Causes of World War I
Monographs
Clark, C. (2012). The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914. HarperCollins.
Christopher Clark's work, "The Sleepwalkers," gives a detailed and nuanced view of the events
that led Europe to the First World War. The author's main argument is that this war cannot be linked to
one nation or event but resulted from multiple misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and political
decisions of the European elites. The monograph is described as thoroughly researched and engaging in
narrative, as readers can easily relate to the History of the portrayed people and events. Clark provides
extensive coverage of the interconnection of the relations, nationalism, and individual interests that
shaped the decisions of the principal actors, including Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, and Serbia.
Unfortunately, to emphasize the build-up to the war, he narrows the narrative down to the events of
several months and even days. He demonstrates how seemingly unrelated occurrences grew into a war.
This book is, therefore, instrumental in demystifying the complexities of the factors that led to the
outbreak of the First World War and leaves no room for anyone to say the war was a result of one
individual or one factor alone. For this reason, any reader interested in understanding why the world
was set on a path toward one of the most catastrophic wars in the History of humanity must consider
Clark's work indispensable.
MacMillan, M. (2013). The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914. Random House.
In her book "The War That Ended Peace," Margaret MacMillan examines the historical events
that led to World War I, and she believes that it was not an inevitable event but a result of several crises
and missteps by European leaders. Some of the issues that are dealt with in the monograph include
nationalism, militarism, imperialism, and alliances that existed between European countries. MacMillan
weaves the story with historical details and minutia of personalities involved in the political and military
scene and tries to capture the motives and intentions of the participants. It stresses personalities in the
build-up to the war and argues that personal actions and miscalculations were at the center of the
plunge towards the war. MacMillan is known for her efforts to perform extensive research, provide Bias-
free analysis, and use non-dense language. It provides the reader with information about the situation
that led to World War I, which is essential for better comprehension of the general conditions that
precipitated the start of the war and measures that could have been taken to avoid it.
Fondren, E., & Hamilton, J. M. (2023). The universal laws of propaganda: World War I and the origins of
government manufacture of opinion. Journal of Intelligence History, 22(1), 1-19.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/16161262.2022.2036498
Fondren and Hamilton focus on propaganda in the context of the First World War and detail
how the manipulation process started to take shape. It outlines numerous propaganda tactics of the
advanced nations and their outcomes, explaining how they pertain to contemporary political systems in
the long term. Thus, this article is a valuable resource to its readers, as it offers a historical background
and a critical review of state-controlled propaganda and its development, which allows an
understanding of its functions in historical and modern contexts. The authors claim that these first steps
in propaganda led to the development of the modern information war. By considering their analysis,
one can understand the continued relevance of WWI propaganda methods in the following wars and
political campaigns.
Guettel, J. U. (2019). Reform, Revolution, and the “Original Catastrophe”: Political Change in Prussia and
Germany on the Eve of the First World War. The Journal of Modern History, 91(2), 311-340.
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/703161
Guettel analyzes the domestic changes in Prussia and Germany up to the Great War, regime
shifts, social deviance, and economic dynamics. He examines such topics as socialism, attempts to
disrupt the conservative agenda, and militarism. The article explains how local and regional politics
intermingled, leading to an unexpected war. Guettel overlooks the regional and global structures of
domestic changes. Indeed, his work clearly shows how internal political stability can enhance global or
broad peace. Moreover, Guettel’s book contains a detailed description of the critical assessment of how
the political system of Germany determined its foreign policy. Altogether, the article can be appreciated
as a valuable source of information concerning the conditions that existed before the war.
BBC Bitesize. (2019, August 12). How and why did World War One start? - BBC Bitesize. BBC Bitesize;
BBC Bitesize. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/znhhrj6#zrm22v4
This BBC Bitesize article provides curtailed information on the causes of World War I, featuring
items such as alliances, militarism, imperialism, and nationalism about the war. It speaks of the murder
of Archduke Franz Ferdinand as the beginning of the chain of events and, at the same time, speaks of
inherent factors that led to the outbreak of the war. The article can be inappropriate as the first
introduction to the overall topic of World War I and its causes. However, it offers a good starting point
for the general background information. It is intended to be used in classrooms and, as such, is written
in simple language that can be easily understood by those not in academic circles. The written
information helps to understand the various factors that led to the war with the help of additional
illustrations. In addition, the various elements of the given article, including quizzes and timelines, will
help in the learning process. It fills the gap between the initial ideas of History as a discipline and further
advanced historical understanding.
