Why Did They Fight the Great War? A Multi-Level Class Analysis of the Causes of the First World War*

Abstract

What were the causes of World War I? This question has become one of the classic historical debates of which there seem to be endless permutations. In the past ninety years historians, journalists and politicians have offered many more or less rational explanations for the war. Although at least some of the usual "causes" assigned to the war offer relatively straightforward threads of argument, the harmony created when these causes are assembled and prioritized is particularly complex. Given this scenario, the analysis of the causes of World War I by students is an