Questions About The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914

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Answered Questions (4)

Bill I'm about 75 pages in. As someone else said, the writing is dry, the detail is thick, and the unfamiliar names can be tough to keep straight. You'll l…moreI'm about 75 pages in. As someone else said, the writing is dry, the detail is thick, and the unfamiliar names can be tough to keep straight. You'll learn (and, if you're like me, mostly immediately forget) more about turn-of-the-century Serbian politics than you really wanted to know. But the payoff is, I finally understand what the heck happened in Sarajevo in 1914 and why. I look forward to finally understanding the next events leading to the war as I continue reading. Definitely worth the effort.(less)

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Which countries were part of "The three emperors alliance"? a. England, Russia, Germany b. Germany, Russia, Austria c. Italy, Germany, Austria d. England, Austria, Italy

Mschu001 b.Germany, Russia, Austria.

This alliance ended in the 1890's when Alexander III wanted to go his separate way and Bismark's successor didn't attempt …moreb.Germany, Russia, Austria.

This alliance ended in the 1890's when Alexander III wanted to go his separate way and Bismark's successor didn't attempt to renew the alliance. Once Russia made an unlikely alliance with France, a war of some sort was inevitable. (less)

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so world war 1 could have been avoided?

Timothy Curry Broadly speaking yes, or at least it could have been localized as a Third Balkan War instead of the monster into which it grew. Serbia had clear expan…moreBroadly speaking yes, or at least it could have been localized as a Third Balkan War instead of the monster into which it grew. Serbia had clear expansionist designs on Bosnia, (and so did Austria, having annexed it in 1908), Albania, and Macedonia, and a good bit of partisan fighting held over from the Second Balkan War was already in progress. It does not appear that a Third Balkan War could have been resolved other than by the force of arms that was already simmering anyway.

The last several chapters of Clark's book are a succession of heartbreaking points at which it might have been controlled, though. For example, both the Russian general mobilization and the ensuing German invasion of Belgium actually were attempted to be stopped at the last moment by the Tsar and the Kaiser respectively, the former being told correctly that the Russians didn't actually have a plan for a partial mobilization (which would likely have been disastrous in the event of the need of a general mobilization shortly afterward), and the Kaiser being told by Moltke erroneously that the Germans had no plans to accomplish a partial mobilization that would have stopped at the border. Whether Moltke was mistaken or lying is not known, but the Kaiser's "Your uncle would have given me a different answer" has to rank as one of history's more tragic sentences.

Underlying all this is a general sense that war parties within most of the principals were eager for a war with one or more of the other principals for one or more reasons, but not one of them expected the war they got. A century later they're still digging bits of that one from the ground. (less)

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so, the war was preventable?