Thanks for checking w/him, MG!
Ahh, interesting....did not realize that. Have only perused 'Empire' and 'War of the World.' Will have to check out the Schroeder critique as well. This blurb from an older Washington Post review:
"Through a careful marshalling of economic and social evidence, along with charts, graphs and various forms of statistical aids, Ferguson attempts to show that because Germany (rightly) feared French and Russian militarism, it understandably made a preemptive strike against France in August 1914. (This idea is contrary to every considered opinion about the origin of World War I, which holds that it was German militarism that started the war.)"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style...ofwar990704.htm
....my assumption is that Schroeder also takes issue with Ferguson on this score? (Note: not sure if Patsilelis is 100% accurate here as -- if I remember correctly -- in either 'The Decline of Bismarck's European Order' (Princeton) or 'The Fateful Alliance' (Princeton), George Kennan pretty much advanced the same line of thinking?