There is therefore an enigma that later historians, in my opinion, were not resolved.
Destruction of the balance of power was inaugurated in 1815 and broken by the expansionism of Wilhelm II? Belief in both camps that the war would be 'short and cheerful' and they had every chance of winning? Probably. But the book by Christopher Clark does not answer the question. It is a meticulous place, day by day, almost hour by hour, how the war broke out, has become in the minds of decision makers as inevitable, each hoping to make a profit, then finally was accepted by the chancelleries and staffs. Work masterful, incredibly documented, never boring. Certainty: was the war when one wants war.
But if in the causes, Christopher Clark minimizes - rightly and supporting documents - the German warmongering "said the anti-German psychosis of France and Russia and the more reasoned, Great Britain, Serbian nationalist madness and common right which the Austrians to punish the Balkan gangsters who murdered their future sovereign, the ultimate reason why heads of states reasonable, intelligent, educated and wary launched their peoples to butcher to lead to the destruction of an old civilization remains a total mystery to me. The mechanical alliances is a false explanation and this disaster that will open the way for communist and Nazi criminals, is more like the description of derailment a train.
An essential book of diplomatic history to read and keep.
