DANCE OF THE FURIES by Michael S. Neiberg ( 9780674725935 ) - Books & Audio Books at Pickabook.co.uk

Item Details

Title:

DANCE OF THE FURIES
EUROPE AND THE OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR I

By:

Michael S. Neiberg

Format:

Paperback

List price:

£20.95

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£16.76

Discount:

20% off

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£4.19

ISBN 10:

067472593X

ISBN 13:

9780674725935

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Publisher:

HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Pub. date:

4 October, 2013

Pages:

336

Description:

Looking beyond diplomats and generals, the author shows that neither nationalist passions nor desires for revenge took Europe to war in 1914. He gives voice to a generation who suddenly found themselves compelled to participate in a ghastly, protracted orgy of violence they never imagined would come to pass.

Synopsis:

The common explanation for the outbreak of World War I depicts Europe as a minefield of nationalism, needing only the slightest pressure to set off an explosion of passion that would rip the continent apart. But in a crucial reexamination of the outbreak of violence, Michael Neiberg shows that ordinary Europeans, unlike their political and military leaders, neither wanted nor expected war during the fateful summer of 1914. By training his eye on the ways that people outside the halls of power reacted to the rapid onset and escalation of the fighting, Neiberg dispels the notion that Europeans were rabid nationalists intent on mass slaughter. He reveals instead a complex set of allegiances that cut across national boundaries.Neiberg marshals letters, diaries, and memoirs of ordinary citizens across Europe to show that the onset of war was experienced as a sudden, unexpected event. As they watched a minor diplomatic crisis erupt into a continental bloodbath, they expressed shock, revulsion, and fear. But when bargains between belligerent governments began to crumble under the weight of conflict, public disillusionment soon followed. Yet it was only after the fighting acquired its own horrible momentum that national hatreds emerged under the pressure of mutually escalating threats, wartime atrocities, and intense government propaganda. Dance of the Furies gives voice to a generation who found themselves compelled to participate in a ghastly, protracted orgy of violence they never imagined would come to pass.

Illustrations:

illustrations

Publication:

Imprint:

The Belknap Press

Returns:

Returnable

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