Europe's last summer : who started the Great War in 1914? / David Fromkin

Includes bibliographical references (p. 331-336) and index.

Out of the blue -- The importance of the question -- A summer to remember -- Part 1: Europe's tensions -- 1. Empires clash -- 2. Classes struggle -- 3. Nations quarrel -- 4. Countries arm -- 5. Zarathustra prophesies -- 6. Diplomats align -- Part 2: Walking through minefields -- 7. The eastern question -- 8. A challenge for the Archduke -- 9. Explosive Germany -- Part 3: Drifting toward war -- 10. Macedonia-out of control -- 11. Austria-first off the mark -- 12. France and Germany make their play -- 13. Italy grasps: then the Balkans do too -- 14. The Slavic tide -- 15. Europe goes to the brink -- 16. More Balkan tremors -- 17. An American tries to stop it -- Part 4: Murder! -- 18. The last waltz -- 19. In the land of the assassins -- 20. The Russian connection -- 21. The terrorists strike -- 22. Europe yawns -- 23. Disposing of the bodies -- 24. Rounding up the suspects -- Part 5: Telling lies -- 25: Germany signs a blank check -- 26. The great deception -- 27. Berchtold runs out of time -- 28. The secret is kept -- Part 6: Crisis! -- 29. The fait is not accompli -- 30. Presenting an ultimatum -- 31. Serbia more or less accepts -- Part 7: Countdown -- 32. Showdown in Berlin -- 33. July 26 -- 34. July 27 -- 35. July 28 -- 36. July 29 -- 37. July 30 -- 38. July 31 -- 39. August 1 -- 40. August 2 -- 41. August 3 -- 42. August 4 -- 43. Shredding the evidence -- Part 8: The mystery solved -- 44. Assembling in the library -- 45. What did not happen -- 46. The key to what happened -- 47. What was it about? -- 48. Who could have prevented it? -- 49. Who started it? -- 50. Could it happen again? -- 51. Summing up -- 52. Austria's war -- 53. Germany's war.

From the author of the best-sellingA Peace to End All Peace(extraordinarily ambitious, provocative, and vividly written Washington Post Book World), a dramatic reassessment of the causes of the Great War. The early summer of 1914 was the most glorious Europeans could remember. But, behind the scenes, the most destructive war the world had yet known was moving inexorably into being, a war that would continue to resonate into the twenty-first century. The question of how it began has long vexed historians. Many have cited the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand; others have concluded that it was nobody's fault. But David Fromkin whose account is based on the latest scholarship provides a different answer. He makes plain that hostilities were commenced deliberately. In a gripping narrative that has eerie parallels to events in our own time, Fromkin shows that not one but two wars were waged, and that the first served as pretext for the second. Shedding light on such current issues as preemptive war and terrorism, he provides detailed descriptions of the negotiations and incisive portraits of the diplomats, generals, and rulers the Kaiser of Germany, the Czar of Russia, the Prime Minister of England, among other key players. And he reveals how and why diplomacy was doomed to fail.