I. Before Sarajevo: underlying causes of the war.--II. After Sarajevo: immediate causes of the war.

Discusses and examines the possible causes of World War I.

The seminal event of the 20th century, the origins of the First World War have always been difficult to establish and have aroused deep controversy. Annika Mombauer tracks the impassioned debates as they developed at critical points through the twentieth century. The book focuses on the controversy itself, rather than the specific events leading up to the war. Emotive and emotional from the very beginning of the conflict, the debate and the passions aroused in response to such issues as the ‘war-guilt paragraph’ of the treaty of Versailles, are set in the context of the times in which they were proposed. Similarly, the argument has been fuelled by concerns over the sacrifices that were made and the casualities that were suffered. Were they really justified?

A second edition of this leading introduction to the origins of the First World War and the pre-war international system. William Mulligan shows how the war was a far from inevitable outcome of international politics in the early twentieth century and suggests instead that there were powerful forces operating in favour of the maintenance of peace. He discusses key issues ranging from the military, public opinion, economics, diplomacy and geopolitics to relations between the great powers, the role of smaller states and the disintegrating empires. In this new edition, the author assesses the extensive new literature on the war's origins and the July Crisis as well as introducing new themes such as the relationship between economic interdependence and military planning. With well-structured chapters and an extensive bibliography, this is an essential classroom text which significantly revises our understanding of diplomacy, political culture, and economic history from 1870 to 1914.

Origins of the First World War summarizes the policies, issues and crises that brought Europe to war in 1914. Examining the strategic and political problems that confronted each of the great powers and the way in which social and economic factors influenced the decision-making process, Martel discusses the position of each power and their place in the system of alliances which dominated international politics. The fourth edition has been revised and updated throughout to incorporate the body of new scholarship that has appeared since the hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of war. In a clear and accessible manner, it explains: how and why the alliance system was created how alliances led to a network of complicated strategic commitments how an escalating series of international crises from the turn of the century fuelled preparations for war why the peculiarities of the Balkan situation are essential in understanding the outbreak of war in 1914. This book also includes an updated Guide to Further Reading, Who’s Who of important figures and Glossary of key terms, and the selection of documents has been expanded to include the key treaties as well as evidence of popular militarism and nationalism. Concise, accessible and analytical, it is essential introductory reading for all students interested in the origins of the First World War.

This collection is a general military and diplomatic history of the First World War, from June 1914 to May 1920. Military affairs are the foremost issue, with political and diplomatic events relevant to the war intertwined. The work includes short biographies of important military leaders.

Victor Rothwell examines the origins of World War II, from the flawed peace settlement in 1919 to the start of the true world war at Pearl Harbor in 1941. He asks many important questions. Why did the cause of peace advance in the 1920s, only to be stopped in its tracks and threatened with reversal by the Great Depression?; what was the nature of Nazi thinking about war, foreign policy, and the policy of appeasement that sought to accommodate the Third Reich without again going to war? He also examines the events in the Far East at the time, and draws a contrast between the role of the US and the Far East throughout the 1930s. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.