But on history’s clock it was sunset, and the sun of the old world was setting in a dying blaze of splendor never to be seen again.
-- Narrator (Chapter 1)

Importance: The beginning of the end of the importance and relevance of the old world’s monarchy is described.

The will to conquer is the first condition of victory.
-- General Ferdinand Foch (Chapter 3)

Importance: The French War College director believed that victory depended on spirit, strategy, and common sense.

Viviani was ‘haunted by a fear that war might burst from a clump of trees, from a meeting of two patrols, from a threatening gesture… a black look, a brutal word, a shot.
-- Rene Vivian (Chapter 7)

Importance: Viviani was the Prime Minister of France. The quote captures the pressures and stress that the French were under as the war approached.

Could this country stand by and witness the direst crime that ever stained the pages of history and thus become participators in...
-- Gladstone (Chapter 9)