Sleepwalkers How Europe Went to War in 1914

The Sleep Walkers

Flabbergasted! Such a monumental coverage in detail of the origins of the 1st world war
 The similarities with Serbia then and the modern Yugoslave wars. A wonderment of how Tito
( a Croat ) kept the Serbian genie in the bottle.
 The strategic link between the black sea and the Mediterranean
 The rail link between Germany and Bagdad
 The incursion of Russia towards India.
This is a book of monumental importance to all who seek the cuases to the the 1st world war.

Most amazing is the revelations of the attempts of the Kaiser in 1914 to prevent the war vers the attitude of the French to have their war with Germany. This aspect has been for years camouflaged by national propaganda … in a similar way that the holocaust of the Slav peoples during the 2nd world war was ignored by the west in the era of the Cold war while accentuating the Jewish holocaust and only blatantly later recognising the gypsy element. Not to mention the USA economic and political incursions into central and south America.

I read the book with a starting background of differing British, Croatian and Hungarian perspectives. In the end what was missing was a Turkish 1913/14 perspective. We didn’t get that as events accelerated to August 1914. In fact the book leaves vacant what must have been a turmoil in Turkey to unfolding events. Yet Turkey – the Ottoman Empire - was a crucial element of the power play equation.

There is of course a sadness in all of this. The human tragedy of lives and destruction that were played as inconsequential to the thoughts and decisions of monarchs and governments. The economic development that was growing so strong over Europe, raising standards and building confidence, improving the common living outlook – everything destroyed for the sake of what?

I trust that the lessons of this epoch have finally been learnt. Yet it has rumbled on - the imperialistic assertions – even today with Russia and the Ukraine.

What was fascinating from this book in the end game was the unbridled role of the key foreign ministers. At that time governments were more or less in their personal hands.

In conclusion a reference book of clarity that goes a long way to untwining the mystery of events that ultimately ruined the European 20th century.

However, one lingering thought remains unanswered by the book is the position of the USA in all of this. Even by 1914 a growing dominant power.