Chris Clark on WWI

History Extra Podcast (http://www.historyextra.com/podcasts) BBC History Magazine

Professor Chris Clark, Historian based at the University of Cambridge
Topic: How did WWI start?

[Below are essentially my notes and written highlights of this podcast.]

=> Professor Clark doesn't think people will ever understand the origins of the first world war. "One human being will never be able to figure" out that origin. "We know too much." Germans, for example, undoubtedly started the second world war quite clearly, however his opinion on the first world war is unclear. It's undefinable, according to Professor Clark. Assassinations were huge and impacted many people, almost like a "9/11 effect."

=> Austrians never accused the Serbian state for the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, they simply accused the state for "harboring the underground networks." They also, in a way, might have encouraged it.

=> Why do most people and most literature point to the assassination as the origin of the war?
Clark: "Right from the beginning the huge powers constructed the narrative. We didn't construct that popular answer after going over evidence years later, the countries at the time pointed fingers to begin with. Serbians wanted war..."

=> Many countries involved in WWI egged on other countries. Every power carries responsibility for the start of this war. ("Russians egged on the Serbians ... for years, French egging Russians on, Germans egging on the Austrians...")

=> Blame game seems unnecessary -  the responsibility is shared. "Widely distributed." Blaming instead becomes a distraction.

=> Every power said that war is being forced on themselves. People were ready for war and ready to accept a time in which people needed to defend themselves.