While I don't know that I agree with his conclusions, it's a refreshingly different viewpoint, and I'll support anyone who refers to President Wilson's behavior as 'criminally imbecilic.' The author argues that whatever the sins of the reigning monarchies, certainly Austria, Germany and Russia were done no favors by the governments that arouse after the rulers abdicated. The author ends with an epilogue that is surprisingly (or perhaps, only surprising in the democracy-is-the-only-way world we now live in) pro-monarchy. Although the main rulers the author focused on were in the Central Powers, I could not set them as the villains of the set piece, even though that's how contemporary history has taught us to view them. Some tried to end the war early, to prevent the outbreak of war at all. It was both shocking and heartbreaking to read about the humanity and heroism of some of the so-called despots, as they struggled to bring about better lives for their people. This is the first book I've read that told me more about the rulers of the time as actual people, and I was blown away by how little I'd known them. All the war's a stage, and the people merely players.

Most of the time when we study the Great War, The War to End All Wars, World War I, we look at series of events, and the the people involved are moved around as pawns.

Over in Britain, the first cousin of both the Kaiser and the Tsar, George V, successfully retained the crown.In this new book, Gareth Russell tells the story of the Austrian, German and Russian imperial families during the four years of the First World War and the political and personal struggles that brought about their ruin. The three great monarchies of Europe had fallen. By the end of that conflict, not only had the Austro-Hungarian Empire crumbled but the other two imperial rulers of Europe, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, had lost their grip on power. The assassination set in motion the events that led to the outbreak of the First World War, one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history and a trauma that would bring down the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ending nearly eight centuries of Hapsburg rule and unleashing unrest across the European continent. On 28 June 1914, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne was assassinated on a visit to Sarajevo by a Serbian nationalist called Gavrilo Princip.

The Emperors by Gareth Russell