July 1914 : Soldiers, Statesmen, and the Coming of the Great War - A Brief Documentary History

Historians have long sought to explain how the world descended into war in the wake of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife on June 28, 1914. Focusing on the interactions between two key leaders--one civilian and one military--in each of the Great Powers and Serbia, this documentary history explores how individuals, not monolithic governments and impersonal forces, contributed to the rapidly escalating crisis leading to World War I. A brief introduction outlines the background for July 1914, followed by seven chapters on events in each of the major nations involved, interwoven with over 70 documents--including memoirs, diaries, telegrams, press reports, and private letters--to illustrate how the crisis developed. An epilogue addresses the relative roles and influence of civilian and military leaders in leading the nations inexorably along the path to war. The volume also contains 14 images and two maps, a chronology, a glossary of key figures, Selected Bibliography, Questions for Consideration, and an index.

SAMUEL R. WILLIAMSON, JR. is Professor of History and Vice-Chancellor and President Emeritus of the University of the South. His most recent books include Austria-Hungary and the Origins of the First World War (1991) and with Steven L. Rearden, The Origins of U.S. Nuclear Policy, 1945-1953 (1993). He writes frequently about the causes of the First World War, while offering courses on intelligence and foreign policy in the 20th century. He is currently working on a two-volume study of Austria-Hungary before the Great War. Williamson has held administrative and teaching positions at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as well as the University of the South.

RUSSEL VAN WYK teaches at Cary Academy, a college preparatory school, and is an adjunct faculty member in the Curriculum in Peace, War, and Defense at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He served as the U.S. editor for the War and Society Newsletter published by the Military History Research Office in Germany and has written on German-American relations during and after World War I as well as intelligence operations during the Great War. He is currently editing Russian and German documents related to Kurt Jahnke, a German intelligence agent active in the United States and Western Europe.