![]() ![]() ![]() It’s entirely illogical and complex until you’ve read your fifth or sixth book on the subject. (This invasion was somehow the result of the assassination of an Austrian archduke in a Bosnian city by a Serbian assassin. It covers the first fourteen years of the 20th century and ends just as Germany invades Belgium. Margaret MacMillan’s The War That Ended Peace is one of these releases. Publishers are releasing a glut of new books timed to take advantage of the upcoming anniversary. With the centennial of World War I’s opening salvos less than a year away, this is a great time to get interested. Had it not occurred, things today would be unimaginably different. The personalities! The miscalculations! The repercussions! World War I was a true fork in the road of world history. Now, though, it’s a topic I can’t get enough of. ![]() Just a couple years ago, World War I was simply something I ignored while reading about World War II. At the bar, when others try to talk about the National Football League, I’m busy trying to kick-start an exchange on the League of Nations. At dinner, if my wife asks me about my day, I reply: “Better than the English on the first day of the Somme.” When my little daughter says, “Dada, milk,” I tell her she’s as helpless as an Austro-Hungarian field marshal. Lately, those around me have discovered something disconcerting: my attempts to shift all conversation to the topic of the First World War. ![]()
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