The incessant struggles of different empires, alliances at the mercy of shifting interests, the Austro-Hungarian empire little known in France, it is all well documented and described.
So why only three stars to this book?
Christopher Clark, misses a major element in triggering the war at that time, namely the special role of a country, France, the only country to have a direct and immediate interest to conflict with the Germany; had to take Alsace-Lorraine, and a man who Poincaré as Lorraine, viscerally wanted this war.
To understand the role of Poincaré blaster who has spared no manipulation to explode Europe, we will complete happily reading "Sleepwalkers" by those of books published between the wars on the study of responsibilities the outbreak of war, such as "Poincare and the war of 1914" Gustave Dupin or "The myth wars of self-defense" by Georges Demartial. I think these books are not published, but can be found in PDF.
