Ludwig, Emil — July 1914

G P Putnam's Sons 1929 1st UK edition. Cloth, G. 226pp, b/w frontis, 15 b/w plates, plain blue cloth rebind, a little foxed with the preliminary & final pages more heavily affected, a solid reading copy. A detailed account of the events which followed the June assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria which led to the start of the First World War. Ludwig looks to proportion blame for the start of the war & writes in his foreword 'we find the sum of the guilt was in the Cabinets, the sum of innocence the streets of Europe. While exact calculations of relative responsibility are impossible, one can say that Vienna & St Petersburg stand first ; Berlin & Paris their seconds, follow them although at very different intervals ; London comes a long way after'.