Armaments and the coming of war
Subtitle: Europe, 1904-1914
By: David Stevenson.
Publisher: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 463
Subjects: World War, 1914-1918 -- Causes; Military weapons; Europe -- Politics and government -- 1871-1918
Description: The global impact of the First World War dominated the history of the first half of the twentieth century. This major reassessment of the origins of the war, based on extensive original research in several countries, is the first full analysis of the politics of armaments in pre-1914 Europe.

David Stevenson directs attention away from the Anglo-German naval race towards the competition on land between the continental armies. He analyses the defence policies of the Powers, and the interaction between the growth of military preparedness and the diplomatic crises in the Mediterranean and the Balkans that culminated in the events of July-August 1914.

Drawing on insights from political science, the book offers a fresh conceptual framework for the origins of the First World War, and provides a thought-provoking case-study of the broader relationships between armaments and international conflict.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [422]-439) and index.