A mad catastrophe : the outbreak of World War I and the collapse of the Habsburg Empire / Geoffrey Wawro.

Author/creator Wawro, Geoffrey
Format Book
Publication InfoNew York : Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group, [2014]
Descriptionxxiv, 440 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm
Subjects

Contents The sick man of Europe -- Between blunder and stupidity -- The Balkan Wars -- Murder in Sarajevo -- The streamroller -- Misfits -- Krásnik -- Komarów -- Lemberg and Rawa-Ruska -- Death on the Drina -- Warsaw -- The thin gray line -- Serbian jubilee -- Snowmen.
Abstract "The Austro-Hungarian army that marched east and south to confront the Russians and Serbs in the opening campaigns of World War I had a glorious past but a pitiful present. Speaking a mystifying array of languages and lugging outdated weapons, the Austrian troops were hopelessly unprepared for the industrialized warfare that would shortly consume Europe. As ... historian Geoffrey Wawro explains in [this book], the doomed Austrian conscripts were an unfortunate microcosm of the Austro-Hungarian Empire itself--both equally ripe for destruction"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 427-431) and index.
LCCN 2013039393
ISBN9780465028351
ISBN0465028357 (hbk.)