Furthermore, back then the international system with its Empires and countless vassal states was too fissured to base the state entity at the centre of any analysis (introduction). The choice to use the concept of sleepwalking to analyse the run-up to the Great War, Clark explains, was logical because the actors were “watchful but unseeing, haunted by dreams, yet blind to reality…” (conclusion). Fortunately, Clark does not succeed in ignoring systemic process altogether the passages about the emergence of the bipolar order and inter-imperialist rivalry beyond the European theatre are particularly useful for International Relations (IR) scholars. Rather, The Sleepwalkers asks how did the war develop and thus focuses on human agency (ibid). This is exactly why students of international politics cannot ignore The Sleepwalkers either.Ĭlark explicitly did not want to recount the unfolding of “the most complex event of modern times” (introduction) in the confines of why questions, which fit systemic analysis most widespread in IR scholarship. Even more so, his multi-angle approach does not seek to single out one culprit and thus is a novel contribution to European, and indeed World history. His easy-to-read style makes this complex subject accessible to a broad audience. The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914Ĭhristopher Clark’s book on the origins of World War I has rightly already received much praise.
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