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The Immediate Causes of the Great War (1917) Oliver Perry Chitwood |
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OF
THE GREAT WAR
BY
OLIVER PERRY CHITWOOD
Professor of European History West Virginia University
NEW YORK
THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY
The object of this volume is to narrate briefly the direct causes of the European war as they are given in the published documents of the belligerents. These sources are abundantly adequate for determining the immediate responsibility of each nation and apportioning the guilt for this great crime. It may be thought that, inasmuch as each government in publishing its official correspondence, has tried to convict its enemies and clear itself and its allies, the statements made are so biased as not to be accepted as evidence. This, however, is not the case. The documents corroborate each other sufficiently to show that statements of fact given in official despatches by ambassadors to foreign ministers and vice versa can usually be accepted at face value. The numerous cross-references in the published correspondence enable us sometimes to detect false claims based on the omission, misinterpretation, or even the distortion of facts. Some discrepancies, however, are irreducible, and where such occur, the evidence presented by both sides is given.
In Chapter I, I have not attempted a general discussion of the indirect causes of the war, but have only tried to restate some well-known facts that constitute the background of the great conflict. For the information contained in this chapter I am indebted to the following works: Europe since 1815, by Charles Downer Hazen; The Diplomacy of the War of 1914, by Ellery C. Stowell; A Political and Social History of Modern Europe, by Carlton J. H. Hayes; and the International Year Book.
The rest of the work, except a few pages, is written entirely from the documents given out by the various belligerents. The principal collections of official papers used are the following: The translations made by the New York Times and other documents published by the American Association for International Conciliation; Diplomatic Documents Relating to the Outbreak of the European War, edited by James Brown Scott and published under the auspices of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Collected Diplomatic Documents Relating to the Outbreak of the European War and Miscellaneous Correspondence, printed under the authority of His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1915; and the Austro-Hungarian Red Book, official English translation.
In presenting this digest of the source material on the causes of the war, my aim is not to argue the case, but only to give and systematize the evidence — not all the evidence on all the points, but only adequate evidence on the main points.
I want to acknowledge my indebtedness to Professors Charles Downer Hazen and Carlton J. H. Hayes of Columbia University, and Frank Maloy Anderson, of Dartmouth College, for the very valuable suggestions and criticisms that they have kindly offered. My thanks are also due to my colleagues, Professor David Dale Johnson of the English department, and Dean James M. Callahan, head of the department of history, who have read portions of my manuscript and have made helpful suggestions and criticisms.
Inasmuch as so many books have already been written on the causes of the war, I feel that I should offer an explanation, if not an apology, for adding to the list even a small volume. My only excuse for so doing is the hope that a brief work will prove useful to college students and others who do not have time to read the fuller accounts. My own experience as a teacher of current European history has caused me to feel the need of such a work.
0. P. Chitwood.
West Virginia University,
April, 1917.