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Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

Print Price: $55.95

Format:
Paperback
312 pp.
138 mm x 216 mm

ISBN-13:
9780199257263

Publication date:
November 2004

Imprint: OUP UK


The Outbreak of the First World War

Hew Strachan

Series : The First World War

To Arms is Hew Strachan's most complete and definitive study of the opening of the First World War. Now, key sections from this magisterial work are published as individual paperbacks, each complete in itself, and with a new introduction by the author.

Ever since its outbreak in 1914, the causes of the First World War have been one of the major debates in world history. For some it was a war engineered by Germany, and a pointer towards Hitler. For others it was the product of miscalculation - a verdict whose poignancy is heightened by the knowledge of what followed. The Outbreak of the First World War eschews either extreme. Instead, the first half of this book approaches the issues from the perspectives of those who grappled with conflicting priorities and vital national interests. The second considers the responses of their peoples and the so-called 'ideas of 1914'. This was the crisis which, more than any other, shaped the twentieth century.

Readership : Readers with an interest in the First World War; students of the First World War and of twentieth-century history.

Introduction
Part I The Origins of the War
1. Germany as a World Power
2. Austria-Hungary and the Balkans
3. The July Crisis
Part II Willingly to War
4. War Enthusiasm
5. Socialism and the International
6. The Imaginings of Intellectuals
7. Popular Responses
Part III Conclusion
The Ideas of 1914

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Hew Strachan is Chichele Professor of the History of War, University of Oxford.

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Special Features

  • 'Full-strength Strachan' - his outstanding study of the outbreak of the First World War, derived from the critically acclaimed The First World War Volume I
  • Examines the German, French, and English perspectives
  • Hew Strachan is a leading authority on the First World War and the major historical advisor for the acclaimed series on Channel 4