His first encounter with the locals on the far side of the border made a lasting impression: as soon as the train had stopped, the carriages were invaded by a ‘horde of bearded persons’ wearing boots and white aprons who took charge of his baggage with such haste that he was unable to follow them. Here, much to his annoyance, de Robien had to leave his comfortable German sleeping car and change trains because of the difference between the Russian and European gauges. From there the train made its way eastwards, traversing Germany at its widest point, until it reached Wirballen (today the Lithuanian town of Kybartai) on the eastern border of East Prussia. so impressive and not without a certain beauty’. There was time to look briefly at the Rhine and the great Gothic cathedral before the connecting train crossed the industrial region of the Ruhr, ‘always. To gain time, de Robien did not take the Nord Express, which did not leave every day, but boarded an ordinary sleeping car in the fast train to Cologne.

The date of his departure had been pulled forward so that he would arrive in good time to help with the preparations for the state visit by President Poincaré, which was scheduled for 20 July. To quickly assess the difficulty of the text, read a short excerpt: 'The Sleepwalkers' by Cristopher Clark is one of the best books ever written about the causes of World War 1. It is not merely the best account we have of the event it explores, but a model for historical explanation altogether.What reading level is The Sleepwalkers book? In the end, The Sleepwalkers reveals how the particularities of politics and other structural factors are not isolated and merely contingent but, like what Machiavelli called Fortuna, combine and interact to produce large events in history like the First World War. With an impressive range of linguistic skills, Clark brings out the complexity of how momentous foreign policy decisions were reached in Austria, Germany, Russia, Great Britain, France, Serbia, Hungary, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire. The Sleepwalkers closely examines the structures of power within Europe, poses questions of where this actual power was executed and where not, and thus challenges the notion of steadily building causal pressure (xxvii) which led to an inevitable war. The book adds greatly to our knowledge and understanding of the war’s origins, keeping the focus initially on the Serbian question, which gives the story a sense of locality and contingency. Uncommonly insightful, it combines fresh and thorough research in the primary sources, complete knowledge of the secondary literature, and a sure-footed ability both to analyze complex events and set them out in a compelling narrative.

The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 is an amazing work of history writing. The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914Ģ015 Award in History and Social Sciences

The Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark