7/1/1914: Countdown to WarBasic Books, 2013 M04 9 - 480 pages When a Serbian-backed assassin gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in late June 1914, the world seemed unmoved. Even Ferdinand’s own uncle, Franz Josef I, was notably ambivalent about the death of the Hapsburg heir, saying simply, “It is God’s will.” Certainly, there was nothing to suggest that the episode would lead to conflict—much less a world war of such massive and horrific proportions that it would fundamentally reshape the course of human events. As acclaimed historian Sean McMeekin reveals in July 1914, World War I might have been avoided entirely had it not been for a small group of statesmen who, in the month after the assassination, plotted to use Ferdinand’s murder as the trigger for a long-awaited showdown in Europe. The primary culprits, moreover, have long escaped blame. While most accounts of the war’s outbreak place the bulk of responsibility on German and Austro-Hungarian militarism, McMeekin draws on surprising new evidence from archives across Europe to show that the worst offenders were actually to be found in Russia and France, whose belligerence and duplicity ensured that war was inevitable. Whether they plotted for war or rode the whirlwind nearly blind, each of the men involved—from Austrian Foreign Minister Leopold von Berchtold and German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov and French president Raymond Poincaré—sought to capitalize on the fallout from Ferdinand’s murder, unwittingly leading Europe toward the greatest cataclysm it had ever seen. A revolutionary account of the genesis of World War I, July 1914 tells the gripping story of Europe’s countdown to war from the bloody opening act on June 28th to Britain’s final plunge on August 4th, showing how a single month—and a handful of men—changed the course of the twentieth century. |
Contents
Anger Not Sympathy | 23 |
No Quarter Given | 47 |
Unwelcome | 62 |
Sympathy and Impatience | 78 |
The Count Hoyos Mission to Berlin | 89 |
War Council in Vienna I | 106 |
Radio Silence | 114 |
Enter Sazonov | 125 |
Russia Prepares for War | 207 |
The Kaiser Returns | 223 |
You Have Got Me into a Fine Mess | 241 |
Slaughter It Is | 284 |
Last Chance Saloon | 306 |
Now You Can Do What You Want | 327 |
Britain Wakes Up to the Danger | 350 |
Sir Edward Greys Big Moment | 363 |
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27 July 30 July afternoon archduke army Asquith assassination August Austria-Hungary Austrian Balkan Balkan Wars Ballplatz Belgian Belgium Belgrade Berchtold Berlin Bethmann Britain British Buchanan cabinet Caillaux Cambon Chabrinovitch chancellor chief of staff Churchill cited in Albertini Conrad crisis declaration diplomatic dispatched Dobrorolskii emperor European Falkenhayn foreign minister France France and Russia France’s ambassador Franz Ferdinand Franz Josef French Friday frontier German German ambassador Germany’s Giesl Goschen Grabezh Grey Grey’s Habsburg Hoyos imperial informed Izvolsky Jagow Joffre Kaiser Wilhelm Kaiser Wilhelm II Lichnowsky London mediation Messimy military Moltke Monday morning naval neutrality night officers Paléologue Paris Pašic Period Preparatory Peterhof Petersburg Poincaré Pourtalès reply Russia Russia’s foreign minister Russian mobilization Sarajevo Sarajevo outrage Saturday Sazonov Schilling Schoen Serbia Serbs sovereign Sunday Szapáry Szögyény telegram Thursday tion Tisza told troops Tsar Nicholas tsar’s Tschirschky Tuesday ultimatum Vienna Viviani Wednesday Yanushkevitch