Casual /his/torian here. I've had my fill reading about

>>1527906
The used books section of Amazon.com. Peter Hart's 'The War' has really great personal recollections from people who were there.

>>1527906
listen to Dan Carlin's podcast called Harcore History. He did a series on the war called Blueprint for Armageddon that I can't reccomend enough

http://pastebin.com/u/jonstond2

this might have some topics that youre interested in

>>1528068
I was going to recommend this but I figured /his/ would just have another shitslinging fest over Dan Carlin.

>>1527906
start with Dutch VOC & the Ottoman Empires from 1500.

American Revolution -> French Revolution -> Napoleonic Wars -> Franco-German Wars -> Unification of Germany -> African Colonialism -> Edwardian Period -> World War 1

Is this correct?

>>1530634
Close. Franco-German wars and German Unification shouldn't be separate imo, and you're missing the Crimean War. I'd also include the revolutions of 1848 in there as well

>>1527906
The Guns of August. Some might say its historiography is outdated, but at the end of the day it's a very readable account of the opening month of the war. From there you can read about the rest of the war.