The Sleepwalkers

How Europe Went to War in 1914

By: Christopher Clark

Narrated by: Derek Perkins

Length: 23 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

One of The New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Books of the Year

Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (History)

The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 is historian Christopher Clark's riveting account of the explosive beginnings of World War I.

Drawing on new scholarship, Clark offers a fresh look at World War I, focusing not on the battles and atrocities of the war itself, but on the complex events and relationships that led a group of well-meaning leaders into brutal conflict.

Clark traces the paths to war in a minute-by-minute, action-packed narrative that cuts between the key decision centers in Vienna, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Paris, London, and Belgrade, and examines the decades of history that informed the events of 1914 and details the mutual misunderstandings and unintended signals that drove the crisis forward in a few short weeks.

Meticulously researched and masterfully written, Christopher Clark's The Sleepwalkers is a dramatic and authoritative chronicle of Europe's descent into a war that tore the world apart.

©2013 Christopher Clark (P)2019 HarperAudio

Very good. At times dense and dry.

This is a a very good book looking at the factors leading to WWI. The chapter on the murder of Franz Ferdinand was tremendous. In other areas, the book dragged. I strongly recommend reviewing a hard copy of the book to look at maps and sometimes even to review text itself. That helped immensely.

History - how interlinked yet random all is

History of the making of the WWI. All acted, all desired but nobody acted and nobody desired the mayhem that followed.

not ww1

I thought it was half lead up to and half war. Good book and narration although a tease.

Fresh and riveting

I must say I feel a bit awkward writing an opinion on a book written by as distinguished a historian as Mr Clark. Having said that, this is a fantastic book. It is divided into three parts: (1) the backstory of the conflict between Austria Hungary and Serbia (2) the story of the 'Alliances', and finally (3) the story of the aftermath of Sarajevo itself, which we can follow much better with the valuable background material provided in the first two sections.

What we are left with is an event that was anything but inevitable - far from being a war automatically generated by the conflict of hostile Alliances forced into war on autopilot, we see how contingent the entire sequence of events truly was. Whether a general European war was in the long run truly avoidable (ie - if not after Sarajevo, perhaps another time, another incident later) is difficult to say. But Mr Clark makes clear that the Alliance system was very fluid - for example, the relations between Britain and Russia were always marred by considerable mutual suspicion and conflicts of interests (the Great Game and more) and were probably heading for a showdown in the near term - and that the European situation could have been very different if (say) peace had lasted for a few more years, whether Franz Ferdinand was alive or not. (Personally, I think not - France after 1870 viewed Germany as a mortal and eternal enemy, and the tension arising from that situation was bound to release explosively sooner or later, as it did in July 1914).

Overall, the book well justifies the title of Sleepwalkers, which Mr Clark uses to essentially damn the instigators of the conflict (and all sides have plenty of blame to share) as dreamers acting on illusions which plunged Europe and the world into very un-dream like and all too real horrors, not just in WWI but of course the interwar years, WWII, and beyond. There is so much of interest in this book, so many fresh perspectives, that you owe it to yourself to read/listen to this book if you have any interest in the history of the modern world. The reading by Derek Perkins is, as usual, crisp and satisfying, and kudos to the producers and Mr Perkins for taking care to pronounce names of people and places as accurately as possible (always a distraction when the narrator bungles names!)

Exquisite

The Sleepwalkers is truly exceptional in its scholarship and analysis of the events and forces that culminated in WWI. I really appreciated the first section of the book, which thoroughly explored the role of Serbia as a central factor in the instability of the Balkans and beyond. I liked how the book began with a look at Serbia’s violent history leading up to hostilities, with multiple assassinations of monarchs in most brutal fashion. It set the tone for what was to come with Franz Ferdinand.

I have read many books about WWI and it’s causes, and few provided more than a brief reference to Serbia’s role in the conflict. None delved nearly as deeply as The Sleepwalkers. What would have happened if the heir apparent wasn’t assassinated? We will never know, but it’s clear that the alliance system was like a time bomb ready to explode. I really enjoyed the author’s explanation and analysis of the competing forces that were at play, constantly changing and often fickle. It is truly fascinating to get a sense of the major players involved, and how the decisions they made inside a highly fluid situation have rippled through time.

This book is great for anyone with more than a passing interest in the causes of WWI. The Sleepwalkers helped me to realize that my knowledge base was sorely lacking on the subject, despite plenty of prior reading. This book has a more thorough take than the others I’ve read, and the author synthesizes the information masterfully. It’s truly an exceptional book.

Superb book and performance to match.

Hard to add more to what has been said previously. Excellent overview of the dynamics involved and for the non-expert while maintaining high level of scholarship. First half of the book is nonlinear, looking in turn at various concepts, situations, individuals, etc. that were key in the lead up to war. Second half is a little more linear, following the crisis as it evolved, and from viewpoints of the key players. Narration was excellent, I would not change a thing in this respect.

Great book, very challening

If you are not familiar with the general flow of events leading to WWI, I'd get famjlisr with that before starting this book. this is a stellar work, but VERY heavy on the details.

Should be required reading

As this analysis makes clear, all war is history. To believe that one incident is causal and blame is straightforward, while embraced by the short attention span of today's public, is no strategy for preventing war. May the Russian Ukraine war not head us down the same road with simplistic, shortsighted viewpoints.

How WW1 began in great detail

So much to try to absorb. Clark's knowledge & understanding of the events, political conundrums, and personal contributions of so many actors & elements that brought the "great war" onto the stage of history is, for me, voluminous & staggering. Such complex & detailed history, and Clark plows through it meticulously.

A Remarkable, Convincing Argument

As a former disciple of the Fischer school for some time, this has done the best job dispelling those assumptions and reinforcing the complexity, but not inevitably, of WWI