What do you think?
Rate this book
The Origins of World War I, 1871-1914
This text examines the origins of the first world war. It offers a combination of traditional and diplomatic history with the historical controversy of the origin of the First World War.
176 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1967
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
Read
September 18, 2023Relatively short history book telling of inter nation turmoil in late 19th century into the 20th century.
Considering 20 nations or so involved in the world at that time and many wary of being taken
advantage of by other nations the author lays out the differences in action and reaction.
The writing is clear and to the points relating to the gripes held.
Best writing I have encountered in trying to get a better understanding of the world at the time.
slav interests were held by Poland, Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovakia, Czechoslovakia, Croatia. p. 8
Jingoism coined at this time: We don’t want to fight
But by Jingo if we do,
We’ve got the men
We’ve got the ships,
We’ve got the money too. p. 10
Moliere’s words, from Le Malade Imaginaire, that “most men die of their medicines, not of their diseases. p. 62
Bret Harte: “Blest is the man whose cause is just:
Thrice blest is he who gets his blows in fust.” p. 119
War from: One fact was that Russia, in 1914, was the first power to mobilize. p. 137
That Germany could point to Russia’s mobilization, that Russia in turn to Austria’s threat against
Servia, and Austria to Serbia’s initial provocations should be obvious, but were not Britain and France innocent bystanders? Not quite. p. 139
The Press, with its tendency to exacerbate or invent diplomatic crises, with its daily offerings of international disaster (potential, imagined, or real), and and with its habitual blurring of the distinction between patriotism and chauvinism, may have more to answer for. p. 144
This war, said Franz Kafka to a friend in 1916, above all else was caused by a tremendous lack of imagination. p. 148
Considering 20 nations or so involved in the world at that time and many wary of being taken
advantage of by other nations the author lays out the differences in action and reaction.
The writing is clear and to the points relating to the gripes held.
Best writing I have encountered in trying to get a better understanding of the world at the time.
slav interests were held by Poland, Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovakia, Czechoslovakia, Croatia. p. 8
Jingoism coined at this time: We don’t want to fight
But by Jingo if we do,
We’ve got the men
We’ve got the ships,
We’ve got the money too. p. 10
Moliere’s words, from Le Malade Imaginaire, that “most men die of their medicines, not of their diseases. p. 62
Bret Harte: “Blest is the man whose cause is just:
Thrice blest is he who gets his blows in fust.” p. 119
War from: One fact was that Russia, in 1914, was the first power to mobilize. p. 137
That Germany could point to Russia’s mobilization, that Russia in turn to Austria’s threat against
Servia, and Austria to Serbia’s initial provocations should be obvious, but were not Britain and France innocent bystanders? Not quite. p. 139
The Press, with its tendency to exacerbate or invent diplomatic crises, with its daily offerings of international disaster (potential, imagined, or real), and and with its habitual blurring of the distinction between patriotism and chauvinism, may have more to answer for. p. 144
This war, said Franz Kafka to a friend in 1916, above all else was caused by a tremendous lack of imagination. p. 148
April 25, 2020
I read the book in two days as it was hard to put down. Small in size, some 160 pages, it amazes with an abundance of details combined with a fluid narrative style. Covering the years from 1871 to 1914, in five major chapters, it provides an overview over the major characters, events, locations, interests, alliances, blunders and much more of this pivotal time. The book makes the case that the war was not at all inevitable, less a failure of diplomacy or due to alliances than any of the previous crises, but rather the right moment for this global conflagration due to intrinsic and intricate elements working against peace at that time.
February 14, 2023
It’s an academic book so it’s very thorough and well constructed. The downside being it can still be hard to digest. You need to know the basics of the players and the author assumes you know some history. Right at the end he mentions the Treaty of 1839 and I had to google it since it wasn’t mentioned before. Otherwise I appreciate how the author spends a lot of pages on the previous 30 years prior to the outbreak to understand how everyone was feeling based off other wars.
September 7, 2012
Rarely do I rank books with 5 stars - and if I do it is usually something entertaining (fiction) or something in my field (organized crime). Until I read this book after picking it up for free from a library discard pile, I had little interest in WWI. I have rarely found a non-fiction book to be such a page-turner.
Intellectually, this book was amazing. The writing was clear and concise. There was no overly academic tone that bored me to sleep. Each chapter had some sections. The author dutifully kept most subsections 5-10 pages. There are convenient stopping places. The author takes the unusual step of not advancing a thesis. For him, the origins of WWI are too varied to blame anyone. Indeed, he does not even blame Gavrilo Princip for shooting Franz Ferdinand. His masterful conclusion sums up everything when he lays out seemingly equal blame for the war on Princip, Austria, France, even Bulgaria, and chance.
Sheer dumb luck. Until I read this book I did not realize that a bomb was thrown at Ferdinand's car the same day he was shot. Ferdinand actually smacked it away so that it blew up harmlessly in the street. Afterwards it was decided to change the travel route; but no one told the driver of the car. Princip thought the plot failed when the bomb failed to injure them. He was walking home. He happened to be at the right spot when Ferdinand's driver was following the original path when ordered to stop and change his course. In that instant, Princip had a perfect shot.
Otherwise, Remak brilliantly shows the shifting alliances among Europe from 1871-1914. How some powers were left without friends; and how that quickly changed. He showed many instances where war almost became inevitable, but never materialized. Finally, he explored other arguments such as economical rivalry between Germany and Britain; imperial rivalry between Russia and France; and the powder keg of petty wars and diplomacy in the Balkins.
The only criticism to make is a stark absence of citations. The only bias is that there are a few spots where he speaks out against Communist interpretations of the war. Indeed, one of the very few references in the book is a citation arguing that businessmen were against war. Certainly a counter argument is easy to develop. All in all, I have a much greater appreciation for diplomacy, writing, history, and academe from reading this book. WWI was not a simple matter of Austria vs. Serbia; but a much greater series of diplomatic blunders.
Intellectually, this book was amazing. The writing was clear and concise. There was no overly academic tone that bored me to sleep. Each chapter had some sections. The author dutifully kept most subsections 5-10 pages. There are convenient stopping places. The author takes the unusual step of not advancing a thesis. For him, the origins of WWI are too varied to blame anyone. Indeed, he does not even blame Gavrilo Princip for shooting Franz Ferdinand. His masterful conclusion sums up everything when he lays out seemingly equal blame for the war on Princip, Austria, France, even Bulgaria, and chance.
Sheer dumb luck. Until I read this book I did not realize that a bomb was thrown at Ferdinand's car the same day he was shot. Ferdinand actually smacked it away so that it blew up harmlessly in the street. Afterwards it was decided to change the travel route; but no one told the driver of the car. Princip thought the plot failed when the bomb failed to injure them. He was walking home. He happened to be at the right spot when Ferdinand's driver was following the original path when ordered to stop and change his course. In that instant, Princip had a perfect shot.
Otherwise, Remak brilliantly shows the shifting alliances among Europe from 1871-1914. How some powers were left without friends; and how that quickly changed. He showed many instances where war almost became inevitable, but never materialized. Finally, he explored other arguments such as economical rivalry between Germany and Britain; imperial rivalry between Russia and France; and the powder keg of petty wars and diplomacy in the Balkins.
The only criticism to make is a stark absence of citations. The only bias is that there are a few spots where he speaks out against Communist interpretations of the war. Indeed, one of the very few references in the book is a citation arguing that businessmen were against war. Certainly a counter argument is easy to develop. All in all, I have a much greater appreciation for diplomacy, writing, history, and academe from reading this book. WWI was not a simple matter of Austria vs. Serbia; but a much greater series of diplomatic blunders.
September 12, 2013
Outstanding survey of the myriad events and conditions that resulted in the outbreak of World War I. Remak, orginally writing in 1967, clearly and dispassionately examines the European Alliance System, the increase in militarism, the colonial race, nationalism, and others separately and how they intersected. His tone is exploratory as he examines each topic and places it in context of the times and shows how it connects to the start of World War I. Remak does a ver good job of showing why the war was not inevitable but came down to choices of statemen and generals who piloted their nations to disaster. His examination of militarism in the forms of an unprecedented arms race following the Franco-Prussian War and the supremacy of military operational decision-making at the expense of political necessity is worth the time of reading this short book (less than 150 pages).
September 18, 2012
The causes of WWI are muddy, but this book makes them as clear as possible. Not an easy read because of all the many names that must be remembered. Nevertheless, a great source for coming to some sort of understanding of how an assassination in Bosnia could trigger a worldwide conflagration. Especially relevant right now as a movie with terrible production values, a movie that might not even exist, is triggering violent protests and deaths around the world. Peggy Noonan recently compared the maker of that movie to Princip, the assassin of Austrian Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie. Not a bad comparison at all.
September 1, 2015
Remak brings together a lot of fascinating arguments surrounding possible causes of the Great War. His study begins during the alliances drawn up in the 1870s and ends with the July Crisis. His thesis is a little murky as he proposes valid conclusions but refutes them in subsequent paragraphs. At first this was confusing but it adds to his message concerning the difficulties in focusing on a singular cause of the World War I. He also addresses historiography and his treatment of Germany challenges popular stereotypes surrounding "her" role in the plunge into war. This was a quick and interesting read.
March 30, 2015
I've had this book for a long time, and my copy is from the original copyright of 1967. I've been trying to make sense of World War I for a while now, and given its short length, this is the most concise, easy to understand explanation of the many factors that led to the war. An excellent, relatively quick read that may not go into detail much, but clearly outlines all of the little conflicts that grew into a tinderbox waiting for a match, which turned out to be the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.
January 6, 2012
This is an excellent book. It is only 150 pages but covers the information in great detail without wasting words. It is so clear and concise and presents the information in a form that anyone can understand. It is about as good a book on this subject that I have seen.
March 21, 2008
Why it happened, and why it was so pointless.
October 14, 2012
Th!5 B00k 15 Totz B@D, 1 n3v3r w@nt 2 r3@d th!5 b00k @g@!n, !t m@d3 m3 cry 500000000000000 much!!! 3
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews