Střední Evropa ve zbrani 1815–1914

This book on the development of industrial arms production in the Habsburg Monarchy and its expansion in Prussia and imperial Germany from the middle of the 19th century through 1914 also includes a detailed exposition on the technology and specific features of large-scale arms production as well as on the secrets of the arms trade. The description culminates with the years directly preceding the outbreak of the First World War, the time of an escalating “arms race,” and reveals the roots and background of how and why this conflagration started. It shows that the German Empire was much better prepared to wage the “Great War” than the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, which was both economically lagging and suffered from a disparate internal political situation.