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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
It look me months to get all the way through this book, because it wanted to read it carefully, and I found it very rewarding.
The overall thrust of the book is that the outbreak of WWI was not inevitable, and the assassination of Archduke Franz Josef was not merely a pretext for a war everybody (*cough* Germany) wanted to happen. Clark takes Serbian nationalism and irrendentism very seriously, and thinks that Austria-Hungary was probably right to want to punish the Serbs over the assassination. But the Great Powers of Europe, in an era of strengthening alliances (esp. the one between France and Russia), military buildup, and hawkish leadership (all of which were fairly recent occurrences and may well have waned over the next few years) decided it was worth going to war over.
The book goes deep into the weeds of the various people who were involved in decision making in the UK, France, Russia, Germany, Serbia, and Austria-Hungry, a cast of characters (monarchs, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers, War Ministers, etc.) that changed over the last couple of decades before 1914. There are lots of arguments about colonies and borders within Europe (esp. in the Balkans) which contribute to the conditions of 1914, as well as power struggles inside each country. Laying out these struggles takes a lot of pages, and serves the overall argument that assigning blame for the war's outbreak to any one country or person doesn't make sense--there were a lot of moving parts that could have moved a different direction.
The overall thrust of the book is that the outbreak of WWI was not inevitable, and the assassination of Archduke Franz Josef was not merely a pretext for a war everybody (*cough* Germany) wanted to happen. Clark takes Serbian nationalism and irrendentism very seriously, and thinks that Austria-Hungary was probably right to want to punish the Serbs over the assassination. But the Great Powers of Europe, in an era of strengthening alliances (esp. the one between France and Russia), military buildup, and hawkish leadership (all of which were fairly recent occurrences and may well have waned over the next few years) decided it was worth going to war over.
The book goes deep into the weeds of the various people who were involved in decision making in the UK, France, Russia, Germany, Serbia, and Austria-Hungry, a cast of characters (monarchs, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers, War Ministers, etc.) that changed over the last couple of decades before 1914. There are lots of arguments about colonies and borders within Europe (esp. in the Balkans) which contribute to the conditions of 1914, as well as power struggles inside each country. Laying out these struggles takes a lot of pages, and serves the overall argument that assigning blame for the war's outbreak to any one country or person doesn't make sense--there were a lot of moving parts that could have moved a different direction.
Really comprehensive, but the writing is too dry for me. I'm not gonna force myself to read 700 more pages
challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Interesting and obviously well researched, but tedious and repetitious. I particularly struggled with the second part, which constantly jumped back and forth in time without clear reason and repeated events multiple times. I understand this is a very complicated historical context, but I don't think the author did a good job of conveying events clearly.
informative
slow-paced
I usually like my history with a more narrative thread, but this was super dense and comprehensive. At times it was hard to follow, but well worth it as an in depth analysis for the origins of WWI.
It is painful to realize how unnecessary all those lost lives were. None of the decisions made by men in key roles seem to hold up under scrutiny. I can only think that these selfish men should not have been in charge and make comparisons to today.
It is painful to realize how unnecessary all those lost lives were. None of the decisions made by men in key roles seem to hold up under scrutiny. I can only think that these selfish men should not have been in charge and make comparisons to today.
This was a bit dense in places -- it seemed at times like Clark didn't come across a Serbian or Italian newspaper article that he could bear to leave out -- but overall was a fantastic reexamination of the origins of World War I. The chapter detailing the assassination of Franz Ferdinand was riveting. The book appears to be intended for a general audience, but tends to lapse into academic prose at time. Definitely rewarding for serious, committed readers. Do not skip the footnotes: there's a wealth of information there as well.
Clark takes a primarily unbiased approach in describing the events and actors that led Europe into the First World War. Towards the end, you can't help but feel that Russia and France have not been given enough attention in WWI historiography for the role each played in 1914 and before. Sleepwalkers is a long book, but provides all the information you need to understand comparatively how the war broke out -- starting with the regicide of the Obrenović monarchy in Serbia and going through the July Crisis.