setnets's review against another edition
4.0
This is an excellent history of the international diplomacy that took place between the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the outbreak of the First World War. McMeekin clearly lays out the order of events and the role of ambassadors, military leaders, policymakers and sovereigns in the collective disaster that was the Sarajevo crisis. Very readable.
socraticgadfly's review against another edition
3.0
This is not as bad as much of McMeekin's WWI books are. This is the first I've read, but I've read plenty of reviews of other books, which focus more on Russia's part in the war and clearly engage in clearly wrongly revisionist history. And so, that first sentence is damning with faint praise right there.
That said, this one itself isn't that good. It did fill in a few small corners of detail, especially in Vienna, but there wasn't nothing new in that; it was just where McMeekin chose to put part of his paints and brush.
It's off-putting in one BIG way, related directly to first paragraph. McMeekin can throughly Slavonicize the spellings of the names of every one of the Serbian assassination conspirators, and even cities in the Balkans, but can never do similar for a single Russian.
That said, this one itself isn't that good. It did fill in a few small corners of detail, especially in Vienna, but there wasn't nothing new in that; it was just where McMeekin chose to put part of his paints and brush.
It's off-putting in one BIG way, related directly to first paragraph. McMeekin can throughly Slavonicize the spellings of the names of every one of the Serbian assassination conspirators, and even cities in the Balkans, but can never do similar for a single Russian.
tanyarobinson's review
3.0
The objective of this book is to get down to the nitty-gritty on the build-up to World War I. It definitely achieves that objective. McMeekin pored through every scrap of correspondence, political memo, and so forth that he could find (which is a lot more since the former USSR and Easter Bloc countries opened their archives). And then he went step by step through every hour of every day in every country and with every diplomat. While he gave probably the most complete story ever told of July 1914, I found it tedious. I had to push myself through to the end of the book. The best part by far was the epilogue, which summarized what McMeekin had broken down over the previous 400 pages, and appropriated the blame for the war to the various parties involved.
persey's review
4.0
I'm bumping up my rating slightly, as this is a fascinating account of the back-and-forthing among the various government officials and diplomats in the month after the assassination. McMeekin's timetables, his pinning down of who said what and when, his delineations of the personalities involved are important and illuminating.
However, McMeekin has an ax to grind and grind it he does. If there were a drinking game devolving on various forms of the phrase "But Russia mobilized first," the reader would be blotto. Well, of course Russia, given its size and infrastructure issues (communication, transportation and supply), mobilized first. It had to. "Waiting and seeing" was not a good option for Russia. It's easy for the country which could mobilize fastest to wait until last and then play the blame game. This was a minor point at best and McMeekin ascribes far too much importance to it.
He even ends up contradicting himself. At one point he says that no one was backing down in the runup to the war, since they all thought they could win it. Truth, I think. But by the end, he says that Germany knew it would lose and that it had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the conflict. And that's just silly, IMO. Aside from the question of its motives which is definitely open for debate (the question of an offensive war v. a defensive war will never be settled), not only did Germany think it could win the war, it came close to winning on occasion and as late as the spring offensive in 1918.
The wrap-up was just embarrassing. McMeekin discusses sins of omission and sins of commission and the degree of guilt involved. He comes off like a seven-year old being prepared for his first confession. He would have been better served by repeating his major points and letting the matter of blame resolve itself. Plenty of blame to go around.
However, when the book was good it was excellent indeed and important reading for what happened in getting from Point A(ssassination) to Point B(ellicosity).
However, McMeekin has an ax to grind and grind it he does. If there were a drinking game devolving on various forms of the phrase "But Russia mobilized first," the reader would be blotto. Well, of course Russia, given its size and infrastructure issues (communication, transportation and supply), mobilized first. It had to. "Waiting and seeing" was not a good option for Russia. It's easy for the country which could mobilize fastest to wait until last and then play the blame game. This was a minor point at best and McMeekin ascribes far too much importance to it.
He even ends up contradicting himself. At one point he says that no one was backing down in the runup to the war, since they all thought they could win it. Truth, I think. But by the end, he says that Germany knew it would lose and that it had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the conflict. And that's just silly, IMO. Aside from the question of its motives which is definitely open for debate (the question of an offensive war v. a defensive war will never be settled), not only did Germany think it could win the war, it came close to winning on occasion and as late as the spring offensive in 1918.
The wrap-up was just embarrassing. McMeekin discusses sins of omission and sins of commission and the degree of guilt involved. He comes off like a seven-year old being prepared for his first confession. He would have been better served by repeating his major points and letting the matter of blame resolve itself. Plenty of blame to go around.
However, when the book was good it was excellent indeed and important reading for what happened in getting from Point A(ssassination) to Point B(ellicosity).
buttchinbookchin's review
4.0
This book is an incredibly detailed account of the events that precipitated the First World War. It's not exactly an exciting read, but very informational. It serves its purpose as a history very well but don't expect it to be a thrilling narrative
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