Fresh research at the Foreign Ministry in Moscow (since closed) yields an insightful new look at Russia's pivotal role in the making of World War I. In this massive yet palatable work of research, scholar Lieven, a fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, and the British Academy, concentrates on Russian foreign policy as it maneuvered through shifting currents of "modern empire" and nationalism in the years leading up to Russia's entry in the war. The author emphasizes how the notion of imperialism was as pertinent within Europe as outside of it, namely in Austria's regard of Serbia as existing within its own orbit. The Russian empire's internal makeup was enormously complicated, and Lieven painstakingly walks readers through the important precursors—e.g., the revolution of 1905 and the Anglo-Russian entente of 1907—while introducing the key decision-makers. A Russian scholar opens up new, even startling historical connections.--Kirkus