A mad catastrophe : the outbreak of World War I and the collapse of the Habsburg Empire / Geoffrey Wawro.

New York : Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group, [2014]

xxiv, 440 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

"The Austro-Hungarian army that marched east and south to confront the Russians and Serbs in the opening campaigns of World War I had a glorious past but a pitiful present. Speaking a mystifying array of languages and lugging outdated weapons, the Austrian troops were hopelessly unprepared for the industrialized warfare that would shortly consume Europe. As ... historian Geoffrey Wawro explains in [this book], the doomed Austrian conscripts were an unfortunate microcosm of the Austro-Hungarian Empire itself--both equally ripe for destruction"-- Provided by publisher.

English

May 28, 2014

Includes bibliographical references (pages 427-431) and index.