The question of who was to blame for the First World War is far more complex than has long been assumed.
Thursday, 08. May 2014, 18:30 – 20:00 h
At the University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zurich, KOL-G-201 (Aula)
For a long time, it was considered a foregone conclusion that the German Empire bore the main responsibility for the outbreak of the First World War due to its dreams of great power. However, an analysis of the interests and motivations of the most important political actors of the time paints a picture of a complex world in which mutual mistrust, misjudgements and nationalistic aspirations led to a situation in which a spark was enough to trigger the war.
Christopher Clark, born in Sydney in 1960, studied history at the University of Sydney and the Free University of Berlin before completing his doctorate at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge in 1991. Since 1991 he has been Professor of Modern European History at St. Catharine's College, Cambridge. His research focuses on the history of Prussia. He is the author of a biography of Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor. For his book "Prussia" he received the prestigious Wolfson Prize in 2007 and in 2010 he was the first non-German-speaking historian to receive the Prize of the College of History. In his book "The Sleepwalkers", published in 2013, he deals with penetrating analyses on the eve of the First World War.