The Wars before the Great War: Conflict and International Politics before the Outbreak of the First World War

Cambridge University Press, 5/7/2015
EAN 9781107063471, ISBN10: 1107063477

Hardcover, 392 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English

Between 1911 and 1914, the conflicts between Italy and the Ottoman Empire, together with the Balkan wars that followed, transformed European politics. With contributions from leading, international historians, this volume offers a comprehensive account of the wars before the Great War and surveys the impact of these conflicts on European diplomacy, military planning, popular opinion and their role in undermining international stability in the years leading up to the outbreak of the First World War. Placing these conflicts at the centre of European history, the authors provide fresh insights on the origins of World War I, emphasizing the importance of developments on the European periphery in driving change across the continent. Nation and empire, great powers and small states, Christian and Muslim, violent and peaceful, civilized and barbaric - the book evaluates core issues which defined European politics to show how they were encapsulated in the wars before the Great War.

1. Introduction William Mulligan, Andreas Rose and Dominik Geppert
Part I. The Belligerents
2. Italy, Libya and the Balkans Francesco Caccomo
3. The Italian soldiers' experience in Libya, 1911–12 Vanda Wilcox
4. Ottoman diplomacy, the Balkan Wars, and the Great Powers Gul Tokay
5. Mass violence against civilians during the Balkan Wars Ugur Ungor Umit
6. War, civic mobilization and the shaping of the Ottoman home front during the Balkan Wars, 1912–13 Eyal Ginio
7. Civil and military relations in Serbia during 1903–14 John Paul Newman
8. The great expectations
political visions, military preparation, and national upsurge in Bulgaria at the onset of the Balkan Wars Nikolai Vukov
Part II. The European Military between Real and Imagined Wars
9. The Russian threat calculation, 1910–14 Bruce Menning
10. The French military mind and the wars before the war Adrian Wettstein
11. The perception of the 'wars before the wars' in Austria-Hungary Gunther Kronenbitter
12. Between Manchuria and the Marne
the German army and its perception of the military conflicts of 1911–14 Markus Poehlmann
Part III. The Wars and Great Power Politics
13. Austro-Hungarian foreign policy and the Balkan Wars Alma Hannig
14. German foreign policy and the Balkan Wars, 1912–14 Patrick Bormann
15. Entente diplomacy vs détente, 1911–14 T. G. Otte
16. Anglo-French relations and the wars before the war Friedrich Kiessling
Part IV. The Wars in the European Public Sphere
17. The Habsburg Empire's German speaking public sphere and the First Balkan War Tamara Scheer
18. From 'illusion' and 'Angellism' to détente - British radicals and the Balkan Wars Andreas Rose
19. Uncivilised wars in civilised Europe? The perception of the Balkan Wars 1912–13 in English, German, and Irish newspapers and journals Florian Keisinger
20. Socialism and the challenge of the Balkan Wars 1912–13 Wolfgang Kruse.