A well argued opinion.

A generally understandable explanation for the origin of the first world war. Easy to read in one sitting

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Excellent!

Very interesting take on the events leading up to the Great War. In sharp contrast to Christopher Clark's view of a Europe sleepwalking into the biggest catastrophe to befall the Western world. Armed conflict could have been avoided if the belligerent nations had shown a willingness to engage with each other to resolve their disputes and set aside their mistrust. War was not an inevitable outcome, but rather a way devised by the respective governments to defer the social reforms which were underway and necessary to improve the lot of the general population. Nationalism and the fostering of a false sense of patriotism played a role in fanning the flames of hostility which helped prime Europe's youth for war. Extremely well written and relatively concise account. Top marks for the narration. Really enjoyed the audiobook.

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Enjoyable history

A good short history you could enjoy over a weekend. Excellent narration that keeps up your interest

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Fresh yet Foggy

Christopher Oxford's impeccable King's English diction was an invaluable aid for my experience of Paul Ham's argument. As a history autodidact of 15 years, I appreciated the fresh facts presented in defence of his thesis (like Austria-Hungary backing Albanian independence to block Serbia's access to the Adriatic or Russia's martial resurgence after its humiliation at the hands of Japan). However, Ham overestimates the abilities of the governing men of 1913 to trust each other & avoid bloodshed. His attempt to not allow biases to cloud his judgment falls short. Unlike us - with both World Wars & long-drawn bloody struggles in places like Vietnam & the Congo in our collective consciousness - these men knew only of centuries of warfare from the French invasion of Naples in 1494 which triggered the Italian Wars to the recent 2 Balkan Wars which marked Europe's rise to global supremacy. It was second nature for them to choose the agency of force of arms over the uncertainty of nimble negotiations & good faith in potential threats. I am convinced that these men were not sleepwalking towards war, but the imagination required to avoid it was simply absent in 1913. It was an unavoidable tragedy

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An interesting approach overall

The author attempted to ‘peel away the onion skins’ on the lead up to the First World War rather than assume a linear causality, and raised some very good points along the way. There are longer and more authoritative books on the subject, but this one provides a useful interjection challenging the notion that war was inevitable and the leaders powerless to stop it.

The narrator had a clear and listenable voice, but unfortunately, to my ears, a constant pomposity of tone reminiscent of an Oxford dinner party male monologue, and I often found I had accordingly ‘tuned out’ for minutes at a time.

It’s a shame - this is of course a history book, but the written tone struck me as more edgy and conversational than the stentorian narration and I feel I might have retained more with a better match.

That said, these are quibbles, and the content is very worthwhile, and perfectly audible.

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1913 highly recommended

This should be read alongside other historians eg Barbara Tuchman, using this as the excellent basic scenario. It is heartfelt at times which gives it a deeper authority.

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So good, I also bought the kindle-version

The reader was very good.
The portrayal of politicians at the time as (my words) pitiful, self-aggrandizeing opportunists reminds one of today. The chance of a rerun today over Ukrayne, is all too great.

It feels well-researched, talking a lot about the mood in society, and the shennannigans of politicians.

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Unnecessary chapters dominate.

The book itself simultaneously was long winded and far too short, more research was definitely needed. Russia's threat to British interests and the entire geopolitical balancing act of the great game was completely ignored.

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Great background WW1 story

Really good insight to how WW1 was instigated and contrived by a number of European countries and there politics, just a shame the book is so short as the narration was excellent and story line very good.

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