July 1914: Countdown to War

by Sean McMeekin

  In the end, historians must make up their own minds about controversial matters such as responsibility for the outbreak of the First World War. An issue as explosive as this, as central to our understanding of modern history, can never be fully resolved by consensus. I invite readers wishing to know more to consult the sources themselves and to draw their own conclusions.

  Frequently Cited Sources

  Below is a list of frequently cited sources, listed alphabetically by the abbreviation used in the endnotes.

  Albertini

  Albertini, Luigi. The Origins of the War of 1914. 3 vols. Translated by Isabella M. Massey. New and updated edition, with introduction by Samuel R. Williamson Jr. New York: Enigma Books, 2005. First published by Oxford University Press, 1952–1957. Page references are to the 2005 edition.

  Asquith

  Asquith, H. H. Letters to Venetia Stanley. Edited by Michael and Eleanor Brock. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982.

  AVPRI

  Arkhiv Vneshnei Politiki Rossiiskoi Imperii. Moscow, Russia.

  BD

  British Documents on the Origins of the War, 1898-1914. Edited by G. P. Gooch and Harold Temperley. 13 vols. London: H. M. S. O., 1926–1938.

  Beatty

  Beatty, Jack. The Lost History of 1914: How the Great War Was Not Inevitable. London: Bloomsbury, 2012.

  Bethmann

  Bethmann Hollweg, Theobald von. Betrachtungen zum Weltkriege. Edited by Jost Dülffer. 2 vols. Essen: Reimar Hobbing, 1989.

  Churchill

  Churchill, Winston. The World Crisis. 6 vols. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1951–1959.

  Conrad

  Conrad von Hötzendorf, Franz. Aus meiner Dienstzeit. 4 vols. Vienna: Rikola Verlag, 1921–1925.

  DD

  Die deutschen Dokumente zum Kriegsausbruch. Edited by Karl Kautsky, Max Montgelas, and Prof. Walter Schücking. 4 vols. Charlottenburg, Berlin: Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft für Politik und Geschichte, 1919.

  DDF

  Documents diplomatiques français (1871–1914). 41 vols. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1929–1959.

  Dobrorolskii

  Dobrorolskii, Sergei. Die Mobilmachung der rusischen Armee 1914. Berlin: Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft für Politik und Geschichte, 1922.

  Erenyi

  Erenyi, Gustav. Graf Stefan Tisza, ein staatsmann und märtyrer. Vienna: E. P. Tal, 1935.

  Fay

  Fay, Sidney Bradshaw. The Origins of the World War. 2 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1935. All translations Fay’s, unless otherwise noted.

  Fromkin

  Fromkin, David. Europe’s Last Summer: Who Started the Great War in 1914? New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.

  GARF

  Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii. Moscow, Russia.

  Geiss

  Julikrise und Kriegsausbruch 1914. 2 vols. 2nd ed. Bonn-Bad Godesberg: Verlag Neue Gesellschaft GmbH, 1976.

  Grey

  Grey, Edward, Viscount (“of Fallodon”). Twenty-Five Years, 1892–1916. 2 vols. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1925.

  Hantsch

  Hantsch, Hugo. Leopold Graf Berchtold, Grandseigneur und Staatsmann. Graz: Verlag Styria, 1963.

  HHSA

  Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv. Vienna.

  IBZI

  Internationale Beziehungen im Zeitalter des Imperialismus. Edited by M. N. Pokrovskii. 8+ vols. Berlin: R. Hobbing, 1931–.

  Jannen Jr.

  Jannen Jr., William. The Lions of July: Prelude to War, 1914. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1996.

  Jarausch

  Jarausch, Konrad. The Enigmatic Chancellor: Bethmann Hollweg and the Hubris of Imperial Germany. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1973.

  Kokovtsov

  Out of My Past: The Memoirs of Count Kokovtsov, Russian Minister of Finance, 1904–1914, Chairman of the Council of Ministers. Edited by H. H. Fisher. Translated by Laura Matveev. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1935.

  Lloyd George

  Lloyd George, David. War Memoirs of David Lloyd George. 6 vols. Boston: Little, Brown, 1933–1937.

  LN

  Un livre noir: Diplomatie d’avant-guerre d’après les documents des archives russes, Novembre 1910-Juillet 1914. Preface by René Marchard. Paris: Librairie du travail, 1922.

  Marcus

  Marcus, Geoffrey Jules. Before the Lamps Went Out. London: Allen & Unwin, 1965.

  Neiberg

  Neiberg, Michael. Dance of the Furies: Europe and the Outbreak of World War I. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press / Belknap, 2011.

  Nikitsch-Boulles

  Nikitsch-Boulles, Paul. Vor dem Sturm: Erinnerungen an Erzherzog Thronfolger Franz Ferdinand. Berlin: Verlag für Kulturpolitik, 1925.

  Oe-U

  Österreich-Ungarns Aussenpolitik von der bosnischen Krise 1908 bis zum Kriegsausbruch 1914. Edited by Ludwig Bitter et al. 9 vols. Vienna: Österreichischer Bundesverlag für Unterricht, Wissenschaft und Kunst, 1930.

  PAAA

  Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amtes. Berlin.

  Paléologue

  Paléologue, Maurice. An Ambassador’s Memoirs. Translated by F. A. Holt. 3 vols. London: Hutchinson, 1923–1925.

  PBM

  Peter Bark Memoirs. Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York.

  Pharos

  Der Prozeß gegen die Attentäter von Sarajewo. Edited by Professor Pharos. Berlin: R. v. Decker’s Verlag, 1918.

  Poincaré

  Poincaré, Raymond. Memoirs of Raymond Poincaré. Translated by Sir George Arthur. 3 vols. London: William Heinemann, 1930.

  Pourtalès

  Pourtalès, Friedrich. Meine Letzten Verhandlungen in St. Petersburg, Ende Juli 1914: Tagesaufzeichnung und dokumente. Berlin: Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft für Politik und Geschichte, 1927.

  PRO

  National Archives of the United Kingdom. Kew Gardens, London.

  QO

  Quai d’Orsay Archives. Paris. Correspondence politique et commerciale dite “nouvelle série,” 1896–1918.

  RGVIA

  Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Voenno-Istoricheskii Arkhiv. Moscow.

  Sazonov

  Sazonov, S. D. Fateful Years, 1909–1916: The Reminiscences of Serge Sazonov, Russia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs. London: J. Cape, 1928.

  Schilling

  Schilling, M. F., Baron, ed. How the War Began in 1914: Being the Diary of the Russian Foreign Office from the 3rd to the 20th (Old Style) of July, 1914. Translated by Major W. Cyprian Bridge. London: G. Allen & Unwin, 1925.

  Schmidt

  Schmidt, Stefan. Frankreichs Aussenpolitik in der Julikrise 1914: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Ausbruchs des Ersten Weltkrieges. Munich: Oldenbourg, 2009.

  Schmitt

  Schmitt, Bernadotte E. The Coming of the War, 1914. 2 vols. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1930.

  Tirpitz

  Tirpitz, Alfred Peter Friedrich von. Mémoires du Grand-Amiral von Tirpitz. Paris: Payot, 1930.

  Tuchman

  Tuchman, Barbara Wertheim. The Guns of August. New York: Macmillan, 1962.

  Turner

  Turner, L. C. F. Origins of the First World War. London: Edward Arnold, 1970.

  Würthle

  Würthle, Fritz. Die Spur führt nach Belgrad: Die Hintergründe des Dramas v. Sarajevos 1914. Vienna: Molden, 1975.

  Zuber

  Zuber, Terence. The Real German War Plan 1904–1914. Gloucestershire: History Press, 2011.

  Other Works Cited or Profitably Consulted for This Work

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, Sir George William. My Mission to Russia and Other Diplomatic Memories. 2 vols. London: Cassell, 1923.

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  Churchill, Winston. The World Crisis: The Eastern Front. London: Thornton Butterworth, 1931.

  Danilov, Yuri. La Russie dans la guerre mondiale, 1914–1917. Translated by Alexandre Kaznakov. Paris: Payot, 1927.

  Erdmann, Karl Dietrich, ed. Kurt Riezler: Tagebücher, Aufsätze, Dokumente. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1972.

  Ferguson, Niall. The Pity of War. New York: Basic Books, 1999.

  Fischer, Fritz. Griff nach der Weltmacht. Die Kriegszielpolitik des Kaiserlichen Deutschland, 1914–1918. Düsseldorf: Droste Verlag, 1961.

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  ————. A Peace to End All Peace: Creating the Modern Middle East, 1914–1922. New York: H. Holt, 1989.

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  ————. July 1914: The Outbreak of the First World War; Selected Documents. New York: Scribner, 1967.

  Geyer, Dietrich. Russian Imperialism: The Interaction of Domestic and Foreign Policy, 1860–1914. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1987.

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  Hull, Isabel. The Entourage of Kaiser Wilhelm II. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982.

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