1914: The Year the World Ended

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Few years can justly be said to have transformed the earth- 1914 did. In July that year, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Britain and France were poised to plunge the world into a war that would kill or wound 37 million people, tear down the fabric of society, uproot ancient political systems and set the course for the bloodiest century in human history. In the longer run, the events of 1914 set the world on the path toward the Russian Revolution, the Treaty of Versailles, the rise of Nazism and the Cold War. In 1914- The Year the World Ended, award-winning historian Paul Ham tells the story of the outbreak of the Great War from German, British, French, Austria-Hungarian, Russian and Serbian perspectives.Along the way, he debunks several stubborn myths. European leaders, for example, did not stumble or sleepwalk into war, as many suppose. They fully understood that a small conflict in the Balkans the tinderbox at the heart of the continent could spark a European war. They well knew what their weapons could do. Yet they carried on. They accepted and, in some cases, even seemed to relish what they saw as an inevitable clash of arms. They planned and mapFew years can justly be said to have transformed the earth- 1914 did. In July that year, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Britain and France were poised to plunge the world into a war that would kill or wound 37 million people, tear down the fabric of society, uproot ancient political systems and set the course for the bloodiest century in human history. In the longer run, the events of 1914 set the world on the path toward the Russian Revolution, the Treaty of Versailles, the rise of Nazism and the Cold War. In 1914- The Year the World Ended, award-winning historian Paul Ham tells the story of the outbreak of the Great War from German, British, French, Austria-Hungarian, Russian and Serbian perspectives.Along the way, he debunks several stubborn myths. European leaders, for example, did not stumble or sleepwalk into war, as many suppose. They fully understood that a small conflict in the Balkans the tinderbox at the heart of the continent could spark a European war. They well knew what their weapons could do. Yet they carried on. They accepted and, in some cases, even seemed to relish what they saw as an inevitable clash of arms. They planned and map
Paul Ham is the author of Hiroshima Nagasaki (2011), Vietnam- The Australian War (2007) and Kokoda (2004). Vietnam won the New South Wales Premier s Prize for Australian History and was shortlisted for the Prime Minister s Prize for Non-Fiction (2008). Kokoda was shortlisted for the Walkley Award for Non-Fiction and the New South Wales Premier s Prize for Non-Fiction. His most recent book, Sandakan- The Untold Story of the Sandakan Death Marches, was published in 2012 and has been shortlisted for the 2013 Prime Minister s Literary Award for History. A former Sunday Times correspondent, with a Master s degree in Economic History from the London School of Economics, Paul now devotes most of his time to writing history. He lives in Paris and Sydney with his family.