The major European powers drafted war plans before 1914 and executed them in August 1914; none brought the expected victory by Christmas. Why? This tightly focused collection of essays by international experts in military history reassesses the war plans of 1914 in a broad diplomatic, military, and political setting for the first time in three decades. The book analyzes the war plans of Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Russia on the basis of the latest research and explores their demise in the opening months of World War I. Collectively and comparatively, these essays place contingency war planning before 1914 in the different contexts and challenges each state faced as well as into a broad European paradigm. This is the first such undertaking since Paul Kennedy's groundbreaking War Plans of the Great Powers (1979), and the end result is breathtaking in both scope and depth of analysis.

"Richard Hamilton and Holger Herwig have turned conference papers into a work that now becomes the standard on war planning before the Great War." -Samuel R. Williamson, Jr., The Journal of Military History

"This useful collection of essays explores 'war planning' in Europe before World War I." -Eric Dorn Brose, American Historical Review

An important work for those interested in World War I, military institutions, and war planning, not to mention the course of the twentieth century." -A. A. Nofi, StrategyWorld.com

"The volume provides an excellent overview of the state of scholarship as well as a provocative focus on the decision-making process. Experts and students alike will benefit from reading it." -European History Quarterly