christopher clark the sleepwalkers summary

And Russia was allied with France, against the threat of a German attack. Austria itself was allied with Germany, which promised to respond if it were attacked. Most of the European powers had alliance treaties with others, meaning that if one country in the chain should be attacked, that country could depend on its allies to come to its aid.įor instance, the tiny country of Serbia was allied with Russia, which protected it from an attack by Austria. It pitted the armies of most European countries and their empires against each other and led to millions of deaths.īut why did it start in the first place? Which country was to blame?Īlthough there is no simple answer, many historians have put much of the blame on the alliance system, a network that aligned each country either with another or against it.

The First World War was one of the biggest catastrophes of the twentieth century. – Thomas, English Editorial Lead at Blinkist I found them fascinating, not only because of their description of politics 100 years ago, but also because of what they tell us about the world today.” They suggest that the nations and empires of Europe ended up in conflict almost by accident. “These book summary present a clear and convincing explanation of how the world slid into the First World War. why it was extremely difficult for any country to anticipate the actions of the others.why several countries needed to go to war as soon as possible and.how a single altercation between two countries could lead to a global war.

In this summary of The Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark,You’ll also discover In these book summary, you’ll find out what each of these nations did and why to escalate the aggression. Russia, Germany and then France followed suit by mobilizing as well. When the demands weren’t met, Austria declared war on Serbia. The year 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War.īut, one hundred years later, do we really understand how the Great War started?Īs you’ll learn in these book summary, the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife by the Serbian terrorist group Black Hand was the trigger for a far bigger crisis.įollowing the assassination, Austria-Hungary issued Serbia an ultimatum.

Christopher clark the sleepwalkers summary