“Léon Blum [1872-1950], Walther Rathenau [1867-1922] and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti [1876-1944] were all men who had made careers in other fields before they entered political life. They were all men who were aware that the development of machines and of mechanised industry had created a new age; and they were all concerned to come to terms with it. Moreover, they all belonged to a European intellectual and artistic world that was truly international, and, although they never met, they had ...

This thoroughly revised edition has been updated to incorporate recent case studies, biographies, syntheses, journal articles and scholarly conferences that appeared in conjunction with the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War in 2014.The original version of this work, published by James Joll in 1984, quickly became established as the authoritative introduction to the subject of the war’s origins. Significantly expanded by Gordon Martel in 2007, this volume continues to...