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The origins of the First World War : controversies and consensus

2002

Format:	Book
Author:	Mombauer, Annika.
Title:	The origins of the First World War : controversies and consensus / Annika Mombauer.
Publisher, Date:	Harlow, England ; New York : Longman, 2002.
Description:	vi, 256 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm illustration
Summary:	"Opening with an overview of the events that led to the outbreak of war in 1914, followed by an analysis highlighting the debate during and immediately after the war, the author also covers: the reactions to the Treaty of Versailles, both in Europe and in the USA; the new consensus following the Second World War; and the challenges posed to that new orthodoxy by Fritz Fischer and his theses. Mombauer brings the story up to the present with current views of the significance and meaning of the origins of the First World War."--BOOK JACKET.
Subjects:	World War, 1914-1918 -- Causes. World War, 1914-1918 -- Diplomatic history. Militarism -- Europe -- History -- 20th century. Nationalism -- Europe -- History -- 20th century.
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:	European alliances before the First World War -- German territorial losses following the Treaty of Versailles -- Long- and short-term causes of the First World War -- The July Crisis and the outbreak of war -- The Question of War Guilt during the War and at the Versailles Peace Negotiations -- The beginning of the debate on the war's origins -- The Versailles war guilt allegation -- The German 'innocence campaign' -- Official document collections -- Revisionists and Anti-Revisionists -- The German quest for a revision of Versailles -- American revisionists -- European revisionists -- Anti-revisionists -- The comfortable consensus of the 1930s -- The Origins of the War and the Question of Continuity in German History -- The debate after the Second World War: towards a comfortable consensus -- Fritz Fischer's new challenges to an old consensus -- Fritz Fischer and his critics -- Support for Fischer's conclusions -- New consensus and new debate: Fischer's War of Illusions -- The search for new evidence -- The end of the Fischer decade -- Post-Fischer Consensus and Continuing Debates -- Nuances in the debate in the wake of the Fischer controversy -- Assessing the role of the other belligerent powers in 1914 -- The debate at the end of the twentieth century.
Web Site:	Book review (H-Net)
LCCN:	2002023569
ISBN:	0582418720 (pbk.) 9780582418721 (pbk.)
Other Number:	48570433
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The study of the origins of the Great War remains a hardy perennial, made more compelling over the intervening 90 years because of the conflict's seminal nature. Mombauer (Open Univ.) has neatly organized the essential historiographical strands in one slim volume, treating, in chronological order, the immediate polemics that followed the outbreak of war in 1914 and continuing to the signing of the Versailles Treaty; the bitter interwar fight waged by the "revisionists," those who denied the victors' conclusions that Germany had started the war; the controversy of the 1960s, engendered by Fritz Fischer's revelations that again asserted German "war guilt"--indeed, that there was a continuity in German foreign policy from Bismarck to Hitler; and finally, the post-Fischer period of "consensus and continuing debates," which brings the volume to the present day. The contextual analysis that explains the vitriol surrounding the "Fischer thesis" is especially noteworthy. This book is a great value for scholars seeking an overview of this complex topic and will also serve admirably in any historical methods course to trace how historians attempt to understand the past. All levels and collections. G. P. Cox Gordon College

Summary

The seminal event of the 20th century, the origins of the First World War have always been difficult to establish and have aroused deep controversy. Annika Mombauer tracks the impassioned debates as they developed at critical points through the twentieth century.nbsp;
The book focuses on the controversy itself, rather than the specific events leading up to the war. Emotive and emotional from the very beginning of the conflict, the debate and the passions aroused in response to such issues as the 'war-guilt paragraph' of the treaty of Versailles, are set in the context of the times in which they were proposed. Similarly, the argument has been fuelled by concerns over the sacrifices that were made and the casualities that were suffered. Were they really justified?

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgements	p. vii
	Maps
Map 1	European alliances before the First World War	p. viii
Map 2	German territorial losses following the Treaty of Versailles	p. ix
	Introduction	p. 1
	Long- and short-term causes of the First World War	p. 3
	The July Crisis and the outbreak of war	p. 12
Part 1	The Question of War Guilt during the War and at the Versailles Peace Negotiations	p. 21
	Introduction	p. 21
	The beginning of the debate on the war's origins	p. 22
	The Versailles war guilt allegation	p. 33
	The German 'innocence campaign'	p. 45
	Official document collections	p. 57
Part 2	Revisionists and Anti-Revisionists	p. 78
	Introduction	p. 78
	The German quest for a revision of Versailles	p. 79
	American revisionists	p. 83
	European revisionists	p. 90
	Anti-revisionists	p. 98
	The comfortable consensus of the 1930s	p. 105
Part 3	The Origins of the War and the Question of Continuity in German History	p. 119
	Introduction	p. 119
	The debate after the Second World War: towards a comfortable consensus	p. 121
	Fritz Fischer's new challenges to an old consensus	p. 127
	Fritz Fischer and his critics	p. 131
	Support for Fischer's conclusions	p. 145
	New consensus and new debate: Fischer's War of Illusions	p. 149
	The search for new evidence	p. 155
	The end of the Fischer decade	p. 161
Part 4	Post-Fischer Consensus and Continuing Debates	p. 175
	Introduction	p. 175
	Nuances in the debate in the wake of the Fischer controversy	p. 176
	Assessing the role of the other belligerent powers in 1914	p. 186
	The debate at the end of the twentieth century	p. 208
	Conclusion	p. 221
	Bibliography	p. 225
	Index	p. 247

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