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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In 1999, or thereabouts, Joy de Menil, to whom I had been introduced briefly at a party, sent me a note favorably comparing my descriptions of the July crisis of 1914— in earlier writings—with accounts by other historians that had just appeared. The thought stayed with me when I had lunch soon afterwards with Ashbel Green, my editor at Knopf. I asked Ash what sort of book he wanted me to write for him next. He said he hoped for a work dealing with European history in a narrow time frame. The idea came immediately to mind: the thirty-seven days from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand until the outbreak of the First World War. So many brilliant new monographs had been researched and written by scholars in recent decades that I felt sure that if I put them together a new picture of the July crisis might well emerge.

As I started doing my reading for the book, I was struck by how many preconceived ideas had to be discarded. From such persuasive writings as those quoted in the text by John Maynard Keynes and A. J. P. Taylor, I had taken away the notion that prewar Europe lived in idyllic and peaceful times. Instead it was a torn, conflicted world caught up in the grip of an arms race that one might well have called suicidal. I searched for a metaphor and found it in commercial aviation: on the one hand, forces in the air that threaten destruction but at first, because they are invisible, remain unnoticed by the passengers; on the other, the contrast between passengers oblivious to danger, and captains and cabin crews keenly aware of it. I remembered reading news accounts of a particular flight that might illustrate my point. Elie Montazeri, a former student of mine, generously volunteered to do the necessary research, and conducted it expertly. To Joy, to Ash, and to Elie, many thanks for getting me started.

I wanted facilities in which to work undisturbed during the summers, when academic holidays free us to write. I am grateful to Richard Herland and Martine Callandrey for providing me with everything I needed in this respect: for, indeed, creating a one-person writers' colony for me at their home in Cap d'Antibes, France, summer after summer. My thanks, too, to Gwenyth E. Todd for her extraordinary generosity in supplying me with a peaceful place to work during August 2003, and to Robert Baker for having arranged it, and much more.

Carol Shookhoff managed to read my longhand and convert my manuscript into something publishable. She has my admiration as well as my thanks. I am grateful, too, to Dr. Ilya Zaslowsky for researches in the Russian archives on my behalf.

For close readings of the finished manuscript, thoughtful suggestions, and challenging criticisms on practically every page, I am immensely grateful to Timothy Dickinson, to Professor Emeritus Alain Silvera of Bryn Mawr College, and to Dr. Annika Mombauer of The Open University in Great Britain. Even more than usually is the case, I must stress that these readers bear no responsibility for the preceding text or for the opinions expressed in it.

My warm and constant thanks to Ash Green, best of editors, and to his ever helpful assistant Luba Ostashevsky. My thanks, too, to the wonder-working Carol Janeway; may she always be on my team.

As always I am grateful to my agent Suzanne Gluck, the best there is or, I think, ever will be. My thanks to her, and to her able and cheerful assistants, first Emily Nurkin and now Christine Price, who aid and assist with unobtrusive efficiency.

My thanks, too, to Robert and Jeanne-Mary Sigmon for locating books and photos in Britain that I needed.

Lunches on Sundays with Professor Ralph Buultjens, with their stimulating conversations, provided me with new perspectives, for which I am thankful.

Finally, my thanks, as always, to James Chace, my lifelong literary advisor. In a sense, all my works are dedicated to him.

DF

Antigny-le-Chateau (Cote d'Or), France

August 27, 2003

INDEX

Adams, Henry

Aehrenthal, Count Alois Lexa von

Afghanistan

Aitken, Sir Max

Albania

Albert, King (Belgium)

Albertini, Luigi

Alexander, Prince (Serbia)

Alexandra, Empress (Russia)

alliance system

Apis (Dragutin Dimitrijevic)

Ardant du Picq, Charles

arms race

Aron, Raymond

Artamanov, Col. Viktor

Asquith, Herbert

Austro-Serbian war

Irish crisis

outbreak of general war

Asquith, Violet

Austria-Hungary

Austro-Russian conflict regarding Balkans

Balkans strategy

Balkan wars

Bosnia, annexation of

creation of

declaration of war on Russia

destruction of documents related to outbreak of general war

Dual Monarchy

Franz Ferdinand's assassination, reaction to

Franz Ferdinand's assassination as Serbian operation, views on

Franz Ferdinand's vision for

imperialism

Italian takeover of Libya

Moroccan crises

as multinational empire

Ottoman breakup

political instability

war planning

see also
Austro-Serbian war; German-Austrian alliance

Austro-Serbian war

Austrian mobilization

Austrian ultimatum to Serbia

text of

Austria's defeat

Berchtold's responsibility for

break in relations

British position

declaration of war

delays in Austrian offensive

destruction of Serbia as Austrian goal

Europeans' disinterest in

Europeans' ignorance regarding war preparations

Franz Ferdinand's assassination as justification for

French position

German doubts about Austrian steadfastness

German support for Austria

Germany and Austria working at cross purposes

Germany's responsibility for

halt-in-Belgrade proposal

invasion of Serbia

leaking of information about German-Austrian intentions

legitimacy of Austrian complaint against Serbia

lies by Austrian and German governments regarding

localization strategy

mediation efforts

"prevention of war" issue

"rapid strike" strategy

reasons for going to war

Russian-French involvement, issue of

Russian position

Serbian mobilization

Serbian reply to Austrian ultimatum

text of

"two wars" issue

Wilhelm's withdrawal of support for

"world war" concerns

Bakunin, Michail

Balfour, Arthur

Balkan wars

Ballin, Albert

Bavaria

"Belgian neutrality" issue

Belgium

German invasion of

Berchtold, Count Leopold von

Austro-Serbian war

Austrian ultimatum to Serbia

responsibility for

Balkans strategy

destruction of documents related to outbreak of general war

Franz Ferdinand's assassination

personal qualities

Berghahn, Volker R.

Bergson, Henri

Berthelot, Philippe

Bethmann Hollweg, Theobald von

Austro-Serbian war

destruction of documents related to outbreak of general war

German-Austrian alliance

outbreak of general war

resignation offer

rise to power

Bienvenue-Martin, Jean-Baptiste

Bilinski, Leon von

bin Laden, Osama

Bismarck, Otto von

Black Hand

Boer War

Bolshevism

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Austria's annexation of

political climate at time of Franz Ferdinand's visit

Boyer, Charles

Britain,
see
Great Britain

Britain and the Origins of the First World War
(Steiner)

British-French-Russian alliance

British communications with Germany regarding