The first world war was a kind of cultural suicide that destroyed Europe’s eminence. Europe’s leaders sleepwalked – in the phrase of historian Christopher Clark – into a conflict which none of them would have entered had they foreseen the world at war’s end in 1918. In the previous decades, they had expressed their rivalries by creating two sets of alliances whose strategies had become linked by their respective schedules for mobilisation.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Get 3 months of digital access, absolutely free
Subscribe to The Spectator Australia today to get the next 3 months of unlimited website and app access for free.
- Full access to spectator.com.au and spectator.co.uk
- The Spectator Australia app, on Apple and Android
- Podcasts and newsletters, including Morning Double Shot
- Our archive, going back to 1828
Unlock this article
Henry Kissinger’s Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy is out now.
You might disagree with half of it, but you’ll enjoy reading all of it. Try your first month for free, then just $2 a week for the remainder of your first year.
Comments
Get 3 months of digital access, absolutely free
Join the conversation with other Spectator Australia readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.
CLAIM OFFER 3 months freeAlready a subscriber? Log in