The Origins of the First World War
World War I is still usually thought of as one of the great turning points of world history: according to the traditional narrative, the conflict marked the bloody, brutal birth of the twentieth century, ushering in an era of dictatorship and total war. Not surprisingly, then, the war itself, as well as its causes and ramifications, continue to fascinate both professional and armchair historians.
In this course, we will study the continuing debates over the origins of the Great War. The one fundamental question we will keep returning to seems deceptively simple: why, after a century of relative peace, did a general war break out in Europe during the
summer of 1914? However, even 107 years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, historians cannot agree on an answer, and the ongoing scholarly debate will not end anytime soon. Such disagreements were once the result of patriotically motivated attempts to blame one side or the another, but they are now indicative of deep divisions within academic history itself.
We will read recent scholarly literature on the topic and dive into the diplomatic documents of the period in order to better understand both the contemporary academic debates and the mindsets of Europe’s decision-makers a century ago. While our focus will be Great Power European diplomacy during the first few years of the twentieth century, we will also use an inter-disciplinary approach to investigate the causes of war in general throughout history, using World War I as a case study.
Please note that this is not a military history course, and that we will not be looking at the war itself in any detail.