After a century of debate the ‘Great War’ still provokes powerful responses among historians, politicians and the general public. Unresolved questions surround the military, industrial and political mobilisation of Europe in the years before 1914. How do we explain this ‘watershed’ in modern European history? Offering a detailed look at the causes of the First World War, this module re-examines the events that led to a conflict that killed millions, bled economies dry and shook empires and societies to their foundations. In so doing, it will introduce new historical perspectives, diplomatic, social and economic, and show the range of evidence available to historians. Suitable for those with no previous knowledge of the subject, the module is organised around issues designed to explain Europe’s march to war

• Display knowledge and understanding of the main historical events discussed in the course;
• Display knowledge and understanding of the key economic, diplomatic and military relations immediately preceding the First World War;
• Display knowledge and understanding of ongoing historical debates surrounding the origins of the First World War.

Intellectual Skills:

• Demonstrate a basic knowledge of the underlying concepts and principles associated with the study of history.
• Initiate, undertake and articulate a basic analysis of historical information.
• Develop explanations and support them with evidence.
• Communicate, in both verbal and written form, the knowledge and understanding acquired on the course, and to be able to distinguish between myth and reality.

Discipline Specific (including practical) Skills:

• Identify strengths, weaknesses, problems, and or peculiarities of alternative historical interpretations.
• Initiate, undertake and articulate a basic analysis of historical information.
• Deepen understanding of the broad themes and developments considered in the course through the analysis of an historical source or sources.
• To research, plan and structure history essays and/or projects.
• To recognise, evaluate and interpret different types of historical evidence.
• To develop, at a basic level, subject-specific and critically-discerning information literacy skills.

This module is taught in 10, two-hour sessions, delivered on a weekly basis.

• Tutor-led sessions: these introduce the basic information to the students, and will form the bulk of provision. Hence there will be basic seminar-style sessions with tutor leading with talk and PowerPoint presentations during the first part of the session as basis for group discussion and questions and answers in the second part. Students will be invited to read up on relevant topics for homework including specific passages.
• Students will be issued with handouts and a reading list, allowing them to read up on relevant topics, as well as allowing them to develop their own interests and identify the key questions which they need to answer in their assessment project.

By the end of the period of learning, the typical student will have:

• found relevant resources in the library and online;
• assessed the reliability of different sources of information;
• demonstrated a critical approach to academic texts.

Transferable/employability Skills:

By the end of the period of learning, the typical student will have shown that he/she can:

• work effectively as part of a group;
• present an argument, accurately, succinctly and lucidly, and in written or oral form.
• time manage and organise study methods and workload;
• gather, organise and deploy evidence, data and information; and familiarity with appropriate means of identifying, finding, retrieving, sorting and exchanging information

1) European Balance of Power, 1900

2) Britain and Splendid Isolation

3) Germany and Weltpolitik

4) Anglo-German Antagonism

5) Entente Cordiale

6) The Dual Alliance

7) Russia and the Balkans Wars

8) War Plans

9) The Slide to War

10) Thinking about the First World War

Christopher Clark, Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 (Penguin Books, 2013)

James Joll and Gordon Martel, The Origins of the First World War 3^rd edn (Routledge, 2007)

Margaret MacMillan, The War that Ended Peace: How Europe Abandoned Peace for the First World War (Profile Books, 2013)

Recommended Reading

V.R. Berghahn, Germanyand the Approach of War in 1914 (Macmillan, 1973)

F.R.Bridgeand Roger Bullen, The Great Powers and the European States System, 1815-1914 (Longman, 1980)

Gerard J. De Groot, The First World War (Palgrave, 2001) 

Niall Ferguson, The Pity of War, 1914-1918(Penguin Books 1999) 

Ruth Henig, The Origins of the First World War 3^rd edn (Routledge, 2002)

Holger H. Herwig, The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary, 1914-1918 (Arnold, 1997)

Mark Hewitson, Germanyand the causes of the First World War (Berg, 2004)

John F.V. Keiger, Franceand the Origins of the First World War (Macmillan 1983)

Paul. M. Kennedy, The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism, 1860-1914 (Allen and Unwin, 1980)

H.W. Koch (ed.), The Origins of the First World War: Great Power Rivalry and German War Aims 2^nd edn(Macmillan, 1984) Richard Langhorne, The Collapse of the Concert of Europe: International Politics, 1890-1914 (Macmillan, 1981) 

D.C.B. Lieven, Russiaand the Origins of the First World War (Macmillan, 1983) 

Gordon Martel, The Origins of the First World War 2^nd edn (Longman,1996)

Gordon Martel (ed.), Modern Germany Reconsidered : 1870-1945 (Routledge, 1992)

Robert K. Massie, Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the coming of the Great War (Vintage, 2007)

John H. Maurer, Outbreak of the First World War: Strategic Planning, Crisis Decision Making, and Deterrence Failure (Praeger, 1995)

Alan Sked, The Decline and Fall of the Habsburg Empire, 1815-1918 (Longman, 1989)

David Stevenson, 1914-1918: The History of the First World War (Penguin Books, 2005) 

David Stevenson, Armaments and the coming of War: Europe, 1904-1914 (Oxford University Press, 1996) 

Hew Strachan, The First World War. Vol. 1, To Arms (Oxford University Press, 2001) 

Samuel Williamson, Austria-Hungaryand the Origins of the First World War (Macmillan, 1991)