Customer Reviews

Origins of the First World War (Foundations of Modern History)

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I found this book interesting for it's viewpoint but unconvincing. I was suprised by a Germany that did not want and even feared the coming war, and a France that seemed absolutely hungry for war, manipulating a somewhat pathetic Russia into fighting the central powers. It was a viewpoint different than I'd seen in the past and I appreciate the questions it has raised for me. However, I felt the author did a poor job of proving his points. While it is probably impossible to measure and describe the popular feeling of an era decades in the past, I thought Turner's haphazard quoting from memoirs (some written after the war) was remarkably unconvincing. I believe he could have proven just about any thesis imaginable using that technique. I felt he left out some important aspects of the Franco-Russian perspective that would make their actions seem less irrationally agressive. All in all, I'm glad I read the book as it opened my eyes to another line of thinking. I'm not sure I'll end up agreeing with Turner, but I'll definitely seek out other books from other authors with the same point of view.

It was back on 29 March 1968 that I finished reading Sidney Bradshaw Fay's two volume work on The Origins of the World War (when he wrote, "first" was not necessary). And then on 31 July 1980 I read Fritz Fischer's bombshellic work, Germany's Aims in the First World War. And on May 8, 1986 I finished reading Luigi Albertini's three-volume The Origins of the War 1914. On Nov 14, 1992 I read John W. Langdon's July 1914: The Long Debate, 1918-1990. The subject long has held my interest but not till now did I read Professor Turner's slim and highly readable study. He disputes Fischer on a number of points, and it is neat that an Australian contests Fischer's indictment of Germany. But as one reads one cannot but help but think how bitterly the July 1914 actors on the world stage must have regretted their then actions and inactions as the grim statistics of death and disaster mounted in the years after 1914--and all the world with them. Though over 30 years old I found this work valuably insightful.

There is a dearth of published research into this event which sent world history off in a different trajectory. This book explains the origins very well.