Review: The original Classic,provocative,analytical and profound.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 30, 2013
It is with respect that I review this seminal work which is the cornerstone of the History on the Origins of the First World War in the English language.Taylor's basic thesis is that the war happened through accidents,miscalculations,twisted and/or delayed information and invalid preconceptions rather than a deterministic force that started the war.This has been a strong point of view of Historians ever since.Modern scholarship modified a lot his propositions that were often based on daring extrapolations of data that were available to him at the time.This being stated,the work is impressive.Taylor's understanding of the era and the players involved does away with a lot of cliches continuously recycled until then.Even with today's increased knowledge of facts his basic thesis is sound.He underlines the position that accidents are also History and we should not contrive to find causal links on independent events retroactively.This he does by demonstrating the imbroglio created by delayed defective and misinterpreted information ,Statesmen communicating at cross purposes,perceptions, inhibitions,pre decided postures and actions ,and Fear.Most of all he exposes the tragic inadequacy of the European Statesmen,that each,with his own petty agenda and limited understanding of events leading to the looming Armageddon,thought that he could play with fire and get away with it.Taylor demonstrates convincingly how the Europeans paved the road to war by their inflexible timetables of mobilization and the irreversibility of those plans.He also demonstrates convincingly the tremendous gap in communication and understanding  between the Military and the Political-Diplomatic authorities of each Nation.The more recent works of Hamilton-Herwig and C. Clark provide a more balanced and complete picture of events and are not as forgiving of Britain's role as Taylor is,highlighting the well covered up to now roles of Gray the Foreign Secretary and H. Wilson Director of Military Operations ,among others.Also the much stronger influence on events that President Poincare of France had than Taylor allows for.Historians are now much harder on Kaiser and the Germans than Taylor was.Independently of the above, Taylor's work,by its crystal clear presentation of his well substantiated reasoning on the causes of WWI ,delivered through an excellent prose with humor,fine irony and the occasional sarcasm of Statesmen's Follies,is still the best concise Primer for anybody interested in those tremendous events who wishes for a deeper understanding of the beginning of the torments of the 20th Century.Having re-read the book after 40 years and many other relevant books since,I still find it one of the best.DVK