THE OUTBREAK OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR European History in Perspective General Editor: Jeremy Black Benjamin Amold Medieval Germany Ronald Asch The Thirt:y Years' War Nigel Aston The French Revolution, 77 8~ 7804 Nicholas Atkin The Fifth French Republic Christopher Bartlett Peace, War and the European Powers, 7874-7974 Robert Bireley The Refashioning of Catholicism, 7450-7700 Donna Bohanan Crown and Nooility in Early Modem France Arden Bucholz Moltke and the German Wars, 7864-1877 Patricia Clavin The Great Depression, 792~ 1939 Paula Sutter Fichtner The Habsburg Monarchy, 7490-1848 Mark Galeotti Gorbachev and his Revolution David Gates Warfare in the Nineteenth Century Alexander Grab Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe Martin P. Johnson The Dreyfus Affair TIm Kirk Nazi Germany Ronald Kowalski Euro{)ean Communism Paul Douglas Lockhart Sweden in the Seventeenth Century Kevin McDermott Stalin Graeme Murdock Beyond Calvin Peter Musgrave The Early Modem European Economy J. L Price Tne Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century A. W. Purdue The Second World War Christopher Read The Making and Breaking of the Soviet System Francisco J. Romero-Salvado Twentieth-Century Spam Mattnew S. Seligmann and Roderick R. McLean Germany from "Reich to Republic, 1877-1978 DaVid A. Shafer The Paris Commune Brendan Simms The Struggle for Mastery in Germany, 77 7~ 1850 David Sturdy Louis XIV David J. Sturdy Ricnelieu and Mazarin Hunt Tooley The Westem Front Peter Waldron The End of ImfJerial Russia, 7855-1977 Peter G. Wallace The Long European Reformation James D. WFiite Lenin Patrick Williams Philip II Peter H. Wilson From Reich to Revolution European Histoly In PerspectIve Series Stancllng Order ISBN 978-0-333-71694-6 hank.uver ISBN 978-0-333-69336.0 paperback (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or. in the case of difficulty. write to us at the address below with your name and address. the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Palgrave Ltd Houndmills. Basingstoke. Hampshire RG21 6XS. England THE OUTBREAK OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR 1914 in Perspective DAVID STEVENSON SeniOT Lecturer in International History London School ofE conomics palgrave macmillan * First published in Great Britain 1997 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD HoundmiIls. Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-0-333-58327-2 ISBN 978-1-349-25613-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-25613-6 First published in the United States of America 1997 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC. . Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-16539-0 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stevenson, D. (David), 1954- The outbreak of the First World War: 1914 in perspective / David Stevenson. p. em. - (Studies in European history) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-16539-0 I. World War, 1914-1918-Causes. 2. World War, 1914-1918-Europe. I. Title. II. Series: Studies in European history (New York. N.Y.) D511.S817 1997 940.3'II-dc20 96-34264 CIP © David Stevenson 1997 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WI P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his rights to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Contents A Note on References vi Acknowledgements VII Editor's Preface viii Abbreviations ix Chronology x Maps Xlll Introduction 1 1 Austria-Hungary and Serbia 2 2 Germany and the Blank Cheque 8 3 Russo-French Response 20 4 Towards World War 28 5 The Search for Understanding 39 Conclusion: The Vision of War 55 Bibliography 58 Index 68 v A Note on References References are cited throughout in brackets according to the numbering in the General Bibliography, with page and chapter references, where necessary, indicated by a colon after the bibliog raphy number. vi Acknowledgements I am grateful to Richard Overy, the General Editor of this series, for suggesting that I should write this study and for his comments on the text, to Valery Rose of Longworth Editorial Services, and to Simon Winder of Macmillan. My thanks go as ever to my wife, Sue, and to my family for their encouragement and patience. Neil Hart, who taught me A-level history many years ago, kindly pro vided examples of recent examination questions. My thoughts on the subject owe much to the insights I have gained from teaching an MSc Special Subject at the London School of Economics on 'The Coming of War, 1911-14', and I am greatly indebted to the students who have taken it. Vll Editor's Preface The main purpose of this series is to make available to teacher and student alike developments in a field of history that has become increasingly specialised with the sheer volume of new research and literature now produced. These studies are designed to present the 'state of the debate' on important themes and episodes in European history since the sixteenth century, pre sented in a clear and critical way by someone who is closely concerned himself with the debate. The studies are not intended to be read as extended biblio graphical essays, though each will contain a detailed guide to further reading which will lead students and the general reader quickly to key publications. Each book carries its own interpreta tion and conclusions, while locating the discussion firmly in the centre of the current issues as historians see them. It is intended that the series will introduce students to historical approaches which are in some cases very new and which, in the normal course of things, would take many years to filter down into the textbooks and school histories. I hope it will demonstrate some of the excitement historians, like scientists, feel as they work away in the vanguard of their subject. The format of this series conforms closely with that of the com panion series of studies in economic and social history which has already established a major reputation since its inception in 1968. Both series have an important contribution to make in publicising what it is that historians are doing and in making history more open and accessible. It is vital for history to communicate if it is to survive. RJ. OVERY viii Abbreviations NB: see also the list of periodical abbreviations at the beginning of the Bibliography (p. 58). BEF British Expeditionary Force CGS Chief of the General Staff CGT Confederation generale du travail (French trade-union federation) ISB International Socialist Bureau SFIO Section fran~aise de l'Internationale ouvriere (French socialist party) SPD Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (German Social Democratic Party) ix