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July 1914: Countdown to War
- Narrated by: Steve Coulter
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
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Publisher's summary
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 conflictmuch 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 involvedfrom Austrian Foreign Minister Leopold von Berchtold and German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov and French president Raymond Poincarsought 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 monthand a handful of menchanged the course of the twentieth century.
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In May 1940, with France on the verge of defeat, Britain alone stood in the path of the Nazi military juggernaut. Survival seemed to hinge on the leadership of Winston Churchill, whom the king reluctantly appointed prime minister as Germany invaded France. Churchill's reputation as one of the great 20th-century leaders would be forged during the coming months and years as he worked tirelessly first to rally his country and then to defeat Hitler.
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Welcome addition to the literature of World War II
- By Mike From Mesa on 05-02-15
By: Jonathan Schneer
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Darkest Hour
- How Churchill Brought England Back from the Brink
- By: Anthony McCarten
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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May 1940. Britain is at war, Winston Churchill has unexpectedly been promoted to prime minister, and the horrors of Blitzkrieg witness one Western European democracy fall after another in rapid succession. Facing this horror, with pen in hand and typist-secretary at the ready, Churchill wonders what words could capture the public mood when the invasion of Britain seems mere hours away. It is this fascinating period that Anthony McCarten captures in this deeply researched and wonderfully written new book, The Darkest Hour.
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Gripping
- By Jean on 12-06-17
By: Anthony McCarten
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Hitler's American Gamble
- Pearl Harbor and Germany's March to Global War
- By: Brendan Simms, Charlie Laderman
- Narrated by: Damian Lynch
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
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By early December 1941, war had changed much of the world beyond recognition. Nazi Germany occupied most of the European continent, while in Asia, the Second Sino-Japanese War had turned China into a battleground. But these conflicts were not yet inextricably linked - and the United States remained at peace. Hitler’s American Gamble recounts the five days that upended everything: December 7 to 11.
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A waste of time based on a flawed premise
- By Grant on 11-30-21
By: Brendan Simms, and others
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De Gaulle
- By: Julian Jackson
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 41 hrs and 35 mins
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In a definitive biography of the mythic general who refused to accept Nazi domination of France, Julian Jackson captures this titanic figure as never before. Drawing on unpublished letters, memoirs, and resources of the recently opened de Gaulle archive, he reveals how this volatile visionary put a broken France back at the center of world affairs.
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Extremely British approach to de Gaulle
- By Keith on 05-31-19
By: Julian Jackson
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The Mantle of Command
- FDR at War, 1941–1942
- By: Nigel Hamilton
- Narrated by: Brad Sanders
- Length: 20 hrs and 43 mins
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Based on years of archival research and interviews with the last surviving aides and Roosevelt family members, Nigel Hamilton offers a definitive account of FDR’s masterful - and underappreciated - command of the Allied war effort. Hamilton takes listeners inside FDR’s White House Oval Study - his personal command center - and into the meetings where he battled with Churchill about strategy and tactics and overrode the near mutinies of his own generals and secretary of war.
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Great Book, Terrible Narration
- By Ross Mackey on 04-11-22
By: Nigel Hamilton
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Ike's Gamble
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- By: Michael Doran
- Narrated by: Casey Jones
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
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In 1956 President Nasser of Egypt moved to take possession of the Suez Canal, thereby bringing the Middle East to the brink of war. The British and the French, who operated the canal, joined with Israel in a plan to retake it by force. Despite the special relationship between England and America, Dwight Eisenhower intervened to stop the invasion.
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Tightly Argued
- By Jean on 01-10-17
By: Michael Doran
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Five Days in London, May 1940
- By: John Lukacs
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
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In the days between May 24th and 28th, 1940, the British War Cabinet held a historical debate over whether to negotiate with Hitler or to continue the war. In this magisterial work, John Lukacs demonstrates the decisive importance of those five days. Lukacs takes us hour by hour into the critical unfolding of events at 10 Downing Street, where Churchill, who had only been prime minister for a fortnight, painfully considered his war responsibilities.
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Less Than Meets the Eye
- By Michael Moore on 01-06-09
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Roosevelt and Stalin
- Portrait of a Partnership
- By: Susan Butler
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 21 hrs and 47 mins
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Susan Butler's brilliantly listenable audiobook firmly places FDR where he belongs, as the American president engaged most directly in diplomacy and strategy, who not only had an ambitious plan for the postwar world but had the strength, ambition, and personal charm to overcome Churchill's reluctance and Stalin's suspicion to bring about what was, in effect, an American peace and to avoid the disastrous consequences that followed the botched peace of Versailles in 1919.
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The History We Never Knew
- By LS1015 on 05-03-16
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The Balfour Declaration
- The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict
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Issued in London in 1917, the Balfour Declaration was one of the key documents of the 20th century. It committed Britain to supporting the establishment in Palestine of "a National Home for the Jewish people", and its reverberations continue to be felt to this day. Now the entire fascinating story of the document is revealed in this impressive work of modern history.
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From the Zionist Point of View
- By Sam Peter on 10-11-19
By: Jonathan Schneer
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Masters and Commanders
- How Four Titans Won the War in the West, 1941-1945
- By: Andrew Roberts
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 26 hrs and 23 mins
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Performance
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An epic joint biography, Masters and Commanders explores the degree to which the course of the Second World War turned on the relationships and temperaments of four of the strongest personalities of the 20th century: political masters Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt and the commanders of their armed forces, General Sir Alan Brooke and General George C. Marshall.
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Holocaust?
- By binkabul on 09-21-20
By: Andrew Roberts
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What listeners say about July 1914: Countdown to War
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- JustBob81
- 03-06-21
Glaring pronunciation problems
The narrator makes jarring repeated mistakes pronouncing names of people and places.
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- jason Faucher
- 02-10-23
very knowledgeable
this book goes indepth. not a lot of action. but pure political brain food.
makes you think.
lots of what ifs.
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- SPC
- 04-14-20
Modern research and conclusions of an old topic
Who was to blame for WW1? In a refreshingly balanced book, McMeekin does a fine job unravelling the events of July 1914 and provides enough facts to blame everyone. The degrees of blame are left to the reader, along with the blend of incompetence and malevolence. Should be mandatory reading for anyone with an interest in the subject, and a perfect antidote for McMillan and Hastings's retreads on the blank check and Kaiser's personality disorders.
Not overly long, but it is intense and I found myself re-playing sections multiple times. It helps to have a grasp of the protagonists and the sequence of events beforehand. There are many, and the book isn't gentle - definitely not the best book to use as an introduction to the topic, but rather an excellent work to destroy existing preconceptions on the 20th century's defining moments.
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3 people found this helpful
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- BJ
- 01-13-24
Excellent
Well written and researched. Very insightful providing details linking the historical grievances and the unique personalities leading up to WWI.
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- Richard Valdez
- 08-31-13
Great Book, Narrator Isn't the Best though
Would you listen to July 1914: Countdown to War again? Why?
Yes, most likely in July 2014 for the 100th anniversary of the start of WWI.
What did you like best about this story?
This book goes into more detail than the Guns of August about the actual start of the war, specifically, the 34 days between Franz Ferdinand's assassination and the attack by Austria-Hungary on Serbia.
What aspect of Steve Coulter’s performance would you have changed?
A major problem with the narrator is that he isn't pronouncing the German names right. He pronounces von Moltke's name wrong. When he first said "Molt," I actually stopped listening and thought "Who the Hell is 'Molt?'" It's pronounced mɔltkə, two syllables.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Not particularly.
Any additional comments?
Audible Inc. needs to make sure that their narrators have cheat sheets to pronounce names right. It can really throw you off when you hear a name pronounced wrong like Moltke.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Acteon
- 04-13-17
Illuminating
If you could sum up July 1914: Countdown to War in three words, what would they be?
Illuminating, convincing, important
Who was your favorite character and why?
Istvan Tisza, the Hunagrian prime minister. He was one of the very few clear-sighted players, and an admirable man (he resigned in 1917 and joined the army to experience what it is like on the front lines; assassinated by Soviet collaborators in 1918, none of whom came to a good end — one, József Pogány, aka John Pepper, ended up tortured and executed by Stalin after agitating in the U.S.). Unfortunately, his efforts to stave off aggression toward Serbia only stalled it and made impossible a contained war against Serbia, which might not have led to a world war.
Have you listened to any of Steve Coulter’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
His reading is not nearly as bad as some reviewers pretend. I found it good in general. It is true that he mispronounces some foreign words, e.g. Caillaux should sound like Ka yo (as in yoyo), not Kay yo, because the 'i' forms a phonic unit with 'll' that follows and not with the preceding 'ca'; the German word Kriegsgefahrzustand should have the accent on Krieg with a secondary accent on "zu" (pronounced 'tzoo'), and not on -fahr). But such instances, though annoying, are few enough not to bo overly distracting, and I have alas come across few audiobooks where foreign names are pronounced well or even correctly. Here most names come out correctly, and I can think of none that is unrecognizable (contrary to one reviewer's objection, the name Moltke is properly pronounced).
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
A Tragedy of Errors
Any additional comments?
I have long thought that Germany deserved the punishment the Versailles treaty imposed (which however does not justify the treaty's lack of insight and foresight). This book, by providing a precise blow by blow account of the days leading up to the outbreak of war, shows clearly that Germany did not plan or intend this war but ended up appearing to have started it through Russian (and to some extent French) trickery together with its own minister Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg's ineptitude. McMeekin's account elucidates (by being sufficiently detailed, and by incorporating evidence that has come to light in recent years) how such a monstrous war came about and the responsibility each player bore.However, if I can no longer think of Germany as responsible for starting the war, I do think Germany bears the blame for the atrocities in Belgium, and above all, for continuing the war after the slaughter took on monstrous proportions (9 million soldiers killed with as many civilians): the Germany army was in France after all, which means Germany could have decided to pull out (as the French could not). Russia pulling out in 1917 could have ended the war if Germany had been willing to use the opportunity. But there the 'logic' of war prevailed, not concern for humanity or even the good of the country and its people. From the French point of view, it was certainly just (though not exactly smart) to make Germany pay for the monumental damage France suffered. Of course it looked different from the viewpoint of Germans, especially those who knew how Germany had been drawn into war. The tricky and/or obtuse players who brought about the war did more than bring ruin and death to their countries and citizens; their short-sighted gamesmanship and ineptitude were ultimately responsible for Hitler, possibly the Bolshevik revolution, and the subsequent hell whose flames flared terrifyingly twenty years later and are still singeing us today.
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- Juho
- 03-26-14
A different view of the origins of WWI
Would you consider the audio edition of July 1914: Countdown to War to be better than the print version?
Probably not. In theory the structure of the book should be really well suited for an audiobook. The events of July of 1914 make for such a dramatic and gripping story. With many non-fiction books it's easy to phase out while listening, and then realize you've have no recollection of the last 15 minutes of the book. There's no danger of that here. But the constant mispronunciation of names is grating, and a real problem.
What was one of the most memorable moments of July 1914: Countdown to War?
The most interesting bits to me were the handling of the crisis in France and Russia. The pre-planned French Balkan Inception scenario, the aggressive stance of Poincare during the StP meeting, and the prepared plans and execution of the Russian mobilization (based on a hidden early mobilization while trying to prevent German mobilization for as long as possible via diplomacy). McMeekin's telling of these parts ends up painting a very different picture than the "standard" explanation where the German war council of 1912 is treated as the smoking gun.
But this isn't a one-sided book by any means. In the final analysis McMeekin seems happy to heap blame of the war on everyone involved. (Even the British, who if this book is to believed must have had one of the most gullible diplomatic corps and least effective foreign ministry of the era.)
Would you listen to another book narrated by Steve Coulter?
Maybe one that doesn't have difficult foreign words for him to mangle. It wasn't a bad narration otherwise.
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- Elliott
- 08-27-21
Great treatment of the subject
I have ready many books about WWI and firmly believe this is the best modern one about the origins of the war. The best older one being Tuchman of course. A good antidote to some of the more recent works trying to pin all of the blame on one side. Very balanced. The author also has great narrative skills. I could not put it down and highly recommend it.
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- Rolando Briones
- 08-30-20
Eagerness to Blame
How many historical events have we learned incorrectly? Here is a perfect example when historians are willing, to make an honest effort, to put aside their bias we can begin to learn the otherside of the story. McMeekin makes a noble attempt to do just, with well developed arguments based on original sources. Whats most impressive is he is transparent, when he is surmising as to each actor's motives, this just adds credibility to his argument. If we agree or not, we should all welcome listening to facts that might fly in the face of what we currently believe. Let's try to stop blaming and demonizing others. We would be better off just trying to learn, from our past, in hopes of not duplicating are mistakes.
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- Kindle Customer
- 09-24-13
An exciting story, indifferently read
Would you listen to July 1914: Countdown to War again? Why?
Yes, there are many details in the story that are worth rehearing.
What other book might you compare July 1914: Countdown to War to and why?
The Guns of August. They are both good narratives, but this is more current
What aspect of Steve Coulter’s performance would you have changed?
He needs to research the correct pronunciation of names. For example, "Choristers Bridge," the shorthand name for the Russian foreign office, is pronounced with a silent "h." Many other names are mispronounced, but that one grates.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
No.
Any additional comments?
It is a very valuable corrective to the standard interpretation, which places the heaviest portion of the blame for the start of WWI on the Central Powers, especially Germany. It is clear that blame must be more widely apportioned, and that the Dual Monarchy must be given a heavier portion.
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