Chaos, Confusion, and Political Ignorance

Chaos, Confusion, and Political Ignorance
Author: John Hance
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2014-03-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 1490728791

CHAOS, CONFUSION, AND POLITICAL IGNORANCE: The Untold Truth about the Start of World War II June 28 - August 5, 1914 by John Hance Three events can be directly responsible for the start of World War II. This book discusses the second event; which resulted with the start of the war. This event was World War I; the other two are the Franco-Prussian War and the Treaty of Versailles. The political intrigue of decisions that would have started World War II is dramatically described in Chaos, Confusion, and Political Ignorance: June 28 - August 5, 1914: The Untold Truth about the Start of World War II. Although all parties involved with the start of World War I were communicating, their inability to see things as they really were is what caused all the turmoil. Chaos, confusion, and political ignorace best describes this time period.

Galleon Moon

Galleon Moon
Author: Frank Schroeder
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
Total Pages: 123
Release: 2014-03
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 1490729844

You are about to embark on an odyssey of the imagination, so come on board and take your station as we explore new poetic worlds. Like the early 14th century explorer discovered new lands and claimed them in honor, so shall you, the reader, have the same opportunity. These untitled poems have spaces for you to write in what you think is a good title. If those were your poems what would YOU name it? Like history's early explorer's there are even hidden treasures to find, interspersed far left of the pages, of poems So explore these poems often and soon as you sail the stars of the Galleon Moon!

July 1914

July 1914
Author: Sean McMeekin
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 482
Release: 2014-04-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 0465038867

When a Serbian-backed assassin gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in late June 1914, the world seemed unmoved. Even Ferdinand's own uncle, Franz Josef I, was notably ambivalent about the death of the Hapsburg heir, saying simply, "It is God's will." Certainly, there was nothing to suggest that the episode would lead to conflict -- much less a world war of such massive and horrific proportions that it would fundamentally reshape the course of human events. As acclaimed historian Sean McMeekin reveals in July 1914, World War I might have been avoided entirely had it not been for a small group of statesmen who, in the month after the assassination, plotted to use Ferdinand's murder as the trigger for a long-awaited showdown in Europe. The primary culprits, moreover, have long escaped blame. While most accounts of the war's outbreak place the bulk of responsibility on German and Austro-Hungarian militarism, McMeekin draws on surprising new evidence from archives across Europe to show that the worst offenders were actually to be found in Russia and France, whose belligerence and duplicity ensured that war was inevitable. Whether they plotted for war or rode the whirlwind nearly blind, each of the men involved -- from Austrian Foreign Minister Leopold von Berchtold and German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov and French president Raymond Poincaré- sought to capitalize on the fallout from Ferdinand's murder, unwittingly leading Europe toward the greatest cataclysm it had ever seen. A revolutionary account of the genesis of World War I, July 1914 tells the gripping story of Europe's countdown to war from the bloody opening act on June 28th to Britain's final plunge on August 4th, showing how a single month -- and a handful of men -- changed the course of the twentieth century.

The War That Ended Peace

The War That Ended Peace
Author: Margaret MacMillan
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 935
Release: 2013-10-29
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0812994701

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • The Economist • The Christian Science Monitor • Bloomberg Businessweek • The Globe and Mail From the bestselling and award-winning author of Paris 1919 comes a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, 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 War That Ended Peace 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 and the chief of the German general staff, Von Moltke the Younger; in Austria-Hungary, Emperor Franz Joseph, a man who tried, through sheer hard work, to stave off the coming chaos in his empire; in Russia, Tsar Nicholas II and his wife; in Britain, King Edward VII, Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, and British admiral Jacky Fisher, the fierce advocate of naval reform who entered into the arms race with Germany that pushed the continent toward confrontation on land and sea. There are the would-be peacemakers as well, among them prophets of the horrors of future wars whose warnings went unheeded: Alfred Nobel, who donated his fortune to the cause of international understanding, and Bertha von Suttner, a writer and activist who was the first woman awarded Nobel’s new Peace Prize. Here too we meet the urbane and cosmopolitan Count Harry Kessler, who noticed many of the early signs that something was stirring in Europe; the young Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty and a rising figure in British politics; Madame Caillaux, who shot a man who might have been a force for peace; and more. With indelible portraits, MacMillan shows how the fateful decisions of a few powerful people changed the course of history. Taut, suspenseful, and impossible to put down, The War That Ended Peace is also a wise cautionary reminder of how wars happen in spite of the near-universal desire to keep the peace. Destined to become a classic in the tradition of Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August, The War That Ended Peace enriches our understanding of one of the defining periods and events of the twentieth century. Praise for The War That Ended Peace “Magnificent . . . The War That Ended Peace will certainly rank among the best books of the centennial crop.”—The Economist “Superb.”—The New York Times Book Review “Masterly . . . marvelous . . . Those looking to understand why World War I happened will have a hard time finding a better place to start.”—The Christian Science Monitor “The debate over the war’s origins has raged for years. Ms. MacMillan’s explanation goes straight to the heart of political fallibility. . . . Elegantly written, with wonderful character sketches of the key players, this is a book to be treasured.”—The Wall Street Journal “A magisterial 600-page panorama.”—Christopher Clark, London Review of Books

Hendrik Petrus Berlage

Hendrik Petrus Berlage
Author: Hendrik Petrus Berlage
Publisher: Getty Publications
Total Pages: 350
Release: 1996-01-01
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 0892363339

Hendrik Petrus Berlage, the Dutch architect and architectural philosopher, created a series of buildings and a body of writings from 1886 to 1909 that were among the first efforts to probe the problems and possibilities of modernism. Although his Amsterdam Stock Exchange, with its rational mastery of materials and space, has long been celebrated for its seminal influence on the architecture of the 20th century, Berlage's writings are highlighted here. Bringing together Berlage's most important texts, among them "Thoughts on Style in Architecture", "Architecture's Place in Modern Aesthetics", and "Art and Society", this volume presents a chapter in the history of European modernism. In his introduction, Iain Boyd Whyte demonstrates that the substantial contribution of Berlage's designs to modern architecture cannot be fully appreciated without an understanding of the aesthetic principles first laid out in his writings.

The Black Book of Communism

The Black Book of Communism
Author: Stéphane Courtois
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 920
Release: 1999
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780674076082

This international bestseller plumbs recently opened archives in the former Soviet bloc to reveal the accomplishments of communism around the world. The book is the first attempt to catalogue and analyse the crimes of communism over 70 years.