An Improbable War?: The Outbreak of World War I and European Political Culture before 1914

Published by Berghahn Books 2007

An Improbable War?

The Outbreak of World War I and European Political Culture before 1914

Edited by: Holger Afflerbach and David Stevenson

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780857455963

Overview
Contents

About this book

The First World War has been described as the "primordial catastrophe of the twentieth century." Arguably, Italian Fascism, German National Socialism and Soviet Leninism and Stalinism would not have emerged without the cultural and political shock of World War I. The question why this catastrophe happened therefore preoccupies historians to this day. The focus of this volume is not on the consequences, but rather on the connection between the Great War and the long 19th century, the short- and long-term causes of World War I. This approach results in the questioning of many received ideas about the war's causes, especially the notion of "inevitability."

Author / Editor information

Holger Afflerbach specializes in 19th- and 20th- Century German history; international relations; military history, particularly World War I and World War II, as well as Austrian and Italian history and has written widely on these topics. He is Professor of Central European History at the University of Leeds.

David Stevenson is Stevenson Professor of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He specializes in the history of international relations in Europe since c.1900, with particular reference to the World War I. His recent publications include Armaments and the Coming of War: Europe, 1904-1914 (Oxford, 1996), Cataclysm: The First World War as Political Tragedy (New York, 2004) amd With Our Backs to the Wall: Victory and Defeat in 1918 (Allen Lane, 2011)

Holger Afflerbach specializes in 19th- and 20th- Century German history; international relations; military history, particularly World War I and World War II, as well as Austrian and Italian history and has written widely on these topics. He is Professor of Central European History at the University of Leeds.

Reviews

"...outstanding scholarly analyses...These essays comprise a valuable addition to the never-ending debate on the causes of the Great War." · Stand To! The Journal of the Western Front Association

"...vigorously and thoughtfully renews one of the great, enduring questions of twentieth-century European and world history. This is a landmark book that sums up the state of research and suggests fruitful possibilities for going forward." · German Studies Review

"The value of the book is in the chapters, all of which are thoughtful and well argued." · The International History Review

"Like any provocative book, this one forced me to rethink some of my historiographical assumptions." · Bryan Ganaway, College of Charleston

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
List of Figures Publicly Available Download PDF	viii
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Foreword Jimmy Carter Publicly Available Download PDF	x
Introduction Holger Afflerbach and David Stevenson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I: European Statescraft and the Question of War and Peace before 1914
Chapter 1. Stealing Horses to Great Applause: Austria-Hungary’s Decision in 1914 in Systemic Perspective Paul W. Schroeder Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
Chapter 2. Did Norms Matter in Nineteenth-Century International Relations? Progress and Decline in the “Culture of Peace” before World War I Matthias Schulz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
Chapter 3. Aggressive and Defensive Aims of Political Elites? Austro-Hungarian Policy in 1914 Samuel R. Williamson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
Chapter 4. The Curious Case of the Kaiser’s Disappearing War Guilt: Wilhelm II in July 1914 John C. G. Röhl Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	75
Part II: The Military Situation before 1914: Europe between Hot and Cold War
Chapter 5. Chances and Limits of Armament Control 1898–1914 Jost Dülffer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
Chapter 6. Was a Peaceful Outcome Thinkable? The Naval Race before 1914 Michael Epkenhans Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Chapter 7. Was a Peaceful Outcome Thinkable? The European Land Armaments Race before 1914 David Stevenson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	130
Chapter 8. The German and Austro-Hungarian General Staff s and their Reflections on an “Impossible” War Günther Kronenbitter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
Part III: Hopes and Fears of War and Peace: Subjective Expectations and Unspoken Assumptions in European Societies before 1914
Chapter 9. The Topos of Improbable War in Europe before 1914 Holger Afflerbach Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
Chapter 10. Unfought Wars: The Eff ect of Détente before World War I Friedrich Kießling Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
Chapter 11. “War Enthusiasm?” Public Opinion and the Outbreak of War in 1914 Roger Chickering Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	200
Chapter 12. Education for War, Peace, and Patriotism in Russia on the Eve of World War I Joshua A. Sanborn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
Part IV: Culture, Gender, Religiosity, And The Coming Of War
Chapter 13. Honor, Gender, and Power: The Politics of Satisfaction in Pre-War Europe Ute Frevert Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	231
Chapter 14. International Solidarity in European and North American Protestantism before 1914 and after Hartmut Lehmann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	256
Chapter 15. International Relations, Arts, and Culture before 1914 Jessica C. E. Gienow-Hecht Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271
Part V: The Perspective from Afar: The Outbreak of War in Europe in the Eyes of Other Continents
Chapter 16. War as the Savior? Hopes for War and Peace in Ottoman Politics Mustafa Aksakal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	285
Chapter 17. The View from Japan: War and Peace in Europe around 1914 Frederick R. Dickinson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	303
Chapter 18. War, Peace, and Commerce: The American Reaction to the Outbreak of World War I in Europe Fraser J. Harbutt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	320
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	335
Selected Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	341
Index of Names Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	361

Language: English
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 380
Keywords: History: World War I

eBook

Published: October 1, 2007
ISBN: 9780857455963