July 1914: Countdown to War

When an assassin gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in late June 1914, no one could have imagined the shocking bloodshed that would soon follow. Indeed, as award-winning historian Sean McMeekin reveals in July 1914, World War I might indeed have been avoided entirely had it not been for the actions of a small group of statesmen in the month after the assassination. Whether they plotted for war or rode the whirlwind nearly blind, these men sought to capitalize on the fallout from Ferdinand's murder, unwittingly leading Europe toward the greatest cataclysm it had ever seen. A deeply-researched account of the genesis of World War I, July 1914 tells the gripping story of the month that changed the course of the 20th century.

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July 1914: Countdown to War

When an assassin gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in late June 1914, no one could have imagined the shocking bloodshed that would soon follow. Indeed, as award-winning historian Sean McMeekin reveals in July 1914, World War I might indeed have been avoided entirely had it not been for the actions of a small group of statesmen in the month after the assassination. Whether they plotted for war or rode the whirlwind nearly blind, these men sought to capitalize on the fallout from Ferdinand's murder, unwittingly leading Europe toward the greatest cataclysm it had ever seen. A deeply-researched account of the genesis of World War I, July 1914 tells the gripping story of the month that changed the course of the 20th century.

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July 1914: Countdown to War

July 1914: Countdown to War

by Sean McMeekin
July 1914: Countdown to War

July 1914: Countdown to War

by Sean McMeekin

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$17.99 
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Overview

When an assassin gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in late June 1914, no one could have imagined the shocking bloodshed that would soon follow. Indeed, as award-winning historian Sean McMeekin reveals in July 1914, World War I might indeed have been avoided entirely had it not been for the actions of a small group of statesmen in the month after the assassination. Whether they plotted for war or rode the whirlwind nearly blind, these men sought to capitalize on the fallout from Ferdinand's murder, unwittingly leading Europe toward the greatest cataclysm it had ever seen. A deeply-researched account of the genesis of World War I, July 1914 tells the gripping story of the month that changed the course of the 20th century.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780465060740
Publisher: Basic Books
Publication date: 04/29/2014
Pages: 480
Sales rank: 93,626
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Sean McMeekin is an assistant professor of history at Koç University. He is the author of four highly acclaimed books, including The Russian Origins of the First World War, which won the World War One Historical Association's Tomlinson Prize, and The Berlin -Baghdad Express, which won the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies' Barbara Jelavich Book Prize.

Table of Contents

Author's Note ix

Dramatis Personae xi

Chronology xvii

Prologue: Sarajevo, Sunday, 28 June 1914 1

I Reactions 21

1 Vienna: Anger, Not Sympathy 23

2 St. Petersburg: No Quarter Given 47

3 Paris and London: Unwelcome Interruption 62

4 Berlin: Sympathy and Impatience 78

II Countdown 87

5 The Count Hoyos Mission to Berlin 89

Sunday-Monday, 5-6 July

6 War Council in Vienna (I) 106

Tuesday, 7 July

7 Radio Silence 114

8-17 July

8 Enter Sazonov 125

Saturday, 18 July

9 War Council in Vienna (II) 136

Sunday, 19 July

10 Poincaré Meets the Tsar 145

Monday, 20 July

11 Sazonov's Threat 152

Tuesday, 21 July

12 Champagne Summit 159

Wednesday-Thursday, 22-23 July

13 Anti-Ultimatum and Ultimatum 167

Thursday, 23 July

14 Sazonov Strikes 176

Friday, 24 July

15 Russia, France, and Serbia Stand Firm 191

Saturday, 25 July

16 Russia Prepares for War 207

Sunday, 26 July

17 The Kaiser Returns 223

Monday, 27 Jidy

18 "You Have Got Me into a Fine Mess" 241

Tuesday, 28 July

19 "I Will Not Be Responsible for a Monstrous Slaughter!" 260

Wednesday, 29 July

20 Slaughter It Is 284

Thursday, 30 July

21 Last Chance Saloon 306

Friday, 31 July

22 "Now You Can Do What You Want" 327

Saturday, 1 August

23 Britain Wakes Up to the Danger 350

Sunday, 2 August

24 Sir Edward Grey's Big Moment 363

Monday, 3 August

25 World War: No Going Back 373

Tuesday, 4 August

Epilogue: The Question of Responsibility 383

Notes 407

Bibliography 431

Frequently Cited Sources 436

Other Works Cited 439

Index 445

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“[A] superbly researched political history of the weeks between the assassination of Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the beginning of World War I.... McMeekin’s work is a fine diplomatic history of the period, a must-read for serious students of WWI, and a fascinating story for anyone interested in modern history.”

Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
“[A] thoroughly rewarding account that spares no nation regarding the causes of World War I.... McMeekin delivers a gripping, almost day-by-day chronicle of the increasingly frantic maneuvers of European civilian leaders who mostly didn’t want war and military leaders who had less objection.”

Norman Stone, author of World War Two: A Short History
“Sean McMeekin is establishing himself as a—or even the—leading young historian of modern Europe. Here he turns his gifts to the outbreak of war in July 1914 and has written another masterpiece.”

Michael Neiberg, author of The Blood of Free Men
“Sean McMeekin has given us a riveting and fast-paced account of some of the most important diplomatic and military decisions of the 20th century. He depicts with chilling clarity the confusion, the incompetence, and the recklessness with which Europe’s leaders went to war in that fateful summer. Any understanding of the world we inhabit today must begin with an examination of the events of July 1914. McMeekin provides his readers with a balanced and detailed analysis of the events that gave birth to the modern age.”

James Sheehan, author of Where Have All the Soldiers Gone?: The Transformation of Modern Europe
“This is a meticulously researched and vividly written reconstruction of the decisions that lead to war in July 1914. McMeekin captures the human drama of this fateful month and offers a provocative assessment of the different players’ moral responsibility.”

Charles Hill, Diplomat in Residence at Yale University, Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and author of Trial of a Thousand Years: World Order and Islamism
“Winners write the histories, so wars are misunderstood. Sean McMeekin takes a wider stance to get a fresh angle of vision on The Great War, and casts all war-making in a new light.”

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