Europe's Last Summer: Who Started the Great War in 1914? Book

"[T]here was no turning back. The nations were caught in a trap…a trap from which there was, and has been, no exit."
- Barbara Tuchman, The Guns of August

"The lesson to be learned from the Great War, the world was told, is that governments must be careful not to lose control. They must not let confrontations inadvertently spill over into hostilities. They must not let small wars escalate into big wars. They must not let brushfires blaze into forest fires…These are good lessons to learn, but it is not July 1914 that teaches them. It was no accident that Europe went to war at that time. It was the result of premeditated decisions by two governments. Once those two countries had invaded their neighbors, there was no way for the neighbors to keep peace…"
- David Fromkin, Europe's Last Summer


World War I can be an amazingly intimidating subject. Even though I love history, it took me years to get into it, simply due to its complexity. In order to even begin to understand how the whole thing came about, you have to have knowledge about a dozen or more other topics, each in themselves complex: the decline and disintegration of the Ottoman Empire; the internal rot of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; the Balkan Wars; Germany, and her place on the continent, surrounded by enemies; France, and her feelings following the disastrous Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71; Great Britain, and her desperate need to control the seas; Russia, with covetous eyes on the Turkish Straits; and on, and on, and on. We all know the precipitating event of the Great War: the assassination of Austrian heir Franz Ferdinand by the Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip. Far more important, and far more difficult to entangle, is why such calamity followed this murder.

If you are interested in these questions, then David Fromkin's Europe's Last Summer is an excellent place to start. And even if you're already a student of World War I, this is a great refresher and easy reference.

For me, the chief selling point of Europe's Last Summer is its structure. Yes, I know, this is a strange compliment, like choosing a restaurant based on the layout of its menu. But I truly believe it. The book is divided into eight parts, plus a prologue and an epilogue. Those parts are further subdivided into 53 chapters. That's a lot of chapters for a volume that is only 305 pages of text to begin with. Some chapters are only one-and-a-half to two pages long. Why is that a good thing? Because it makes a sprawling subject a bit more manageable.

Fromkin's great ability here is to simplify without being simplistic. He takes you, step-by-step, through the moments that lead inexorably to the firing of the guns of August in 1914. His viewpoint toggles between the macro and the micro. Mostly he looks at the broad tends, and gives you sweeping descriptions about events such as the Moroccan Crisis that potted the road to war. And that's fine. A book like this doesn't need to have a thorough narrative of the Algeciras Conference; it's enough that you know the end result.

However, Fromkin does find a balance between detailed explanation and briefer summarizations. This is important, because a good history is both learned and readable. Every once in awhile, you need a good set piece to remind you that humans were involved. Fromkin achieves that. His retelling of Franz Ferdinand's Sarajevo assassination, for example, is quite gripping.

Way back in 2011, I decided I was going to start reading about World War I, to coincide with its centenary. I planned to read about the war year by year. In 2014, for instance, I would read about the battles of Mons and the Marne, which took place in 1914. Now, the centennial is fast nearing its end, and I never quite executed that plan. I am, in fact, still dawdling at the beginning. (And also: whoa, that time flew by).

The problem is that the battles never interested half as much as the reasons those battles were fought at all. Why would I read about the Somme, when I've only read 10 books about the July Crisis? And even though I've read a bunch on this topic, including some really good ones (including MacMillan's The War That Ended Peace and Clark's The Sleepwalkers), this one still served a useful purpose. It clarified the timeline while adding helpful insights and observations.

At this point, I should mention that Europe's Last Summer is not necessarily meant to be read the way I read it. It is actually formulated as an argument about who actually "started" the First World War. I found this aspect of it to be its weakest point.

Fromkin's argument is that the blame rests at the feet of the German Empire. It began with the "blank check" to Austria, and continued on up to mobilization, with von Moltke and the German General Staff nudging a vacillating Kaiser Wilhelm II to fight now, when they were at their strongest.

Nothing that Fromkin says is necessarily wrong. I also can't say that his conclusion is wrong, if only because the term "wrong" has no meaning in this debate. There is no objectively correct answer. I will say, though, that I found Fromkin's analysis to be pretty facile, and at times, a bit ludicrous. Fromkin demonstrates, at certain points towards the end, a sort of blinding stridency that blurs historical reality. There were five Great Powers involved in the diplomatic breakdown leading to war. Of these five, however, Fromkin focuses only on the malice of Germany and Austria-Hungary. What about France and Russia?

What drove France and Russia to join the fray can be covered in a sentence: Germany declared war on them, and they defended themselves. Of the Great Powers that stood together against Germany and Austria in August 1914, only Britain had been allowed the freedom to decide for itself whether to go in or stay out.

This is a rather stunning example of venerating form over function. Yes, due to Germany's diplomatic blundering, Germany maneuvered itself into having to declare war. But to say that Russia and France were helpless innocents who had to defend themselves is incorrect. First, and most obviously, France and Russia immediately went on the offensive. Russia plunged into East Prussia, while France's Plan XVII called for retaking Alsace and Lorraine. These attacks were not made in some sort of preemptive self-defense. They were made with territorial aspirations in mind.

That leads to my second point: France and Russia had just as much reason to go to war as Germany did. Despite Fromkin's blithe dismissal of French intentions, they clearly wanted to retake the regions they'd lost to Germany during the Franco-Prussian War. This is shown by the fact that when war broke out, that's exactly what they attempted to do, right away. Russia, too, had important interests at stake; they were in a struggle with Austria-Hungary for hegemony over the Balkans as the Ottoman Empire disintegrated. Some historians, such as Sean McMeekin, place most of the onus for war on Russia and her own failed diplomacy.

This is not a deal breaker, since - as I've already said - there is no right or wrong answer. The only wrong answer is declaring with certainty that you have the right answer. Still, this intellectual yada-yada-yada-ing definitely knocks this down a peg.

While this has much to offer for seasoned buffs, I'd especially recommend Europe's Last Summer to anyone looking for a volume to start them on their own WWI journey. If you want to join in this argument so you can cast an accusing figure at historical figures of the past, then this is an excellent place to get started.