Improbable War?

Holger Afflerbach specializes in 19th- and 20th- Century German history; international relations; military history, particularly World War I and World War II, as well as Austrian and Italian history and has written widely on these topics. He is Professor of Central European History at the University of Leeds.

• List of MapsList of IllustrationsList of TablesAcknowledgementsForeword: President Jimmy Carter: A Century of War and PeaceIntroductionPART I: EUROPEAN STATESCRAFT AND THE QUESTION OF WAR AND PEACE BEFORE 1914Chapter 1. Stealing Horses to Great Applause: Austria-Hungary's Decision in 1914 in Systemic PerspectivePaul W. SchroederChapter 2. Did Norms Matter in Nineteenth-Century International Relations? Progress and Decline in the "Culture of Peace" before World War IMatthias SchulzChapter 3. Aggressive and Defensive Aims of Political Elites? Austro-Hungarian Policy in 1914Samuel R. Williamson, Jr.Chapter 4. The Curious Case of the Kaiser's Disappearing War Guilt: Wilhelm II in July 1914John C. G. RöhlPART II: THE MILITARY SITUATION BEFORE 1914: EUROPE BETWEEN HOT AND COLD WARChapter 5. Chances and Limits of Armament Control 1898-1914Jost DülfferChapter 6. The Naval Race before 1914: Was a Peaceful Outcome Thinkable?Michael EpkenhansChapter 7. Was a Peaceful Solution Thinkable? The European Land Armaments Race before 1914David StevensonChapter 8. The German and Austro-Hungarian General Staffs and their Reflections on an Impossible WarGünther KronenbitterPART III: HOPES AND FEARS OF WAR AND PEACE: SUBJECTIVE EXPECTATIONS AND UNSPOKEN ASSUMPTIONS IN EUROPEAN SOCIETIES BEFORE 1914Chapter 9. The Topos of Improbable War in Europe before 1914Holger AfflerbachChapter 10. Unfought Wars: The Effect of Détente before World War IFriedrich KiešlingChapter 11. "War Enthusiasm?" Public Opinion and the Outbreak of War in 1914Roger ChickeringChapter 12. Education for War, Peace, and Patriotism in Russia on the Eve of World War IJoshua A. SanbornPART IV: CULTURE, GENDER, RELIGIOSITY, AND THE COMING OF WARChapter 13. Honor, Gender, and Power: The Politics of Satisfaction in Pre-War EuropeUte FrevertChapter 14. International Solidarity in European and North American Protestantism before 1914 and afterHartmut LehmannChapter 15. International Relations, Arts, and Culture before 1914Jessica C. E. Gienow-HechtPART V: THE PERSPECTIVE FROM AFAR: THE OUTBREAK OF WAR IN EUROPE IN THE EYES OF OTHER CONTINENTSChapter 16. War as the Savior? Hopes for War and Peace in Ottoman Politics before 1914Mustafa AksakalChapter 17. The View from Japan: War and Peace in Europe around 1914Frederick R. DickinsonChapter 18. War, Peace, and Commerce: The American Reaction to the Outbreak of World War I in EuropeFraser J. HarbuttContributorsSelected BibliographyIndex of Names

"...outstanding scholarly analyses...These essays comprise a valuable addition to the never-ending debate on the causes of the Great War."  ·  Stand To! The Journal of the Western Front Association"...vigorously and thoughtfully renews one of the great, enduring questions of twentieth-century European and world history. This is a landmark book that sums up the state of research and suggests fruitful possibilities for going forward."  ·  German Studies Review"The value of the book is in the chapters, all of which are thoughtful and well argued."  ·  The International History Review"Like any provocative book, this one forced me to rethink some of my historiographical assumptions."  ·  Bryan Ganaway, College of Charleston