But this war of self-justificatory diplomatic documentary ‘evidence,’ with its skillful selection, expurgation and elision of texts, was on a grander scale than ever before. Of course, resorting to “colored books“ was nothing new to international relations. By the summer of 1915, the Austrian Red Book served up Vienna’s version of the war’s causes. The day after war began, Britain responded with its Blue Book putting its case, followed by the Russians in September, the Belgian Grey Book in October, and the French Yellow Book at the end of November 1914 entitled How Germany Forced the War. Before Britain declared war on the German Empire, Berlin rushed into print their White Book of diplomatic documents on the war’s causes, revealingly titled: How Russia and Her Ruler Betrayed Germany’s Confidence and Thereby Made the European War. The war that began on August 4th, 1914 carried the germ of controversy before it even broke out. Today, whole books are written about how the causes of World War I have been written about.Ī century after the outbreak of the Great War, it is worth reflecting on the context of some of the “causality” literature and the enduring nature of the origins/responsibility debate by looking, first, at why it is one of the most written about subjects in modern history and, second, examining the how question of the methodological approaches used to assess the causes. But the origins of World War II, though more destructive, have never provoked such controversy. One might expect the origins of a war that killed nine million men and injured and maimed 30 million, or that destroyed four empires and created a host of new states, to warrant explanation and even disagreement. One hundred years since its outbreak, the causes of World War I continue to be a thriving industry, having generated by 1991 alone some 25,000 books and articles. A different version of this article appeared as “The War Explained: 1914 to the Present” in John Horne (ed) A Companion to World War I (2010). John Keiger is a Professor and the Director of Research in the Department of Politics And International Studies, University of Cambridge.
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