This is a fascinating, insightful and very readable book. It is incredibly in depth and that does make the reader feel like he is missing the forest for the trees.

Still, it is very much worth reading especially in times such as these.

if i have to suffer through history coursework it’s going to at least count towards my reading goal idc.

Bit of a slog, a necessary one probably but I liked a lot of this. I liked most the sections studying Serbia and Austria-Hungary, and how European relations were in the years decades leading up to 1914 - it seemed like every year or three there would be some incident that set off everyone but somehow war was avoided until 1914. I also liked the depiction of the Sarajevo assassin plot and the very final section leading up to the mobilisations and declarations of war.

I tried to understand. I was not entirely successful. But, I hope some of the attempt stuck in the brain in a meaningful way.

So much information, this book was a bit more than I was able to handle, but I give it kudos for compiling and organizing all of it!

I really enjoyed this thoroughly-researched book on the even-more complex causes of WWI, which was written on the eve of its 100th anniversary. The Sleepwalkers is mildly revisionist, in that it sets out to critique two simplifications that have become the main narrative of the causes of the war: German guilt and that Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination was only a pretext for an inevitable general European war.

On the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, Clark spends Part One of Three discussing the specific aspects of the Balkans and Austria-Hungary that made it such a hotspot for imperial ambitions. The rise of nationalism pushed the Ottoman Turks to a slow-motion collapse, which disrupted the Concert of Europe. Nationalism also fueled competing ambitions between and within the newly-independent states of Romania, Bulgaria, and of course, Serbia. As these states forged their identities in contrast to their neighbors, they immediately began to conflict with each other. Given that Balkan independence hinged entirely on the prerogatives of the Great Powers, Balkan states played the Powers off of each other, appealing to religion, ethnicity, and realpolitik whenever it suited them.

On the German guilt, Clark has to spend Part Two discussing the politics of the Great Powers, both depicting and refuting the narrative of WWI as a family squabble between Queen Victoria’s grandsons (George V, Nicholas II, Wilhelm II). Clark dives into the similarities and stark differences between the states of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Great Britain, and France. I appreciated the focus on individuals while purposefully avoiding dusty great man of history tropes. Part Two especially becomes important when understanding Part Three, when the aspects of European politics and Serbian nationalism collide into a war that nobody wanted during the July Crisis.

To me, WWI is the epitome of the human condition. I think it’s very clear that WWI was not the result of individual ambition pushing Europe to general war (except maybe the unhinged minister of state from Austria-Hungary), but rather thousands of small decisions leading to an undesirable outcome. I appreciate that Clark also spends much time discussing 1910-14 with the Agadir Crisis and the activities of diplomats through this time, because it makes it very clear that guilt and blame is the wrong lens with which to view the war.

As for specifics about the book, the narration of the audiobook is strong, and I didn’t catch any mispronunciations, despite a good amount of French, German, and technical terms sprinkled throughout. The writing itself is not too dense, but is engaging without needing to insert jokes or wordplay. One quirk was how often Clark uses the word “praetorian” to describe the war cabinets of various powers. It’s a good metaphor the first time, but it gets overused—at least 7 times by my count. Otherwise, The Sleepwalkers is an excellent book for anyone that enjoys in-depth, academic histories.

This book has gotten a lot of great reviews, so I must admit that it must just have been over my head. First of all, the subject matter has a dizzying amount of characters, theaters and events to keep track of. Secondly, this book was pretty academic and required more than a beginner's knowledge of the subject matter going in. That being the case, it took me over two months just to get halfway through it and at that point I realized that I was understanding and learning very little. I began reading The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman, which looks at the same subject but does it with more narrative and less dryness. I am nearly halfway through Tuchman's book after two days...the same point I was at in this book after two months.

The biggest question of our time: How to avoid another world war. The biggest lesson of history: Don't repeat World War 1. A must-read for every world leader of today, to make sure short-term decisions don't turn into a long-term violent spiral. Silver Lining: global organisations and treaties are the biggest difference between then and now.