international politics: who would rule the world and under the banner of which faith, as historian David Fromkin observes. The British empire had reached its zenith, Germany coveted an empire of its own, Russia was anxious about its great power status, the Muslim Ottoman Empire was falling apart, and so on.

What is this ebook about?

This is the first in the Star’s First World War series. I write about January to March 1914, the winter before the war began. I wanted to know what the people who brought the world such a catastrophe that summer were thinking and doing. I was shocked to learn that actually, none wanted or expected a war on the scale that happened.

Tensions were there, of course, especially in the Balkans but many assumed that the international system was working fine and whatever flared up in Serbia or wherever, would be resolved. Maybe there would be a skirmish or two. No one imagined that by the end of 1914, five million would be dead or wounded.

How did the war change the world?

It totally changed history and we are still living with the consequences.

The war brought the Russian Revolution, Communism, Nazism.

Out of the ashes of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires dozens of new countries, from Bulgaria to Yemen, were born. America emerged as a super power.

Britain and France colonized the Middle East and their poisonous legacy is evident in the turmoil today. The European Union too is partly a response to end warfare on the continent once and for all.

Canada played a vital role, particularly at the battle of Vimy Ridge and that helped forge our national identity.

What was pre-war 1914 like?

In many ways it was as modern and progressive as 2014.

The airplane and car had been invented. Electricity and railways were spreading. More people had access to information and news than ever before, thanks to new technology like the telegraph. There was a huge belief in globalization, free trade, science and rationality. Yet hundreds of millions of people were living in abject poverty or serfdom. There was social unrest, labour strikes in the cities and frightening militancy in the Balkans. Hardly any politicians had the leadership and imagination to solve these challenges.

It happened 100 years ago — why should anyone care?

One historian, Sir Hew Strachan, made the comparison with the Second World War. That war has been cast as just and necessary to defeat the evils of Nazism. Who can say Hitler was not a menace?

Partly because of 1939-45, we tend to see conflicts as simply between good versus evil, and conjure up the ghost of Winston Churchill.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

But the First World War does not have that privilege, Strachan pointed out. It remains morally ambiguous: was it worth it or not? Did we have to fight?

Even today no one agrees on who was ultimately responsible for World War I. Germany gets a lot of the blame but there are many underlying causes going back decades. These complex shades of grey are typical of most wars — just look at Syria. The public wants to know who are the good guys and the bad guys. Because there is no easy answer we switch off. Well, World War I was like that too, so it speaks volumes to us about how to debate the utility of a war.