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If U really want to know about "the War" I would suggest reading books that were written in the late 1950s and 1960s. It was a period when many of the participants were writing their memoirs and the historians had access to first hand accounts and documents. The passions had died down and the memories were still fresh so that an acurate account could be given.

The following books I have found to be well written solid accounts of what transpired. Instead of the revisionist history that is being pawned off on the gulible today.

For a foundation:

"Guns of August"..Barbara Tuchman...about the beginings of WW1. JFK read the book and it helped him advert a hot WW3.

"1918"..John Toland...a very readable history of the last year of the Great War.

"Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William Shier. Shier was an American journalist in Germany before WW2 and saw first hand the rise of Nazi Germany. A bit ponderous and tedious to read

"Adolf Hitler" by John Toland, tells much the same tale as Shiers book but easier to read.