until they return we're joined by sean mcmeekin, author of "july 1914: countdown to war." mr. mcmeekin appreciate you joining us on american history tv. >> thank you for having me. it's a pleasure to be here. >> a century since world war i, there continues to be a debate about which nation was responsible for the start of the first world war. take us back to america in 1914. 1915, 1916. was that debate about who was responsible taking place in the united states at that time? >> it was not necessarily the most important question in u.s. politics. i think probably for the woodrow wilson administration, the key thing was to keep the united states out of the war. i think certainly if there had been a different president in the white house, possibly theodore roosevelt, might have taken a different line. he was quite clear about the fact in 1914 that i think he saw the germans as, if not necessarily to blame for the war, then certainly a greater threat for the united states than the entente powers, france, britain and russia. as far as 1916, again once again woodrow wilson was runnin

until they return we're joined by sean mcmeekin, author of "july 1914: countdown to war." mr. mcmeekin appreciate you joining us on american history tv. >> thank you for having me. it's a pleasure to be here. >> a century since world war i, there continues to be a debate about which nation was responsible for the start of the first world war. take us back to america in 1914. 1915, 1916. was that debate about who was responsible taking place in the united states at that time? >> it was not necessarily the most important question in u.s. politics. i think probably for the woodrow wilson administration, the key thing was to keep the united states out of the war. i think certainly if there had been a different president in the white house, possibly theodore roosevelt, might have taken a different line. he was quite clear about the fact in 1914 that i think he saw the germans as, if not necessarily to blame for the war, then certainly a greater threat for the united states than the entent powers, france, britain and russia. as far as 1916, again once again woodrow wilson was running

this is about 50 minutes. >> professor sean mcmeekin did his ph.d. at uc berkeley and he talked at many universities before beginning at professor of history of russian and eurasian studies at bard college in new york. among his recent books are the russian origins of the first world war, july 1914, and the berlin baghdad express, the ottoman empire and germany's bid for world power. his research languages include russian, turkish, german and french. his talk today is the war of 1914, an avoidable catastrophe. >> thank you for that kind introduction. we'll see if i can get the clicker to work before we get going. there we are. it's true, i did one book with the german bid for world power in the title. i did another book called the russian origins of the first world war. some people have been a bit confused by this. i blame the russians in one book and the germans in the other. now, for which i can only say that i'm not responsible for the titles. but what i'll try to do today is lay out some of where my own thinking has come from and also i think to

until they return we're joined by sean mcmeekin, author of "july 1914: countdown to war." mr. mcmeekin appreciate you joining us on american history

this is about 50 minutes. >> professor sean mcmeekin did his ph.d. at uc berkeley and he talked at many universities before beginning at professor of history of russian and eurasian studies at bard college in new york. among his recent boox are the russian origins of the first world war, july 1914, and the berlin baghdad express, the ottoman empire and germany's bid for world power. his research languages include russian, turkish, german, and french. his talk today is the war of 1914, an avoidable catastrophe. >> thank you for that kind introduction. we'll see if i can get the clicker to work before we get going. there we are. it's true, i did one book with the german bid for world power in the title. i did another book called the russian origins of the first world war. some people have been a bit confused by this. i blame the russians in one book and the germans in the other. [laughter] now, for which i can only say that i'm not responsible for the titles. but what i'll try to do today is lay out some of where my own thinking has come from and also

author sean mcmeekin talks about the events that led to war and how it might have turned out differently. he argues against the idea that an arms race between germany and britain provoked the war. instead, he describes a series of decisions by heads of state that had a domino effect. this is about 50 minutes. >> professor sean mckeekin did his ph.d. at uc berkeley, and he taught for many years ink[;t tu at several universities before beginning recently as professor of history and russian andu. among his many books are "the origins of the first world war" and "the berlin baghdad express." his research languages include russian, turkish, german, and french. his talk today is "the war of 1914: an avoidable catastrophe." >> thank you for that kind introduction. let me see if i can get the clicker to work before we get going. there we are. it's true. did i one book with the german bid for world power in the title. i did another book called the russian origins of the first world war.n8@úÑ some people are confused by this. i blame the russians in one book, and the germans in other. [ laughter ]

author sean mcmeekin talks about the events in 1914 that led to war, and how it might have turned outly.

. >> professor sean mcmeekin is author of "july 1914: countdown to war." we appreciate you joining us on american history tv. >> well, thank you very much for having me on, john. i really enjoyed it. >>> you've been watching c-span's american history tv. we want to hear from you. follow us on twitter@cspanhistory. connect with us on facebook at facebook.com/cspan history. or you can left comments, too. or check out our upcoming programs at our website c-span.org/history. >>> we'd like to tell you about some of our other american history tv programs, join us every sunday at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. eastern. for a look at american artifacts. travel with us to historic sites, museums, and archives, to learn what artifacts reveal about american history. again watch our show american artifacts every sunday at 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. eastern here on american history tv. on c-span3. >> here's a look at some of the programs you'll find christmas day on the c-span networks. holiday festivities start at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span with the lighting of the national chri

this is about 50 minutes. >> professor sean mcmeekin did his ph.d.at uc berkeley and he talked at many universities before beginning at professor of history of russian and eurasian studies at bard college in new york. among his recent boox are the russian origins of the first world war, july 1914, and the berlin baghdad express, the ottoman empire and germany's bid for world power. his research languages include russian, turkish, german and french. his talk today is the war of 1914, an avoidable catastrophe. >> thank you for that kind introduction. we'll see if i can get the clicker to work before we get going. there we are. it's true, i did one book with the german bid for world power in the title. i did another book called the russian origins of the first world war. some people have been a bit confused by this. i blame the russians in one book and the germans in the other. now, for which i can only say that i'm not responsible for the titles. but what i'll try to do today is lay out some of where my own thinking has come from and also i think to ex

marking the world war i centennial.olk, v coming up next in a previously recorded segment historian sean mcmeekinakes viewer calls on the state of europe just prior r to the beginning of world war i he talks about how the assassination of the austrian as arch duke franz ferdinand led to what he calls a countdown to lla war. to this program is about 25 minutes. >> american history tv is live from the mcarthur memorial in ae norfolk, virginia, where the

thank you so much, sean mcmeekin. [ applause ] >>> here on c-span3, we're featuring "american history tv" programming. we'd like to get your thoughts on our shows. e-mail us at american history tv@c-span.org to leave your >>> we'd like to tell you about some of our other "american history tv" programs. join us us every saturday for "history bookshelf." writers of the decade talk about their books. "history bookshelf" every saturday 4:00 p.m. eastern here on "american history tv" on c-span3. >>> here's a look at some of the programs you'll find christmas day on the c-span networks. holiday festivities start at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span with the lighting of the national christmas tree, followed by the white house christmas decorations with first lighting of the capitol christmas tree. after 12:30 p.m., celebrity activists talk about their causes. at 8:00, samuel alito, and former florida governor jeb bush. on will bill of rights and founding fathers. >>> and venture into the art of good writing, with steve pinker. at 12:30, see the feminist side of a superhero as jill lepore seeks th

coming up next in a previously recorded segment historian sean mcmeekin takes viewer calls on the state of europe just prior to the beginning of world war i. he talks about how the assassination of the austrian arch duke franz ferdinand led to what he calls a countdown to war. this program is about 25 minutes. >>

. >> professor sean mcmeekin did his

author sean mcmeekin talks about the events in 1914 that led to war, and how it might have turned out differently. he argues against the idea that an arms race between germany and