The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 [FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING]

MacMillan, Margaret

Published by Penguin, an imprint of Penguin Canada, 2014

About this Item

As new condition photographic stiff softcover wraps. Includes Praise for The War That Ended Peace; Dedication; Maps: Introduction: War or Peace?; Epilogue: The War; Acknowledgments; Notes; Bibliography; Picture Credits; Index and About the Author. Illustrated with maps and black-and-white photographs. National Bestseller. Named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review; The Economist; The Christian Science Monitor; The Globe and Mail and Financial Times. 100 Notable Books The New York Times Book Review 2013. "Elegantly written . this is a book to be treasured." - The Wall Street Journal. "From the bestselling and award-winning author of Paris 1919 comes a masterpiece of narrative non-fiction, 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 era Europe had known since the fall of the Roman Empire. In the first years of the twentieth century, Europe believed it was marching to a golden, happy, and prosperous future. But instead, complex personalities and rivalries, colonialism and ethnic nationalisms, and shifting alliances helped to bring about the failure of the long peace and the outbreak of a war that transformed Europe and the world. [The book] brings vividly to life the military leaders, politicians, diplomats, bankers, and the extended interrelated family of crowned heads across Europe who failed to stop the descent into war: in Germany, the mercurial Kaiser Wilhelm II; in Austria-Hungrary, Emperor Franz Joseph, a man who tried to stave off the coming chaos in his empire; in Russia, Tsar Nicholas II and his wife; in Britain, King Edward VII and British admiral Jacky Fisher, the fierce advocate of naval reform who entered into an arms race with Germany. There are also would-be peacemakers and prophets whose warnings went unheeded: from Alfred Nobel, who donated his fortune to the cause of international understanding to the young Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty and a rising figure in British politics. With indelible portraits, MacMillan shows how the fateful decisions of a few powerful people changed the course of history. Destined to become a classic in the tradition of Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August, [the book] enriches our understanding of one of the defining periods and events of the twentieth century." - from the inner front cover flap. "One of the strengths of The War That Ended Peace is MacMillan's ability to evoke the world at the beginning of the twentieth century.MacMillan's portraits of the men who took Europe to war are superb." - The New York Times (Editors' Choice). "Few historians have better credentials to write about the origins of the First World War.With its lovely, elegant style, keen eye for human foibles, and impeccable attention to detail, this is one of the most enjoyably readable books of the year." - The Sunday Times (U.K.); "Evocative.[MacMillan] lays out in superb detail the personalities of power.and the choices they made, or neglected to make, that contributed to the start of the war." - The Globe and Mail; "Magnificent.[the book will certainly rank among the best books of the centennial crop." - The Economist. Seller Inventory # 003029

Bibliographic Details

Title: The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 [...

Publisher: Penguin, an imprint of Penguin Canada

Publication Date: 2014

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: As New

Edition: 1st Edition