Sidney B. Fay (1876–1967)

A solid, if necessarily abbreviated, examination of the trends that led to the rise of Prussia as a major European power from medieval times to the death of Frederick the Great. Probably meant as reading for college courses, and general European history courses at that, which accounts for the light touching on various subjects; this is not an in-depth work, though it's a good read.

948 Before Sarajevo The Origins of the World War Volume I, Second Edition, Revised, by Sidney Bradshaw Fay (read 23 Mar 1968) This book is intriguing, objective, and puts Germany and the Kaiser in a less unfavorable light than I have ordinarily attributed to them. There seems little doubt that Austria and Russia were the least adverse to risking war which is ironic since certainly they were the least prepared therefor. If only all the powers could have foreseen the events of the next four show more and the next 25 years, how easily war could have been prevented! I will read volume two of this work and then will consider reading Schmitt's The Coming of the War , 1914, and even Albertini's The Origins of the War of 1914. [I never have read Schmitt's work, but in 1986 I did read Albertini's three volume work.] My only regret about the Fay book is that it was written in and before 1928. I wish it could have been revised in 1966. But apparently the new material available would have changed little therein--or so Fay says in an introduction. The underlying causes of the war are set out by Fay as {1} The System of Secret Alliances. (2) Militarism. (3) Nationalism. (4) Economic Imperialism. and (4) The Newspaper Press. An extremely interesting book. show less

There are helpful and useful illustrations and maps that accompany this short survey of Brandenburg-Prussia. This is a reliable short introduction to the topic.

949 After Sarajevo The Origins of the World War Volume II, Second Edition, Revised, by Sidney Bradshaw Fay (read 29 Mar 1968) I did no post-reading note on this second volume, but apparently what I said about Volume I was sufficient as to Volume II in my estimation.