The global impact of the First World War dominated the history of the first half of the twentieth century. This major reassessment of the origins of the war, based on extensive original research in several countries, is the first full analysis of the politics of armaments in pre-1914 Europe.David Stevenson directs attention away from the Anglo-German naval race towards the competition on land between the continental armies. He analyses the defence policies of the Powers, and the interaction between the growth of military preparedness and the diplomatic crises in the Mediterranean and the Balkans that culminated in the events of July-August 1914. The thought-provoking conclusions about the relationship between armaments and international conflict offer a fresh conceptual framework for the study of the origins of the First World War.
Readership: Scholars and students of early twentieth-century history, political scientists, especially those interested in the origins of the First World War; military historians.
Professor David Stevenson, Professor in International History, London School of Economics
"This has become an indespensible tool in our understanding of this vital era." - Contemporary Review, Vol.277, No.1615.
"This important study is a mandatory acquisition for libraries with serious collections on the 20th century." - Choice
"will certainly become the definitive study of the relationship between armaments and the origins of the First World War . . . rich and complex work." - International History Review
"superb study . . . It provides a set of key understandings about the road to war in the age of 1914, or in 1997." - Military History
"It has a full scholarly apparatus, with footnotes conveniently at the foot of the page - today unusual, but very welcome. The Journal of the Victorian Military Society (June 1997)"
Introduction 1: Arms and the Men 2: Continental Equilibrium? 1904-1908 3: The Breakdown of Equilibrium in the East: From the Bosnian Crisis to the Balkan Wars, 1908-1912 4: The Breakdown of Equilibrium in the West, 1908-1912 5: The Great Acceleration, 1912-1913 6: Vials of Wrath, 1912-1914 7: Conclusion
