1914 : the year the world ended / Paul Ham.

Library's N copy signed by Paul Ham, 8 November 2016. ANL

Includes bibliographic references (page 675-691) and index.

Part 1. The Tyranny of the Past, 1870--1900s -- 1. Nijinsky's Faun -- 2. The Rise of the Machines -- 3.A German Place in the Sun -- 4. Serbian Vendettas -- 5. Enter Austria-Hungary -- 6. The Kaiser's World -- 7. The Franco-Russian Vice -- 8. The Wild Card -- pt. 2 Wilful Blindness and Blinkered Vision, 1900--1914 -- 9. Runaway War -- 10. Schlieffen's Apocalypse -- 11. England Comes in from the Cold -- 12. English Germanophobia -- 13. Meanwhile, in Bosnia-Herzegovina -- 14. Teutons -- and an Italian -- Under Siege -- 15.A Gunboat to Agadir -- 16. Friedrich von Bernhardi's Fittest -- 17. Brigadier General Sir Henry Wilson's Plan -- 18. French Vengeance -- 19. Sea Supremacy -- 20. Crises in the Balkans -- 21. Armed for `Inevitable War' -- pt. 3 1914 -- In the Salons of Power -- 22.A Better Year? -- 23. Edward Grey's Menage a Quatre -- 24. The Uses of Franz Ferdinand, Dead -- 25. Austria-Hungary: Desperate for War -- 26. Exceptional Tranquillity -- 27. The Ultimatum to Serbia -- 28. You Are Setting Fire to Europe -- 29. The Serbs Reply -- 30. Every Cause for War Has Vanished -- 31. Austria-Hungary Declares War on Serbia -- 32. Willy, Nicky and Georgie -- 33. The End of British `Neutrality' -- 34. Smash Your Telephone: Russia Mobilises -- 35. Germany Declares War on Russia -- 36. Germany Declares War on France -- 37. Necessity Knows No Law -- 38. The Last Lamp -- 39. Sweet and Right to Die for Your Country -- pt. 4 1914--On the Ground -- 40. The Rape of Belgium -- 41. On the French Frontiers -- 42. The Retreat -- 43. The Miracle of the Marne -- 44. Serbian Shock, Russian Rout, Austrian Annihilation -- 45. The Creation of the Western Front -- Epilogue -- The Year the World Ended -- Appendices.

1914: The Year The World Ended is a history of the events, and the people who lived through them, which led to the outbreak of the First World War and the creation of the front line that became the scene of the most concentrated slaughter of human beings in history. The lives of millions of young men would be wasted - killed or dreadfully wounded - in a doomed struggle to control a trench line running from Liege in Belgium to Verdun in France, which barely moved in four years. 1914 is, of course, much more than a date: it is emblematic of terrible events, the vortex of the gathering storm. As such, '1914' will draw on the well of the deep past to show how political, economic and social change coalesced into that singularly disastrous year. In this way the book gathers the reins of decades, and binds them to those few irreversible months, as revealed through the experiences of ordinary British, French and German people, who found themselves willingly and unwillingly caught up in what would be the most dreadful conflict the world had known. The narrative hinges on the personal histories of British, French and German soldiers; as well as others involved, or touched, by in the war, such as parents, nurses, deserters, pacifists, drawn from primary source material - eg diaries, letters, and memoirs. Their individual stories will be set against the great swim of political events that led to the outbreak of war.

General.

Queensland Literary Awards: Winner: University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award 2014.