The Evidence in the Case as to the Moral Responsibility for the War (1915), by James M. Beck

The two weeks leading up to the beginning of World War I have been a rich source of analysis for historians, politicians, and other readers.  Those fateful days contained many clues about the different crucial turning points that led to the most destructive war in history.

A strong yearning to learn all of the reasons for the war persisted in many people, continuing many months after the start of the war.  That demand was partially met by the publication in March 1915 of a revised edition of The Evidence in the Case as to the Moral Responsibility for the War, by James M. Beck (1861-1936).

The Evidence in the Case was originally published in December 1914.  The book was based  on an article by Beck that appeared in The New York Times Sunday Magazine on October 25, 1914.

Beck was a lawyer and politician.  In The Evidence in the Case, he attempted to trace the origins of the war like a judge examining all of the evidence in a legal case.  He tried to establish a moral foundation for his examination:

Has their developed in the progress of civilization an international morality, by which, even though imperfectly, the moral conduct of nations is judged?

The answer can be a qualified affirmative. With the age of the printing press, the steamship, the railroad, and the telegraph there has developed a conscience of mankind.

The presentation of evidence in the book was based greatly upon the official records of each country that was involved in the war.  Beck often based conclusions on the incompleteness of some of the records.

The Evidence in the Case was not the first book to look closely at the official records of the war.  But it does focus on the records in such a close fashion to give a more clear understanding of the human factors and the precise reasoning involved in the official decisions of each country.

Beck's general conclusion was that Germany and Austria were greatly responsible for the war. In a chapter titled "The Judgment of the World," he summarized his conclusions with seven points that started with this statement:

Germany and Austria in a time of profound peace secretly concerted to impose their will upon Europe in a matter affecting the balance of power.  Whether in so doing they intended to precipitate a European war to determine the hegemony of Europe is not satisfactorily established, although their whole course of conduct suggests this as a possibility.

Beck felt that Germany backed Austria in its strongly worded ultimatum to Serbia for redress following the June 28, 1914 assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire by a Serbian nationalist. He felt that Germany and Austria evaded reasonable attempts to keep a local conflict between Austria and Serbia from turning into a major European war.

To support this assertion, Beck pointed to the relative lack of information about communications between Germany and Austria compared to the records of communication between other countries and Germany or Austria.

James M. Beck in 1923

A list of politicians at the beginning of the book helps the reader keep track of the different people in the different countries who were involved in the diplomacy before the war.

The Evidence in the Case shows a constant shuttling of requests and responses between countries.  You see the importance of having competent, strong-willed people as ambassadors and foreign policy administrators.

Beck highly praised the efforts of Sergius Sazonof, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia; Edward Grey, the Foreign Secretary of Great Britain; and Jules Cambon, the French Ambassador to Germany.  On the other hand, he wrote that "Germany's chief weakness lay in its incapable diplomatic representatives." 

The Evidence in the Case includes much about the communications between Kaiser Wilhelm II in Germany, Czar Nicholas II in Russia, and King George V in England.  These men knew that Europe was on the brink of a disastrous war, but even their blood ties through Queen Victoria of England could not prevent the start of World War I.

The Evidence in the Case was revised and republished in March 1915 after more records were released.  The revised edition included this new material:

• An introduction by Joseph H. Choate, former American ambassador to Great Britain.  This introduction, which originally appeared as a January 10, 1915 review in The New York Times, highly praised the first version of The Evidence in the Case.
• Information about official war records from France and Austria that were not available for the first version of the book.
• An addendum that expands on some of the topics in the original version, including an Austrian negotiation offer on July 31, 1914 and the invasion of France on August 1, 1914.
• An epilogue that ends the 1915 version of the book with reflective, philosophical observations that did not appear in the 1914 version.
• A detailed index.

The Evidence in the Case was praised by reviewer W. E. Wright in the July 10, 1915 edition of The Evening Journal (Wilmington, Delaware):

Mr. Beck's book derives a unique value from the fact that it is based wholly upon documentary evidence—the highest evidence known to courts or to history.

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The revised edition of The Evidence in the Case was published around March 6, 1915, when it was advertised in The New York Times.  Front page headlines from that day's edition of the Times included:

• HOLLAND-AMERICA SHIP HIT BY A TORPEDO / The Noorderdijk, Bound to New York, Returns to Rotterdam When Damaged in Channel.

• RUSSIA'S HOSTS PRESS WEST AGAIN / Resume Offensive from the Baltic Sea to the Frontier of Rumania. / REPORTED IN CZERNOWITZ / Evacuation by Austrians of Bukowina Expected—Western Carpathian Passes Forced. / GERMANS RETREAT NORTH / Their Armies Split Into Isolated Columns—May Be Compelled to Raise Siege of Ossowetz

• FRANCE SOON TO CALL RECRUITS OF 1915 / Millerand Also Asks for Authorization to Start Training Those of 1916.

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Online versions:

• Hathi Trust Digital Library
• Internet Archive

Newspaper information from Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/)

Beck photograph by Wide World (Wide World Photos) (Time Magazine) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons