Download or read book Collision Course: Franz Conrad Von Hötzendorf, Serbia, and the Politics of Preventive War written by Jan G. Beaver and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2009-09-01 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Franz Conrad von Hotzendorf, as chief of the Austro-Hungarian general staff, was the foremost proponent of preventive war as the means of solving both the foreign and domestic problems of the multinational Habsburg Monarchy in one grand action. The combination of Conrad's insistence on war and Serbia's official, and frequently reckless unofficial, nationalist policies set the stage for the outbreak of a Balkan conflict that would shake Europe to its very foundations and change the world forever.