Priscilla Roberts takes a somewhat more favorable view of Wilson, but she echoes Zelikow in slamming his advisor Colonel Edward M. Otte also praises Zelikow for drawing on his experiences in diplomacy and the higher levels of government to convey a sense of how things really work.
He agrees with Zelikow’s characterization of Wilson as a diplomatic failure, and he contrasts this president’s actions with those of his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, in mediating the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. Gabriela Frei likes the sharp analyses of diplomatic dealings, but she thinks that Zelikow may be too hard on President Woodrow Wilson. He also sees the German ambassador in Washington, Johann von Bernstorff, in a much less kindly light than Zelikow does. Chickering emphasizes the obstacles in Bethmann Hollweg’s path, from the military high command and from the Reichstag and public opinion. Chickering questions whether the principal German advocate of negotiations, Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, wielded as much influence in the top tier of the Kaiser’s government as Zelikow suggests. Roger Chickering likewise praises it for broadening understanding of these events, but, concentrating on his field of German history, he states at the outset that it did not change his mind about what transpired in that country. Kathleen Burk finds the book a “totally convincing historical narrative” and apologizes for not raising criticisms. The historians reviewing this book bring different perspectives to their reviews, which appear in alphabetical order, and, coincidentally, express for the most part ascending degrees of criticism. Zelikow uses that story not just to supply a poignant title but also to put a human face on the stakes of a negotiated peace that might have stopped the fighting over a year and a half before the Armistice of November 11, 1918. Thomas chose to answer the call to arms, and he was killed in action in France five days after the United States entered the war. In 1915, Thomas found himself torn between accepting Frost’s invitation to come to America and joining the British army to fight on the Western Front. Zelikow makes a nice contribution by noting that Frost sent a draft of the poem to his friend Edward Thomas, whom he had met while living in England from 1912 to 1915. Many will recognize it as the title of a poem by Robert Frost. The subtitle indicates the book’s subject, but the title deserves some elucidation. All have worked in the period and on events covered in The Road Less Traveled: The Secret Battle to End the Great War, 1916-1917. Seven historians from around the world are represented here. Both those kinds of greetings are on display in this Roundtable. In this club, we greet newcomers in ways that range from warm praise to hard-hitting criticism. With this forum we welcome Philip Zelikow to the fraternity/sorority of historians of the First World War. Introduction by John Milton Cooper, Jr., University of Wisconsin-Madison, Emeritus