Book Review
Unravelling WWI’s Start:
The Sleepwalkers
By Christopher Clark
by Norman Hill
T
his book covers in minute,
but always interesting,
details the events of June
through early August, 1914
in Europe. The Sleepwalkers
shows how World War I started, but
also points out several cases where
more resolute actions by leaders
might have averted war.
Several interesting arguments are
made from Clark’s voluminous
documentation not seen before:
Leaders of Germany and Russia, Kaiser
Wilhelm and Tsar Nicholas (first and
second cousins, respectively of
King George V of England), are not
portrayed as absolute rulers who alone
made the decisions for war. They held
extensive power, no doubt, but were
curtailed to a considerable extent
along the way by both civil and
military advisors.
The Archduke Franz Ferdinand,
whose assassination sparked the
conflicts, is not seen as merely heir
to a corrupt Hapsburg dynasty.
Instead, he is shown as a liberal, who
had intentions of granting autonomy
to at least the southern Slavs in
Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Instead of a dual
monarchy of Austria and Hungary,
there might have been a third
division, with a capital on a par with
Vienna and Budapest. This intent is
what doomed him to death at the
hands of Serbian fanatics. They
wanted a basis so dissatisfied Slavs
could work to overthrow Austrian
domination and come under the
“freedom” of Serbian control.
Serbia, in World War I accounts, is
often pictured as a tiny, harmless
nation that was bullied by a giant
Austria-Hungary war machine.
Documents show Serb behavior in
lands they had just acquired through
extended war with Turkey. Even
against other Slavs, such as Muslim
Slavs, they committed the same
kind of atrocities that led to world
condemnation in the 90s. Serbian
officials, if not directly behind the
Archduke’s assassination, had close
knowledge and contacts with the
murdering fanatics.
One apparently minor flaw exists in
Clark’s history. The Tsar’s mother
was the niece of Queen Victoria,
which meant his second cousin
relationship with the Kaiser and
English King. Clark doesn’t deny this
relationship, but seems to overlook
it. Even so, this is trivial compared
to Clark’s insights.
Despite the eventual wartime
alliance between Great Britain and
Russia, the former had deep mistrust
of Russian designs against the
Kingdom of Persia and much
territory of China.
Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm is
generally assigned ultimate blame
for World War I. The Versailles
Treaty in 1919 emphasized this.
Clark, to be fair, doesn’t sugarcoat
Germany’s blatant violation of
Belgian sovereignty in transporting
troops in 1914 to attack France.
But he makes convincing arguments
for broad scale blame, assignable
in significant degrees among Great
Britain, France, Germany, Russia,
Austria-Hungary, Serbia and
even Italy.
All in all, Clark’s work is a most
valuable addition in providing
understanding of the great World
War I bloodbath and conflict.