Presents a narrative portrait of Europe in the years leading up to World War I that illuminates the political, cultural, and economic factors and contributing personalities that shaped major events. From the bestselling and award-winning author of Paris 1919 comes a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, a fascinating portrait of Europe from 1900 up to the outbreak of World War I. The century since the end of the Napoleonic wars had been the most peaceful...

"World War I is known as the "war to end all wars." In this title readers will learn about the events leading to WWI. European countries harbored deep distrust for one another, and this book breaks the feelings down by empire. The chain reactions are clearly laid out to summarize the violent events that lead to WWI." -- Publisher's website.

For almost three years, President Woodrow Wilson maintained a moral and political neutrality toward World War I, a neutrality that waxed and waned with the flow and consequences of European events. Finally, Wilson had enough. On April 2, 1917, he asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany and the other Central Powers. Congress obliged. The straw that broke the camel's back was a top secret coded telegram from Germany's foreign minister,...

"On a summer morning in Sarajevo almost a hundred years ago, a teenager took a pistol out of his pocket and fired not just the opening rounds of the First World War but the starting gun for modern history. By killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Gavrilo Princip, started a cycle of events that would leave 15 million dead from fighting between 1914 and 1918 and proved fatal for empires and a way of ruling that had...

Describes the diplomatic minuets and military brinkmanship as Germany grew to be a continental superpower at the end of the nineteenth century and became a threat to Great Britain's naval superiority and isolationist policies.

Fifteen-year-old Jack is sent to 1914 Europe as a pawn in the battle between his long-lost father, who has built a time machine, and a secret network of scientists who want to prevent him from trying to use it to change history for the better. Includes historical notes.

"Winner of the 1996 Paul Birdsall Prize, American Historical Association" David G. Herrmann is Assistant Professor of History at Tulane University. David Herrmann's work is the most complete study to date of how land-based military power influenced international affairs during the series of diplomatic crises that led up to the First World War. Instead of emphasizing the naval arms race, which has been extensively studied before, Herrmann draws on...

"The Austro-Hungarian army that marched east and south to confront the Russians and Serbs in the opening campaigns of World War I had a glorious past but a pitiful present. Speaking a mystifying array of languages and lugging outdated weapons, the Austrian troops were hopelessly unprepared for the industrialized warfare that would shortly consume Europe. As ... historian Geoffrey Wawro explains in [this book], the doomed Austrian conscripts were an...

“Thunder at Twilight” is a landmark historical vision, drawing on hitherto untapped sources to illuminate two crucial years in the life of the extraordinary city of Vienna-and in the life of the twentieth century. It was during the carnival of 1913 that a young Stalin arrived in Vienna on a mission that would launch him into the upper echelon of Russian revolutionaries, and it was here that he first collided with Trotsky. It was in Vienna that...

Chronicles the struggle for wealth and power that has surrounded oil for decades and that continues to fuel global rivalries, shake the world economy, and transform the destiny of men and nations. Now with a new epilogue that speaks directly to the current energy crisis, "The Prize" recounts the panoramic history of the world's most important resource: oil. Daniel Yergin's timeless book chronicles the struggle for wealth and power that has surrounded...