This first English publication of Vladimir ?orovi?'s study is a culmination of efforts that had started long before this book saw the light of day. The origin of this work goes back to the late 1920s when Yugoslav officials and intellectuals decided to provide a competent, scholarly work of international reputation on the question of the origins of the World War I. The publication of the book planned for 1936 could not be realized as the Yugoslav government complied with a request from the Third Reich to cancel it. A work that was likely to delve into the responsibility of not just Austria-Hungary, but also of the German Empire for the outbreak of the Great War was not welcome to Nazi Germany. Even today ?orovi?'s book is worth reading to check the state of discussion in the aftermath of more recent publications on the outbreak of World War I.