July 1914: Countdown to War

by Sean McMeekin

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465060740
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	04/29/2014
Pages:	480
Sales rank:	374,396
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Sean McMeekin is a professor of history at Bard College. The award-winning author of several books, including The Russian Revolution, July 1914, and The Ottoman Endgame, McMeekin lives in Red Hook, New York.

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.”

Editorial Reviews

"Almost impossible to put down...A punchy and riveting narrative."—R.J.W. Evans, New York Review of Books

"Gripping and well-researched...In prose of admirable clarity, [McMeekin] relates the enormously complex events of that fateful summer."—National Review

"Lucid, convincing and full of rich detail, the book is a triumph of the narrative method and a vivid demonstration that chronology is the logic of history."—Independent (London)

"A fascinating and original study of the opening stages of World War I."—Philadelphia Inquirer

"A work of meticulous scholarship...Irresistible."—Sunday Times (London)

From the Publisher

McMeekin’s newest (after The Berlin-Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany’s Bid for World Power) is a superbly researched political history of the weeks between the assassination of Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the beginning of World War I. Many historians believe that had Austria acted decisively in that interim, the “War to End All Wars” may have been averted. Instead, the Austrian government vacillated, finally taking decisive action after more than a month of convoluted and awkward diplomatic maneuvering. Relying on extensive research in numerous archives, as well as diaries and correspondence from key national leaders, McMeekin examines the intricacies of Austrian politics and diplomacy to explain the delay, carefully reconstructing the exploits of leading actors—particularly the Austrians and their crucial false assumption that Russia would not mobilize in defense of Serbia. Though the account is full of honest men making difficult decisions under extreme pressure, there are also numerous examples of intentional deceit, even among allies like Austria and Germany, and France and the United Kingdom. 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. 17 b&w images. Agent: Andrew Lownie, Andrew Lownie Literary Agency (U.K.). (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

McMeekin (History/Koç Univ.; The Russian Origins of the First World War, 2011, etc.) treads familiar ground but delivers a thoroughly rewarding account that spares no nation regarding the causes of World War I, although Germany receives more than its share of blame. Historians love to argue about who started World War I. Blaming Germany fell out of fashion soon after the Armistice succeeded, replaced by an interpretation that blamed everyone, exemplified by Barbara Tuchman's classic 1962 Guns of August. Within a decade, German scholars led another reversal back to their own nation's responsibility. Russia, huge and backward but rapidly modernizing, was the key. German military leaders led by Helmuth von Moltke, chief of the General Staff, believed Russia would attack Germany as soon as it felt confident of victory and that only a preventive war could save the nation. Austrian Archduke Ferdinand's murder by a Serbian terrorist proved a godsend. Austria yearned to crush Serbia, the pugnacious Balkan nation stirring up the Slav minority in Austria-Hungary's rickety empire. Von Moltke decided it was time to set matters right since Austria's cooperation was guaranteed. Russia's refusal to stop mobilizing in support of Serbia allowed him to warn that it was about to attack and that Germany had to strike first. It did so by invading Belgium on August 4, the act that made war inevitable. Tuchman remains irresistible, and David Fromkin's Europe's Last Summer (2004) is the best modern history, but 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.

Kirkus Reviews