July 1914 Quotes

“This argument is not supported by the evidence. As indicated by their earlier mobilisations (especially Russia’s), in 1914 France and Russia were far more eager to fight than was Germany – and far, far more than Austria-Hungary, if in her case we mean fighting Russia, not Serbia. Germany declared war first on France and Russia because of Bethmann’s misguided sense of legal propriety, but she mobilised last, and even then hesitatingly, with her leaders (except for the timetable-obsessed Moltke and Falkenhayn) clutching desperately for exits, as indicated by how eagerly the kaiser, Bethmann, and Jagow jumped on Grey’s last-minute neutrality offers.”
― Sean McMeekin, July 1914: Countdown to War

“The Germans, by contrast, went into the war expecting that they would lose, which is why they were so keen to wiggle out of it at the last moment. Moltke’s unrealistic and ultimately suicidal war plan, involving a march across Belgium, reflected German weakness, not German strength. It”
― Sean McMeekin, July 1914: Countdown to War

“this way, Europe was first made aware that war was about to begin – not by the Russians, who were the first to mobilise, but by the Germans, who informed everyone about what Russia had done in secret and then, for good measure, about their own response to it.11”
― Sean McMeekin, July 1914: Countdown to War