accident. The officers
of the German General Staff were fully aware "that they were risking
general war" when they urged Austria to invade Serbia. Because many of
the clauses in the Triple Entente treaty were secret, German leaders
thought that Britain's support for France and Russia was ambivalent, mak-
ing "diplomatic and military victories all the more plausible" in the event
that Britain abandoned her allies at the outbreak of a major war.
The true lesson to be drawn...