Origins of the First World War

James Joll (1918-1994) was a distinguished historian of international history at St Antony’s College, Oxford and as Stevenson Professor at the University of London. He was the author of numerous works on anarchism and socialism as well as Europe since 1870: an international history (1973).Gordon Martel is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Northern British Columbia and Adjunct Professor at the University of Victoria. He is the author of numerous works on international history, including The Month that Changed the World: July 1914 (2014) and editor of the four-volume Encyclopedia of Diplomacy.

Praise for this edition:‘Martel’s mastery of a seemingly insurmountable volume of scholarship is impressive and remarkable. His expertly updated classic account makes sense of a century of explanations. If you read only one book on the origins of the First World War, it should be this one.’Annika Mombauer, The Open University, UK‘It is a great pleasure to see a fourth edition of this classic introduction to the origins of the First World War. The new edition maintains the valuable thematic structure of the original, but supplements it with a new chapter on the July Crisis and an expanded bibliographical introduction and guide to further reading that incorporate the remarkable additions to the literature which accompanied the centenary in 2014.’David Stevenson, London School of Economics & Political Science, UKPraise for previous editions:‘Gordon Martel has done the impossible: he has made James Joll’s The Origins of the First World War once more the premium study on why war came in 1914. Martel has not simply updated Joll’s contribution but enhanced and improved it. A triumph of both scholarship and editorial talent; James Joll would have been pleased.’ Samuel R. Williamson Jr., University of the South, USA‘Probably the best comprehensive history of the origins of World War I available in the English language. Gordon Martel’s [revision] will make certain that the book’s deep insights will continue to captivate and inspire future generations of students and others interested in the Great War.’Volker Berghahn, Columbia University, USA‘…this scholarly, comprehensive and subtle analysis should be made compulsory reading for all students of the period and, most of all, for the decision makers of today.’ John F.V. Keiger, History

• 1. Introduction: A Century of Explanations, 2. The July crisis, 1914, 3.The alliance system and the old diplomacy, 4. Militarism, armaments and strategy, 5. The primacy of domestic politics, 6. The international economy, 7. Imperial rivalries, 8. The mood of 1914, 9. Conclusion