It seems like history constantly gets re-written to remove any blame from anybody: contrarian or revisionist historians now claim the Holocaust never happened, Japan doesn't teach their young folk anything about the Rape of Nanking. German historians blame everyone but themselves.



Let's face it, the countries of Europe have a history of going to war with each other just to see who gets to be the boss of more territory. In the 1800's von Bismarck was able to play off many parties to create a German nation from the city states and to gain territory from various neighbors. After his death a series of much less competent individuals tried to continue his policies. They pushed too far, the world pushed back, and somewhere around ten million people died.



This book does an excellent job of analyzing the actions of the Reich Chancellor, the German Foreign Office and the Great General Staff as they bumbled along. They wanted a short and victorious war (how often this seems to be what people who start wars want). They got a war that they simply couldn't understand, and began a century of warfare.



This book is an anchor that points out what these people did, not what some people would have you believe.