The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 – Deckle Edge Author: Visit Amazon's Margaret MacMillan Page | Language: English | ISBN:
140006855X | Format: EPUB
The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 – Deckle Edge Description
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Macmillan, professor of international history at Oxford, follows her Paris 1919 with another richly textured narrative about WWI, this time addressing the war's build-up. She asks, What made 1914 different? and wonders why Europe walk over the cliff given the continent's relatively longstanding peace. She begins by addressing Germany's misfortune in having a child for King; Wilhelm II sought to secure Germany's—and his own—world power status by inaugurating a naval race with Britain. Britain responded by making unlikely friends with France and Russia. Germany in turn cultivated relations with a near-moribund Austria-Hungary. Macmillan tells this familiar story with panache. A major contribution, however, is her presentation of its subtext, as Europe's claims to be the world's most advanced civilization were being challenged from without and undermined from within. Exertions for peace were overshadowed by acceptance of war as a tool that could be used against enemies made increasingly threatening by alliance systems. The nations' war plans shared a deeply rooted faith in the offensive and a near-irrational belief in the possibility of a short war. Macmillan eloquently shows that turning out the lights was not inevitable, but a consequence of years of decisions and reactions: a slow-motion train wreck few wanted but none could avoid. Agent: Christy Fletcher, C. Fletcher & Company LLC. (Nov.)
From Booklist
Anytime something turns 100, the commemorations and look-backs are sure to come rolling in. Take WWI, which “celebrates” the 100th anniversary of its declaration come summer of 2014. Nevertheless, that war, as with most wars, was a long chain of events that culminated in disaster. MacMillan’s charting of those events comprises the bulk of this hefty text. She showcases how numerous royals, politicians, industrialists, colonial advocates, and military minds groped in the dark toward a showdown in which each nation’s respective valor could be tested. The trouble with a book like this is that everything can be lent a veneer of inevitability, but history rarely works in such a linear manner. But MacMillan, famous for her scholarship on the peace concluding WWI, avoids this trap. She shows, again and again, that events could have run in any number of different directions. What resulted was a blunder on the part of plenty of blood-stained hands all around that was far from inevitable. --James Orbesen
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- Hardcover: 784 pages
- Publisher: Random House (October 29, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 140006855X
- ISBN-13: 978-1400068555
- Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.6 inches
- Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
As a Brit, studying the First World War at school in the seventies, memories of the Second World War were still fresh and bitter enough amongst parents and teachers that there was never really a question that the Germans were the 'bad guys' in both wars while we (the Brits, primarily, though a little bit of credit was occasionally given to the Allies) were the knights in shining armour. Enough time has passed since both wars now for a more rational view to be taken and this book by Margaret MacMillan is a well balanced, thoughtful and detailed account of the decades leading up to 1914.
MacMillan begins by giving an overview of the involved nations as they were at the turn of the century - their political structure, alliances and enmities, their culture and economic status. She then takes us in considerable depth through the twenty years or so preceding the war, concentrating on each nation in turn, and going further back into history when required. She introduces us to the main players: political, military and leading thinkers. She explains how and why the two main alliances developed that divided Europe and shows the fears of each nation feeling threatened or surrounded by potential enemies. And she shows how this led to an arms race, which each nation initially thought would act as a deterrence to war. Throughout she draws parallels to more recent history and current events, sometimes with frightening clarity.
In the mid-section, MacMillan discusses public opinion and cultural shifts, highlighting the parallel and divisive growth of militarism and pacifism and how the heads of government had to try to reconcile these factions.
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