FATEFUL ALLIANCE

George F. Kennan, the 'eminence grise' of American politics has at long last answered the question of who started the Great War of 1914-18. Kennan tells us that the fateful Franco-Russian Alliance signed in 1894 was not a counterweight to Bismarck's Triple Alliance as historians have commonly alleged, but was in fact an agreement between France and Russia to attack and defeat the Central Powers (Germany and Austria) at the first propitious moment. Czar Alexander III who signed the "Alliance" on behalf of Russia died unexpectedly a few months later and Franco-Russian plans were put on hold. But two decades later, the son of Alexander III, the woefully unprepared Nicholas II carried out his father's ambition to control Constantinople and the Straits. Kennan's book, like his earlier works, is fully documented and written in clear, compelling prose. This book is MUST reading for anyone wanting to understand the cause(s) of World War 1.