Sleepwalkers/Christopher Clark

[pasoleati]

Anyone read this? I read a very favourable review of it. The reviewer wrote that e.g. Wolfram Wette has been furious over this book. This is a sign of a good book.

[V1Oliver]

I have read it. It gives a good overview of international politics in the decades prior to WW1, so the book is wide in range.
It's the first book I have personally read about this time period, so I didn't have much advanced foreknowledge. I would still recommend it to a broader audience, although the text can sometimes be a little dry (treaty after treaty after diplomat)

I know Wolfram Wette writes about WW2, why was he furious about this book?

[pasoleati]

According to the Finnish review, Wette was furious because the book challenges the view of Germany as the no. 1 fall guy of the 20th century. Wette's word had been "dangerous". The reviewer adds that the former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer (Green party) proclaimed that the Versailles Treaty was too lenient. Col. Ahto calls these people "national masochists"...

[Josh Cowell]

According to the Finnish review, Wette was furious because the book challenges the view of Germany as the no. 1 fall guy of the 20th century. Wette's word had been "dangerous". The reviewer adds that the former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer (Green party) proclaimed that the Versailles Treaty was too lenient. Col. Ahto calls these people "national masochists"...

I always say that the current climate in European countries such as Sweden is that of social S&M. I won't get into that but you know what I mean from my email.
Also, thanks for recommending this book. I need to read it.
It sounds very similar to The war that had many fathers. Please read that.
http://www.amazon.com/1939-War-That-...d+many+fathers
It opened my eyes to all the treaties, documents and historical facts that deal with the causes of both World War 1 and 2. It shows that many allied nations had a vested interest in a war with Germany and acted accordingly.
For example, it talks about Poland's belligerence towards Germany and refusal to negotiate and how Britain and France encouraged Poland to refuse Germany's many offers for a negotiation.
Also, 0ver 98% of Austrians wanted to reunite with Germany as they had been for almost a thousand years, but this was refused by the allies after WW1. So it never was an anchluss.
PS. sorry for not emailing. I have been sidetracked by many things here.

[Douglas Jr.]

I agree with the first review. I've been reading it and it delivers a very interesting and much wider interpretaion about how Europe was led into that war. Sometimes it is a "tough reading" but it is well documented and consistent with author's theory. I just don't think that it contests Germany sole guilty, but it shows that every major power (Austria, Russia, France, England and Italy) acted, in one time or another, equally contributed to the war.

As a side note, Max Hasting also refute this theory in his latest book, "1914: Catastrophe - Europa Goes to War".

Douglas

[pasoleati]

Josh, I have been planning to buy Schulze-Rhonhof's book for some time.

Douglas jr., interestingly the Finnish reviewer who read Clark's German translation described it a very pleasant and absorbing reading.